靈性的統一境：靈性與社會層次的佛身—聖嚴法師淨土教學之洞見=The Unified Spiritual Field: The Spirit and Social Realms as the Body of the Buddha: Insights into Master Sheng Yen's Teachings on the Pure Land.
Master Sheng Yen’s teachings are a definitive distillation of the age-old Buddhist tradition that emphasizes the need to translate dharma teachings into social engagement. Master Sheng Yen said “I have followed in the steps of the sages of the past to advocate the pure land on Earth. In addition to expressing in various ways the viability of building a pure land on Earth, I have also given lectures on the topic to articulate the necessity of building a pure land on Earth.”1 We can say that Master Sheng Yen endeavored to warn practitioners against the de-emphasizing of the social engagement aspects of the Buddhadharma. As Master Sheng Yen taught, a correct understanding of Buddhadharma rejects the duality between the realm of spiritual practice and that of social engagement. Both realms, the spirit and the social, are one and the same, therefore, in order to perfect the spiritual environment we must perfect the social and natural environments, and in order to perfect the social and natural environments we must perfect the mind. There is no dharmic distinction that allows for the separation of the human mind from the human relationships with the social, natural and living realms of existence. All sentient and insentient beings are dharma, therefore they all are the indivisible inter-being soil of the pure land of the Buddha on earth. From the perspective of engaged Buddhism, a dharma that does not create a dharmic society will not create dharmic individuals, and without dharmic individuals we cannot create a dharmic society. Neither practice precedes nor follows the other: they are both one and the same. A succinct exposition of Ch’an Master Sheng Yen’s teachings of Pure Land on earth resembles the older teaching of Master Dogen "Handle even a single leaf of green in such a way that it manifests the body of the Buddha. This in turn allows the Buddha to manifest through the leaf… The color of the mountains is Buddha's body, the sound of running water is his great speech.”2 And this reflects precisely Master Sheng Yen’s life work: “Dharma Drum Mountain's vision is to ‘uplift the character of humanity and build a pure land on earth,’ to be achieved through concrete programs for the Three Types of Education… in the common ethos of Dharma Drum Mountain the phrase ‘to promote comprehensive education’ refers exactly to the Three Types of Education. And ‘to extend loving care to all’ is practiced through the four kinds of environmental protection: protecting the spiritual environment, protecting the social environment, protecting the living environment, and protecting the natural environment.” 3In other words: The practice of dharma i
