Master Tang Hoi presents an overview of the life，work，and thought of Tang Hoi，the earliest known Buddhist meditation master of Vietnam. Tang Hoi was born in the region that is now Vietnam three hundred years before the well-known Indian monk Bodhidharma went to China. He is revered by Vietnamese Buddhists as the first patriarch of the Vietnamese Meditation school，and his life and work tell us much about the roots of Buddhism in Vietnam and southern China.
The history of Buddhism in Vietnam spans two thousand years - nearly as long as Buddhism itself has been in existence. Due to Vietnam's geographical location between India and China, Vietnamese culture and religion were enriched by these two great cultures. As the life of Tang Hoi shows, Vietnam was the fertile soil for a unique form of Buddhism that blends the teachings of both the early Buddhist Theravadin tradition and the later Mahayana." "In this work two of Tang Hoi's writings are presented，both composed sometime before 229 C.E.
The first is an essay，"The Way of Realizing Meditation," which is an extract from his work，The Collection on the Six Paramitas. The second is his Preface to the Anapananusmriti Sutra (Sutra on the Full Awareness of Breathing). Tang Hoi's writings reveal to us how second- and third-century Vietnamese Buddhists practiced meditation，and how their practice of the teachings contained in the Theravadin sutras was infused with the spirit of Mahayana Buddhism.
目次
Preface ix Introduction: The Life and Practice of Tang Hôi in Vietnam and China 1 The Ancient Kingdoms of Vietnam 1 The Arrival of Buddhism from India 4 The Three Buddhist Centers of the Han Era 8 Jiaozhou: The First Home of Chinese Buddhism 9 The Life of Tang Hôi 11 Tang Hôi in China 14 Tang Hôi: First Patriarch of the Meditation School 18 The Career of Tang Hôi As a Meditation Master 22
Part I The Way of Realizing Meditation by Tang Hôi 25 1. Elements of Meditation 43 2. The Four Meditative Concentrations 51 3. The Arhat Is the Bodhisattva 59 4. The Path and the Aspiration to Be Awakened 65 5. Nourishing the Aspiration to Be Awakened 67
Part II The Preface to the Anapananusmriti Sutra by Tang Hôi 85 6. The Practice of Mindful Breathing 93 7. Elements of Late Buddhist Psychology and the Avatamsaka School in Tang Hôi's Writings 99 8. The Psychological Basis of Tang Hôi's Teachings 105
Appendices Appendix One: The Preface to the Book Dispelling Doubts by Mouzi (Taken from A History of Vietnamese Buddhism by Thich Nhat Hanh) 117 Appendix Two: Master Tang Hôi (Excerpt from Biographies of High Monks by Huy Hao) 120 Appendix Three: The Beginnings of the Meditation School of Vietnam (Excerpt from A History of Vietnamese Buddhism by Thich Nhat Hanh) 130 Appendix Four: National Master Thong Bien (Excerpt from Flowers in the Garden of Meditation) 145
