念佛與參禪不二之挑戰與發展 ―― 以聖嚴法師的念佛禪七為主=The Challenge and Development for Non-Disparity between Buddha-Name Recitation and Chan Meditation: A case based on Master Sheng Yen’s Teaching
For most people, Master Sheng Yen was known as a Chan master. Nonetheless, he had been invited to lead a seven-day Amitabha retreat as early as 1960 at Dongshan Temple in Pingdong. Then two Buddha-name recitation retreats started annually at Nung-Chan Monastery in Taipei, namely a seven-day Amitabha retreat and a Grace-repaying retreat at the Qingming festivals, ever since 1982. Furthermore, in year 2000, he renovated and opened up a new perspective for the Buddha-name recitation retreat. His dharma talks during the two seven-day “Buddha-name recitation” retreats, in years 2000 and 2004, were compiled into the book Master Sheng Yen’s Teaching on the Pure Land Approach, in which he elucidated the process from recitation with object to recitation without object. The author was fortunate enough to attend both retreats mentioned above and also heard in person that Master Sheng Yen was planning the third “seven-day Buddha-name recitation retreat”, which was later canceled due to his health problem. It is such a pity that Master Sheng Yen could not have accomplished a complete Buddha-name recitation teaching system. Therefore, the author took a bold move, trying to conjecture the original intend of Master Sheng Yen’s unfinished teaching system by investigating and analyzing available information, in an attempt to construct the complete pedagogical system on Buddha-name recitation of Master Sheng Yen’s. This article, based on the published book Master Sheng Yen’s Teaching on the Pure Land Approach, refers that Master Sheng Yen’s teaching on Nianfo-Chan should ultimately related to “investigative Buddha-name recitation” for the pedagogical system. The ideas of “investigative Buddha-name recitation” could be traced back to Ming Dynasty, and could be further connected to the non-duality concept of “Reciting Buddha’s name doesn’t impede Chan practice; Practicing Chan doesn’t impede Buddha-name recitation” back in Yuan Dynasty, which led further to the campaign of “’practicing Chan by reciting Buddha’s name’ is just ‘investigative Buddha-name recitation’” and induced the debates among masters on “investigative Buddha-name recitation” during Ming and Qing Dynasties. These debates, with arguments from opposing and supporting viewpoints, pushed the development between Chan and Pureland schools to a new era. Such development, both ideological and practical, could be considered an epochal challenge. In this case, Master Sheng Yan’s teaching on Nianfo-Chan is certainly continuing on the system of “investigative Buddha-name recitation” since Ming and Qing Dynasties to construct a complete ideological and practical framework for the practice of Chan via reciting Buddha’s name.
