Chanmen xiuzheng zhiyao (The Essentials of Practice and Attainment within the Gate of Chan) is a collection of the important material that Master Sheng Yen compiled from the Taisho Tripitaka and Xuzangjing / Zokuzokyo. As essential meditation practice reference, it is both a monumental historic Chan school of thoughts and crucial guidebook in meditation practice. In this book, some of the material is extremely valuable in lineage (such as Xinsin ming) and some are original and innovated thoughts created by Master Sheng yen, especially those during the Ming and Qing sections.
Master Sheng Yen has always considered himself as a Ming specialist. Other than picking Ouyi Zhixu as his dissertation topic, the content of Chanmen xiuzheng zhiyao also reveals his broad and profound knowledge in Ming meditation texts. The important meditation-related texts written during the Ming and Qing Dynasties include books written by the following four masters: Changuan cejin by Yunqi Zhuhong, Guanxin ming and Chuxin xiuwu fayao by Hanshan Deqing, Boshan canchan jingyu by Wuyi Yuanlai, and Chanmen duanlianshuo by Huishan Jiexian. Two out of the three eminent monks of the Wanli period are included: Wuyi Yuanlai belongs to the Shouchang school of the Caodong lineage while Huishan Jiexian belongs to the Sanfeng School of the Caodong lineage. Among the books named above, Changuan cejin and Boshan canchan jingyu were popular in Edo Japan and there were several different printing editions and commentaries at that time. Even though there were many yulu written by Huishan Jiexian circulating while he was the Abbott of Lingyin Temple at Hangzhou, only Xianguo suilu and Chanmen duanlianshuo made into the Xuzangjing / Zokuzokyo. It is Master Sheng Yen’s ingenuity to raise Chanmen duanlianshuo as a tool book in meditation practice. One will understand more about how Master Sheng Yen perceived the Chan school during the Ming and Qing Dynasty from the selection of accounts in the Chanmen xiuzheng zhiyao.
