作者單位：中華佛學研究所所長、法鼓佛教學院專任助理教授 Director, Chung-Hwa Institute of Buddhist Studies
關鍵詞
聖嚴法師=Venerable Master Sheng Yen; 人間淨土=Pure Land on earth; 環保=environment protection; 心五四=the Fivefold Spiritual Renaissance; 心六倫= the Six Ethics of the Minds
In recent decades, Venerable Master Sheng Yen has been promoting the idea of “Building a Pure Land on earth” in Taiwan. This has made significant influences on the society and contributed considerably in purifying human mind. This study intends to review Venerable Master Sheng Yen’s thoughts and advances on the promotion of “Building a Pure Land on earth”. In 1965, Venerable Master Sheng Yen wrote, in blood, a pledge, “To benefit the self and others; to save the self and others. Vow to campaign for the resurgence of Chinese Buddhism with complete devotion, to the end.” This demonstrates his enthusiasm in the efflorescence of Chinese Buddhism and his emphases on benefiting both the self and the others. Venerable Master Sheng Yen oftentimes restates that “Buddha Dharma is so precious, yet so few people realize that, and so many people get wrong ideas.” He believes that this is caused by lack of human capital in Dharma preaching and shortage of Buddhist education. Consequently, Venerable Master Sheng Yen has himself devoted into Buddhist education completely to benefit sentient beings by delivering Buddha Dharma. This illustrates his great compassion of “relieving the world with Buddhist education”. The compassion refers to the purication of human society by means of Buddhist education, for a feasible Pure Land on earth. To date, such compassion remains unchanged, as it was initially. In addition to the dedication to Buddhist education, Venerable Master Sheng Yen stresses the teaching of Chan in Chinese Buddhism. Literally speaking, the essence of mind represents Buddha Dharma, and Chan corresponds to the essence of mind. Therefore, Venerable Master Sheng Yen applies Chan practice as the core approach for delivering sentient beings, with recitation of Buddha’s name as a supportive means. With the development of causes and conditions, a vision was formed as “To uplift the character of humanity and build a Pure Land on earth.” Nonetheless, Venerable Master Sheng Yen’s idea of “building a Pure Land on earth” does not suggest the relocation of Pure Land of Buddha in all directions, in Buddhist believes, to the Earth. Neither does it refer to the establishment of Pure Land in the modern world based on images described in various sutras, e.g., Amitabha Sutra [A-Mi-Tuo-Jing], Medicine Buddha Sutra [Yao- Shi-Jing], Aksobhya-Buddha-Ksetra Sutra [A-Chu-Fo-Guo-Jing], The Descent of Maitreya Sutra [Mi-Le-Xia-Sheng-Jing], etc. We know that Venerable Master Tai-Xu, advocating “Humanistic Buddhism”, once promoted the founding of a “duty-free Buddhist land” as an experimental community of “Pure Land on earth”. Though not being fulfilled, it is a pioneer idea in Pure Land thoughts. Another Chine
