By integrating Chinese Chan tradition, Ven. Shen Yen created a modern educational system of meditation, and then established the Dharma Drum School of Chinese Chan. Most scholars have focused on his writings on Chan; however, in this paper I will analyzed those popular materials and manuals published and used by Dharma Drum meditation education, exploring the spreading of his Chan practice in modern unban society. These materials will more concretely present the promotion policy and actual situation of the Chan education of Ven Sheng Yen.
In this paper I will first introduce the series of Intensive Meditation Handbooks by the Sheng Yen Education Foundation, related materials published by Dharma Drum publishers, as well as those articles that Ven. Sheng Yen previously wrote for Zen Magazine and are translated into Chinese recently. The understanding the context of these materials’ editing, publication, and circulation process will illuminate the implementation and promotion of Ven. Sheng Yen’s Chan thought. Instead of making statistics on reader acceptance and book circulation, I am more concerned with the function of these publishing on promote the practice of meditation through Dharma Drum publishers’ rewriting Ven. Sheng Yen’s Chan.
