Zen Explains Life

Author: Chen Erdong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-09-01
Features: "The Zen Interpretation of Life," as the name suggests, is an explanation of life through Zen. Since life is rich and diverse, Zen cannot encompass everything; otherwise, it would become overly complex and lose its focus. Moreover, in the colorful tapestry of life, which issues require Zen to provide an explanation? For us, this is a challenging question. After extensive deliberation, the book has finally formed a relatively ideal framework, which is the current ten chapters. Although these ten chapters cannot fully encompass the entirety of life, they cover the main aspects. From the stages of birth, aging, sickness, and death (Life Chapter) to the necessities of food, clothing, shelter, and transportation (Life Chapter), and from how to conduct oneself in society (Social Conduct Chapter) to abandoning evil and promoting goodness (Good and Evil Chapter); from self-cultivation and refinement (Cultivation Chapter) to the sincerity of belief (Belief Chapter), to forging positive connections (Connection Chapter) and returning to nature (Nature Chapter); from a life of contentment (Contentment Chapter) to awakening to life (Awakening Chapter), these chapters can provide a rough outline of the trajectory of life. In selecting the material (issues) for discussion, we have strived to choose topics closely related to contemporary society, those that may impact social stability, and those relevant to establishing a worldview, in order to offer practical help to people.