Heart Lamp Records

Author: Zhan Yu Laoren
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2001-01-01
Features: This is a remarkable book that was ordered to be banned by the Yongzheng Emperor for "revealing the ultimate secrets of Zen." As a result, even the monks and scholars who studied the Zen sect in the mountains and forests at that time regarded it as poison and believed it to be heretical teachings. Why? First, the author, Zhan Yu Laoren, was a recluse who lived in seclusion in the mountains during the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. He was a scholar and intellectual who had withdrawn from the world and embraced Buddhism, making him an outcast in the eyes of the Qing rulers. Moreover, he held a low regard for the teachings of the Mi Yun Zen master, whom the Yongzheng Emperor followed. Consequently, the Yongzheng Emperor, who upheld the Mi Yun lineage, sought to eradicate the Han Yue sect as a heretical school, driving them into hiding and causing them to vanish from sight. Second, Zen emphasizes that once the path to enlightenment is opened, the path to delusion is closed. However, this book has "revealed the ultimate secrets of Zen," often leading people astray, causing them to mistake delusion for true self and even fall into a state of empty enlightenment, denying the cause-and-effect principle and acting as they please without restraint. Thus, the Yongzheng Emperor, as the layman Yuanming Jushi, ordered the book to be destroyed and banned.