Nan Huaijin Selected Works, Volume 9 -- A Brief Explanation of the Lotus Sutra on the Profound Dharma of Wisdom: Initial Practice of the Prajnaparamita Sutra (Volume 9)

Author: Nan Huaijin
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2002-01-01
Features: Nan Huaijin, a renowned scholar with international acclaim, was born in 1918 into a scholarly family in Leqing County, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province. At 85 years old, he was nurtured by his family's teachings in his youth and studied the classics extensively. When the Anti-Japanese War broke out, the young Nan Huaijin took up arms and served on the southwestern frontier. Later, he returned to Sichuan and taught at the Central Military Academy and Jinling University. With exceptional talent and freedom from worldly constraints, he often traveled with straw sandals and bamboo canes, exploring famous mountains and rivers to seek out eminent monks and scholars. He once retreated to the Pingping Temple on Mount Emei for three years of seclusion, thoroughly reading the vast "Great Treasury of the Mahayana Sutras." He then traveled to Tibet, studying with masters of Vajrayana Buddhism and gaining profound knowledge of its various schools of thought. After leaving Tibet, he moved to Kunming, initially teaching at Yunnan University and later at Sichuan University. After the war, he returned to his hometown. Soon after, he retreated to Tianzhu Mountain in Hangzhou and Lushan in Jiangxi, dedicating himself to scholarly pursuits. Upon moving to Taiwan, he was appointed to teach at Cultural University, Fu Jen University, and other universities and research institutions, spreading his knowledge to Japan, the United States, and Central and South America. In recent years, he has resided in Hong Kong, contributing significantly to cultural exchange between the mainland and Taiwan. Nan Huaijin is well-versed in classics, history, and philosophy, bridging Eastern and Western cultures with his extensive knowledge and prolific writings. Especially notable is his method of combining classical studies with historical analysis to explain the core texts of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism. His explanations are rich in references, insightful, and engaging, making him a beloved figure among readers across all levels in both Taiwan and mainland China. Fudan University Press is the earliest publisher of Nan Huaijin's works in China and the publisher with the most extensive collection of his writings. They have published a total of twenty-four works by Nan Huaijin, most of which are his representative works. With the authorization of the author and the original publisher, these works have been compiled into ten volumes, bound in hardcover, to meet the needs of readers for reading and collecting. The contents of each volume are as follows:
Volume 1: The Analects: A New Interpretation
Volume 2: The Way of Lao Tzu and Confucius, Mencius: A New Perspective
Volume 3: The I Ching: A New Interpretation, The I Ching: A New Commentary on the Commentaries
Volume 4: Zen and Taoism, Taoism, Vajrayana Buddhism, and Eastern Mysticism, Meditation for Self-Cultivation and Immortality
Volume 5: Exploring the Zen Sea, Zen Talks, An Outline of the Development of Buddhism in China, An Outline of the Development of Taoism in China
Volume 6: Experiences from History, A New Generation Between Tradition and Modernity, General Remarks on Chinese Culture
Volume 7: How to Practice Buddhism, The Perspective of the Lotus Sutra for Saving the World, Basic Beliefs of a Buddhist Practitioner
Volume 8: What the Diamond Sutra Means, A Contemporary Interpretation of the Heart Sutra
Volume 9: A Brief Explanation of the Avatamsaka Sutra, Initial Practices of Samatha and Vipassana, A Contemporary Interpretation of the Lengya Sutra
Volume 10: The Original Meaning of the Great Learning
The Avatamsaka Sutra, also known as the Great Compassion and Perfect Enlightenment Sutra, is an important classic of the Huayan sect in Tang Dynasty Buddhism. It is also known as the Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment Through the Practice of the Great Vehicle, translated by Buddha-Dharmapala in the Tang Dynasty. The sutra presents the Buddha's teachings in response to the requests of twelve Bodhisattvas, explaining the theory of "perfectly illuminating pure awareness" and the methods of "cultivating Samatha," "cultivating Vipassana," and "cultivating Zen." The fifth patriarch of the Huayan sect, Zong Mi, said he "encountered Zen in the South and encountered the Avatamsaka Sutra in teaching," meaning he attained enlightenment in Buddhist teachings through reading the Avatamsaka Sutra. Later, he wrote works such as The Great Commentary on the Avatamsaka Sutra, The Great Commentary and Summary of the Avatamsaka Sutra, and The Ritual for Practicing the Avatamsaka Sutra to promote the Avatamsaka Sutra, which thus became renowned in the Buddhist world. This book is a lecture record by the renowned scholar Nan Huaijin on the Avatamsaka Sutra, first serialized in a Buddhist magazine and later compiled into a book. With his profound academic background, Nan Huaijin explains the original text of the Avatamsaka Sutra sentence by sentence and paragraph by paragraph, making the profound and difficult content accessible and easy to understand, with strong readability.
"?īla" (precepts), "Samādhi" (meditation), and "Praj?ā" (wisdom) are the three main components of all Buddhist teachings. ?īla is used to prevent wrongdoing; Samādhi is used to calm the mind and eliminate distractions; and Praj?ā is used to eliminate afflictions. They complement each other and together form the basic content of Buddhist practice. This book includes a series of Buddhist lectures by the renowned scholar Nan Huaijin. The first three essays are summaries of discussions on the cultivation of ?īla, Samādhi, and Praj?ā (the first essay, Cultivating Samatha and Vipassana and Investigating the Mind, was written by Nan Huaijin's teacher, Yuan Huaxian). The remaining six essays are Nan Huaijin's popular explanations of the Sutra on Contemplating the Limitless Life of Amida Buddha (a fundamental text of Pure Land Buddhism), Zen contemplation, wisdom contemplation, the Guanyin method, and the Pure Land method.
The Lengya Sutra is one of the fundamental texts of the Yogācāra school, known as the "Six Sutras and Eleven Treatises," and an important classic followed by early Zen Buddhism (early Zen masters were thus called "Lengya masters"). It has had a broad influence on the history of Buddhism in China. Its full title is the Lengya Abhidharmāvalī Praj?āpāramitā Sutra, translated by Paramārtha in the Liu Song Dynasty in the 20th year of the Yuangeng era (443). The sutra presents the Buddha's answers to 108 questions posed by the Bodhisattva Mahāpraj?ā on the shore of Mount Lengya, explaining concepts such as "five aggregates," "three natures," "eight consciousnesses," "two no-self," and "four types of Samādhi," culminating in the concept of "Alaya-vij?āna" (i.e., "storehouse consciousness"). This book is a comprehensive contemporary interpretation of the Lengya Sutra by the renowned scholar Nan Huaijin. It includes the original text, a modern translation, and a connected explanation (marked with parentheses or separate paragraphs). The book is easy to understand yet academically rigorous, making it a unique and distinctive edition of the Lengya Sutra.