Nan Huaijin Selected Works (Volume 9)

Author: Nan Huaijin
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2003-09-01
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 received early education at home and studied the classics in his youth. During the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, the young Nan Huaijin took up arms and served on the southwestern frontier. After returning to Sichuan, he taught at the Central Military Academy and Jinling University. With exceptional talent and detachment from worldly matters, he often traveled to famous mountains and rivers with simple shoes and bamboo staffs, seeking out eminent monks and scholars. He once secluded himself at the Big Platform Temple on Mount Emei for three years, thoroughly reading the vast Great Treasury of the Mahayana Sutras. Later, he 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 and soon retired to Mount Tianzhu in Hangzhou and Mount Lu in Jiangxi, dedicating himself to scholarly pursuits. After moving to Taiwan, he was appointed to teach at Cultural University, Fu Jen University, and other universities and research institutes, spreading his knowledge to Japan, the United States, and Central America. In recent years, he has resided in Hong Kong, contributing significantly to cultural exchange between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait. Nan Huaijin is well-versed in classics, history, and philosophy, bridging Eastern and Western cultures with extensive knowledge and numerous works. Particularly, he employs the method of "combining classics and history" to explain the major texts of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism. His explanations are rich in references, insightful, and engaging, achieving remarkable success in popularizing traditional Chinese culture and readers on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. Fudan University Press is the earliest publisher of Nan Huaijin's works in China and the one that has published the most comprehensive collection of his writings. The press has 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, beautifully bound to meet the needs of readers for reading and collecting. The contents of each volume are as follows:
Volume 1: The Analects Decoded
Volume 2: The Way of Lao Tzu and Confucius, Mencius Unbound
Volume 3: The I Ching Unbound, Commentary on the I Ching Systematic Transmission
Volume 4: Zen and Taoism, Taoism, Vajrayana Buddhism, and Eastern Mysticism, Meditation for Self-Cultivation and Longevity
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 Sariputra Sutra on Healing the World, Basic Beliefs of Buddhist Practitioners
Volume 8: What the Diamond Sutra Means, A Contemporary Interpretation of the Lankavatara Sutra
Volume 9: A Brief Explanation of the Samadhi Sutra, Initial Practice of Samadhi and Wisdom, A Contemporary Interpretation of the Lankavatara Sutra
Volume 10: The Original Meaning of the Great Learning
The Lankavatara Sutra is an important classic of the Yogacara school and a key text revered by early Zen masters (early Zen masters were thus called "Lankavatara masters"). It has had a broad influence on the history of Buddhism in China. Its full title is the Mahayana Sutra of the Profound Meaning of the Lankavatara, consisting of four volumes, translated by Paramartha in the 20th year of the Yuan era (443). The sutra discusses the "Five Dharmas," "Three Self-Natures," "Eight Consciousnesses," "Two No-Selfs," and "Four Samadhis" through the Buddha's answers to 108 questions posed by the Bodhisattva Manjushri on the shores of Mount Lengya. It concludes with the concept of the "Alaya Consciousness" (i.e., "Storehouse Consciousness").
This book is a contemporary interpretation of the Lankavatara Sutra by the renowned scholar Nan Huaijin. It includes the original text, a modern translation, and annotations (marked with parentheses or separate paragraphs). The book is accessible and engaging, blending academic rigor with popular readability, making it a unique and distinctive edition of the Lankavatara Sutra.