Nan Huaijin Selected Works. Volume 9

Author: Nan Huaijin
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2003-07-01
Features: Nan Huaijin, a renowned scholar with international acclaim, was born in 1918 into a scholarly family in Leqing County, Wenzhou, Zhejiang. At 85 years old, he received early education at home and studied the classics in his youth. When the War of Resistance against Japan 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 detachment from worldly affairs, he often traveled to famous mountains and rivers with simple shoes and bamboo staffs, seeking wise 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. Afterward, he traveled to Tibet, studying with masters of Vajrayana Buddhism and gaining deep knowledge of its various schools of thought. Upon 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 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 and South America. In recent years, he has resided in Hong Kong, contributing significantly to cultural exchange between the Taiwan Strait regions. Nan Huaijin is well-versed in classics, history, and philosophy, bridging Eastern and Western cultures with profound knowledge and numerous works. Especially notable is his method of combining classics and history to explain the teachings 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 one that has published the most comprehensive collection of his writings. To date, they have published twenty-four of his works, most of which are his representative works. With the authorization of the author and the original publishing house, 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: 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 Commentary
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, A Brief History of the Development of Buddhism in China, A Brief History of the Development of Taoism in China
Volume 6: Lessons from History, A New Generation Caught Between Tradition and Modernity, General Remarks on Chinese Culture
Volume 7: How to Practice Buddhism, The Perspective of the Sariputra Sutra on the Prayer for Healing, Basic Beliefs of a Buddhist Practitioner
Volume 8: What the Diamond Sutra Means, A Contemporary Interpretation of the Lankavatara Sutra
Volume 9: A Brief Explanation of the Circle of Perfect Wisdom Sutra, Initial Practices of Samatha and Vipassana, A Contemporary Interpretation of the Lankavatara Sutra
Volume 10: The Original Meaning of the Great Learning
The Circle of Perfect Wisdom Sutra (Huiyuan Jing), a significant classic of the Huayan sect in Tang Dynasty Buddhism, is also known as the Great Treasure of Universal Wisdom Sutra. It is a single-volume work translated by Buddha-Dharma-Dhara in the 20th year of the Yuan era (443 AD). The sutra presents the Buddha’s teachings in response to the questions of twelve Bodhisattvas at Mount Lengya on the southern coast, explaining the theory of "perpetually severing ignorance through perfect, pure awareness" and the practices of "meditative stabilization" (samatha), "insight meditation" (vipassana), and "Zen" (dhyana). The fifth patriarch of the Huayan sect, Zong Mi, once said, "I encountered Zen in the south and the Circle of Perfect Wisdom in teaching," indicating that he attained enlightenment through studying the Circle of Perfect Wisdom. He later wrote works such as The Great Commentary on the Circle of Perfect Wisdom Sutra, The Great Commentary and Summary on the Circle of Perfect Wisdom Sutra, and The Ritual for Meditation and Practice of the Circle of Perfect Wisdom Sutra to promote it, which further cemented its fame in Buddhist circles.
This book is a lecture record by the renowned scholar Nan Huaijin on the Circle of Perfect Wisdom Sutra, originally serialized in Buddhist magazines and later compiled into a book. With his deep academic foundation, Nan Huaijin explains the original text of the Circle of Perfect Wisdom Sutra sentence by sentence and paragraph by paragraph, transforming the difficult into the accessible and the profound into the popular, making it highly readable. "Precepts" (?īla), "meditative stabilization" (samādhi), and "wisdom" (praj?ā) are the three core components of Buddhist teachings. Precepts are used to prevent evil; meditative stabilization calms the mind and eliminates distractions; wisdom cuts through delusion. These three are interdependent and form the foundation of Buddhist practice.
This book collects a series of Buddhist lectures by the renowned scholar Nan Huaijin. The first three essays are summaries of his teachings on the threefold training of precepts, meditation, and wisdom (the first essay, Practicing Samatha and Vipassana and Investigating the Mind, was written by his teacher, Yuan Huaxian). The remaining six essays are Nan Huaijin’s accessible 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 Lankavatara Sutra is one of the "Six Sutras and Eleven Treatises" of the Yogācāra school and an important classic revered by early Zen Buddhism (early Zen masters were thus called "Lengya masters"), exerting a broad influence in the history of Chinese Buddhism. Its full title is the Lengya Abhidharmāratna Sūtra, a four-volume work translated by Paramārtha in the 20th year of the Yuējiā era (443 AD). The sutra presents the Buddha’s answers to the 108 questions posed by the Bodhisattva Mahāpraj?ā at Mount Lengya, discussing "five laws," "three natures," "eight consciousnesses," "two no-selfes," and "four types of meditation," culminating in the concept of "the storehouse consciousness" (ālaya-vij?āna).
This book is a comprehensive contemporary interpretation of the Lankavatara 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 both scholarly and accessible, making it a unique and engaging reading of the Lankavatara Sutra.