The Humanistic Buddhist Practice of Meditation

   In life, it sits without lying down
   In death, it lies down and does not sit,
   A pile of smelly bones.
   Why work so hard for it?

In the practice of meditation, once you have developed meditative concentration it does not matter if you are walking, standing, sitting, lying down, carrying firewood, or bringing water—every single action can suddenly lead to enlightenment and seeing intrinsic nature. For true Chan practitioners meditation is whatever they see in their daily lives; it is everywhere. 

Humanistic Buddhism strives to bring meditation into daily life. It advocates using our ordinary, everyday mind, for there is no greater understanding.

Chan challenges us to be constant in our faith, but to use our loving kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity to adapt to the changing world.

It asks us to practice diligently but simply, in a way in which we cherish our blessings, abide by the precepts, and live contentedly.

It tells us to see the Buddha within our own minds, and to carry out all our daily tasks with confidence and perseverance. It requires that we apply ourselves in a dynamic, animated and lively way.

It lets us see that the Way is everywhere, and that there are infinite possibilities.

Chan has always been humanistic, and all Chan masters since ancient times have developed meditative concentration and attained enlightenment from their daily labors. It was only through the passage of time that Chan slowly lost its original character and became like a piece of dry wood.

Humanistic Buddhism is a fresh reintroduction of meditation’s place in daily life. I hope that meditation in daily life can be the key that opens up the confused minds of human beings. Putting on clothes and eating can be meditation. Walking and sleeping can be meditation. Even going to the bathroom can be meditation!

The Diamond Sutra describes the Buddha’s wisdom in his daily conduct: how he dressed, how he carried his alms bowl, and how he gathered alms. He wore clothes and ate like everyone else, but did so with enlightenment.

The Buddha’s teachings are not disconnected from the secular world, and it is not necessary to isolate oneself deep in the mountains to practice meditation. There is no gap between meditation and the world. When one is able to cool the fires of anger and hatred, then everywhere becomes like a cool mountain stream. When the mind is at peace even a bustling crowd can be like a temple.

In my own life as a monk I have spent many years practicing meditation, and though I may not have gained much, I have had the opportunity to contact the deeper meaning of Chan on a few occasions.

In the 1950s Taiwan was still under martial law and people were not allowed to gather freely. I went to many different villages to teach Buddhism, and each time a police officer would come and try to break us up. Once I was giving a lecture when another police officer came to interfere.

He shouted an order at me: “Tell these people to disperse!”

I answered him plainly, “Wait until I finish speaking and they will disperse on their own.”

In the year 2000, Nan Tien Temple, a Fo Guang Shan branch in Australia, was completed and I was asked to conduct the consecration ceremony for the Buddha statue. Ross Cameron, a member of the Australian House of Representatives, had been invited to the event as well, and he asked me, “Of all the world’s religious leaders, who is the best?”

To this I told him, “The one you like is the best.”

On another occasion, I was once asked if my teachings were aligned with capitalism or communism. I responded by saying, “They are not capitalism or communism, they are Buddha-ism!”

Chan is not to be discussed and researched, for its purpose is to improve our lives. Chan brings us all the wealth of the universe. Chan allows us to live; it is the food we drink and the clothes we wear. In the world of a Chan practitioner, some tattered cloth is enough to keep him warm and simple vegetables are enough to cure his hunger. Chan practitioners are one with nature, and wander freely and easily as conditions arise. In a single world, Chan is natural.


From For All Living Beings, written by Venerable Master Hsing Yun.

Image from Pixabay.

More Featured Articles

Most of us have an idea of what constitutes the space outside us; it is the environment in which we live. This includes the house we live in, the city we live in, or even the world we live in. Just as we need to skillfully manage our relationship to others, to the environment, and to wealth, we also need to properly manage our relationship Read more
The Buddhist precepts are here to protect us from wrongdoing, lead us away from what is bad, and towards what is good. Vinaya Master Daoxuan of the Tang dynasty composed the Simplified and Amended Handbook of the Four-Part Vinaya [Sifenlü Shanfan Buque Xingshi Chao], in which he analyzed the precepts in terms of their “rules,” “essence,” “practice,” and “characteristics.” When one puts the actual rules Read more
Control of the body means that we know when to act, and when not to act and that we know how to behave with moderation. Read more
The first realization of The Eight Realizations of a Bodhisatttva Sutra is concerned with what is generally called the Buddha’s view of this world. This first realization is a description of the basic features of the world we live in. The points made in this realization are made in many other Buddhist sutras.The Buddha emphasized these basic points on many different occasions because it is Read more
Dharma is for people. There is one thing about the Dharma that I am completely sure of: the Dharma is for people. The Buddha’s teachings are not a cold philosophy designed merely to rearrange the concepts in our minds, they are a living act of compassion intended to show us how to open our hearts. I learned this truth just as everyone must learn it—by Read more
The analysis of the mind in Buddhism is both multifaceted and sophisticated. As a spiritual practice, Buddhism contains numerous descriptions of the nature and function of the mind and instructions on how to search for, abide with, and refine it. In this regard, Buddhist psychology has much to offer, as does Western psychology.In the beginning, “psychology” referred almost exclusively to “a science that explains the Read more
People suffer from a variety of diseases of the mind, such as being greedy, judgmental, or quick to anger. The Great Perfection of Wisdom Sutra says, “There are four kinds of diseases of the body, which are due to excessive wind, heat, phlegm, or other causes. There are also four kinds of diseases of the mind, which are greed, anger, ignorance, and pride.” Truthfully, it Read more
Harmful attachments are often described in Buddhist literature as impediments or hindrances because they block our view of the truth and prevent us from seeing our own Buddha nature. Read more
“True Dharma” means those teachings which are right, correct, and do not deviate from the Middle Way.The word “Dharma” has several different meanings. One meaningof “dharma” is “phenomena.” In this sense, “dharma” includes phenomena as large as the universe and as small as a mustard seed. “Dharma” also refers to the truth, the teachings of the Buddha. The Dharma the Buddha taught is what allows people Read more
We sometimes see signs on the highway warning: “Keep a safe distance.” Actually, it is not only in driving that we need to keep a distance. For safety reasons, any person and anything in the world needs to keep a distance.Take, for instance, the human body. Our eyes, nose, and mouth all need to keep a distance from one another. Our internal organs all have Read more
Technological progress and advances in modern science have led to material improvements that have enhanced the quality of people’s lives on many levels. Yet, no matter how much we have progressed or how advanced our technology is, there still remain fundamental problems in life that science will never be able to solve.Two of the greatest problems people face are birth and death. No sooner are Read more
All my life, many have thought of me as rich, but the truth is, staying poor has always been my motto. I grew up in a poverty-stricken family, yet I never saw myself as poor, because I always felt rich in heart. Till my old age, many have thought of me as very wealthy because they believe I own many education institutes, cultural enterprises, publishing Read more