Cloud and Water - An Interpretation of Ch'an Poems [Paperback]

Master Hsing Yun (Author), Hsing-Yun-Ta-Shih (Author), Hsing Yun (Author), Venerable Master Hsing Yun (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2000

This book is a collection of Ch'an poems, many of which were penned by celebrated Ch'an masters. Master Hsing Yun, author of Being Good (Weatherhill, Inc) and Only a Great Rain (Wisdom), offers us his commentary on each of these poems, giving us the benefit of his many years of deep practice and insight. The master's commentaries not only contain many stories but also new verses of their own which shed light on the meaning of these beautiful poems.

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About the Author

Venerable Master Hsing Yun was born in Chiangtu, Chiangsu province, China in 1927. Tonsured under Venerable Master Chi K'ai at the age of twelve, he became a novice monk at Ch'i-hsia Vihara School and Chiao-shan College. He was fully ordained in 1941, and is the 48th Patriarch of the Lin-chi (Rinzai) Ch'an School. Hsing Yun went to Taiwan in 1949 and soon began to revitalize Chinese Mahayana Buddhism on the island. He founded the Fo Guang Shan International Buddhist Order in 1967, and has established more than a hundred temples in Taiwan and on every continent since. In 1988, Hsi Lai Temple, the US Headquarters was built in Los Angeles. He later also founded the laity organization, Buddha's Light International Association, which now has 120 chapters and over a million members worldwide. Master Hsing Yun is also the author of Humble Table, Wise Fare Part I and II (Hsi Lai University Press), Being Good (Weatherhill), Only a Great Rain (Wisdom), Lotus in the Stream (Weatherhill), and Where is Your Buddha Nature (Weatherhill). Many of his works have been translated into other languages such as German, Japanese, Spanish, and Korean.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

"Worldly ups and downs should be treated as lightly as the clouds gathering and breaking up"

Good deeds stand like a green pine, While evil deeds bloom like flowers. It seems the pine is not as brilliant as the flowers. When the frost comes, the pine will still stand tall, While the flowers, withered, can be seen no more.

This little poem artfully highlights the principle of cause and effect. Good deeds can be compared to a pine tree. When we do a good it may not attract much attention, whereas evil may at first seem appealing. When the time of retribution comes, goodness, no matter how plain, will beget goodness while evil will only bring about ruin and demise.

Product Details

• Paperback: 74 pages
• Publisher: Hsi Lai University Press; 1st. ed edition (April 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1929192037
• ISBN-13: 978-1929192038
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,834,812 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Venerable Master Hsing Yun is a Chinese Buddhist monk, author, philanthropist, and founder of the Fo Guang Shan Buddhist Order, which has branches throughout Asia, Europe, Africa, Australia, and the Americas. Ordained at the age of twelve in Jiangsu Province, China, Master Hsing Yun has spent his over seventy years as a Buddhist monk building what he calls Humanistic Buddhism: Buddhism that meets the needs of people and is integrated into all aspects of life.

In 1949, Master Hsing Yun came to Taiwan and began to nurture the new burgeoning Buddhist culture in Taiwan. He served as an editor and contributor to many Buddhist magazines and periodicals, authoring the daily columns "Between Ignorance and Enlightenment," "Dharma Words," and "Hsing Yun's Chan Talk," as well as starting his own Buddhist magazine, "Awakening the World," in 1957, and the first daily Buddhist newspaper, the "Merit Times," in 2000. Master Hsing Yun authored many important works including the "Song of Silence," the "Biography of Sakyamuni Buddha," and "National Master Yulin." Master Hsing Yun also edited and sponsored the Fo Guang Encyclopedia, the most authoritative Buddhist reference work in the Chinese language. His contributions have reached as far as sponsoring Buddhist music and art, to creating Buddhist programming for television, radio, and the stage.