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Roots of Tso-ch'an in India | TSO-CH'AN


In most spiritual traditions of India, the yogis practice dhyana to attain samadhi at its various levels. After years of austere practice as a yogi, the self-exiled Indian prince Siddhartha recognized that his realization was incomplete. He sat under the bodhi tree vowing not to rise until he had resolved the question of death and rebirth. Only when he became enlightened one evening, after seeing a bright star, did he rise. He had become the Buddha, the primal transmitter of Buddhism in our epoch. The Buddha’s experience became the paradigm of tso-ch’an practice.

With the rise of Buddhism, two forms of practice developed. One is called samadhi liberation and the other is called wisdom liberation. The practice of wisdom liberation does not cultivate the nine levels of samadhi, but goes directly into the enlightened state. Ch’an follows the path of wisdom liberation.

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about
Venerable Sheng Yen is a well-known Buddhist monk, Buddhist scholar, and educator. In 1969, he went to Japan for further studies and obtained a doctoral degree from Rissho University in 1975, becoming the first ordained monk in Chinese Buddhism to pursue and successfully complete a Ph.D. in Japan.
Sheng Yen taught in the United States starting in 1975, and established Chan Meditation Center in Queens, New York, and its retreat center, Dharma Drum Retreat Center at Pine Bush, New York in 1997. He also visited many countries in Europe, as well as continuing his teaching in several Asian countries, in particular Taiwan.
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