Tag Archives: China

Daily Buddhism, Koans, Reviews

Book: The Sayings of Layman P’ang, by James Green

Book Review: The Sayings of Layman P’ang: A Zen Classic of China
Translated by James Green
Shambhala Publications, 2009, 144 pages.
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1590306309/?tag=askdrarca-20

When the mind is at peace,
The world too is at peace. –Laymen P’ang


Layman P’ang was a Chan/Zen Buddhist during the Tang Dynasty. He serves as an exemplary figure to those Buddhists practicing outside of monasticism. He studied and practiced Buddhism with his whole family and from his stories about them and his writings come the most famous of the Buddhist sayings.

In an age where it was common for those spiritually-minded individuals to give up their possessions and families and go off to live in a monastery, old Mr. Pang chose not to take that route. Instead, he and his family made a living selling baskets and studying with many traveling masters through the years. This book is a collection of nearly 60 stories of Mr. P’ang and his family, and his dialogues with these masters. In these discussions, sometimes the Master would teach Layman P’ang something, but just as often the reverse would happen.

Most of the stories are fairly cryptic to the modern reader, and are essentially koans. One reads the story and asks, ‚Äúwhat just went on there?‚Äù There are extensive footnotes after each story, but rather than explain the meaning, most of the footnotes explain more about the characters or put the story in some kind of context. It’s usually up to the reader to find the meaning.

There is a lot of introductory material in this book before the stories actually start, and much of this introduction is valuable in itself. It explains the significance of being a layman compared to being a monk, and why P’ang is looked at as a traditional hero. It gives a bit ofhistory about the various masters and monks mentioned in the stories and what they are best known for.

The book is short, at 144 pages with largish type and lots of white space. You could read it in an evening if you wanted to make the attempt, but as with most books of this type, it would probably be better to read one or two of the single-page-long stories per day and give them time to make sense.

If you enjoy koans, pick this book up. It’s got the usual koan-style stories in it, but there is enough help in the footnotes to understand what was really going on. Even if you don’t enjoy the ‚Äúriddle‚Äù aspect of koans, Layman P’ang’s thoughtful, mysterious, and funny insights are worth a look.

Daily Buddhism, Reviews

Book: Footprints in the Snow, by Chan Master Sheng Yen

Book: Footprints in the Snow
By Chan Master Sheng Yen
Reviewed by Brian Schell
Doubleday, 210 Pages, ISBN 978-0-385-51330-2
Buy from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/0385513305/?tag=askdrarca-20

Have you ever dreamed about becoming a Buddhist monk? I have. I’ve visited some of those temples, and can imagine living there, doing the daily work, chanting, meditation, and so forth. After reading this book, I see that my mental picture of it all may have been a bit rosy.

Footprints in the Snow is the autobiography of Sheng Yen, a Chan (“Chinese Zen”) Master. There are several biographies of the man in Chinese, but this is the first edition in English. Sheng Yen was born in an extremely poor farming family in the Chinese countryside. With few other options, he was taken by a family friend to the Wolf Mountain monastery, where he learned the basics of becoming a monk. He later moved on to Shanghai, but the war between the Communists and the Nationalists drove him to become a soldier-for-life in Taiwan. Eventually securing his freedom from the soldier’s life, he once again became a monk. After travels to Canada, the USA, and back to China, he finally became a Chan Master and one of those most influential Buddhists alive today. He combines his personal story with historical events, and we can see how political changes in China and Taiwan altered not only his life, but Buddhism in general.

I found this book hard to put down. I’m not usually a fan of biographies, but his easygoing writing style and obvious love of what he does makes every page enjoyable. Along with the story, the author explains a bit of Buddhist philosophy in a comfortable, jargon-free style that DailyBuddhism readers will appreciate. My favorite parts of the book, however, are his interactions with the monks and abbots of the various monasteries. Far from being the altruistic teachers and devoted worshippers we usually envision, he shows us the real picture. Many of the Chinese monks sell their services for money, they get into trouble with alcohol and women, there is “office politics” in the hierarchies, and so forth. The pettiness of some of the monks and abbots are shocking. One thing is clear though, in the monk’s world, everything revolves around money. Given that we stereotypically assume monks to be poor and penniless, above such financial concerns, the reality or monastery life is quite different.

He goes from poor farm boy to a monk, to a soldier, to an abbott, to a monk again, eventually becoming homeless and rising back to the top. All the way, he refines his teaching style and is attached to nothing. It’s a dramatic story, and there are some good educational bits on Buddhism scattered throughout. If you ever wanted to know about Monastery life, this is a must-read.

This one is going into my “Read it Again someday” pile.