The Chan Handbook: Talks About Meditation

Hsuan Hua

oct 2012 · Buddhist Text Translation Society

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Not everyone is fortunate enough to attend a meditation retreat with a Chan master, yet everyone can benefit from this handbook that explains the essential principals of chan meditation as taught by the late Tripitika Master Hsuan Hua, former instructor at Nan Hua Monastery in Canton, China, the bodhimanda of the Sixth Patriarch Hui Neng. Compiled from Chinese and translated into English, these talks span a 40 year period during retreats in China and America.

Topics covered include
- What are the benefits of meditation?
- How do we sit in meditation?
- What are the states of meditation?
- How do we reach nirvana?
- What is absolute enlightenment?

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Master Hua was born in 1918 near Manchuria, China into a family of frugal farmers. He learned to read at 15, and after his mother’s death at 19, he became a monk. He meditated by his mother’s grave for three years and practiced other austerities before receiving full ordination.
At Nan Hua Monastery in Canton, Master Hua received the mind-to-mind transmission of the Patriarchs Master Hsu Yun, making him a Patriarch in direct lineage with Bodhidharma, the last patriarch of India, and Hui Neng, the first patriarch of Zen.

In 1962, Master Hua accepted his disciples’ invitation to come to America. In 1966 he set up an in-residence Buddhist study and practice center in San Francisco. In 1970 the center moved to larger quarters and became one of Northern California’s foremost Buddhist centers: Gold Mountain Monastery.
Later the Association founded a number of other centers: The International Institute for the Translation of Buddhist Texts (1973), The Sagely City of Ten Thousand Buddhas in Ukiah (1976) and numerous branch monasteries including the Berkeley Buddhist Monastery which houses the Institute of World Religions. The City of Ten Thousand Buddhas also houses The Dharma Realm Buddhist University (www.drbu.org), Developing Virtue Secondary School, Instilling Goodness Elementary School, Jyun Kang Vegetarian Restaurant and an organic farm.