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What is the Buddha Mind?What is Ch\’an(Chinese Zen)?What is practice?Many books have been written on Zen, but what does it mean to practice Zen?What really happens on a retreat?What is the role of the Master,the student?
Ch\’an is practice,action,existence, and none of these things.It is beyond words and concepts.It cannot be described,yet GETTING THE BUDDhA MIND goes far indeed in expressing the inexpressible.Much of the book consists of the actual retreat lectures that Master Sheng-yen delivered to his students.These lectures are aimed directly at the methods and problems encountered in practice.They are not prepared lectures,but direct responses to the needs of particular students and the particular situations that the Master encountered on each retreat.
Students are urged to write of their experiences on retreat,and several examples of these writings are included.Throughout the book there are detailed descriptions of the seven-day retreat:the schedule of each day,practice,posture,meals,interviews.
For a beginning practioner or the interested student,GETTING THE BUDDHA MIND is a advanced practitioner can find deep spiritual guidance in these pages.
