The Self and No Self

(English version available)

This book elucidates the correct principles about the Self and No Self from the perspective of the Buddha Bodhi Path. Buddhist learners will fully understand the secret meanings of the Buddha Dharma either through implicit or explicit teachings or through the principles of the middle way in the Buddha Dharma. They will thus not fall into the erroneous view of the theory of no-cause, which propounds the view of non-self and nihilistic emptiness embedded in the notion of “emptiness of all phenomena.” Buddhist learners will then gradually enter and embrace the true essence of the Buddhist principles. The Buddhist disciples of all the four assemblies will thus be able to withdraw from their attachments to inaccurate teachings even from well-known masters. By aligning themselves with the correct principles about the Self and No Self and thus attaining direct comprehension of the perfect harmony between the principles and phenomena from the aspect of the Three-Vehicle Buddha Dharma, practitioners will be able to nurture the causes and conditions necessary to progress toward the Mahayana path of vision. After attaining awakening to the True Mind, practitioners will comprehend the true meaning of the following lines: “Within No Self there is a Self and within the Self there is No Self. In nirvana, there is a true consciousness, and the Self and No Self both vanish therein.”

Nirvana 

Explaining the Realization and the Contents of the Four Kinds of Nirvana

(Two-Volume Series in Traditional Chinese)

Buddhism has long been infiltrated by erroneous, non-Buddhist views consisting of eternalism and nihilism. To help the four assemblies of Buddhist disciples truly realize nirvana and revive Buddhism, the most pressing task today is to teach these disciples to relinquish such erroneous views so that they would not fall into the concept of permanent existence of the five aggregates (skandhas) and the eighteen elements (dhātu) and would obtain the wisdom required to later attain the Three-Vehicle Bodhi. Toward this end, it is crucial to elucidate the various meanings of nirvana so that the four assemblies of Buddhist disciples can acquire a correct understanding of it by listening to the teachings on it that are in accord with reality, attain true wisdom after contemplating such teachings, and abandon the erroneous teachings on it. Based on this, the Buddhist disciples’ cause of practice and the true realization of the Three-Vehicle Bodhi will be conceivable. This was my initial reason for writing this book.

The English version of preface for this book is available for free download! 

Signless Buddha-Mindfulness

(English version available)

This book establishes numerous expedients, from beginner-level practices to more sophisticated ones, to facilitate the cultivation and practice of the wondrous Dharma door of Signless Buddha-Mindfulness. The book will assist practitioners of Buddha-Mindfulness who have been practicing it for 20–30 years to no avail attain the state of an undisturbed one-pointed  mental focus in a relatively short period of time, and to continue to enjoy such benefit for a lifetime. This book has gone through 39 printings, with over 780,000 distributed copies.

The Contemplation of No-Self in Mahayana Buddhism –

A Special Exposition before and after Enlightenment

(In Traditional Chinese) 

This book explains the no-self of Mahayana Buddhism in terms of the requirements for attaining enlightenment and the sequential stages of practice after attaining enlightenment. Insightful explanations of the differences and similarities between the realization of the Two Vehicles’ Path to Liberation and the realization of the Great Vehicle’s Path to Buddhahood are also provided. The sequential post-awakening cultivation stages for achieving Buddhahood are clearly stated. The book also preaches the various states of direct comprehension that should be personally realized in the bodhisattvaʼs course of practice for each Ground (bhūmi), and the path toward Buddhahood is clearly illustrated.

Stages in Cultivating Buddha-Mindfulness Samadhi

(In Traditional Chinese) 

Practitioners cultivating the Buddha Dharma should know its various stages and sequences and their proper realignment. This will enable one to employ skillful and expeditious means of attaining the Dharma. The author is compassionate with Buddhist practitioners who wish to realize the Ultimate Reality, and advises them on the principles of shifting and realigning themselves in the search for knowledge about the Ultimate Truth. Employing skillful means, the book teaches practitioners to shift from the practice of the sign-dependent Buddha-Mindfulness to the signless Buddha-Mindfulness. Building on the successful attainment of the ability to practice the signless Buddha-Mindfulness, one will then proceed to enter the practice of Buddha-Mindfulness in the Ultimate Reality.

Perfect Harmony Between Chan and Pure Land

(In Traditional Chinese) 

This book elaborates on what patriarchs of the Pure Land School and the Chan School never revealed nor explained: the perfect harmony on Chan and Pure Land practices. This book reveals a short cut to attaining Buddhahood, taking into account the notion of both self-power and other-power at the same time to elaborate on an easy and expediting path from the Pure Land practice as well as an easy and expediting path from the sacred teachings of the Buddha. It enables an enormous number of practitioners from the Pure Land School to alleviate the shortcoming of their slow progress as well as the painful difficulty of attaining realization. At the same time, practitioners drawing from the sacred teachings of the Buddha in the Chan School can employ the same expedited path practiced by those from the Pure Land School and attain Buddhahood in the same accelerated manner.

An Introduction to the Agama Sutra

(In Simplified Chinese)

This book focuses on the connotations of attaining enlightenment. How sound hearers and solitary realizers should practice the Path to Liberation is extensively explained. Venerable Pingshi further faithfully unveils the true doctrines of the sound-hearer Bodhi underlined in the four Agamas, highlighting the principles that are too implicit to be correctly and fully comprehended by Buddhist learners. By following these expositions, the contemporary and future Buddhist learners on the Path to Liberation will be able to distance themselves from their own speculative noumenon, thus attaining the first fruition by truly eliminating their self-view and even attaining the fourth fruition of liberation.

Chan: Before and After Enlightenment

(Two-Volume Series in Traditional Chinese; One Volume in Simplified Chinese)

These books will enable Buddhist learners to strengthen their faith and obtain an accurate understanding of how to practice their faith as they go on the path toward awakening. The sequential practice methods and how to attain enlightenment in the Chan School are discussed in detail. At the same time, these books point out and clarify the subtle mistaken or misleading notions about Chan contemplation, thus helping Buddhist learners recognize the unsound teachings of some masters and further enabling them to attain enlightenment or to realize their True Minds and see their own Buddha nature. Practitioners can then progress toward the stage of the First Ground (first bhūmi) to become a true son of the Buddha through post-awakening cultivations.

The Secret Meanings of the Heart Sutra

(In Traditional Chinese);

Mastery of School Tenets in the Heart Sutra, (In Simplified Chinese)

This book explains the secret meanings of the Heart Sutra. It also expounds on the relationships between the Heart Sutra and the Path to Liberation, the Path to Buddhahood, and the Gong‘an cases from the Chan patriarchs. The real meaning of the Three-Vehicle Bodhi is also clearly explained in plain and simple language so that learners can get a glimpse of the profundity of the true Buddhist Dharma.

A Discourse on the Vimalakīrti Sutra

(Six-Volume Series in Traditional Chinese; Three-Volume Series in Simplified Chinese)

In these books, Venerable Pingshi extensively elaborates on the Vimalakīrti Sūtra and narrates the state of the wondrous wisdom of the non-duality specific to the Buddha Dharma of the Great Vehicle. The Vimalakīrti Sūtra elucidates the unsurpassed and wondrous meaning of the Mahayana principles expounded and manifested by Vimalakīrti Nirdeśa, a Virtual Enlightenment bodhisattva who displayed ill during the time of the Buddha. This sutra has been the literature of choice and the “magic mirror” (reflective mirror of false enlightenment) of the Chan School. Although the wording of the sutra seems simple and concise, the extent of the meaning is immense. Those who practice and cultivate prajna or seek to attain awakening to the True Mind should apply the true meaning of this sutra when examining themselves. This will enable them to avoid committing the karma of grievous false speech concerning enlightenment due to ignorance. In addition, by employing the true meaning of this sutra, one can correctly adjust the direction and method of one’s Chan contemplation and thus attain true enlightenment.

A Discourse on the Śūraṅgama Sutra

(Fifteen-Volume Series in Traditional Chinese)

This is an unparalleled exposition series by Venerable Pingshi published after his 20-year propagation of the tathagatagarbha True Dharma. For the first time, it explains the profound Śūraṅgama Sutra in detail and in plain language. The compassionate Venerable Pingshi earnestly and clearly elucidates the abstruse and hidden meaning of this sutra on the basis of the Tathagata and the Buddha-nature explicated in it, which has been difficult to comprehend since ancient times and confirms that this sutra was indeed proclaimed and taught by the Buddha himself. It also directly reveals the various kinds of demonic harassment and the deviant paths that one might encounter during one’s cultivation of the Path to Buddhahood. Its exquisite and wondrous exposition not only makes the few proponents of the erroneous theory of the six sense-consciousnesses who had slandered this sutra, claiming that it is a fake one, unable to refute it but also exposes the faults and flaws of the demonic tricks in this Dharma-ending age so that they now have nowhere to hide! The complete set comprises 15 volumes.

A Discourse on the Treatise on the Awakening of Faith in Mahayana

 (Six-Volume Series in Traditional Chinese) 

This book series, Treatise on the Awakening of Faith in Mahayana, provides a detailed explanation of the true meaning of the door of the mind of arising and cessation and the door of the mind that is reality-suchness. It aims to eliminate masters’ and practitioners’ misunderstandings since the past of the meaning of the door of the mind of arising and cessation stated in this treatise. Thus, the true meaning of this treatise, which has been misinterpreted and has thus become obscure, can be revealed. This will allow the reader to correctly grasp the principle of the Middle Way of the True Mind, the tathagatagarbha, that which is neither permanent nor extinct. The exposition and augmentation of the right principles of the Mahayana Path to Buddhahood will thus be broadened and expanded. Beginners can also take advantage of the teachings in this correct treatise to develop true faith in the Mahayana principles. Henceforth, they can truly initiate the Bodhi mind, enter Mahayana practice, and cultivate the correct Bodhisattva Way life after life. This book series comprises six volumes in total, each with more than 300 pages, and is based on lectures by Venerable Pingshi.