A Study On Ven. Yuan Ying’s Thought About Chan

The study on Ven. Yuan Ying’s thought about Chan shows that his Chan theoryis based on the Shurangama Sutra and has carried on Ven. Bodhidhama’s Xin XingLun.The theory covers both the teaching and the practice of Buddhist meditation,which is in accordance with the relevant ideas from Ven. Zong Mi and Ven. YanShou, and forms a system consisted of ideas about the mind, ideas about the practiceand the final aim of the life. His ideas about the mind are based on the theory of theAbsolute Mind, showing that the pure mind of the beings is the root of Buddhahood.The nature or the potentiality of beings is about consciousness, insight and intuition.In Buddhist practice, he believes that it is essential not to think. He says thatconcentration and insight is the basic practice of Buddhist meditation and the aim isto see the Buddha within ourselves. He considers Mahayana meditation is theultimate stage of Buddhist practice. In his theory about Buddhist practice, thereverend takes Pure land as the ultimate goal of the life and classify the practice ofPure Land School as Chan. The value of Ven. Yuan Ying’s thought about Chan is: itis systematic; it could solve some problems found in Chinese Chan School; and itcould, to some extent, helps people to understand Chinese Chan School at thepresent age.