May 2016 Zazenkai Talk (Heshang Moheyan (和尚摩訶衍))

Today's Talk is dedicated to a fellow who historically got a bad rap. It is also shows how much our Shikantaza Zazen ways resonate with the Teachings of the ancient Masters in the earliest days of Zen ... Heshang Moheyan (和尚摩訶衍)) was a late 8th century Chan monk (Chan is the Chinese name for Zen). He became famous for representing Chan in the so called "Council of Lhasa," a debate held in Tibet between adherents of the Indian teachings of "gradual enlightenment" and the Chinese teachings of "sudden enlightenment," which according to tradition was won by the "gradual teachings", causing Moheyan and all Chan Teachings to be expelled from Tibet. However, recent research has disclosed that the story is not so simple, and may represent a rewriting of history and what actually happened by those later advocating the esoteric teachings we now know as Tibetan Buddhism. It is now known that Moheyan and Chan Teachings were very influential and widely accepted in long ago Tibet for a long time before they were purged. Further reading and discussion for this talk are available on the Treeleaf forum: May 6th-7th, 2016 - OUR MONTHLY 4-hour ZAZENKAI! »