𣑐Minister Siew, Jiang, honorable Officials, Ladies and Gentlemen: Good afternoon

The State of Zen

Date: Oct. 12, 1990

Place: the Ministry of Economy, Taipei City

Minister Siew, Deputy Minister Chiang, honorable Officials, Ladies and Gentlemen:

Good afternoon. It is my honor to come to your esteemed ministry and to explore "the realm of Zen" with you today. First of all, I would like to thank Deputy Minister Chiang for giving me the opportunity to be with you here, for this is made possible by a very unusual yinyuan (principal and subsidiary causes). Many of you, I believe, have already had great achievements in the study of Zen. However, most people are possibly not clear about the practice and experience of Zen. I thus would like to take the opportunity to report on "the state of Zen."

Sitting meditation is to realize Zen

First of all let's examine "the meaning of Zen." What is Zen? Generally people would consider sitting practice Zen. In fact, sitting practice is only the appearance of Zen. Zen was initially introduced to China from India. Its original name is "jhana", which means "to meditate quietly." This interpretation still sounds vague. What exactly is the meaning of meditating quietly? Actually, the meaning of Zen is to attain the highest wisdom in deep meditation and to realize the reality of all things and events with the highest wisdom. We always hear people say: "Sitting meditation is to realize Zen." To realize what? To realize wisdom and the reality of all things and events. Just sitting quietly and motionlessly doesn't make any sense. The two trees here are always motionless. Are they sitting meditation? As they are unable to realize Zen, they are not sitting meditation. Sitting meditation cannot be separated from realizing Zen, realizing the highest wisdom in order to witness the reality and truth of all things and events.

After we know that Zen is the highest wisdom and the reality and truth of all things and events, I would like to explain the meaning of Zen further with my own personal experience. More than ten years ago for a long period of time, I didn't eat anything except for fruits. During this period of time, one day while sitting meditation, I found that the fruits I had eaten such as papaya, longan and watermelon all appeared in my vision. Later on, I found that smaller fruits have smaller leaves and, by the same token, bigger fruits have larger leaves. Why? It is because larger leaves take in more sunlight than smaller leaves and thus provide the fruits with better nutrients. So, if you want to improve the fruit, you must in the first place improve its leaves. I realized this truth in deep meditation. This is evidence for the fact that the truth of Zen can be discovered in deep meditation.

In practicing Zen, the most important thing is to be in deep meditation. To be in deep meditation is "to be in a calm and centered state of mind." If one remains in a centered state of mind while doing a job, one will do the job satisfactorily. This is one of the benefits meditation brings us. Of course being in deep meditation does not necessarily require sitting motionlessly. We can be in deep meditation in our daily life, whether we are walking, staying put, sitting or lying down.

Next, I would like to talk about the kinds of Zen. According to its purposes, Zen can be divided into qigong (a system of deep breathing exercise) Zen, Taoist Zen and Buddhist Zen. These three kinds can be regarded as worldly Zen, unworldly Zen, and both worldly and unworldly Zen.

Qigong Zen—Physical exercise and mind cultivation

Freedom from hundreds of diseases

The main purpose of qigong Zen is to gain a healthy body and to maintain the balance between body and mind. One method of qigong Zen is "guarding (concentrating on) the apertures." "Apertures" are the important parts in the organs. Take the heart for an instance. First of all, we want to concentrate on the heart. We know there is a hollow in the heart. We concentrate our attention on the hollow. Gradually, all our wild fancy disappears. Without wild fancy, our mind remains calm and concentrated on the heart. We even are able to feel the leaping of the heart and the different feelings the leaping causes. This is a method. Through "guarding" the heart we can direct the qi (vital energy) of the heart. Qi is very important. Without qi, life is finished. Qi is the most important element to prolong our life. Whether we practice qigong or Taoist gongfu, the paramount thing is to nourish qi through practicing breathing.

Everybody knows that when one is forty, fifty or sixty years old, the qi in one's body begins to decline, as we have to use our energy, physical strength and mental power in order to earn a living. The decline of the function of our body undoubtedly influences our health. We can, however, enrich the qi and make it circulate smoothly. We can use the method of "guarding the apertures" and the method of "directing the qi" to direct and move the qi along a regular route in our body. Once you are able to move your qi, you will find that the qi rises up. If the qi rises up, you will become young again.

When we get old, the muscles in our cheeks hang down. This is a phenomenon of aging. After sitting meditation and doing breathing exercise, the qi rises up naturally. Consequently, our metabolism becomes active and the muscles regain their elasticity. In other words, the degenerated organs are able to perform their normal function and we are able to regain our health through this practice. When one maintains a balance between body and mind, one feels relaxed and happy. If you walk, you have a feeling of lightness. This is an advantage of practicing qigong. Qigong Zen, to sum up, can make you live longer and stay healthy.

Taoist Zen

There are two branches of Taoist Zen: the Danding and the Immortals. The Taoists of the Danding branch practice a kind of alchemy. They use the top part of our brain--the part under the acupoint of baihuii-- called the Third Ventricle of brain in medicine--as a cauldron in which to form "pills of immortality." They endeavor to transform the qi produced from the air passing through the heart into "real qi," even into "spiritual qi", "electrical qi" and "light qi"; then to center the qi in the top of the brain (dinglun) and employ the wisdom of deep meditation to transform the qi in the top of the brain together with the spiritual atmosphere (lingqi) of heaven and hearth into dan (pills of immortality), which would supply the nourishment our body requires and enable us to live for one, two or three hundred years, or even longer. This is the branch of Danding.

The other branch, the branch of the Immortals, is more mysterious. They aspire to immortality. In order to make the body exist in the world forever, they examined animals and plants carefully and found that there are Sacred Trees thousands years old. They wondered why the Sacred Trees could live so long, so much longer than human beings. They began to research the mystery of the trees’ longevity and found that the trees are able to live so long because they take in the spiritual atmosphere of heaven and earth all the time. They also found that because of our breathing habit, we human beings are unable to live as long as the trees. Most people use their chest to breathe. Very few people use their abdomen. The Taoists prove that if we can use our abdomen to breathe, we will prolong our life. You know the dogs we raise at home can only live for fifteen or sixteen years. It is because the dog's breathing reaches the chest only; it gasps for air walking a few steps. The dog's life is very short. In order to enable the body to forever exist in the world, the Taoists leave their family and society to become recluses in deep woods (the Buddhist Zen does not require reclusion). They think that there is too much burden and stress in society. There are conflicts and disputes between people in addition to all kinds of pollution--air, material, food and so on. These obstacles thwart the harmony and balance between body and mind. Hence, the practitioners of the branch of the Immortals hide themselves in places where there are mountains, rivers and a spiritual atmosphere.

The meeting of heaven and earth

There are places where spiritual atmosphere remains such as rivers with clear water and the springs in the mountains. If there are no moss or other plants and no creatures on a stone, the stone is not shrouded in spiritual atmosphere. A place having tall trees with luxuriant branches and leaves is replete with spiritual atmosphere. A place with spiritual atmosphere usually has water, mountains and clean air. In such a place, auspicious light comes down from heaven. You know there is convection of atmosphere between heaven and earth to produce atmospheric pressure and wind. According to the lunar calendar, there are two days marking the beginning of solar terms in each month (solar term or jieqi: one of the 24 periods, of approximately 15 days each, into which the lunar year is divided, corresponding to the day on which the sun enters the 1st or 15th degree of one of the 12 zodiacal signs; each period being given an appropriate name indicating the obvious changes in nature at the time it comes round). On these two days in each month, the meeting or convection of the atmosphere of heaven and earth is most obvious. Meditation practitioners like to sit meditation on those days because the effect of meditation is especially strong then. But those who do not practice meditation, particularly older people or sick people, are more vulnerable on those days than on the other days. It is because at the meeting of atmospheres, the qi in nature is withdrawn in a flash. As a result, the qi outside our body is stronger than that within our body and the qi outside thus draws the qi inside away. If you practice meditation and know the way of breathing, the qi inside your body will be stronger than the qi outside. Moreover, you can make use of the spiritual atmosphere of heaven and earth to nourish your body. If you are observant, you will find that older people get old fast on those special days. Those who have serious illness often suffer critical changes on those days.

There are several levels of accomplishment in the Taoist practice: the Human Immortals, the Spiritual Immortals, the Earth Immortals, the Celestial Beings, and the Gold Immortals. When you attain the level of the celestial beings or above, you can stay in the world as long as you wish; you have total control of your life. It is because you don't need ordinary food to sustain your body at that high level of accomplishment. Just like electricity can be produced by various means--by the power of falling water, by heat or by nuclear power, our body can be sustained by a variety of energy. Rice, fruit, milk, water and so on which we take in everyday are like falling water and heat that produce electricity. But our body can also be sustained by taking in the energy existing in nature, in the air and in space, such as minerals, the geothermal energy and the energy from sunlight, the moon, the stars and the wind. These kinds of energy are like the nuclear power. As long as we attain the level of the celestial beings or above, we are able to prolong our life limitlessly by obtaining the energy in nature. We don't have to rely on the ordinary food any more. This is the practice of the branch of the Immortals of the Taoist Zen.

Buddhist Zen—Chanting the name of Buddha and reciting a Mantra

The Buddhists also have their ways of practicing Zen. I think some of you ladies and gentlemen here today are Buddhists while others believe in other religions. Practicing Zen, in fact, is not limited in any religion. The "meaning of Zen" I have just reported to you does not belong to any religion. All religions pursue perfection, reality, and the origin of life or the primordial life. This is Zen. Zen accommodates wisdom and the primordial life.

There are three kinds of Buddhist Zen which are divided according to the way in which one practices meditation. The first kind is "sitting meditation through chanting the name of a Buddha." The practitioners of this kind silently chant "I devote myself to Amitabha," "I devote myself to the Bodhisattva Guanyin," or the names of other Buddhas that make them feel comfortable. They think that chanting the name of a Buddha makes them feel peaceful, keeps them remaining in the calm and centered state of mind, and enables them to attain the harmony of body and mind. They hope to live in the Pure Land with the help of the Buddhas.

The second kind is "sitting meditation through reciting a mantra." Practitioners of this kind rely on reciting a mantra to purify the filthy qi in their body and the world in order to attain the peaceful state of deep meditation.

To chant the name of a Buddha with the heart: Chant through no chanting

I would like to report to you a phenomenon in passing. We often see people chanting the name of a Buddha in the bus or on the street. I would like to make a suggestion to them as to the idea of chanting the name of a Buddha. For example, there are 108 beads on a rosary; you can chant "I devote myself to Amitabha" or "I devote myself to the Bodhisattava Guanyin" once by counting a bead. The 108 beads represent a universe of many universes, which is composed of 36 heavens and 72 grounds. Our body with all its organs and their accessories is this universe in miniature. The real significance of chanting the name of a Buddha is to cleanse all our organs to make them together with the spiritual world as pure as Amitabha or the Bodhisattava Guanyin. Moreover, when you chant, you had better chant with your heart silently instead of chanting with your lips. If you chant with your lips, your lips get tired easily and you forget what you are chanting. Chant silently in your heart. When you chant silently, you can envision a certain Buddha or Bodhisattava you are particularly fond of, such as the Bodhisattava Guanyin or Gautama Buddha. You can also envision the spiritual body (fashen) and even the real image (shixiang) or the Buddha body (foshen) of the Buddha while chanting. In practicing meditation, the best way of chanting the name of a Buddha is chanting through no chanting. You don't chant with your lips, but in your heart you are automatically chanting during the 24 hours of the day. This chanting through no chanting is real chanting. The sculptures of Buddhas we usually see are worldly images (faxiang) of the Buddhas. Actually, a Buddha has, in addition to the worldly image, "light body" or "spiritual body" and "real Buddha body". After practicing meditation, you will attain a level where you obtain the "heavenly eye" and are able to see things you are unable to see with your naked eyes. Then you can develop further to gain the "wisdom eye", "spiritual eye", "Bodhisattava's eye" and even the "Buddha's eye".

The transmission of tradition of the Zen School: 如來心印

The third kind is the Zen envisioned by the Zen school of Buddhism. The Zen school is the most important school of Buddhism. It was introduced to China by Bodhidharma in the reign of Emperor Wu in the Liang Dynasty (AD 502-557, one of the Southern Dynasties--note). Bodhidharma came from India. He stayed at the Shaolin Temple and taught people how to sit Zen meditation. His idea of deep meditation is "no other mind in Zen and no wild fancy in deep meditation." That is to say, in deep meditation one's mind remains in a calm and centered state; one does not have another mind to think of things other than Zen and one does not have wild fancy in deep meditation. Only in this way can one "directly point at the soul" (直指人心) , see the nature of mind and become enlightened (見性成佛). The Zen school of Buddhism is thus the only school that teaches the way of "awakening in a flash of insight," which enables one to become enlightened in this life. The doctrine of the Zen school is taught outside the orthodox Buddhist school. The way of its teaching is characterized by "no dependence on words and letters." It avoids the materiality of writing and sound and makes possible a direct mind communion.

From the founder Bodhidharma through the second Master Hui-ke, the third Master Seng-can, the fourth Master Tao-xin, the fifth Master Hong-ren, and the sixth Master Hui-neng, the tradition is transmitted "from heart to heart," that is, to transmit the Buddha's heart through a Buddha's heart (傳佛心印). With the purest heart, an ordinary person can become a sage. This is the doctrine of the Zen school: "the precious eyes of seeing the truth; Nirvana and the wonderful mind; the true form of no form; the method of wonder and subtlety." And “this transmission of the Budddha-heart should be done outside the teachings and the scriptures.”

The transmission of tradition of the Zen school is not done through a material process. Generally the apostolic succession of the Buddhist schools is done symbolically through handing down such objects as kasaya or cassock (an outer vestment worn by a Buddhist monk), the alms bowl, scriptures and so on. But the transmission of the Zen school is not visible. Though invisible, it is a real transmission, for it is a transmission of the heart. It is like a photocopier, which produces copies as good as the original. Most importantly, a successor is a realized being, in whose body and mind no "myriad living things" and no Hell exist. The so called "myriad living things" refer to our organs such as our heart, liver, spleen, lungs, kidneys, large intestine, small intestine, stomach, gallbladder and so on. The organs have life, so that we have to eat fish, meat, and vegetables to nourish them. The food we take in turns into our body, our muscles and cells. At the time when we die, we find that worms appear out of the muscles and eat up the muscles. So before we attain enlightenment, there are myriad living things in our body.

An enlightened being, on the other hand, has no living things in his body. He doesn't have to eat food. When he dies, his body does not decay. Only when the body has myriad living things in it, does one need to take in food. The so-called "Hell" refers to suffering caused by such things as diseases, stress, worries and so on. "Hell" is the place where one is tormented by physical and mental suffering. The famine in Africa, the war in the Middle East, and the prison are instances of "Hell on earth." Do you still say: "I don't believe in Heaven and Hell"? Only when one attains the level at which there are no myriad living things and no Hell in the body and soul, can one obtain the spiritual body, which is our real self. In Christianity, it is called the light of the Holy Spirit. This is the highest accomplishment in the Zen school of Buddhism.

The benefits of practicing Zen meditation

Now let's talk about the benefits of practicing Zen meditation. The first benefit is that we can change the constitution of our body. After practicing meditation, the qi in our body will change naturally so that we will stay young and energetic. We will therefore increase our working efficiency. Because we have a healthy body, we are able to make contributions in work, family and society. Practicing meditation enables one to change a sick body into a healthy body, for the degenerated cells can be regenerated. If you attain the highest level of accomplishment, you will emit green light and red light. These two kinds of light together make up the light of super-life or the light of the primordial life, which can regenerate sick cells and change the constitution of human body.

Next, practicing Zen meditation makes possible the improvement of one's temperament and disposition. The practitioners of Zen meditation change themselves from the depth of their mind. One's words and deeds are determined by one's thoughts. If you have correct thoughts and ideas, you will naturally do things smoothly and successfully. If you are full of prejudices, you will often encounter difficulties. For example, three teachers in our Mind Communion Zen Foundation take turns to visit the Juvenile Penitentiary at Hsinchu as counselors. It is said that there are other counselors visiting the Penitentiary too. But they are often rejected by the inmates. Strangely, our teachers are not rejected at all. When they played the two songs "Song of the Inspiration of Guanyin" and "Song of the Real Self", the inmates were moved to tears from the depth of their hearts. Those who always made trouble and fought with each other were unbelievably well-behaved, very quiet, as if they were different persons. Not long ago, some of them wrote us to ask for our Zen Light Magazine. Moreover, in order to help some parents educate their spoiled children, our Mind Communion Zen Foundation held a meditation class for children during the summer vacation. The children came to the class once a week. After four weeks, the parents felt the difference of their children. They became well-behaved. This is the power of Zen. Zen is able to change one's temperament and disposition from the depth of one's mind. It is because after practicing Zen meditation, one's desire for creature comforts will be abated. Some people quit smoking, drinking and fighting, and reject such social engagements as dinner parties after practicing Zen meditation. The change is done naturally, not through forcing oneself to abide by the religious commandments. The Zen of the Zen school does not emphasize obeying commandments because "purity" is obeying commandments. A person of "purity" will never do anything against the commandments. Practicing Zen meditation, thus, enables one to change one's temperament and disposition and to transform oneself from an ordinary person into a noble, holy and pure person.

Thirdly, practicing Zen meditation enables one to improve one's relationship with other people. After practicing Zen meditation, one's body stays healthy, so that one is happy all day long. To deal with people with a happy mood prevents a great many conflicts and oppositions. One's relationship with other people is therefore always in a good condition. Being liked by other people, one does things energetically and efficiently. Furthermore, as mentioned previously, practicing Zen meditation makes one gain supreme wisdom. Imperceptibly the wisdom thus gained can be used on our work, family, and even society, nation and the whole world. In addition, practitioners of Zen meditation become very much broad-minded. They don't scramble for fame, profits, or power, which are actually insignificant things. They take things calmly and lead a simple life without worldly desires, not seeking fame and wealth. They live a very substantial and meaningful life.

Finally, in addition to making the body healthy, transforming the temperament and disposition, improving human relationships and gaining wisdom, practicing Zen meditation also brings about a kind of supernatural power. But this is an inconceivable power, known to the practitioners of Zen meditation only. A Chinese saying puts it well: "Only the drinker knows whether a glass of water is hot or cold.” Only through your own experience, can you know what it is. Zen is not realized by means of "speaking," "listening," "reading," or "seeing." Instead, it is realized by means of direct mind communion, reaching the deepest part of the mind. These are the benefits of practicing Zen meditation.

After talking about the kinds and benefits of Zen, I would like to inform you of the state of Zen. In this world, some things can be seen by our eyes while other things are invisible. The visible is the material world. For instance, you can see me and I can see you. The material world is also the physical world, corresponding to the senses of our bodies. The reflection we get when we use our eyes to see, our ears to hear and our brain to think belongs to the material world. But the realm of Zen includes not only the material world but also the spiritual world and the world of the soul. The "spiritual world" is the world of knowledge. The material world is a perceptual world while the spiritual world is a rational world. Practicing Zen meditation helps one develop from the perceptual to the rational level. When a person appeals to the perceptual ability alone, s/he is stubborn and obstinate, even making trouble willfully, thinking his/her opinion is the only truth. The spiritual world is rational. It is the world of knowledge, corresponding to the seventh consciousness or our hidden consciousness. The specialized knowledge obtained through learning and the accumulation of experiences can be used to broaden our spiritual horizon. It is not enough that we live a material life; we need to develop our spiritual life, spiritual horizon, spiritual quality, spiritual world.

Besides the material and the spiritual level, the state of Zen also includes the level of the soul . This is the level of the Zen school, in which one points directly at the soul, the fundamental soul, the purest, the ultimate or the primordial life, which is the eighth consciousness, also called “Alaya-vijnana” or “ 光明藏.” The seventh consciousness is "Klista-mano-vijnana" The eighth consciousness is the condition of deep meditation, in which the mind is in a calm and centered state. No matter what religion one believes in, if one attains this level, one is able to control one's life as well as the rhythm of nature. One can change not only oneself but also society, nation, and even the whole world and the universe. It is because such an accomplished one has the power of prediction and the power to transcend time and space. Moreover, such a person understands most clearly the material level, the level of knowledge and the level of the soul respectively. The level of the soul is the level of wisdom, which is the topmost level. It is produced in deep meditation. It is the reality, the truth of heaven, earth and nature. You arrive at the level of Zen if you are able to develop from the material level to the spiritual level and furthermore to the level of the soul, that is, from the sixth consciousness to the seventh and the eighth (the world of light and purity) consciousness, from the visible world of form and shape to the invisible world, and moreover to the world of non-form and non-shape, which is the world of the real. A person who arrives at the level of Zen is perfect, is an extraordinary sage, a prophet of the topmost level of accomplishment. This is very important.

If the human world attained at such a level, there would be no opposition between people. It would become a world of peace and calmness, a world of the true, the good and the beautiful. In conclusion, we have to know the meaning and the kinds of practicing Zen meditation, and to ascertain the direction of our practice; otherwise, there is no significance in practicing Zen meditation.

The Reunification of China

In the following I would like to talk about the reunification of China from the viewpoint of the state of Zen. I think everybody is concerned about the problem of reunification. The two sides of the Taiwan Straits have been separated from each other for 41 years. Not until the lifting of martial law in Taiwan did the contact between the two sides on the non-official level begin to develop. We have seen the reunification of East and West Germany. South and North Korea will be unified soon. Is there a possibility that we China will be reunified? How can it be done? Is unification or separation better? In my opinion, unification is certainly better. Taiwan is a small place, whose area is two hundred times smaller than the land of Mainland China. It's population, however, is one percent of the population of the mainland. Moreover, it is short of natural resources. If the experience, wisdom and knowledge of Taiwan could be used to develop the mainland, the life of our one billion compatriots would be improved. So, there are more advantages than disadvantages as far as the reunification of China is concerned. Now that China must be reunified and will be reunified, how can the reunification be made possible? To accomplish this, both of the two sides of the Taiwan Straits need to use high wisdom.

I remember before 1989, the slogan our government put forth was "To Reunify China with the Three Principles." As a practitioner of Zen meditation, I think this political slogan is unable to touch the hearts of the people on mainland China. The idea "To Reunify China with the Three Principles" is absolutely correct. But the people on Mainland China do not know what "the Three Principles" are. Hence, this political slogan does not work.

Once I had a chance to talk with Mr. Ma Ying-jiu (the vice chairman of Mainland Affairs Council). I particularly mentioned my opinion about the "Three Principles" slogan. I suggested that the government use "Liberty, Democracy, Prosperity" as the present political slogan. The reasons are as follows: "Liberty" is to change the collective dictatorship of the Chinese Communists into a liberal system; "Democracy" is to transform the dictatorship of the Communist party; "Prosperity" is to eliminate the widespread poverty in Communist China so as to gain the support of the people on the Mainland and in Taiwan as well as the overseas Chinese. Next, let's talk about the controversial issue of the form of reunification. Such forms as "one country two systems", "one country two governments", "one country two territories" and so on are all unsuitable for the future China as a unified nation. The mode of the future peaceful reunification of China must be "one country one system" which is a multi-party system government. One country refers to the "Great Republic of China" (Great Liberal China), one system to "liberal economic system", and multi-party to democratic multi-party participation in government.

Once having a clear idea of the mode of the reunification of China, we have to start the contact and negotiation with the mainland in terms of economy, culture, religion, politics and so on. In economy, what mainland China needs urgently at present is energy industries such as the petrol-chemical industry, information industry, auto industry, the fertilizer and farm chemical industry and so on. The idea of "establishing specialized zones in Mainland China" brought forth by Deputy Minister Chiang, in my opinion, is very good. We can establish specialized zones to meet their needs. Our people here can be the pioneers of liberal economy after some training. In this way we can break their collective system. Premier Li Peng, in fact, has already made policy adjustment as regards the present system of state property. The new system allows corporation or individual investment, and it will gradually become a liberal economic system. The Communist system is not suited to the trend of modernization. Our government should take the initiative to make contact and negotiate with them. We should, on equal terms with them, replace the policy of "three no's" with "three communications." Likewise, we can ask them to discard the "four insistences." We can ask them to allow our mass media, such as the Central Daily, to set up offices on the mainland. By the same token, we can also allow their People's Daily to set up an office in Taiwan. Our KMT can set up a branch party headquarters across the Taiwan Straits while the Chinese Communist Party can set up their headquarters here in Taiwan. In this way, contacting each other on the economic, cultural, religious, social and political levels, Taiwan and the mainland can be reunified after a period of time.

The talks on the reunification had better be held in the following three or five years. After three or five years, once Mainland China changes its present policy and its economic system, we will lose the advantages we now have. We will lose the dominant position. So, we have to start the talks in the following three or five years. The reunification must be and will be accomplished in ten years. The twenty-first century is the century of the Chinese. It is the century in which the Chinese people are most glorious, most proud of themselves. It is the century in which the Chinese show their highest wisdom and realize Dr. Sun Yat-sen's ideal of the World of Great Harmony.

The state of Zen is the world of the true, the good and the beautiful. To attain this state, one must have the spirit of "transcending." One should transcend the spiritual and material predicaments in order to attain the pure land of the soul. One should employ transcendent wisdom to remove ignorance and go beyond all knowledge. After obtaining the transcendent wisdom, one is able to change oneself, one's family, society, nation and the whole world. One is even able to change one's spirit into the pure land of the soul. Only in this way can the world of "the true, the good and the beautiful" be made possible and one can live forever in the country of Buddha. 　