it was a great pleasure to read some of the classic ch'an/zen poetry on the matter of enlightenment. i wish i could read more of this type of thing. Master Shen has really done a wonderful thing by producing this little book for people in enlish. it is not always possible to be happy in this life, whether enlightened or not, and i only hope that he will have happiness in the latter years of his life and a peaceful birth. thank you master shen.
Many people will enjoy reading these Ch'an gathas (verses). However, in places, I felt certain misgivings about the commentary material. For instance, I wondered if the dismissive remarks (p. 45)about Yung-chia's ???iJpn. Yoka Daishi) T'ien-tai (Jpn. Tendai) background were justified, as if the merits of the 'Cheng Tao Ke' or 'Song of Enlightenment' had to be seen wholly as the fruit of Yung-chia's Ch'an training.???@True, Yung-chia confessed that he had formerly devoted excessive attention to sutras and shastras etc. However, like a number of early Ch'an masters, Yung-Chia embraced a joint T'ien-tai/Ch'an practice. The T'ien-tai 'triple insight' and 'combined triple insight' (a Chinese adaption of samatha-vipsayana) refers to a dynamic practice, complementary to Ch'an. Hence, while Yung-chia certainly extolls Ch'an in his famous gatha, the 'Song of Enlightenment' could equally well be seen as a reflection of T'ien-tai based insight. Tao-yuan's 'Transmission of the Lamp' (Chuan Teng Lu) - technically a Ch'an school document, included several T'ien-tai masters. The picture here is not quite so black and white as we might suppose. The more 'formal' aspects of T'ien-t'ai are another matter.
Again, I was puzzled by the remarks about the Ts'ao-tung school's 'wu-wei' or 'Five Ranks' (p. 74) suggesting that they 'all have the same basis in enlightenment.' What is that supposed to mean? Though the Ts'ao-tung teaching alludes to 'five ranks,' what it boils down to, in practice, is a 'three way interplay' between - the 'guest' position, the 'host' position - and the host-in-host.' These are distinct phases of insight, and it is only in the final stage - that the distinctions, hitherto coined in the teaching - dissolve away. These shifts of emphasis are clearly emphasised in other Ts'ao-tung gathas - omitted from - or not found in, Sheng-yen's collection. Masters Tung-shan and Ts'ao-shan devised this teaching to help their students mature in their training. Hence, it seems misleading to generalise about it with amorphous distinctions.
A final point. A number of these gathas or verses have been translated before - with supplementary material closely connected with them. Whether as a token of respect to the translators - or as a matter of practical relevance to the reader, acknowledgement of this would have been fitting.
