Where Is Your Buddha Nature?: Stories to Instruct and Inspire

by Hsing Yun

Storytelling is one of the most ancient Buddhist traditions, and in fact many of the most revered Buddhist scriptures are collections of stories. Where is Your Buddha Nature? is stories that teach, encourage, guide, inspire, and, not least of all, amuse. Gathered into eight groups - stories about the Buddha, about Chan masters, about people, devotees, disciples, animals, monastics, and about Master Hsing Yun himself - they harken back to the earliest origins of Buddhism and at the same time are contemporary and immediate, filled with the hum of the modern world and the real situations, conflicts, and opportunities Buddhists face within it. These accessible and appealing tales and anecdotes are also a perfect and painless introduction to modern Buddhist belief and practice.

144 pages, Paperback

First published December 31, 1996

About the author

Hsing Yun was a Chinese Buddhist monk, teacher, and philanthropist based in Taiwan. He was the founder of the Fo Guang Shan Buddhist monastic order as well as the layperson-based Buddha's Light International Association. Hsing Yun was considered a major proponent of Humanistic Buddhism and one of the most influential teachers of modern Taiwanese Buddhism. In Taiwan, he was popularly referred to as one of the "Four Heavenly Kings" of Taiwanese Buddhism, along with his contemporaries: Master Sheng Yen of Dharma Drum Mountain, Master Shih Cheng Yen of Tzu Chi and Master Wei Chueh of Chung Tai Shan.

Reviews

[Paiman Chen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hidup ini penuh dengan suka dan duka. Semua ini tak dapat kita elakkan. Yang penting kita dapat bangkit lagi setelah mengalami masalah.

[Eric · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eh well, I feel compelled to say I only got this because it was cheap from the local used book store (sorry, Ego doesn't want to see me caught dead with this sort of thing)

I guess on the one hand, it was interesting to see what (one strand of) contemporary Chinese Zen is like (note the infusion of Pure Land stuff; wonder if they put a Zen spin on it, like the Pure Land is right here right now kind of deal), and heartwarming to see examples of human kindness.

On the other hand, I found the sentimentalism a bit hard to stomach, was also irked by how some of the stories came across as “look at what a nice guy I am!” or “if you're nice to people, you will be rewarded!” The devotional choice of words was rather discomfort-provoking, “belief in Buddhism”, “Buddha's Light Mountain”, etc, too

So not really my cup of tea.

(I hope this isn't coming across as being critical of this strand of Zen practice in 20th century Taiwan; it could be that this is basically where you gotta meet people if you're practicing in a culture with widespread pop-acceptance of Buddhism but in a very religious churchy way. Sort of a working with what ya got kind of thing)