Preface

　　Venerable Dr. Yin Shun is one of the greatest contemporary Buddhist masters. He has spent more than sixty years in the Buddhist Order. Although he has throughout his life suffered almost constantly illness, his strong determination and perseverance has allowed him to complete a huge collection of works on Buddhism. Unfortunately, most of his works remain in Chinese. Only a very small proportion of them have been translated into English and Japanese. There are experts in Theravada; in the Mahayana; in Vajrayana; in Buddhist history; on Zen and on various other schools in Buddhism. But these scholars and masters each worked, for the most part, in a limited sphere, and very few of them can give us an integrated understanding of Buddhism as a whole. The Venerable”s collected works serve this purpose very well. They help clarify confusion regarding Buddhist practices and show us the right path in order to follow the teaching of Buddha.

　　Buddhism has a history of more than two thousand five hundred years. After the Buddha”s Parinirvana, His Dharma continued to develop and grow in India. Later, it spread throughout the countries of Asia, adapting its forms and rituals to inpidual cultures. During its development and propagation, the teachings of Buddhism were enriched and necessarily employed skilful means (s. upaya) in order to assist the transmission of the Buddha Dharma to different inpiduals. However, when these skilful means and the absolute truth lying behind Buddhism cannot be distinguished or understood clearly, confusion may arise and may even prevent us from pursuing true spiritual development.

　　As Venerable Yin Shun says in his preface to "Buddhism in India",

　　"I deeply believe that during the long period of the development of Buddhism, some teachings have been changed and even deformed. Therefore, the core teachings of Buddhism have to be revealed and the cause of the change in the teachings has to be understood. Only with this will we be able to distinguish, clarify and distill the teachings."

　　With these purposes in mind, as stated in "The Method and Attitude in Learning Buddhism", Venerable Yin Shun has put most of his efforts into "searching what are the ultimate and core teachings in Buddhism

　　 How does Buddhism develop over time

　　 How has the teaching changed in India

　　" Furthermore, he uncovers the links between various teachings and presents the vast system of Buddhist thought as an integrated whole. Although not all the teachings we find in Buddhism today equally parallel the core teachings, Venerable Yin Shun is impartial with respect to the development and mutation of Buddhism through various schools and traditions. Instead of ridiculing the variety of practices and beliefs, he expounded the truth. When Venerable Yin Shun comments on a particular practice in Buddhism he does not draw us into hasty value judgements. He is always very patient. Customarily his commentaries start with an explanation of the origin of a certain practice, and then explicate how that given practice changes in order to create the forms we see today. In "The Method and Attitude in Learning Buddhism" Venerable writes: "It is not just a simple question of right or wrong. We have to perceive these changes as skilful means and as developmental adaptations."

　　Venerable Yin Shun does not bind himself to any particular school or tradition. The way he approaches and learns Buddhism, as explained in "Learning Buddha Dharma Through Buddha Dharma", is based on the Three Universal Characteristic of Buddha Dharma i.e.

　　“All existence and phenomena are subject to change (s. anitya),

　　All existence and phenomena do not have any substantial reality (s. anatman),

　　The eternally serene state of Nirvana"

　　The state of Nirvana is the ultimate aim of all …

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