Master Nan Huai-Chin

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Master Nan Huai-Chin (Mandarin pinyin: Nan Huai Jin) is one of the most renowned and revered lay Buddhist Masters in Taiwan and China.

He was born in 1918, in Wenzhou City, in China's Zhejang Province to a scholar-class family. He is a renowned teacher in all three traditions of spiritual cultivation in China, specifically the Confucian tradition, the Buddhist tradition and the Taoist tradition.[1]

Master Nan's experience is vast. In his youth at the age of 18, he had already become the provincial martial arts champion after studying several Chinese martial arts which included swordsmanship. By that time he had also mastered various Confucian and Taoist works as well as cultivated his interests in Chinese medicine, Chinese literature, calligraphy and poetry.

Master Nan studied social welfare at the Jin Ling (Nan Jing) University and later went on to teach at the Central Military Academy. In the late 1930s at age 21 years of age, Master Nan became a military commander at the border regions of Szechuan, Sikang, and Yunnan being responsible for the command of 10 000 soldiers.[2]

Later in 1942 at age 24, Master Nan went on a three year cultivation retreat in the Er-Mei Mountains which was one of the four sacred Buddhist pilgrimage sites in China. It is said that it was there that he verified his experience against the Chinese Tripitaka. Throughout Master Nan's young life he had always sought out various masters of Buddhist and Taoism, among other teachings, and is said to have studied under 32 major teachers as well as many lesser known ones

As time passed to 1945, Master Nan later traveled to Tibet to further master the teachings of the Esoteric school of Buddhism. It was there that Hutukto Kung Ka of the White Sect also verified Master Nan's Zen enlightenment. Hutukto Kung Ka later gave Master Nan the additional title of Esoteric Dharma Master. This act was significant because it made Master Nan one of the few multidisciplinary experts in the world to be versed in the cultivation schools of Esoteric Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, and Zen Buddhism.[3]

Following the takeover of China by the Communists, Master Nan later moved to Taiwan in 1949 where he became an internationally famous professor. His first book, The Sea of Zen was published in 1956 and would be the first in a line of over 30 books and related materials he would publish.

Over the decades, his books have achieved great heights of popularity in China and Asia as a whole. Some of his more popular works have gone to a 20th printing in Taiwan and some are even used in schools. His teachings have made an impact on many intellectuals both young and old and has contributed in part to the resurging interest in Buddhism in China. J.C. Cleary, who has translated two of his books into English wrote, "There is no question that Master Nan's work is a cut above anything else available from modern authors, either academic or sectarian..."[4]

In January 1992, Master Nan signed a contract with the government invested 920 million yuan to the Jinwen Railway which is the first joint-stock railway in China. In the 1990s Master Nan changed his place of residence from Taiwan to Hong Kong. From 2004, Master Nan relocated to China where he currently resides near SuZhou City.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Master Nan Biography from www.bluenaturenetwork.com
  2. ^ Master Nan and his teachings
  3. ^ Interview with Master Nan
  4. ^ Master Nan book review "The Cultivation of Practice" translated by J.C. Cleary

[edit] References

  1. Master Nan Biography from www.bluenaturenetwork.com
  2. Master Nan and his teachings
  3. Interview with Master Nan
  4. Master Nan book review "The Cultivation of Practice" translated by J.C. Cleary
  5. Master Nan Online Database