New Year's Day Meditation at Jingshan Temple
Jingshan Zen Temple is located in the northwest of Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province. It is known as the “No. 1 Zen Temple in the Southeast”. It was first built in the first year of Tianbao in the Tang Dynasty (742 AD). During the Jiading period of the Southern Song Dynasty, Emperor Ningzong bestowed it as the head of the “Five Mountains and Ten Temples”, and it was revered by the Buddhist circles at that time as the ancestral court of Zen in the world.
Jingshan Temple is becoming more popular year by year, and the ticket price has risen from 5 yuan to 20 yuan. The biting cold wind in the deep mountains after snow cannot stop groups of faithful men and women from coming to the temple to pray for blessings. Although the mountain road is winding, the cars going up the mountain are still in an endless stream. The traffic police had to change the two-way lane to a one-way lane, up from the front mountain and down from the back mountain. The pilgrims who asked for incense at the Dharma object circulation place outside the door didn’t even blink. Only by asking for the most advanced incense set can they represent their inner piety. The smoky candles have also been replaced by electronic candles. After the pilgrims left, the small shop owner outside the door took the electronic candles on the temple case to the outside of the temple and sold them in a cycle. No matter how technology advances and how the times change, human nature does not change, and the problems and pains faced by human groups do not change. Confused people hope to seek relief from the outside, and religion can exist forever. Zen masters have already penetrated the essence of human troubles: Bodhi originally has no tree, and the bright mirror is not a stand. Originally there is nothing, where can the dust be attracted?
The general public goes to temples to burn incense and worship, hoping nothing more than to get blessings by doing good, seeking wealth, children, and health. But Zen masters believe that becoming a Buddha and seeing nature is one’s own business. It is impossible to get the way with the help of others, and it is impossible to seek Dharma outside the heart. Zen has always taught people to seek within themselves, understand themselves, analyze themselves, guide themselves with the principle of “looking for the master”, reach the state of “no self”, treat people with sincerity, not deceive themselves, and not deceive others. Jingshan Temple Zen Master Dahui Zonggao’s “discovering the original face of oneself” is this principle.
American ideological giant Stephen Covey emphasizes that human effectiveness needs principles to guide, and the principles he listed are also the “fairness”, “integrity”, “honesty”, “service”, “potential”, “growth”, etc. talked about by Zen. iDiMi human behavior that has stood the test of time and is self-evident. He proposed that what really needs to be explored is the “inside-out” personal cultivation centered on principles and based on character. Only by achieving inner peace first can success in the public sphere be achieved.
Published at: Jan 1, 2019 · Modified at: Jan 14, 2026
