FAITH IN MIND
                       A Guide to Ch'an Practice

                                   by
                            Master Sheng-Yen

              Copyright  1987 by Dharma Drum Publications
                          First Printing 1987
                          Second Printing 1993

         Dharma Drum Publications is the publishing activity of

                Institute of Chung-Hwa Buddhist Culture
                          90-56 Corona Avenue
                        Elmhurst, New York 11373
                          Tel: (718) 592-6593

             Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 70292
                           ISBN 0-9609854-2-5

                                 * * *

                         DharmaNet Edition 1994

      This electronic edition is offered for free distribution via
              DharmaNet by arrangement with the publisher.

     You may print a single copy of this work for your personal use
           without requesting permission from the publisher.
                    Otherwise, all rights reserved.
                                          
                        DharmaNet International
                 P.O. Box 4951, Berkeley CA 94704-4951
                                          

                                 * * *

                            AKNOWLEDGEMENTS

                Translator(poem):       Master Sheng-Yen
                Co-Translator(poem):    Paul Kennedy
                Interpreter:            Dan Stevenson
                     (retreat lectures) Ming-Yee Wang
                                        Karen Zinn
                Transcriber:            Dorothy Weiner
                Editorial Assistance:   Ernest Heau
                                        Richard Kent
                                        Alan Rubinstein
                Book Design:            Trish Ing
                                        Page Simon
                Cover Design:           Trish Ing

                          Karen Zinn, Editor

                                 * * *


                                PREFACE


 Master Sheng-yen is a renowned teacher of Ch'an (Zen) Buddhism. At the
 age of 13, he left his home near Shanghai to become a monk. During the
 period of Communist unrest, he went to southern Taiwan and spent six
 years in solitary retreat. Later, he continued his formal study,
 earning a doctorate in Buddhist Literature from Rissho University in
 Tokyo. He has received transmission in the two major branches of Ch'an:
 the Lin-chi (Rinzai) and Ts'ao-tung (Soto) schools.

 He now divides his time between New York, where he is the Resident
 Teacher at the Ch'an Meditation Center he Founded, and Taipei, where he
 is the abbot of two monasteries.

 Master Sheng-yen offers a guide to Ch'an practice based on the poem
 Faith in Mind. His words are transcribed from lectures given during a
 series of retreats spanning several years.

    "Since the talks were given within the context of intensive
    meditation practice, I did not adopt a scholarly point of view or
    analytical approach. It is not a formal commentary on the text;
    rather, I use the poem as a taking-off point to inspire the
    practitioner and deal with certain issues that arise during the
    course of practice."

    "The phrase 'faith in mind' contains the two meanings of 'believing
    in' and 'realizing' the mind. Faith in mind is the belief that we
    have a fundamental unmoving, unchanging mind. This mind is precisely
    Buddha mind."


                            * * * * * * * *