(Iris Wang, The President of DDMBA in North America)

It was in 1992 when I learned about the Chan Meditation Center in New York City. On my first trip there I learned Chan meditation and took refuge in the Three Jewels, thus becoming one of Shifu’s disciples. A few years after, Shifu learned that I was running my own textile design business, and asked me if I could help as a volunteer for DDP as associate publisher. At that time, Guo Gu (then still a monk) was the director of translating and editing for DDP, and Shifu was publisher. Guo Gu had just finished editing his translation of Shifu’s Complete Enlightenment and which was published in 1997. My main task as a volunteer was to run the business side, finding publishers, reviewing contracts, making foreign right agreements, and sales. After 1998, the volunteers who worked on the publishing side of DDP returned to Taiwan to become ordained and remained there. I was the only person remaining to handle the business operation.

Soon afterwards, Guo Gu left to become a student at Kansas State University. For a few years there was a period of relative lack of publishing activity by DDP. Around 2000, Shifu called me from Taiwan and asked me to help publish four of his manuscripts. During the telephone conversation, I did not say much, and after Shifu finished talking, I just said, “yes, I will,” and took on the responsibility.

At the end of the following year, we published There Is No Suffering. I reported to Shifu the good news and Shifu wrote:

I am so happy to know that the English version of Heart Sutra is finally published. You all worked hard…Please ask DDP to allocate some of these books for Dharma Drum Mountain and distribute them in Taiwan. In 2002 between January 18 to 20th, Dharma Drum Mountain will be hosting an International Buddhist Conference, I would like to have 50 copies as a gift for the international scholars.

I remember that when Ven Guo Yi, then president of Dharma Drum Mountain Corporation saw this book, she said to me “The design of your book cover is so bold! In Taiwan, Shifu would not have allowed us this kind of design.” Here in the US, Shifu never got involved in the book cover design. Was it perhaps because Shifu knew that I was an art major? Or, was he simply too busy to care about book cover? Or, was it perhaps, because Shifu was less strict with lay volunteers? Or was it because given that the publishing job was demanding and it was hard to find volunteers, that Shifu gave me free rein, so that I would not get frustrated and quit?

Once Shifu told me in the Chan Center office: “Please, don’t be too strict with other volunteers.” Perhaps Shifu had noticed my demanding work style that might offend other volunteers, and therefore advised me like that? His tone was very gentle when he alerted me, perhaps he was careful not to upset that “arrogant me”? I noticed that personality trait of mine when Shifu made that remark and, from then on, tried to be mindful not to demand perfection when working with other volunteers. Had it not been those gentle hints from Shifu, it would have taken me much, much longer to set my mind on practicing patience, compassion, and skillful means.

In those early years, besides Complete Enlightenment and Subtle Wisdom, all other Shifu’s books were all published by DDP. Since DDP did not sign on with any wholesaler to promote its books, Shifu’s books were only known to his disciples and sold through word of mouth, and through the affiliated Chan Centers in the US. In other words, those books did not enter the booksellers’ network, and therefore were not truly available on the open market. Even if one went to the bookstore counter to order them on special request, those books would not be retrievable in any catalogue, let alone be listed on Amazon. So, my first task was to find publishers or wholesalers so that Shifu’s book could circulate in the book market. When one of Shifu’s books in English was published, Dharma Drum Mountain purchased some copies from DDP. There were voices wondering why we did not make Shifu’s books in English free of charge, so that they would attract more readers. I explained to Shifu that according to many publishers, books that were free of charge might be considered of little value and therefore less cherished. Besides, free books would not have a way to be circulated in bookstores. From then on, Shifu never asked me again about making one of his books free. In the following years, my main challenge was always to make sure Shifu’s books would circulate in the market.

Besides two booklets which were published in Singapore and funded by a donor, for the most part DDP did not publish free books. From then on going forward, all books published circulated in the book market. We slowly republished the earlier books so that they, too, would be available on the market. Among the publishers, Shambhala Publications was the company with whom we did the most publishing. In 2006 Shambhala decided to include several early DDP-published books into their print-on-demand category, which allowed those earlier books to appear on the book sellers network. However, Shambala retained future publishing rights including electronic editions and online rights. I consulted with Shifu a few times about whether he really wanted to do that, and each time he agreed. Finally, I asked him again, “Shifu, are you sure? The publisher is asking for publishing rights indefinitely on future editions. They even want publishing rights indefinitely for the electronic and online rights.”

“Shifu answered: “Yes, that way, my books will always have a company to carry it. Otherwise, once I am gone, no one will take care of my books. Please do not be concerned about earning money, we need to care about spreading the Dharma.” Indeed, to manage the marketability of these books, to maintain the relationships with the publisher and wholesaler is not a simple matter, and Shifu’s decision ensured a long-term vision. However, I made sure that all the contracts negotiated had a clause that the manuscript would remain available and could be included in the listings of Master Sheng Yen’s Complete Works.

Shifu’s kindness is always present in his letters. Every time I received a letter from him, he would include greetings for my family and my Dharma friends. For instance, this fax of October 25, 2002, after talking about the publishing business, ends with the following greetings:

I will present your ( book publishing business) report during our board meeting. I am very happy to hear there are three more books planned to be published in the next two years. The merit from you generating bodhi mind will benefit the non-Chinese reader who can now read in English about Chinese Chan Buddhism and benefit from it... ……… First I would like to pay respect to your parents, and send greetings to your husband and children.

The letter also included many greetings to our DDM Chicago members. Now reading his letter, I see a great practitioner’s genuine sincerely and respectful humbleness. Most of our fax exchanges were related to the publishing business. However, there was a fax from 2001 in which Shifu answered one of my questions about daily “practice without concentrated mind.”

In his fax, he wrote:

There is no such term as “practicing without concentrated mind.” However, in daily life, whether we are sitting, standing, walking, or lying down, is not each of these places a field for practice for us? Although we use the Five Methods for Stilling the Mind and the Four Foundations of Mindfulness as entrances to regulate our minds during meditation, if we can reflect and be clearly aware of the mind at all times, it will be the Four Foundations of Mindfulness applied in daily life. Please refer to the chapter, “The Four Foundations of Mindfulness” in my book published in English as “The World of Chan.”

At that time, I was pondering on the subject of how to apply practice in daily life. I actually read the chapter Shifu mentioned and understood its meaning, but I still was lacking the actual method to put it into actual practice. I felt that although Chan tradition emphasized practice in daily life, its method of “simultaneous practice of wisdom and concentration” would not be applicable while a practitioner’s mind was operating in a conventional manner. If our daily practice of interacting with our environment is to mainly use a dualistic mind, how can this practice eventually arrive at the absolute level of “wisdom without outflows”? For lack of a better word, I made up the term “practicing without concentrated mind.” Besides, how to practice the “simultaneous practice of wisdom and concentration” was another puzzle to me.

Many years later I realized that what I originally meant by “practicing without concentrated mind” is referred to as “proper attention” (yoniso manasikara), in the Four Factors Leading to the Stream of Awakening. At that time I did not know of the term “proper attention” so I just had come up with a term on my own. But in 2020, during the Chinese Zoom classes lectured by Ven. Guo Guang at the Dharma Drum Mountain Chan Center New York, the term “proper attention” was mentioned quite a few times. I think it was during the last class on “A Brief Introduction to Vinaya,” when Venerable Guo Guang answered my question saying that the corresponding words for “proper attention” in Shifu’s Chan teaching are equivalent to “awareness.”

A couple of years after that fax, I had another telephone conversation with Shifu. I mentioned again about the practice method of the Four Foundations of Mindfulness. He told me that he would no longer lecture on these methods as he intended to emphasize the methods of Silent Illumination and Huatou instead. Now, looking back on Shifu’s chronicles, in his later years where he spent great efforts advocating Chinese Chan, I can understand why he said that to me.

Every time I pick up Shifu’s book, or see his image, the feeling of repentance arises for my failure to follow his guidance to be mindful every moment in daily life. To this day I am immensely grateful of his kind care as he made efforts to write to me despite his unbelievably busy schedules.

2021 March 22 Northbrook