Concept
Yin Shun
Overview
Yin Shun (印順, Yìnshùn; 5 April 1906 – 4 June 2005) was a Chinese Buddhist monk and Madhyamaka scholar. Though he was particularly trained in the Three Treatise school, he was an advocate of the One Vehicle (or Ekayana) as the ultimate and universal perspective of Buddhahood for all, and as such included all schools of Buddha Dharma, including the Five Vehicles and the Three Vehicles, within the meaning of the Mahayana as the One Vehicle. Yin Shun's research helped bring forth the ideal of "Humanistic" (human-realm) Buddhism, a leading mainstream Buddhist philosophy studied and upheld by many practitioners. His work also regenerated the interests in the long-ignored Āgamas among Chinese Buddhist society and his ideas are echoed by the American Theravadin teacher Bhikkhu Bodhi. As a contemporary master, he was most popularly known as the mentor of Cheng Yen, the founder of Buddhist Tzu Chi Charity Foundation, as well as the teacher to several other prominent monastics.
Although Yin Shun is closely associated with the Tzu Chi Foundation, he has had a decisive influence on others of the new generation of Buddhist monks such as Sheng-yen of Dharma Drum Mountain and Hsing Yun of Fo Guang Shan, who were active in humanitarian aid, social work, environmentalism and academic research as well. He is considered to be one of the most influential figures of Taiwanese Buddhism, having influenced many of the leading Buddhist figures in modern Taiwan.
Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).
Possible passages
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But though the Tao as it comes from the mouth, seems insipid and has no flavour, though it seems not worth being looked at or listened to, the use of it is inexhaustible. 36. 1. When one is about to take an inspiration, he is sure to make a (previous) expiration; when he is going to weaken another, he will first strengthen him; when he is going to overthrow another, he will first have raised him up; when he is going…
Laozi, The Tao Teh King
States what Yin Shun is.
When the Greeks say that the absolute is one, or when men in modern times say that it is the highest existence, all determinations are abolished, and by the merely abstract Being nothing has been expressed excepting this same negation, only in an affirmative form. But if Philosophy has got no further than to such expression, it still stands on its most elementary stage. What is there to be found in all this learning?
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Hegel's Lectures on the History of Philosophy
States what Yin Shun is.
Such things as laws and constitutions are but free gifts on His part, not in any sense popular rights. Of course, the ministers and officials, high and low, who carry on His government, are to be regarded not as public servants, but rather as executants of supreme--one might say supernatural--authority. Shinto, because connected with the Imperial family, is to be alone honoured.
Bertrand Russell, The Problem of China
Close in meaning to Yin Shun; the term itself is not named.
Philosophers who discussed Yin Shun
Related ideas
- Immortality
- Āgama (Buddhism)
- Humanistic Buddhism
- Mahayana
- Taoism
- Bhikkhu Bodhi
- Google Books
- Buddhist paths to liberation
- Christianity
- Madhyamaka
- East Asian Mādhyamaka
- Confucianism
- Sheng-yen
- Dharma Drum Mountain
Place in the tradition
Part of Buddhist philosophy.