Global Buddhist Community

  In 1998 and 2003, Master Sheng Yen visited Saint Petersburg and Moscow respectively to give guidance for local Buddhist practitioners, introducing Chan teachings into Russia. Over the past 19 years, how have his Russian disciples helped spread the seeds of Chan Buddhism and progressed with their practice? This in-depth interview with Sasha and Rinya, leaders of Wujimen Martial Art School and Buddhist organization in Saint Petersburg, will give you a glimpse of how Chan practice already constitutes part of their daily life.   Part I:Encountering with Master ShengYen in Russia Q: How did you get to know Master Sheng Yen? What are your memories of “Shifu” (Referring to Master Sheng Yen) and how has he affected your life? Sasha: My disciples brought some Polish magazine to me. This was in 1997. It contained a short article about the Master's activities, but most of all I liked his photograph. An idea emerged to invite him to Saint Petersburg, however it seemed a pure fiction: how would a man like him respond and come to us?... Nevertheless we wrote an invitation letter on behalf of Wujimen, my school of martial arts, and a small local Buddhist organization named ''Dharma''. Sometime later we received a response saying he was ready to visit us.     Everything I had read about Chan, the teachers and patriarchs before meeting Shifu, became alive and embodied in him – in the way he was speaking, moving, looking. It was astounding how softness and power combined in him. He had a very subtle sense of humor and attention to what was going on, down to the smallest detail. Only with time could I appreciate his simplicity: at that time we had no idea whatsoever of how a Master of such level should be received and must have made glaring mistakes, but he in no way hinted at that, nor did he make us feel the awkwardness of the situa