[Chan masters] were not only highly accomplished practitioners, they were also well versed in literature, history, and Buddhist scholarship. - Sheng-yen

The supreme realization is seeing the original nature of mind. It neither affirms nor negates any conceptual point of view; hence it does not need language for expression. One can exhaust the resources of language and still not express ultimate Chan. This is because Chan transcends knowledge, symbols—the entire apparatus of language. You may call Chan “emptiness,” but it is not emptiness in the nihilistic sense, of “there is nothing there.” You may call it “existence,” but it is not existence in the common sense, of “I see it, so it must be there.” It is existence that transcends the fiction of our sense impressions of the world: of sight, sound, smell, taste, touch, and form. Yet this Chan is never apart from, is all of a piece with, our everyday world. It is indwelling in all beings, everywhere, at all times.

I have a deep conviction that the future of global Buddhism must rest on the inclusive (baorong xing 包容性) and syncretic nature (xiaorong xing 消融性) of the Han transmission of Chinese Buddhism as its main feature in order to take varying sectarian postures and viewpoints and return them to the original intent of the Buddha, so that a new form of Buddhism can emerge that is needed by all people.

Silent illumination is actually the most direct method, because Chan is not something that you can use your mind to think about. It’s not something that you can use any words or form of language to describe. The method is simply to do away with any method of practice. Use no method as the method itself. … The silent illumination method is to not have any thoughts. At that moment you just put down everything, and that is the state of Chan itself. Silent doesn’t mean falling asleep. That’s why we have to follow the word “silent” with the word “illumination,” that is, your mind must be very clear.