Ven. Chang Sheng Led the Three-Day Chanting Meditation Retreat in Malaysia

From March 7^th to March 9^th, 2025, Dharma Drum Mountain (DDM) Buddhist Centre Malaysia held a three-day chanting meditation retreat at the Buddha Sasana Foundation (BSF) Retreat Centre in Malaysia. Under the guidance of Ven. Chang Sheng (常乘法師), the Head Instructor of DDM Chan Hall, more than one hundred practitioners applied the method of chanting the Buddha's name while sitting or circumambulating to settle their body and mind.

"The key point of chanting meditation lies in replacing the deluded thoughts in our mind with the Buddha's name. We can relax our body and mind and attain a concentrated state through chanting the Buddha's name aloud while attentively listening to our own and others' chanting." Ven. Chang Sheng indicated that, when practicing chanting in circumambulation, practitioners should pace themselves with the rhythm of the chanting to make their physical, verbal, and mental actions correspond to one another, allowing their mind to stay calm and peaceful. In addition, in order to help practitioners collect their minds while in stillness or reciting the Buddha's name silently, the Venerable also introduced Ven. Master Yin Guang's "Three-three-four" recitation counting technique.

"Chanting the Buddha's name is a form of Chan practice. Like the practice of huatou or silent illumination, it is also a Dharma approach to help practitioners see their true nature." In the recording of DDM founder Master Sheng Yen's Dharma talk, the Master expounded that the origin of chanting practice can be traced back to the six kinds of mindfulness (Skt. sad anusmrtayah) in the Āgama Sutras, and chanting practice is also one of the five approaches to meditation. It helps practitioners prevent their minds from getting distracted and making discrimination, thereby abiding in concentration, where one finally attains samādhi, a state of wisdom and meditation, through chanting the Buddha's name. The Master further instructed practitioners to chant with their eyes open in order to stay awake and avoid illusory images and deluded thoughts from arising. As the Master explained, "When anchoring our mind on the Buddha's name, we can take all the sounds around us as the chanting of the Buddha's name to deepen our experience in cultivation."

While answering questions from participants at the end of the three-day retreat, Ven. Chang Sheng reminded them that, through actual practice, practitioners should let each of their thoughts stay clear and pure and each thought will be a piece of pure land. He reiterated that a practitioner must view the meaning of life correctly, arise bodhicitta, and have great aspirations. Only then can we dedicate ourselves to self-cultivation and realize the Buddhist teachings in our daily lives. 



Original Chinese text / Chen Li-shiang (陳立祥)
Photos / Lin Jen-dung (林振東)
Translation / Li Siang-ling
Editing / Keith Brown, YKL