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38 EASTERN HORIZON | BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW BOOK REVIEW
Dharma Drum Mountain Taiwan
Photo provided by Dharma Drum Mountain Cultural Dharma Drum Institute of Liberal Arts, Taiwan
and Educational Foundation, All Rights Reserved
AFTER I RESIGNED from my post as an abbot in Taiwan,
The Wanderer Dr. C. T. Shen [a cofounder of the Buddhist Association
of the United States] brought me back to New York to
By Venerable Master Sheng Yen spread the dharma there. My return to the United States
did not restore me to my former position of strength,
Master Sheng Yen has dedicated his life to however. There was no room for me to live at the
spreading the teachings of Chan Buddhism in Temple of Great Enlightenment, which was occupied by
China and in the West. In this excerpt from his nuns. I stayed at Shen’s villa, named Bodhi House, on
Long Island and traveled back and forth to the city. But I
autobiography, Footprints in the Snow,Master
wanted to move out because I was too far away from my
Sheng Yen tells the story of his arrival in New
students. Shen told me, “If you move out, I can no longer
York and how he learned to live without a home.
take good care of you.”
“That’s okay,” I said. “I will wander.”
I had no money for rent, so I slept in front of churches
or in parks. I learned how to get by from three of my
students, who had experience living on the street.
