Note on controversy
Nan enjoyed a great popular reputation, but many scholars question his readings of the classics. The best-known case is Lunyu biecai: the scholar Zhang Zhongxing criticized several of its interpretations of the Analects as linguistically unsound, and Dong Zizhu published a line-by-line rebuttal, Lunyu zhengcai. Some critics also consider his Confucian and Buddhist scholarship overrated. We include him for his influence on popularizing meditation and traditional culture; when reading his commentaries, compare them with scholarly editions.
Life
Born in Yueqing, Zhejiang, Nan received a classical education and commanded troops on the Sichuan–Xikang frontier during the war against Japan. From 1942 he spent three years in meditation retreat on Mount Emei and later studied with Tibetan Buddhist teachers. He moved to Taiwan in 1949, lectured at universities, and explained the Confucian, Buddhist and Daoist classics in an accessible style; his lectures became dozens of books, such as Lunyu biecai, with very large sales across the Taiwan Strait. He also taught meditation extensively. In his final years he founded the Taihu Great Learning Center in Wujiang, Suzhou, where he died in 2012.
The system
- A view of self-cultivation joining Confucian, Buddhist and Daoist teaching.
- Meditation as the entry to a graded practice.
- Classics made accessible through plain spoken lectures.
Key works
- Chanhai celi (1955)
- Lunyu biecai (1976)
- Tao and Longevity (静坐修道与长生不老)
- To Realize Enlightenment (如何修证佛法)
Where to start
- To Realize Enlightenment; when reading his commentaries on the classics, compare with scholarly editions.
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