Lin Qingxuan

Early years

Lin Qing-xuan was born in an ordinary peasant family. Being interested in writing, he decided to become a writer since he was only eight years old. With his talent in writing, he started to publish articles in newspapers. Lin won the first prize in the Tainan writing competition during his high school days. After graduated from high school, he went to Shih Hsin University. In his college years, he published his first book Lian Hua Kai Luo (《蓮花開落》). Then, he was employed as a journalist, which provided him a chance to research into and get better understanding of the social status quo. Also, drawing on his experience of interviewing people in social affairs, his own writings were closely related to everyday life and current affairs. By the age of thirty, he had been awarded almost all the important prizes in the Taiwan literature circle.

After thirty years old

Lin Qin-xuan started to learn Buddhism systematically by reading and studying the Buddhist sutras. Besides, he went to stay in a temple to develop his understanding of Buddhism and cultivate his spirituality from the age of thirty-two to thirty-five. In this three years study in the temple, he has obtained a more merciful and peaceful attitude towards life, and he found that his spirituality was sublimated. Owing to the study of Buddhist thought, he rethought the meaning of life. He wrote all these new understandings in a series of books which were then published under the name Shen Xin An Dun (《身心安頓》). This new series was made the bestseller in the 1990s. As a middle-age man with a writing career, he completed his representative work the Bodhi Series (《菩提系列》). Additionally, his edited a collection of Modern Buddhist Scriptures (《現代佛經系列》 ) which immediately aroused a craze for Buddhist study among the public. For this contribution, Lin was granted the Outstanding Dutiful Son Prize (傑出孝子獎). Then, he published his books (《打開心内的門窗》,《走向光明的所在》) in the audio format, which were thought high by readers. Moreover, most his recent literary works are highly recommended to the youth as compulsory reading. Lin Qin-xuan totally has published more than a hundred books and they are widely read in the Chinese-speaking word.

Zen Prose

The most influential part of Lin’s literary works is Zen prose. After he started to study Buddhist thought in 1984, Lin began to use Zen philosophy to critically re-exam his life. During the period of studying Buddhist philosophy, Lin wrote down his introspection towards life, and these introspective thoughts are represented in the Zen prose in the Bodhi Series (《菩提系列》). In the prose, Lin uses very simple life stories to explain complicated concepts of Buddhism, and thereby, he leads the readers to think about life, and to understand true happiness.

Social life Prose

Due to the experience of being a journalist for many years, Lin is accustomed to pay close attention to social life. Lin reveals many social problems in his literary works, such as Se Xiang（《色相》）and Dear Mother (《親愛的母親》). From reading those articles, readers can realize Lin’s deep concerns about existing social problems. With analysis and criticism on social problems, Lin attempts to raise people’s awareness about social and moral behavior. Besides, Lin’s prose expresses his goodness of human nature. In the articles Sui Xi (《隨喜》) and Sui Shun (《隨順》), he shows his care to the weak in society. Also, by praising sincere love and mercy in the work Yuan Yang Xiang Lu (《鴛鴦香爐》), Lin encourages the readers to care about others.

Fable Prose

In the stories of traditional fables, animals, plants and inanimate objects are often given human capabilities, such as verbal communication, to reveal moral lessons. Compared with this traditional way, Lin tends to use real people and their life stories in his fable prose, as it is the case in Yi Ai Wei Deng (《以愛爲燈》). Readers regard that the familiarity to real life is very beneficial for them to understand the main purposes of Lin’s fables written in succinct words. Also, the argument revealed in the end of each story is directly related to current problems in society, which allows the readers to think deep.

Summary

In short, Lin’s prose is based on things happened in daily life, and written with a very gentle narrative. He is good at observing details in life and abstracting those observations into concepts. With Buddhist cultivation, Lin applies Zen wisdom to his interpretation of life, and thereby, he guides the readers to contemplate and obtain spiritual sublimation in their life. Besides, there is no complicated language and rhetoric in Lin’s prose. The simplicity and popularization of his works allow ordinary people to understand his concepts easily.

Critical reputation

In 1996, Lin Qing-xuan announced that he had ended his seventeen-year marriage with his first wife. He remarried a younger woman in the next year. Compared to the general purpose of his articles that is to show the right value to society, Lin’s divorce and remarriage were opposite to this purpose. As a result, his image of a spiritual teacher is ruined. These personal issues of Lin created an intense conflict between him and his readers. Some readers criticized him as a hypocrite. Some female organizations burned his books in order protest against his hypocrisy. Therefore, Lin was under enormous pressure from the public opinions, and he stopped publishing for a long time.

List of main works

Lin Qing-xuan has over one hundred publications.

In 1970s

In 1980s

After 1980s