Open Heart: The Philosophy of a Happy Life

Open‑hearted living – this is the window onto life that contemporary Chan (Zen) master and renowned Buddhist scholar Master Yancan opens for us with his teachings on a “broad‑hearted life.” Building on and developing Master Yancan’s Buddhist insights, this book takes the essential spirit of Buddhism as its foundation and applies it to the countless people and situations of ordinary society: our views of life and success, our relationship with wealth, love and marriage, family education, human relationships, motivation and achievement, and more. It cuts through the tangled surface of everyday troubles and points toward a life of self-reflection, inner freedom, and genuine happiness. First, we learn to give ourselves an open heart. To broaden one’s heart does not mean becoming world-weary or losing the will to improve. It is the steadiness and restraint forged by time and experience: seeing through fame and gain, taking worldly success and failure more lightly, and living more freely and more fully. We must learn, amid the entanglements of affairs and the busyness of each day, to steal a little time back for ourselves, to nourish our own hearts—using open-heartedness to care for our inner life. What then emerges is a sunny smile, a composed bearing, and a deep inner richness. Second, we learn to offer others an open heart. Those who treat others with a broad and generous heart cherish life. They are steady yet warm, detached yet kind. They can always meet difficulties with a smile, neither fussing over daily trifles nor being consumed by the pressures of life or the changing tides of emotion. When disappointed, they write down the rise and fall of their feelings; when facing setbacks, they remind themselves to stand up again and adapt to new circumstances; when confronting suffering, they command themselves to step over despondency and embrace a new rising sun. Finally, we learn to extend an open heart to the world. “In such a restless world, you must have a strong inner life.” Only with an open heart can we truly become inwardly strong. We learn to be tolerant rather than harsh toward life and society, to work diligently without losing ourselves in ambition. We remember that life requires commitment, but even more, it requires going with conditions as they are. Those who live with an open heart live simply—kind, straightforward, unafraid. They have enough time and space in their hearts to savor the hidden flavors of life and to enjoy its quiet joys. This book makes Buddhist teachings part of daily life, speaking directly to the heart. With a delicate, understated, and graceful style, it explores every aspect of our existence—from the ordinary emotions of joy, anger, sorrow, and fear to the great questions of life, rebirth, and time. Within these reflections lie Chan insights on cultivation and awakening, and subtle, profound wisdom. In a single phrase, this book reveals the great world within a small, ordinary life: wherever you can be open‑hearted, be open‑hearted—why let your brow remain forever furrowed?