Rebecca Li, Ph.D., is a Dharma and meditation teacher of Chan Buddhism in the lineage of Chan Master Sheng Yen. She is the founder and guiding teacher of Chan Dharma Community, a Chan Buddhist practice and study community of practitioners committed to cultivating wisdom and compassion for the benefit of all beings. She has over two decades of Dharma and meditation teaching experience and has been invited to lead retreats or teach at Buddhist centers in North America, Europe and Asia. She leads several residential retreats at Dharma Drum Retreat Center in upstate New York each year.
Silent illumination, a way of penetrating the mind through curious inquiry, is an especially potent, accessible and portable meditation practice perfectly suited for a time when there is so much fear, upheaval and sorrow in our world. It is a method of reconnecting with our true nature, which encompasses all that exists and where suffering cannot touch us. The practice of silent illumination is simple, allowing each moment to be experienced as it is in order to manifest our innate wisdom and natural capacity for compassion. After guiding readers through the history and practice of silent illumination, Rebecca Li shows us how we can recognize and unlearn our “modes of operation” - habits of mind that get in the way of being fully present and engaged with life.