聖嚴法師之禪法，除了「默照禪」與「話頭禪」等禪法教學以外，「觀音法門」在聖嚴法師的生平與思想中，亦占有核心的地位。在聖嚴法師多種著作中，常可見到法師自述一生當中，感受到觀音菩薩加持之多種感應事蹟。此外，在《聖嚴法師教觀音法門》中，聖嚴法師也詳細提出七種由淺到深的觀音法門的修學方法。本文將分析聖嚴法師之觀音感應書寫如何成為其觀音法門教學之基礎，並由聖嚴法師觀音感應書寫的實例中，分析聖嚴法師個人如何學習觀音菩薩的慈悲願行，並將其轉化為系統性法門，為眾多弟子及信眾指出明確的修行道路。本文並將分析，聖嚴法師的觀音感應與觀音法門，如何改寫了「感應」之定義。
在與觀音信仰有關的文化現象中，「感應故事」的出現時間相當早，始自六朝時代，即有觀音感應開始傳出，歷代以來累積了頗為豐富而多樣的觀音感應記載。聖嚴法師本人的觀音感應書寫及觀音法門開展，與傳統觀音感應書寫相比，有幾個特色。首先，聖嚴法師的觀音感應書寫，涵蓋貫串其一生的大大小小各種感應，也包含與信眾同修而產生的集體感應事蹟記述。而傳統觀音感應書寫，因諸多歷史條件限制，留下來的文本，多為單次性的個人感應事件。
第二，傳統觀音感應多以第三人稱書寫方式，輯錄多人感應，因此雖然清晰記錄了感應事蹟的始末，然感應者複雜的心路歷程，僅以吉光片羽的方式影現於事蹟細節中，須待有心讀者體會與感受。而聖嚴法師之觀音感應書寫，除與傳統觀音感應一樣，記述了觀音菩薩對其個人之慈悲救護事蹟之外，更由於乃以第一人稱方式書寫，因此更能使讀者理解在感應發生的歷程中，聖嚴法師個人的內心轉化學習歷程與慈悲利他的宗教家情懷。
第三，聖嚴法師的觀音感應書寫與傳統觀音感應最大的不同處在於，聖嚴法師除記述自身感應事蹟外，還根據自身蒙觀音菩薩加護的切身修持經驗，以《妙法蓮華經》、《楞嚴經》與《心經》為基礎，開展出系統性觀音法門，教導信眾效法觀音之慈悲與智慧。由聖嚴法師整理出的觀音法門與其對修法的明確鋪陳來看，在聖嚴法師心中，「觀音感應」並不僅止於與菩薩的神異巧遇。藉由「觀音法門」修行體系之建立，聖嚴法師將「觀音感應」的性質，由傳統文類中將「感應」歸類為超乎常理的神異經驗，轉化為修行者可依循的行持軌道。只要有正確的心態與方法，行者皆可像聖嚴法師一樣，使觀音感應重複發生，並在經驗感應的同時，逐步提昇自身的精神層次，學習觀音菩薩慈悲利他並與空性相應之願行。
傳統觀音感應書寫，由於在文學分類思考框架中，被歸類為「志怪小說」或「輔教之書」，因此其「怪異」、「超乎尋常」、「偶發」等特性，常被過度強調。讀者對感應者宗教體驗與心靈世界的理解，也因而受到文類框架的限制。相對來說，聖嚴法師完整的觀音感應書寫，與依據自身經驗提出的系統性觀音法門修行方法，正好可以為釐清「觀音感應」之內涵與本質，提供更寬廣的心靈視野。也為傳統「佛教感應書寫」的解讀與歸類，提供不同的思考角度。

The various dharma gates of mindfulness of Guanyin Bodhisattva is one major set of practice method in Master Sheng-yen’s system of meditation. The significance of Guanyin Dharma Gates is as significant as Master Sheng-yen’s other major chan methods such as silent illumination 默照and huatou 話頭. In Master Shengyen’s teaching of Guanyin Bodhisattva Dharma Gates, he listed seven different methods related to Guanyin. In this book and Master Sheng-yen’s many other books, Master Sheng-yen’s accounts of Guanyin’s responses to his practices were recorded. In this paper, I will try to answer two questions: how did Master Sheng-yen’s responsive experiences serve as the foundation of his systematic Guanyin Bodhisattva Dharma Gates? Secondly, how did Master Sheng-yen apply these dharma gates to his daily lives?
Another purpose of this paper is to determine the significance of Master Sheng-yen’s Guanyin Dharma Gates and Guanyin response narration in the textual context of traditional Guanyin responsive stories. In fact, this paper will discuss if Buddhist responsive narrations really fit into the genre described as zhiguai, “strange writing” or “accounts of anomalies” in traditional Chinese literature. Accounts of Guanyin responsive stories are traditionally categorized as a type of “accounts of anomalies” because it was thought of as strange happenings beyond ordinary people’s regular experiences. However, when we take into consideration of the purpose of Master Sheng-yen’s Guanyin Dharma Gates, Master Sheng-yen’s actually aims for the strengthening or reoccurrence of Guanyin Bodhisattva response experiences. This underlying purpose is the total opposite of those of the zhiguai accounts which intended to stress “anomalies.” The purpose of Guanyin Dharma Gate is exactly to turn an unfamiliar religious experience into familiar experience that the practitioners hope to repeat and operate at every moment.
Master Sheng-yen’s Guanyin responsive accounts has several unique features such as responses cover experiences happening throughout his entire religious career, he recorded communal response experiences as well as his individual responsive experiences. Furthermore, Master Sheng-yen’s accounts of Guanyin responses stress not only Guanyin’s saving power but also his spiritual path of learning from the compassion and altruism of Guanyin Bodhisattva. Master Sheng-yen’s Guanyin response discourses, as well as his systematic Guanyin Dharma Gates, will not only redefine the nature of Guanyin responsive accounts, but also will provide a glimpse of the spiritual depth of the traditional Guanyin response accounts that appeared in Chinese literary landscape since the Northern and Southern Dynasties.