The Age of Stupid screening at SBZM

Why didn't we save ourselves when we had the chance?

This documentary/drama/animation hybrid stars Pete Postlethwaite as an archivist in the devastated world of the future, asking the question: "Why didn't we stop climate change when we still had the chance?" He looks back on footage of real people around the world in the years leading up to 2015 before runaway climate change took place.


"Think 'Inconvenient Truth' but with a personality" - Los Angeles Times

行无取事利众生 - 生平

这是一篇有关嵩山禅师生平的文章。愿大家阅读愉快。

An article about the Biodata of Zen Mater Seung Sahn. Hope you enjoy reading it.

ZMSS-Ch-Bio

How To Find A Good Spiritual Teacher

Ten Principal Qualities of a Spiritual Teacher

From a Dharma Talk by H.H. The Dalai Lama & "Great Treasury of Merit", Geshe Kelsang Gyatso

1. Having a mind that is controlled by the practice of moral discipline, that is, a disciplined mind – having an ethical discipline.

2. Possessing a mind that has become peaceful and undistracted through the practice of concentration – a calmed mind that is the result of having mastered the higher training in meditation and concentration.

3. Reduced self grasping through the practice of wisdom, that is, totally calmed – having mastered the training in wisdom (of non-self).

4. Possesing a greater knowledge than the disciple. Teacher must have knowledge that exceeds that of the student.

5. Having a vigour and enthusiasm in teaching the Dharma.

6. Having a wealth of scriptural knowledge.

7. Possessing a deep and stable realization of emptiness – or at least a deep commitment to the practice of compassion.

8. Being eloquent and skillful in explaining or presenting the Dharma.

9. Having a deep compassion and love for the student – probably the most important quality.

10. Possessing the quality of resilience for teaching the Dharma, being free from discouragement or laziness, no matter how many times he or she has to repeat the teachings.

It is particularly important for a Spiritual Guide to have greater knowledge and higher realizations than his disciples. Ashvagosha said that if we follow a Spiritual Guide who has lesser qualities it may cause our own good qualities to degenerate. Disciples naturally follow their Teacher's example, so a Teacher must be authentic, not pretending to have qualities and realizations he does not possess. For example, if a Teacher pretends to have realizations but in reality indulges in drinking alcohol, sexual misconduct, or other negative actions, this will cause his disciples' behaviour to degenerate.

Experiencing Korean Zen and Temples 2011

Su Bong Zen Monastery is organizing a trip to Korea from 18 to 24 April 2011. The trip will include a 3 day retreat at Mu Sang Sa followed by 2 days visiting beautiful Korean mountain temples.

Malaysian and Singaporean Zen students are also welcome to join this trip.

For more information, contact SBZM: info@subong.org.hk or +852-28919315.

  

新年快乐! Happy New Year!

新年快乐!

새해 복 많이 받으세요!

Happy Chinese New Year!

The Teachings of Zen Master Man Gong

Mang Gong (1872-1946) is as towering a figure in modem Korean Zen as his teacher, Kyong Ho. Indeed there are those who believe that in some areas his contributions outstrip those of Kyong Ho. This most charismatic and brilliant of Zen Master Kyong Ho's disciples was born in 1872 and became a novice-monk as a young boy.

Read his full story: Zen Master Man Gong's Story

In 2009, The Teachings of Zen Master Man Gong was translated into English as a dedication to the memory of Zen Master Seung Sahn and is a gift for all beings.

Download the free book: The Teachings of Zen Master Man Gong pdf or here.

Excerpts from the book:

"Every human being wants something good out of life but nobody understands that this 'wanting' is the source of suffering."

"Sentient beings only know how to know, they do not know how to 'don't know'.
  If you know this 'don't know', then you truly know. The way of truly knowing is knowing how to not know. This is your true nature. "

"A person of the Way should not be a 'person of the Way'.  You must attain the point before name and form appears.  Don't idolize people of the Way and don't be hindered by your precepts and practice.  Instead, become a completely independent person. If you do this, you can come and go freely in the six realms of existence and escape suffering." 

"A stormy life is necessary before and after enlightenment."

"When you feel that your practice is going well, it has already gone wrong. Rather than worry about how well you are practicing, you should instead be building up strong faith." 

"The meanest thing that you can do is to blame others for your mistake."

Important Update! Whole World is A Single Flower 2011 India

The Whole World is a Single Flower Conference in India is approaching quickly!  If you want to come and have not signed up, now is the time!  Registration will close on March 31, 2011.  After that it will be difficult to find hotel rooms!

URGENT NEWS and CHANGES:
Your WWSF team is negotiating with the hotel rooms at the moment!  Unexpectedly we have been given a much earlier deadline to make deposits for the hotel rooms.  We had set other deadlines for prepayments but are now facing an immediate deposit for the hotel.

We are asking those who have registered to:
1.    Send 30% of the total price by February 1, 2011 if at all possible.
2.    Send 20% of the remaining price by March 31, 2011.
3.    Send the final 50 % at the latest by August 1, 2011.

If you have not yet registered by February 1^st and wish to attend, then please send 50 % of the total price by March 31,2011 and the remaining 50% latest by August 31, 2011.

We are sorry about any inconvenience, but the hotels are quite small, and October is peak season in India because of the good weather at that time.  Great numbers of visitors follow the Buddha path and therefore hotels are filled very quickly.  Make sure to secure your place as soon as possible for this great adventure!

Please understand that your deposit is non-refundable.  You can however assign your place to someone else, or ask us to find a replacement for you if in case you cannot attend.         
Thank you for your prompt action!

For information and registration for the conference: http://www.singleflower2011.org/

If you have any questions please contact your WWSF organizers:

George Hazlbauer, Europe:                           wwsf2011europe@gmail.com

Carlos Montero, North America:                  wwsf2011@gmail.com

Grace Tam, Hong Kong and Australia:        wwsf2011asia@gmail.com

Thank you!

On The Verge Of A Total Meltdown

Mountain retreat, vegetarian, meditation.

Those were the 3 words that attracted me to sign up for Mu Sang Sa's Summer Retreat. At that time I was feeling rather off-balance from life as I was working non-stop and felt out of touch and needed something to ground myself as I could sense I was on the verge of total meltdown.

However, I was in for a surprise when I discovered I had signed up more than I had bargained for. During orientation, I discovered that phone and other means of communication were prohibited and that we had to be silent throughout. It proved be one of the toughest thing I had ever done, even though I am not a talkative person. I found that the monks and nuns came from all walks of life and countries and it was the first time ever that I didn't feel out of place in a Buddhist monastery as everyone spoke English and had an approachable attitude. It was refreshing as I recalled that some back home seemed rather stern in their holy duties and definitely would not share an impromptu tea session with laywomen such as myself.

When the retreat started, we had to follow the schedule, duties and rituals. In the beginning, it was very alien to a business-minded city girl like myself. But after a couple of times, I understood the reason and benefits behind it. In fact, I looked forward to it everyday even though I could only get less than 5 hrs sleep rather than my normal 8 hours. Strangely enough, I was still able to function with energy and clear mind !

One experience that stood out was how humbled I felt when interviewed by Zen Master Dae Bong whom made me recite the poem, 'The Human Route”. It somehow moved me to tears. He seemed to have anticipated it as he whipped out a tissue for me to wipe away my tears. I remember telling him that it humbled me to finally want to learn Buddhism from a foreigner who had better grasp of it than me – a born but not practicing Buddhist who only prayed only when she had a problem. He struck me as a very wise and humorous Zen Master which was totally out of my limited experience with the ones back home.

On the day before I left, I completed my last sitting meditation with a huge smile on my face and felt truly happier and contented than I had ever been. All issues that used to be so big seemed insignificant to the impermanence of our lives. Answers just came to me on unresolved issues when I meditated, popping up in what I called my 'AHA' moment! Thank you all – continue practicing, go straight and don't check.

* “The Human Route” is an old Chinese Zen poem and can be found here.

TO, Malaysia

The Whole World is a Single Flower 2011

Tour & Conference

16 ~ 26 October 2011, India

Two thousand five hundred years ago on Vulture Peak in India, the Buddha picked up a lotus flower and demonstrated universal truth.

At the end of World War II, Zen Master Man Gong took a petal from the leaf of the Korean national flower, dipped it in ink, and wrote a rough calligraphy that read: "The Whole World is a Single Flower."

This means equality, harmony and peace. It means that you and I, the sun and moon, earth and sky, air and water, are fundamentally not separate or different. We each have the same root.

It was the great hope of Zen Master Man Gong that all human beings return to this common root, our original substance, and from the root, a single beautiful world flower of equality, harmony, and peace might again appear.

Zen Master Seung Sahn founded the Whole World is a Single Flower conference as a way to bring people from many different countries and traditions together in the spirit of unity and harmony.

The Whole World is a Single Flower conference is held every three years and is organized by the Kwan Um School of Zen. It has been held in Korea, USA, China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Poland and is attended by zen teachers and students from around the world. More information on this conference here.

Shared Mu Sang Sa Experiences I

Awareness “Fuel”

Being a kindergarten teacher here in Seoul, Korea, I’ve found that recognition of mistakes and that making simple corrections to those mistakes is a daily practice in the classroom. It’s simply amazing to notice just how different every child is, but also how they all share a basic understanding that their classmates – just like them – don’t want to suffer. Most conflicts between the children are resolved by using a calm, compassionate voice to remind them of those beautiful words, “I’m sorry” with a reply from the other, “That’s OK.” In almost all situations, the children not only mentally move on with their day, but even start to play with each other immediately after. So much can be learned from them! They don’t hold onto those past grievances, probably because they want to be happy every moment and they just instinctively know being present is the way to do that!

I must admit, however, that I have made many mistakes with the children: I’ve scolded them harshly when they really needed compassion and I cannot count how many times I’ve allowed myself to become impatient and even angry over minor problems. Before I started meditating regularly several months ago these occurrences were quite frequent – many times a day – but as my practice has gotten stronger, so has my awareness in the classroom, and these occasions have decreased significantly. Another aspect of this increased awareness has been recognizing when I have made mistakes with the children, and then working to forgive myself. This is actually a new practice for me, and one that I am eager to explore more.

 The three-hour commute one-way from my house in Seoul to practice at Mu Sang Sa is so worth it every single time as it gives me new awareness “fuel” for the rest of the week. To be sure, my students are all happier, too!

AR, USA

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

無上寺

2010年，有幸參加韓國無上寺的夏安居禪修營。如今雖然事隔已經半年多了，現在回想起來，真的有許多難以忘懷的事情，也有許多值得回憶的點滴。

無上寺的風景怡人、四面都是綠油油的叢林、鳥語花香。還有溪水潺流。在這裡禪修打坐，妄念都難起。每天凌晨三點多，就已經起床108拜、誦經、靜坐。生活簡單、規律、樸實，卻又不失踏實與充實。最期待的是每一個星期，都會有一天可以去-爬山！我們這一屆的，還有機會爬最難爬的山，也是最刺激、最開心的登山天。感謝我們的HEAD MONK。

無上寺有一片土地，是栽種了一些蔬菜與果實。我們在這期間，也在Myong An師的帶領下，戴起手套，穿起農耕鞋，一起幹活去！看著一些露出土壤的馬鈴薯，還沒吃就感覺到了它們的清甜。

學員們一個星期都會有兩次的小參，直接被禪師勘驗。

這裡講究的是Together Action。這是一種可嘉的精神，無形中，也培養我們的同理心、平等心。最難忘的是，第一次過堂吃飯！過堂吃飯是有一定的程序。每一個步驟，都要在指定的時間內完成，而且是全體學員一致性的，不是你做你的，我行我的。動筷一起動、直至最後放下筷子，都是Together Action。哦！如果沒來得及吃完呢，那怎麼辦？這樣的“驚驗”，只有自己去體驗咯。

無上寺，是非常難得的無上-寺。

清月 , Malaysia

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What else do you know or need to know?

I first visited Mu Sang Sa in November 2008 on the recommendation of a Korean monk I have known for about 10 years now. He put me in contact with Bo Haeng Sunim and after talking a bit on the phone, I went there to meet him one Sunday. On my first visit I immediately felt in awe that such a quiet, fresh-aired place that could be found in Korea. That first impression came from the fact that in Korea, life usually takes place in some kind of big-city environment. Mu Sang Sa seemed to be an anomaly. But still, that was just the initial visit, and only later on was I able to learn what the temple itself and practice were about. I came every chance I could to the weekend class and Dharma talk. Sometimes I came together with another western friend and we joked that it was our weekly pilgrimage from Daejeon. I guess that having a ‘don’t know, just do it’ mind helped me to get on the bus each time and make the journey. One hour of sitting during the class was torture at first but later it was no big deal. I came for the Chuseok retreat and then made other visits when I was off from work. After finishing a retreat, one hour seemed to be a suitable period for me for sit. I eventually started sitting at home.

I feel now that I am truly fortunate for having discovered Mu Sang Sa. I was a person just like any other out in the working world with a broken radio going on inside my head. Or really what I perceived was inside my head. In everyday life we can learn better how to function with a ‘don’t know’ mind and still hear the bells of mindfulness when they ring. Too many of us wake up each day and ask ourselves, ‘How can I just be happy?’ when we should just throw away that question entirely and look out to see the sky is blue, that’s all. What else do you know or need to know?

This year I will go back to the US for a while but when I return to Korea I am hoping to visit Mu Sang Sa again when I can. For anyone who’s interested in learning more about sitting meditation and practice, I wholly suggest that you go to Mu Sang Sa.

WC, USA

Wake Up! On the road with a Zen Master

“Just Do It!” is probably my teacher Zen Master Seung Sahn's best remembered teaching phrase. (I believe he started to use it before even Nike's now famous slogan – their 'Just Do It' campaign was born in 1988.)

We, his students, usually called him Dae Soen Sa Nim, meaning “Great Honoured Zen Master.” His other often used teaching phrase was “Put it all down!” It was usually met with some chuckles from the audience whenever he said it in a public talk, except for the person that it was directed at.

To say that his teaching radically changed my life and how I thought would not be far off the mark. I feel that I have been immensely blessed and privileged to have met him and become his student in this lifetime. Those who have met him and had the good karma to practice and learn from him soon realize what a treasure that they have had.

The clarity, power and compassion of his teaching cuts through all our deluded thinking like a diamond sword. But enough of my heaping kudos on him – I would like to share with you a documentary made of his teaching trip to Europe in the 1980s so that you can judge for yourselves. In it you will also see the youthful versions of a few of our current crop of zen masters - try to see if you can recognize them!

Watch "Wake Up!" on Youtube:

Wake Up! Entire video: here

Enjoy!

MA

Goodbye 2010, Welcome 2011

How did you guys celebrate your 2011 New Year’s Eve? Go for “Big Meal”? Watch movie in the cinema? Go clubbing? Stay in the house?

31/12/2010, about 70 people has gathered at Hoeh Beng Temple to celebrate the New Year’s Eve countdown. We choose to have 1000 bows in the temple. The event started at 8pm and ended at 12 midnight. 

Together action is really powerful. There are few new students that totally have no experience on 108 bows also join us for the bowing.

To me, 2011 New Year’s Eve countdown is so GREAT. I have chosen a different method to celebrate the New Year’s Eve. This is a great experience!

Wishing everyone Happy 2011 and may all being be well and happy always!

Ping Ping, Malaysia