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