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Kwan Um School of Zen

Sogamuni Bul Chanting

ChantingadminFebruary 15, 2011
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Three Letters to a Beginner

TeachingZen Master Seung SahnApril 19, 2017
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Posted @withrepost • @borisazencenter Kido de Kwanseumbosal a @borisazencenter 💗 per l’harmonia al món sencer 🌼 - Kwanseumbosal kido in @borisazencenter 💗 for harmony in the whole world 🌼 - #zen #altagarrotxa #retir de #cants #chanting #retreat
"That's what I always like about Zen..." Quote by Zen Master Dae Kwang. #zen #meditation #wakeup #moment #justnow #kwanumzen
"We talk about practicing in our everyday life. There's a great saying: 'Zen mind is everyday mind.' I know that I haven't been willing to look at my everyday life really seriously, moment to moment, and face the way I behave. That is what our practice is about. The meditation room is one situation, but every moment is most important. It's painful to look at our lives because we can see our reactions, and they may not match our understanding of things and the ideas we have. I noticed when I was a new student that if I was really trying hard—getting up before the wake-up bell, really trying to do mantra, doing all the chants, eating formal meals, working all day, not goofing around at night—when I really tried to do that, my mind was like shit. I could do it, but all this garbage thinking was going on all the time. If I decided one day not to go to work, to just go someplace and read a book I might feel great. But if I looked at my life, I wasn't doing my job. It's very difficult sometimes to just do what you have to do without resentment. If you can do that, you give other people such a tremendous gift: you relieve their suffering automatically. That's the heart of our practice. If we can really do it, really digest the anger, ignorance, and greed that keep us from living our lives without resentment, we will produce tremendous energy." —Zen Master Dae Bong (Photo by Sven Mahr.) #zen #meditation #thinking #suffering #anger #ignorance #greed #bodhisattva #kwanumzen
Zen Master Seung Sahn signing books in Poland, circa 1987. #throwbackthursday #zmseungsahn #kwanumzen
"If you meditate correctly, you can perceive that this 'I' does not exist." Quote by Zen Master Seung Sahn. #zen #meditation #suffering #ignorance #ego #kwanumzen #zmseungsahn
How can we perfect our meditation without checking? For me it is putting down the concept of perfecting at all and starting every day from the very beginning. If I start every day from the very beginning then I have no chance to perfect my meditation. I’m in the same situation as a newcomer who just received an orientation talk, only my legs feel better. I don’t know how to meditate, I have no meditation skills. There is only one thing I have: it’s a decision. The decision to meditate, the decision to put everything down, the decision to return to this very moment with a wordless question. It’s only because of this decision that I can meditate. I never perceive a moment when my mind catches something and starts to move. I can only perceive a moment when it stops. It’s like finding myself on a crossroads. Should I continue to follow this thought? Should I continue to nourish this feeling? Well, I could, and sometimes it would be very nice to, sometimes it feels so important to, but there is a decision. So I let go, so I put down whatever my mind is holding at the moment and for a short while I’m a newborn baby buddha. Dooooon’t know. Zen Master Seung Sahn used to say: "One more step is necessary." How can I make one more step from don’t know? How can I go deeper into the primary point? How can I make my great question greater? How can this baby buddha grow? How can I perfect my meditation? Oh! I’m on a crossroads again! Should I continue this very tempting thinking about meditation practice? Maybe I will discover something important? Well, I could, but there is a decision, so I’m putting it down and finding myself again at the very beginning of my meditation practice. Can’t make it bigger. Can’t make it better. One more step is necessary? Yes, but it’s a step back to the starting point. The same step again and again. I’m not whipping a cart, I’m not whipping a horse. The whip falls down on the ground, the horse can go free, the cart stays still. There’s nowhere to go. Oh! I’m on a crossroads again! Decision. Don’t know. Crossroads. Decision. Don’t know. Forever. —Igor Piniński JDPSN #zen #meditation #beginning #decision #dontknow #kwanumzen
Zen practice doesn't depend on ideas of "open" or "closed." Quote by Zen Master Bon Yeon. #zen #awake #meditation #perceive #freedom #kwanumzen
"If you want to see Buddha, Buddha has already disappeared." Quote by Zen Master Seung Sahn. #zen #buddha #seebuddha #everythingbuddha #neverseparate #alreadycomplete #zmseungsahn #kwanumzen
"Thanks for your letter. Your strong intention to practice is marked with despair at the persistent habits that reflect and cause discomfort. Intentional practice makes anchor points, so that you have an experience of persistent effort. You have an anchor that reflects this, even if, at times, it feels like the rope has detached from the anchor. Even at the end of your rope, you still have the rope. So find something to connect it to. Having an anchor point in the midst of despair is one core element of practice. Bodhidharma speaks of bearing the unbearable. Now you know what he's talking about. If the ancient barbarian could do it, so can you. One suggestion—don't increase formal practice beyond what your daily routine is in order to fix this. That has several errors. First, that there's something to fix. Second, doing something at one point in time will fix something that either already happened or hasn't happened yet. Sometimes that's true, but that doesn't dispel demons. Rather, gain strength by practicing ordinary things. Find simple everyday tasks and make them your practice as well. That cultivates a mind habit of continuous practice. At the moment of attentive engagement, there is nothing to fight. There is not a thing to hold on to and not a thing to push away. Just what you're doing. If you take that mind into other moments, they become that way too. When you see that your demons are originally your own true self, their power becomes your power. Don't be deceived by power. It's only swallowing juice, when you drink it. Refrain from looking for truth. Just see. Then your mind, my mind and Buddha's mind are the same. If you feel like your own worst enemy, consider that that's also what makes you your own best teacher." —Zen Master Jok Um #zen #meditation #despair #everyday #mind #kwanumzen

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