Opening a Day with “Complete Oneness”

In Memory of Zen Master Seung Sahn

After becoming a sami (novice) at Hwagyesa Temple, my job was to work in the temple office. It was a well-known temple, in the big city of Seoul, that used to attract hundreds of people to visit there almost every day. A day for me would be filled with endless tasks, such as answering phone calls, serving guests, filling out paperwork at the office. I used to think quite often, “I didn’t become a monk for this.”

Still, I was able to clear my mind at 8:00 every morning. At that time, Zen Master Seung Sahn walked out of his residence and went around to every dharma hall, together with the two sunims who attended him, to make bows. Looking at him doing it, all my anguish and delusion disappeared, and I reminded myself of the path I wished to pursue. Starting with Myeong Bu Jeon (Ji Jang Bosal hall), which is the dharma hall closest to his residence, he stopped by the halls located next to each other one by one, and finished at Dae Jeok Gwang Jeon (Great Stillness Light Hall), where he would give a short dharma talk for his students from various countries. If he stayed at the temple, it was his daily morning routine.

He made three prostrations inside the main halls such as Dae Ung Jeon (Shakyamuni Buddha Hall) and Dae Jeok Gwang Jeon, but he bowed three times standing outside in front of the smaller halls such as Myeong Bu Jeon, San Sin Gak (Mountain Spirit Hall), O Baek Ha Han Jeon (Five Hundred Arhats Hall), and facing the stupa for his teacher, Zen Master Ko Bong.

Closing his eyes and placing his palms together, he prayed for a few seconds at the end of the three bows at each hall. His appearance just inspired me as much as his words from his dharma speech, which always struck my mind. Because he did it at the same time every morning, when the time drew near my heart would flutter with a pleasant tension as if it was time to listen to his dharma speech. It was a great teaching and support to start my daily work in the office of the temple. It had become a precious moment every morning that reminded me of the beginner’s mind as a practitioner.

One day, on the way back to his residence after finishing the morning routine, he stopped in front of the office and motioned for me to come to him. I approached him and he said, “The energy flow of the temple is leaking behind the San Sin Gak (Mountain Spirit Hall). We should block the hole.” I couldn’t quite understand what he meant but just answered, “Yes, Sunim.”

Just a few minutes after he returned to his residence, a woman who was very large, dressed all in black, and wore thick makeup came to the office. In her eyes and aura, which made me feel uncomfortable, I immediately noticed that she was no ordinary person. Standing outside the office, she asked me.

“Sunim, I saw many bodhisattvas in my dream last night, and they are enshrined on the mountain beyond the San Sin Gak. To get there, I must go through the fence put up behind the San Sin Gak. So, I ask for your permission to walk through it.”

What is this! It just woke me up. It’s the same spot he had just mentioned to me! I pulled myself together and told the woman that I couldn’t let her do it because it was not a regular passage and it could be dangerous to walk up through there. She started telling me the reasons why she must go there, but I resolutely said no as a matter of safety and was able to persuade her to give up after all. As soon as she left, I went straight to the spot and found that a part of the fence had been cut through. There were signs showing that some people had already gone to and from the mountain through it.

I thought it was very mysterious. How did he know? Of course, someone could have said to him that the fence had been cut through. Even so, how can it be explained that the woman with a strange aura appeared and said such a thing to me? It was a mysterious thing to me, and I thought that Zen Master Seung Sahn was a mysterious man.

Rather, I started thinking that his energy, which opens each day with complete oneness by making the four great vows for all beings at every hall every morning, is the power of his original nature that allows him to perceive everything clearly.

Complete oneness, before-thinking mind, is so clear that it can connect with anything. Being beyond good or bad, he pierced through the truth and manifested it in wisdom for the bodhisattva path. As he had taught his disciples all his life, he himself lived that way.