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What is Zen.

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All Teachings by Teachers      
      Buddha said:
All happiness comes from desire
for others to be happy.
All misery comes from the desire
for oneself to be happy.

​Working with Don't know mind and with experiences from the past :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wkhrQlXAjw
working with Don't know

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Doul9gae7a4&feature=youtu.be

​working with past suffering ​


links:about kongan practice https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_fOQJ7uzPo
 about emotions :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BPq-XoyPak
 learning through suffering or other way? : 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vihuv8cWuC8


Article

Money and sex are like a spiteful snake. Put your concern with them far away. 
—Zen Master Seung Sahn, Temple Rules

Money does not stink.
—Latin saying In Buddhism we know that human beings have some desires that hinder and obscure their lives. Those desires are very intelligent, and they often appear as important values. Buddha spoke about five main human desires: money, sex, sleep, food and fame.
I want to say something controversial. Our late teacher, Zen Master Wu Bong, said one day that all those five desires, if digested, will become our treasures. That means originally that those things are not good, not bad. It’s only human attachment and wanting more and more that makes them poison. If humans could use all those five desires correctly, then they wouldn’t be a problem.
Here is an example about how the desire for money and using money correctly changes the value of the money.
Since ancient times, people understood that money may be a reason for murder, theft, war, hate, jealousy, low or high self-esteem, competition, suicide, and so forth. These circumstances and feelings associated with money can lead to the conclusion that money is something bad, in the same way that sex, fame and other desires may be seen as bad. From that perspective, it would be better if people—especially those who choose the spiritual life—didn’t even touch money.
There is a famous story about a monk who was much respected in his small community. People often visited him to get advice. One day, however, the monk changed his behavior. He started to ask for money from everyone who came to his place. After some time, the people became unhappy. It was unpleasant for them to experience greed from this monk, but they still needed his advice.
Then winter came, along with much severe weather. Near the end of winter, heavy rains came that lasted for a month. There was not enough food, not enough clothing, and everywhere was cold and wet. The greedy monk asked a senior person from the community to come have a talk. Then he gave him all the money he had collected. He instructed the person to buy food, clothes and wood for everyone in the community. All the people were overjoyed. But they also felt ashamed. The whole community realized the reason for the monk’s greed, but they still asked him for more explanation. After they apologized to him, he told them that a long time ago during meditation, he had a feeling about the future of this community, about the flood and the hunger, so he decided to collect money.
People can deal with money in different ways. Some people collect money for pleasure, to possess things and to get a special feeling from owning them. It possibly gives them a feeling that there is something permanent in their life. Other people want money to get other things: fame, sex, good food, a lofty position, nice companions, a good home, or even many good places to live and visit, traveling, possessing great pieces of art, experiencing situations people dream of, being beautiful. The list of those things becomes longer and longer as time passes, generation after generation, and there is always more to acquire. There is nothing inherently wrong with all these things, but people mostly want them to forget about both their own emptiness and the human responsibility around life and death.
One other side of money and our desires is that many times, those desires obscure the very beauty and treasure of this moment. This is a story about that. Ryokan, a Zen master, lived the simplest kind of life in a little hut at the foot of a mountain. One evening a thief visited the hut only to discover there was nothing in it to steal.
Ryokan returned and caught him. “You may have come a long way to visit me,” he told the prowler, “and you should not return empty-handed. Please take my clothes as a gift.”
The thief was bewildered. He took the clothes and slunk away.
Ryokan sat naked, watching the moon. “Poor fellow,” he mused, “I wish I could give him this beautiful moon.”1 There is another story about a man who wanted the money to buy a house in the most expensive place, somewhere like London or New York. He was working hard and also put some money into the lottery. He was always thinking, “If I get a house in the most expensive area then I will feel good.” Finally, he won the lottery and he could buy a house in the most expensive area, where he was able to live with the most wealthy people. He was very happy.
After he moved to his new home, he decided to go for a walk to see the neighborhood. As he was walking and looking around, he realized that his home was small, and all the other houses looked better than his. He was upset and devastated. He was thinking only about how his house was so small, and how all houses around it were better.
This is a very sad story, about how having money and things cannot fill you up, and instead of giving happiness, it only makes one feel even more empty, even more hungry. He lost the sense of his life completely. It was because his mind was so hungry.
Is there any way to cure the desire for money, sex, food, sleep, fame and hunger?
Zen Master Seung Sahn said, We can save money and send food over to Africa and India; that’s OK. But many problems will remain. Taking away the primary cause is very important. It’s like a game of pool. You hit the ball directly into the pocket, and that’s one ball in the pocket. But the high-class technique is to hit this ball and that ball and other balls, so that all of them go into the pockets. Zen-style action is like that; we can give money to help hungry people, but if we hit people’s hungry minds, we can help change their minds so that they can help their own country. The high-class technique is to help people help themselves.2 The last story I want to tell is about Zen Master Seung Sahn’s advice given to a student who was complaining that it was impossible for him to focus during meditation. He said, “When I sit, I always think about a few things: money, sex, a good job and again, money, sex and a good job. I suffer a lot. How can I stop?”
Dae Soen Sa Nim said, “You must do a thousand bows every day for a hundred days.”
The student continued complaining, “I don’t need more suffering. Why do I have to suffer even more?”
Zen Master Seung Sahn answered, “This suffering will help you to get rid of your constant thinking, and possibly you can change your wanting-karma.”
After a hundred days, the student started a relationship with a nice girlfriend, got a new job and some money. Dae Soen Sa Nim used to say that it is better to do something (he meant strong practice) if you want something, than to think about it endlessly. By doing something, then possibly we can start correct Zen practice. Then we can move from “for me” to “not for me;” beyond merely “getting something” to “then what?” As Zen Master Wu Bong taught, when we do that, then the five desires truly become our treasures. Notes
1. From Zen Flesh, Zen Bones, compiled by Paul Reps and Nyogen Senzaki (Rutland, Vermont: Tuttle Publishing, 2008), 32.
2. Zen Master Seung Sahn, from a dharma talk given in the United States on March 1, 1985. http://www.kwanumzen.org/?teaching=how-can-sitting-save-this-hungry-world

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  • Andrzej Piotrowski JDPSN
  • Andrzej Stec JDPSN
  • Anne Rudloe JDPSN
  • Arne Schaefer JDPSN
  • Bogumila Malinowska JDPSN
  • Chon Mun Sunim JDPS
  • Dae Won Sunim JDPS
  • Do Am Sunim JDPS
  • Dr. Roland Wohrle-Chon JDPSN
  • Gye Mun Sunim JDPS
  • Jo Potter JDPSN
  • Jose Ramirez JDPSN
  • Judy Roitman JDPSN
  • Ken Kessel JDPSN
  • Lincoln Rhodes JDPSN
  • Merrie Fraser JDPSN
  • Myo Ji Sunim JDPS
  • Namhee Chon JDPSN
  • Nancy Brown Hedgpeth JDPSN
  • Oleg Suk JDPSN
  • Paul Majchrzyk JDPSN
  • Paul Park JDPSN
  • Steven Cohen JDPSN
  • Thom Pastor JDPSN
  • Tim Lerch JDPSN
  • Yu Ma Sunim JDPS
  • Zen Master Bon Haeng
  • Zen Master Bon Shim
  • Zen Master Bon Soeng
  • Zen Master Bon Yeon
  • Zen Master Bon Yo
  • Zen Master Dae Bong
  • Zen Master Dae Jin
  • Zen Master Dae Kwan
  • Zen Master Dae Kwang
  • Zen Master Hae Kwang
  • Zen Master Seung Sahn
  • Zen Master Soeng Hyang
  • Zen Master Su Bong
  • Zen Master Wu Bong
  • Zen Master Wu Kwang


Poem
Wu Bong Sa Autumn 2013

 

At the End of the Road in the Garden

Home where whole Europe’s Don’t know was born:

Deep, deep Silence inside green trees, songs of birds, dance of squirrels

Paid by all Colours of Pain

Thousands of hours up and down looking for this very moment

Deep silence slowly swallows and digests Everybody    

Anger

Desire

Ignorance

Stillness  Home

Great hope for many in the Future

Where does this Clear, deep silence come from?

Where will it go?

Katz!

Colourful leaves moving by Golden Autumn Wind warming up and feeding the Earth

21/08/2013

Ja An/Bogumila MALINOWSKA

London

 Ethics: In Order to Help

Ja An JDPSN (Bogumila Malinowska)

The sila (ethics) paramita is not separate from the other
paramitas; in fact, all paramitas support each other.
In Buddhist practice we often hear about a Middle
Way, staying between extremes. This goes back to the
story of the historical Buddha. In his pursuit of enlightenment,
the young Prince Siddhartha gave up a life of pleasure
and took up a life of extreme asceticism. He fasted
nearly to the point of death. Eventually he realized that
his correct path actually was between these extremes of
self-indulgence and self-denial.
This example shows us that we should take care not to
become too rigidly attached to precepts. Attachment to
rules can obscure the larger purpose of morality, which is
benevolent care for others. Focusing only on the rules can
hinder rather than help. We see how this hindrance is a
danger in our modern life. It is very clear it can become a
cause of many conflicts in the family, in communities and
among countries. Blind attachment to the rules can ruin
the whole world.
Buddhism—and Zen particularly—encourages us to
respond with compassion to the suffering in front of us.
And sometimes, that requires breaking rules. Buddhism
teaches that our actions should be guided by wisdom and
compassion, with no trace of selfishness, not even the urge
to do good to “feel good about myself.” For example, this
selfishness might mean you want to help others in order
to feel holy, perfect or clear.
The sila paramita is about ethical behavior, morality,
self-discipline, personal integrity and harmlessness. The
bone of this paramita is that through our love and compassion
we do not harm others; we are virtuous and harmless
in our thoughts, speech and actions.
P R IMA R Y POINT F a l l 2 0 1 3 ethical conduct is the very foundation for progressing in
any practice of meditation and for attaining all higher realizations
on the path. We should perfect our conduct by
eliminating harmful behavior and following the bodhisattva
precepts. We abstain from killing, stealing, sexual misconduct,
lying, taking intoxicants, divisive speech, harsh
speech, greed, malice and wrong views. Following these
precepts or guidelines is not meant to be a burden or a
restriction on our freedom. We follow these precepts so
we can enjoy freedom, happiness and security in our lives,
because through our ethical behavior we are no longer
creating suffering for ourselves and others.
At some stage we realize that unethical behavior always
causes suffering and unhappiness. Practicing the perfection
of ethics, we are free of negativity, we cause no harm
to others by our actions, our speech is kind and compassionate
and our thoughts are free of anger and wrong
views. When we are strongly committed to the practice
of ethics we are at ease, naturally confident, without stress
and happy because we are not carrying any underlying
sense of guilt or remorse for our actions; we have nothing
to hide, we can be ourselves.
Self-honesty is very important. What we think can
make us happy can also make us miserable. If our direction
is to help and our mind is clear—before thinking--
then we don’t need to worry about precepts. “Good” and
“bad” are created by mind; if our mind is extinguished,
then our karma is extinguished—it works both ways.
So we try to keep our correct direction: Why am I doing
something? If I am not sure, then precepts give us an
obvious answer.
Some of our actions are not visible to others, and the
results will only appear in the future, but inside we know
already what we are doing. Our true self—our intuition--
is guiding us. If we are aware of this guide—in touch with
it, hearing it—then there should be no problem deciding
what to do. There should be no problem in quickly
understanding the situation, choosing the correct action,
keeping the correct action from moment to moment.
In Zen stories we have many examples about keeping
and breaking precepts, and we know that the most important
is to keep a correct direction and then to choose the
correct action. We see this again and again in the familiar
stories about the greedy monk; the rabbit and the hunter;
the Zen teacher who admitted his affair with a girl from
a village, took responsibility for her baby for one year,
and was shunned by his village; and another teacher who
decided to have an intimate relationship with a very ill
women to give her great feelings of love and acceptance.
We see that sometimes the effect of “wrong” action may
not be understood by other people for a long period. It
may look like we did something terribly wrong, society
may reject us and exclude us, we may even face death. In
that time great faith, strong center and not-moving mind
is necessary.
These stories teach us to be flexible, open-minded,
honest, careful and quick. In everyday life we do not usually
have time to think through our decisions—we need
a very clear and sharp mind. Sometimes our actions will
be in opposition to common beliefs and traditions. We
have to be brave. Sometimes the price of keeping clear, of
keeping the sila paramita, is to give up our money, position,
fame, health, love and even our life. We take this risk
and accept the loss in order to help. So we are actually not
losers at all.
Correct direction is not something we are born with.
Some of us have less, some have more. But we can develop
this ability and make it strong. When we hear about direction
we understand: “Yes, this is good, this makes sense,”
but it takes time to find direction and to make it work. It
involves hard training. So we need tools to develop clear
direction in order to skillfully use ethics and all the other
paramitas for others. These tools are great question, great
courage and great faith, which we learn step-by-step; but
that is a topic for another essay.
Buddha said:
All happiness comes from desire
for others to be happy.
All misery comes from the desire
for oneself to be happy.

Phone


07742 979 050 (daytime, mobile phone).
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How to get to The London Zen Centre

E-mail & website

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​07742979050


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