---- --- - ........ .----- - �--- ---- � -4--------------PRIMARYpoINT-----------FE-B-RU-A-RY-19S-S "THE WHOLE WORLD IS A SINGLE FLOWER" and was to be redirected so that it would By Mu Soeng Sunim, Abbot of Diamond Hill Zen Monastery go meditation hall at Su Dok Sa. The Women around the new hall. Since an enormous were quartered nearby in slightly larger ac­ Assisted by Richard Streitfeld, Director of Kwan Urn Zen hole had been dug down to nearly 30 feet, commodations at Kyon Seong Am, the School the massive hall seemed to float in the air ate in . nuns' temple. We all together the with a mysterious power. Even though it meditation hall, our numbers overflowing A narrative in A beginning ugust of the year 1987, in which a warm and hectic was pilgri­ only half-finished and the sides were out onto the porches of the hall as well. to the land mage faraway of Korea is depicted, wherein some 75 Zen stu­ still we were to have our intrepid open, conference The opening ceremony for the conference dents and teachers from North and South America, Western Poland and in hall. Europe, this was at 10 in the morning. On a raised dais, Korea gathered to celebrate their teacher's attainment mortal ofsixty years, andfur­ We were very fortunate to be joined on Soen Sa Nim sat with Won Dam Sunim thermore in enduring several adventures within encountered a strange subcultures, the trip by some other very prominent (resident Zen Master at Su Dok Sa), rare glimpse of unity among diversity. teachers besides Soen Sa Nim. The Vener­ Maezumi Roshi, Kwong Roshi, Maha able Taizen Maezumi Roshi, and old friend Ghosananda and Ji Kwang Poep Sa Nim on There have been to timers couldn't introduced to a of came group pilgrimages help being Soen Sa Nim's, from Zen Center of the upper tier. On the lower tier were our Korean Buddhist temples before in our new subculture of Buddhism, because at Los Angeles, Jakusho Kwong Roshi and his six Master Dharma teachers, Monks and this hour a monk walks around the school, usually every other year. However, temple wife Laura, both dear friends of our nuns from all over the mountains and near­ the 1987 tour a rush "The Ten Thousand came from Sonoma Mountain August brought special compound chanting sangha, Zen by cities came for this ceremony. Each of of not because we were and Hands Surra" with a moktak , The anticipation, only Eyes Center in northern California. Ven. Maha the teachers gave a short talk about the to celebrate Soen Sa Nim's 60th familiar chant has a different here. going melody Ghosananda, leader of the Cambodian theme, "The whole world is a single on a scale in his native coun­ The stillness of the " birthday grand early morning gave Buddhist community in America and a near flower. They were followed by representa­ chant a and try, but also because of the urgency in Ko­ mystery enchantment rarely neighbor in Providence, R. I., was with us tives from each of the countries represented rea's situation. All and sum­ in America. political spring experienced as was Ji Kwang Poep Sa Nim (Dr. Choi), in our party, who were asked to use only mer. TV showed the Breakfast in the ensured that anti-government morning primary teacher of the KUZS European one action or one word to express the newcomers understood were in a dif­ they contingent and also a teacher in Hawaii. Six theme. ferent culture. Portable tables were folding of the seven Master Dharma Teachers in the In the afternoon and on the next day, the into the our brought "kunbang," sleep­ School were travelling with us, as were teachers offered workshops built around ing/living/practicing area, followed by all of the monks. nearly KUZS specific topics. These were times, of solid was the first of a series of identical what Our arrival at Su Dok Sa was a preview teaching and dialoging with the teachers. In meals: white rice, soup, side we to kimchee, of the etiquette were follow at each of the evening we celebrated Soen Sa Nim's dishes and condiments. The guessing game the many temples we were to visit in subse­ 60th birthday in "Su Dok Sa family" style. of the was to what new side trip speculate quent days. Immediately upon arrival we Many of the Korean monks and nuns dishes we would get at meals, of went to the main Buddha "special" hall, bowed three joined for this festivity and it was a fun­ which there were The of these many. variety times to the altar and chanted the Heart filled, happy event with people singing dishes was and end­ Sutra in If the Abbot tantalizing apparently Korean. and/or resi­ songs of their native countries. A Korean less. Nuns' were famous temples especially dent Zen Master were available, we bowed singer who is a "national cultural treasure" for many of them to their to them as well. In most supplying three times Buddha gave a virtuoso performance. More than visitors. While the structure of the meal was our was able to halls, large group barely any other event of the trip, it was here that and the meals were de­ simple functional, squeeze itself in, The Buddha hall at Su the whole world seemed to manifest itself as licious and also choiceless, Unanimous agreement: we ate well. Our first day in Korea was for acclima­ tization. Some people went in town for a more intimate contact with the shopping district of Seoul. Soen Sa Nim and all the monks went to KBS studios, the nation's leading TV station, and sat for nearly four hours under hot kleig lights while an inter­ view was taped with Seen Sa Nim and the host of Korea's leading talk show, the Ko­ rean equivalent of Johnny Carson but cut from a Confucian mold! That evening the Temple dragon. Photo by Karen Ryder European contingent arrived via Hawaii, chaperoned by Do Mun Sunim from the derrionsirations tnthe streets' of rriajor Ko­ Paris Zen C�nter. There were now about 75 rean cities. There was speculation that of us from all over North and South Amer­ martial law might be imposed. If things got ica, Western Europe, Poland and Korea. worse, we might not be able to go there at The next day we packed up and crowded all. Then came the remarkable two to to Dok about political . into buses drive Su Sa, concessions by the Korean government, and a four-hour ride. This temple, situated on a cautious euphoria. We could go after all!! Duk Seung Sahn Mountain, is one of four Our first encounter with the new political "chongnims," or teaching temples of the reality came literally with our first steps on Chogye Order. Soen Sa Nim trained here as handlers to un­ Korean soil. There were no a young monk and considers it to be the load our baggage from the airplane - they root-temple of the American Kwan Urn Zen were on strike. Until a few months ago, Ko­ School. Up further on the mountain is tiny rea was run along assembly lines that would Jeung Hae Sa temple, Both of these temples have made the first Henry Ford beam with were associated with Zen Master Mang joy. Now there were strikes, workers' Gong, who in the I 93.o's and .�940's almost unions! Some of us empathized with the single-handedly .revived Korean, Buddhism. workers' demands despite our discomfort.' Nearby was Kyong Seong Am, one of the Planeload after planeload of passengers largest nunneries in Korea, also established DIFFERENT ZEN TRADITIONS walked together at Zen Master Seung Sahn's arrived at Kimpo Airport, danced into the by Mang Gong Sunim. The large temples 60th birthday celebration in Korea last September. From left, Jakusho Kwong, Roshi baggage retrieval area with expectant steps and the small hermitages on this mountain of Sonoma Mountain Zen Center; Soen Sa Nim, and 'Taizen Maezumi, Roshi Zen Center Los and became part of a restless, irritated are all paeans to his spirit. Even the theme of of Angeles. In the background is Kwan Um Zen School Abbot multitude. We waited six hours for our bags for our conference at Su Dok Sa - "The Jacob Perl. to be unloaded. Our tired, patient hosts whole world is a single flower" - comes Dok Sa was awesome in its history, first a single flower. also waited, on the other side of the cus­ from one of Mang Gong Sunim's famous built in 600 AD on this very site! Last re­ The conference closed with a ceremony toms barrier. One unexpected result of the sayings. For our first-timers, it was a built in the 13th century, it is one of the adopting a resolution which expressed the Los box on delay was that our New York and glimpse into Korean temple life as it .has very few Buddhist sites in Korea not sentiment of the assembly. (see p. 6) Angeles contingents converged at the been carried on for nearly a thousand years, destroyed during the Japanese invasions of The next day was the showpiece of our airport. Above all, it was � monks' community with 1592 and 1598. Chanting in these old Bud­ trip, "the Peace Symposium" at the Hyatt We were finally driven to Hwa Gye Sah, its own well-established rules and dha halls always seemed to add a new Regency Hotel in Seoul, another slice of of our host temple on the outskirts Seoul, regulations.