From a text exchange with a student and Zen Master Jok Um. Student:  Total freedom No desires ? Zen Master Jok Um:  What is the object of your no desires? Student:  I don't understand ZMJU:  Mmmmmmm. Is wanting to understand a desire? Student:  A lack of understanding is the iron bars of nonunderstanding. Wanting to understand is the key hole. No desire to understand creates the universal vastness within the 6x8 cell. This inmate thinks the warden has been puffing the cigar a little too hard ? ZMJU:  Got an ashtray? Student:  We're on a bridge. F ..read more

Life is Zen. But some people say that life is suffering. How are these different? If you make “my life is Zen,” then your life becomes Zen. If somebody else makes “my life is suffering,” then that person’s life becomes suffering. So it all depends on how you are keeping your mind just now, at this very moment! This just-now mind continues and becomes your life, as one point continues and becomes a straight line. If you attain enlightenment, you will understand that all people are suffering greatly, so your mind also will be suffering. This is big suffering. So you must enter the great bodhisa ..read more

We say the true teacher is always in front of us. That actually means the true student is always inside. These two are never separate. Where is the true student right now in this very moment? Where is it? No matter how much we try to run away from it or cover it up, eventually it will bubble up again. Being confronted with a situation that hits us, suddenly—it happens real fast—here it is. Helping us to look freshly, to find out, to open, to learn, to be alive. Hope we all only keep true student, finding the true teacher from moment to moment and help this world ..read more

In this video, Zen Master Soeng Hyang talks about what it means to believe in ourselves ..read more

Human beings have too much understanding. Too much understanding, too much have problems. Little bit understanding, little problem. If you don’t know, no problem! That’s the point: if you don’t know, no problem. So Don’t-Know mind is very important. Much understanding means somebody’s idea; it’s somebody’s idea that makes problems for me. Many desires, cannot get the desires, then get angry, then ignorance appears, make ignorant actions – stupid actions. So then you have problems. So Buddha is teaching us, you must attain your true self. If I ask you, “Who are you?”, what do you say? You know ..read more

Zen Master Bon Soeng talks about bringing our practice into the reality of our lives ..read more

When we sit in meditation it is often easy to fall into a daydream or relive old conversations or think about future events. This can be especially true if our direction in practice is not clear. Zen Master Seung Sahn said, “To practice correctly, we need two things - correct direction and try mind.” So what is correct direction? What does that mean? When I first started sitting at the zen center, I was always so relieved and happy to be there. My job was often stressful with long hours and being at the zen center meant complete silence and relaxation. Although I had a Great Question about li ..read more

A letter to a student. Thanks for our conversation yesterday. Glad we got to talk. I realized later that I'd been neglectful of an obligation and hope I can correct that here. You want something, so you don't want Dharma. When that is so, there's something between your eyes and what's in front of you. Then you don't see it, because at base, you want something else. While you know this only creates endless suffering, you want something else, so you suffer. Your intellect is very strong but is not always on your side. Just at the point of really seeing, you analyze, and then you lose the point ..read more

In this talk Zen Master Bon Shim talks about what is wisdom and how could we reveal it ..read more

So when your direction is clear, it is already beyond all the opposites. Life and death, possible or impossible, good or bad, right or wrong—it’s already beyond all the opposites. And what kind of direction you have is also important. Sentient beings are already numberless, they cannot be counted. Is it possible to save them all from the suffering? When your direction is clear, actually it doesn't matter that your wish or hope is going to come true or not. It’s not about success or failure. It’s not about truth or untruth. It’s not about coming true or not coming true. It just keeps going on ..read more