The best thing a teacher can give a student is for the student to believe in themselves. So, people would come and listen to Zen Master Seung Sahn, and what you would get from him is to not be attached to his words. And what you would get from him is this incredible energy and this incredible centeredness, and this incredible clarity, and the realization that you could also have that, and in fact you already had it. That’s the best thing the teacher can give the student It is not for the student to believe in the teacher as this exterior authority, but for the student to realize that what thi ..read more

Imbalance is our world’s sickness: how can we cure it? Balance means understanding the truth. If you have no wisdom, you cannot become balanced. It is very important for everyone to find their human nature. That is why we sit Zen, to find our true human nature. So we are in a very important position, sitting in meditation. We must find our human nature, then together help each other become world peace. As human beings, we are all equal. We all have the same love mind. We must find the primary cause of this world’s sickness, and remove it ..read more

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When we don’t have a clear direction why we practice it is more difficult to gather the energy to do it. Instead, our energy gets dispersed into other activities that eventually take away our motivation for practice. Having correct effort in our practice means waking up moment to moment, reminding ourselves of our direction by the act of doing the practice itself. As we return to our before-thinking mind in each moment, we repeat the habit of functioning from don’t-know. The more we repeatedly return to the moment when body, breath and mind become one, the more quickly we become one with the ..read more

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