Overview of the Compass of Zen by Seung Sahn

* The Purposes of Buddhism : First attain enlightenment, then instruct all creatures.
* The Divisions of Buddhism : Hinayana Buddhism, Mahayana Buddhism, Zen Buddhism
* The 5 Human Desires : Wealth, Sex, Fame, Food, Sleep
* 3 Kinds of Practice : Sila - Precepts, Samadhi - Meditation, Prajna - Wisdom
* 6 Paramitas : Generosity, Precepts, Forbearance, Samadhi, Practice, Wisdom
* Zen Buddhism : If you want to pass through this gate, do not give rise to thinking. Not depending on words, there has been a special transmission outside the sutras. Pointed directly to Mind, see your true nature, become Buddha.
* The Classifications of Zen : Outer Path Zen, Common People's Zen, Hinayana Zen, Mahayana Zen, Utmost (Vehicle ?) Zen.
* Utmost (Vehicle ?) Zen : Theoretical Zen ( Form is emptiness. Emptiness is form. ) Tathagata Zen ( No form, no emptiness. ) Patriarchal Zen ( Form is form. Emptiness is emptiness. )
* Methods of Meditation : Soto Zen ; Sitting in silent meditation. Rinzai Zen ; Looking into Kong-an. Chogye Zen ; What is this ?
* The Three Essential Elements in Zen : Great Faith, Great Courage, Great Question.

The Four Great Vows

Sentient Beings are nemberless; we vow to save them all

Delusions are endless; we vow to cut through them all

The teachings are infinite; we vow to learn them all

The Buddha way is inconceivable; we vow to attain it

How to do Sitting Meditation?

A Quick Guide to Sitting Meditation

I. On Zen Meditation

Traditionally, in China and Korea, only monks did Zen practice. But Zen has come to the West and here lay people practice Zen. This has changed the character of Zen. Now our teaching is about Zen in everyday life. Sitting Zen all the time is not possible for lay people. Everyday-life Zen means learning mind-sitting. Mind-sitting means not-moving mind. How do you keep not-moving mind? Put down your opinion, condition and situation moment-to-moment. When you are doing something, just do it. This is everyday Zen. For lay people the teaching of great love, great compassion and the Great Bodhisattva Way is very important. To attain that, it is necessary to keep a not-moving mind, then correct situation, correct function, and correct relationship appear by themselves in everyday life.

II. Meditation Techniques
There are various forms of meditation. Each technique has a special effect on the mind.
Mind Practices: These practices are the heart of meditation. They have different effects on the mind when they are practiced. Also the speed of the effect can be different depending on the technique used.
In all meditation techniques, the breath is important. To calm your body down, it is helpful to take several long, deep breaths at the beginning of meditation. Breathe using the diaphragm and center it in the lower belly. It should be relaxed, natural and quiet - the breath should breathe you.
Some of the various techniques are:

Technique 1: Keeping a Question
Traditionally this is called "hwa tou." If you have a question, this question will help you practice. If the question is big enough and intense enough, (the usual ones are "What am I?", "What is life?", etc.) it will practice you and will give you don't-know before-thinking mind. Let go of all thinking, opinions and desires and continually return to the questioning mind.

Technique 2: Mantra Practice
Using a mantra to calm the mind and strengthen the center is one technique used by students of Zen. The main difference between the mantras is the length of the mantra used and the mantra's direction. Generally the more incessant the thinking, the shorter the mantra.
The usual technique is to recite the mantra constantly, paying attention to it and allowing all other thinking to drop away. This takes some practice since it is very easy to let one part of the brain 'chant' the mantra while the other part is thinking about dinner or going to the movies. When this happens, gently bring the mind back to the mantra without any judgment.
The most common mantras used in our School are listed below.
Clear Mind, Clear Mind, Clear Mind -- Don't Know
This mantra is usually suggested to beginners in conjunction with a breathing exercise. Breathe in to a count of 3, saying "clear mind" at each count and breathe out to a count of 7 saying 'dooooonnn't knnnnooooooow' just once for the whole 7 count. The count may vary with the individual, but the exhalation should be more than twice as long as the inhalation.
This is generally the first technique taught in our School.
Kwan Seum Bosal
This is the Korean name for the bodhisattva of compassion, Avalokitesvara. This mantra is commonly suggested for people whose minds cannot be quiet one minute or who cannot concentrate for very long. Because it is short it can be repeated over and over (usually with a set of beads for counting). The usual recommendation is for 3000 to 10000 a day for someone who really wants to clear their mind of a particular problem. It is also used on a daily basis by many people as part of their sitting meditation technique.

Technique 3: Kong-an Practice
Kong-an practice is an ancient form of question and answer. The actual word means "public record". So these are the public records of past Zen Masters. The answers are rooted in the reality that is beyond time and space, likes and dislikes, but is just-like-this. One of their functions is to give you a Great Question if you don't have one. Another is to help you eliminate the "hooks" from your mind. Each Kong-an has hooks (like mental fishhooks) and when you cannot solve it, it is because your mind has gotten caught on one of the hooks of the Kong-an. Sitting with the Kong-an as a question is one of the trademarks of Zen Practice.

Technique 4: Counting the Breaths
The breath is counted either on the exhalation (best for beginners) or the inhalation (more difficult) from 1 to 10. When you lose count or reach 10, start over.
Technique 5: Clear Mind MeditationThis form of meditation involves just sitting and being aware of what is going on at just this moment. This is moment-to-moment mind. It hears the birds in the trees, the cars going by, the planes overhead, and the children playing outside. To the clear mind there is no such thing as 'noisy', it all just 'is'. This is not a beginning technique, but is an out-growth of the previous meditations.

III. Sitting Postures

Basic Form:
Place a cushion (Japanese: zafu) on a mat (Japanese: zabuton) and sit in a simple cross-legged position.
Keep the spine straight, shoulders back and loose; tip your head forward slightly, tuck in your chin so that you can see the floor about 3 feet in front of you. Your eyes should be half open, looking down.


Place your hands in your lap in the Maha Mudra - see above.
Basic Posture Variations:
Full-lotus: sit with both feet upon your thighs

Half-lotus: sit with one foot upon the opposite thigh and with the other foot under the opposite thigh

Quarter-lotus: sit with one foot upon the opposite calf and with the other foot under the opposite thigh

"Burmese" posture: sit with both feet touching the mat

Pile several cushions on top of each other, turning them sideways (widest part of cushion runs from the front to the back of the mat, not left to right), and straddle them. This is often comfortable for beginners, but is not a stable position if you have a tendency to fall asleep during the sitting period.

Kneel on the mat and put a cushion on your calves and sit on it.
Use a 'meditation bench' consisting of a slanted board on 2 legs. Put it over the calves as you kneel on the mat and then sit on the bench.

Sitting on a chair
Standing - in this case the proper form is to put your hands in hapchang

Common Errors:
Not sitting with the backbone straight. This may be remedied by using more cushions. Generally the legs must be in a symmetrical position - what one is doing, the other must do. Most people are also more comfortable sitting with their hip joints higher than their knees.
Sitting past one's physical endurance so that the mind becomes focused on the physical position instead of its real work.
See the picture on the Website of www.kwanumzen.com"
The page copyright © Kwan Um School of Zen

Bowing

I. About Bowing

Prostrations could be likened to the 'emergency measure' for clearing the mind. They are a very powerful technique for seeing the karma of a situation because both the mind and the body are involved. Something that might take days of sitting to digest may be digested in a much shorter time with prostrations. The usual practice here is to do 1000 bows a day (actually 1080). This can be done all at once or as is usually the case, spread out through the day. For instance:1 set for morning bows, 2 sets before breakfast, 2 sets at lunch time, 2 sets mid-afternoon, 1 set before evening practice, 2 sets after evening practice.

II. Full Standing Bow
Put your hands in hapchang (palms together as shown at right), feet together
Bow fully from the hips, keeping your back straight so your chest is parallel to the floor. (Your head should be bowed and your hands will drop to the level of your knees as you go down).

As you return to the vertical position, your hands will also return to chest height.

Common Errors:
The bow is not deep enough - a 90 degree angle should be formed by your body.
The feet are not together.
Not bringing the hands up into hapchang position at the beginning and ending of the bow when the body is in the vertical position.
The person starts to move before completing the full bow.
When it is used:
For greetings of Monks and Nuns when they are not in the Dharma Room (when we usually do a prostration).
For entering or leaving the Dharma Room.
Anytime you cross in front of the altar within ten feet of it, except during walking mediation, you must bow to the Buddha using this form.
At the beginning and ending of a set of prostrations.

III. Prostrations
Start in a standing position with the feet together, and the hands in hapchang.

Drop gently to your knees, but still stay in a vertical position sitting on your heels with your hands in hapchang.

Drop forward to all fours so that the right hand is in front of the right knee and same for left.

Rock back and down so that your rear is touching your heels and your forehead is touching the floor. In this position, your hands should be turned over (palms up), touching the mat next to your ears and your left foot should be crossed over the right one. Remain for a moment in this position.

Rock forward and up so that you return to the "all fours" position.

Sit back on your heels and come to a vertical position with your hands in hapchang, resting on the balls of your feet again.

Return to the upright standing position.

Alternate Form:
Pushing off from the kneeling position with the hands to return to the standing position. This is sometimes necessary if our bodies are not well or we have bad knees or our balance is not good.
Common Errors:
Not going all the way to the mat.
Feet are not crossed.
Not having hands in hapchang as you are coming up.
Raising your hands above the base of the neck as you are coming up.
When doing prostrations during the Homage to the Buddhas chant, paddling or flipping your feet to get your Dharma Teacher robe off your heels. The correct way is to put your hands further out in front of you (maybe a foot in front of the mat) and this will pull the robe off your heels
During the standing bows at the beginning and ending of the prostration set, not bringing the hands up into hapchang position at the beginning and ending of the bow when the body is in the vertical position.
Not bowing together with other people - highest ranking teacher begins the bowing and sets the pace.
IV. 108 Prostrations
Form:
Begin in the standing bow position with you feet together and you hands in hapchang
Do a Full Standing Bow
Do 108 Prostrations
At the end of the 108th Prostration come up to the kneeling position and then bow down again to the full prostration position (head touching mat) - this is often called a "half prostration"
Return to the standing bow position
Do a Full Standing Bow
See the picture on the Website of "www.kwanumzen.com"

Why We Chant?

"Why We Chant" -
by Zen Master Seung Sahn, excerpted from Dropping Ashes on the Buddha

One Sunday evening, after a Dharma talk at the International Zen Center of New York, a student asked Seung Sahn Soen-sa, "Why do you chant? Isn't sitting Zen enough?"
Soen-sa said, "This is a very important matter. We bow together, chant together, eat together, sit together, and do many other things together here at the Zen Center. Why do we practice together?
"Everybody has different karma. So all people have different situations, different conditions, and different opinions. One person is a monk, another is a student, another works in a factory; one person always keeps a clear mind, another is often troubled or dissatisfied; one person likes the women's movement, another doesn't. But everybody thinks, 'My opinion is correct!' Even Zen Masters are like this. Ten Zen Masters will have ten different ways of teaching, and each Zen Master will think that his way is the best. Americans have an American opinion; Orientals have an Oriental opinion. Different opinions result in different actions, which make different karma. So when you hold on to your own opinions, it is very difficult to control your karma, and your life will remain difficult. Your wrong opinions continue, so your bad karma continues. But at our Zen Centers, we live together and practice together, and all of us abide by the Temple Rules. People come to us with many strong likes and dislikes, and gradually cut them all off. Everybody bows together 108 times at five-thirty in the morning, everybody sits together, everybody eats together, everybody works together. Sometimes you don't feel like bowing; but this is a temple rule so you bow. Sometimes you don't want to chant, to sleep; but you chant. Sometimes you are tired and want to but you know that if you don't come to sitting, people will wonder why; so you sit.
"When we eat, we eat in ritual style, with four bowls; and after we finish eating, we wash out the bowls with tea, using our index finger to clean them. The first few times we ate this way, nobody liked it. One person from the Cambridge Zen Center came to me very upset. 'I can't stand this way of eating! The tea gets full of garbage! I can't drink it!' I said to him, 'Do you know the Heart Sutra?' 'Yes.' 'Doesn't it say that things are neither tainted nor pure?' 'Yes.' 'Then why can't you drink the tea?' 'Because it's filthy" " (Laughter from the audience.) "'Why is it filthy? These crumbs are from the food that you already ate. If you think the tea is dirty, it is dirty. If you think it is clean, it is clean.' He said, 'You're right. I will drink the tea."' (Laughter.)
"So we live together and act together. Acting together means cutting off my opinions, cutting off my condition, cutting off my situation. Then we become empty mind. We return to white paper. Then our true opinion, our true condition, our true situation will appear. When we bow together and chant together and eat together, our minds become one mind. It is like on the sea. When the wind comes, there are many waves. When the wind dies down, the waves become smaller. When the wind stops, the water becomes a mirror, in which everything is reflected-mountains, trees, clouds. Our mind is the same. When we have many desires and many opinions, there are many big waves. But after we sit Zen and act together for some time, our opinions and desires disappear. The waves become smaller and smaller. Then our mind is like a clear mirror, and everything we see or hear or smell or taste or touch or think is the truth. Then it is very easy to understand other people's minds. Their minds are reflected in my mind.
"So chanting is very important. At first you won't understand. But after you chant regularly, you will understand. 'Ah, chanting-very good feeling!' It is the same with bowing 108 times. At first people don't like this. Why do we bow? We are not bowing to Buddha, we are bowing to ourselves. Small I is bowing to Big I. Then Small I disappears and becomes Big I This is true bowing. So come practice with us. You will soon understand."
The student bowed and said, "Thank you very much."
This page copyright © Kwan Um School of Zen"Why We Chant" copyright © Providence Zen CenterAll Rights Reserved

Zen is Understanding Yourself

One day a student from Chicago came to the Providence Zen Center and asked Seung Sahn Soen-Sa, "What is Zen?"
Soen-sa held his Zen stick above his head and said, "Do you understand?"
The student said, "I don't know."
Soen-sa said, "This don't know mind is you. Zen is understanding yourself."
"What do you understand about me? Teach me."
Soen-sa said, "In a cookie factory, different cookies are baked in the shape of animals, cars, people, and airplanes. They all have different names and forms, but they are all made from the same dough, and they all taste the same.
"In the same way, all things in the universe - the sun, the moon, the stars, mountains, rivers, people, and so forth - have different names and forms, but they are all made from the same substance. The universe is organized into pairs of opposites: light and darkness, man and woman, sound and silence, good and bad. But all these opposites are mutual, because they are made from the same substance. Their names and their forms are different, but their substance is the same. Names and forms are made by your thinking. If you are not thinking and have no attachment to name and form, then all substance is one. Your don't know mind cuts off all thinking. This is your substance. The substance of this Zen stick and your own substance are the same. You are this stick; this stick is you."
The student said, "Some philosophers say this substance is energy, or mind, or God, or matter. Which is the truth?"
Soen-sa said, "Four blind men went to the zoo and visited the elephant. One blind man touched its side and said, 'The elephant is like a wall.' The next blind man touched its trunk and said, 'The elephant is like a snake.' The next blind man touched its leg and said, 'The elephant is like a column.' The last blind man touched its tail and said, 'The elephant is like a broom.' Then the four blind men started to fight, each one believing that his opinion was the right one. Each only understood the part he had touched; none of them understood the whole.
"Substance has no name and no form. Energy, mind, God, and matter are all name and form. Substance is the Absolute. Having name and form is having opposites. So the whole world is like the blind men fighting among themselves. Not understanding yourself is not understanding the truth. That is why there is fighting among ourselves. If all the people in the world understood themselves, they would attain the Absolute. Then the world would be at peace. World peace is Zen."
The student said, "How can practicing Zen make world peace?"
Soen-sa said, "People desire money, fame, sex, food, and rest. All this desire is thinking. Thinking is suffering. Suffering means no world peace. Not thinking is not suffering. Not suffering means world peace. World peace is the Absolute. The Absolute is I."
The student said, "How can I understand the Absolute?"
Soen-sa said, "You must first understand yourself."
"How can I understand myself?"
Soen-sa held up the Zen stick and said, "Do you see this?"
He then quickly hit the table with the stick and said, "Do you hear this? This stick, this sound, your mind - are they the same or different?"
The student said, "The same."
Soen-sa said, "If you say they are the same, I will hit you thirty times. If you say they are different, I will still hit you thirty times. Why?"
The student was silent.
Soen-sa shouted, "KATZ!!!" Then he said, "Spring comes, the grass grows by itself."
From Dropping Ashes On The Buddha: The Teaching of Zen Master Seung Sahnedited by Stephen Mitchell (Grove Press, New York, NY, 1976)Copyright © Providence Zen Center
This book and others are available from our Primary Point Press

What is Zen?

Zen is very simple... What are you?
In this whole world everyone searches for happiness outside, but nobody understands their true self inside.
Everybody says, "I" -- "I want this, I am like that..." But nobody understands this "I." Before you were born, where did your I come from? When you die, where will your I go? If you sincerely ask, "what am I?" sooner or later you will run into a wall where all thinking is cut off. We call this "don't know."
Zen is keeping this "don't know" mind always and everywhere.
When walking, standing, sitting, lying down, speaking, being silent, moving, being still.At all times, in all places, without interruption -- what is this?One mind is infinite kalpas.
Meditation in Zen means keeping don't-know mind when bowing, chanting and sitting Zen. This is formal Zen practice. And when doing something, just do it. When driving, just drive; when eating, just eat; when working, just work.
Finally, your don't-know mind will become clear. Then you can see the sky, only blue. You can see the tree, only green. Your mind is like a clear mirror. Red comes, the mirror is red; white comes the mirror is white. A hungry person comes, you can give him food; a thirsty person comes, you can give her something to drink. There is no desire for myself, only for all beings. That mind is already enlightenment, what we call Great Love, Great Compassion, the Great Bodhisattva Way. It's very simple, not difficult!
So Buddha said that all beings have Buddha-nature (enlightenment nature). But Zen Master Joju said that a dog has no Buddha-nature. Which one is right? Which one is wrong? If you find that, you find the true way.