Kwan Um School of Zen

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The Kwan Um School of Zen is an umbrella organization for the various Zen centers and groups founded by the Korean Zen master Seung Sahn. While it uses the liturgy and forms of the Korean Buddhist Chogye Order, the Kwan Um School has adapted to fit the needs of its Western students. Unlike the mainly monastic Chogye Order, the Kwan Um School welcomes laypeople as students and teachers. Although there are monks and nuns in the Kwan Um School, they are in the minority.

Zen Master Soeng Hyang (Barbara Rhodes) is the current head teacher of the order.

Contents 1 Background 2 Teachings 3 Notes 4 External links

[edit] Background

The Kwan Um School was founded by Zen Master Seung Sahn, a Korean Zen Master who came to America in 1970. Along with a handful of students, he rented out an apartment in Providence, Rhode Island, where he started the first Zen Center of the Kwan Um School. The Providence Zen Center eventually became the headquarters of the organization. Over the next 25 years, the Kwan Um School expanded to include many major U.S. cities, as well as countries in Europe, Africa, and South America. Today, there are approximately 50 centers around the world affiliated with the Kwan Um School.

The Kwan Um School has about a dozen Zen Masters. Zen Master Dae Kwang is the current abbot, and Zen Master Soeng Hyang (also known as Barbara Rhodes) is the school Zen Master.

[edit] Teachings

In the Kwan Um School, the primary methods of group practice are chanting and sitting meditation, with bowing practice at occasional retreats. Individual practitioners can also try mantra practice, and are recommended to sit, chant, and bow on their own as well as in a group setting. As in most schools of Zen, scholarly study of the Buddhist scriptures is not necessary, and even discouraged if scripture study takes precedence over actual practice. The scriptures of Buddhism - and other religions as well - are, as is said in the Kwan Um school, a "finger pointing at the moon"; that is to say, they can help students with their practice, but should not be mistaken as the sole means to an end.^[1] This is opposed to other Buddhist schools, where study of scripture is considered to be an important step in attaining Enlightenment, or Nirvana. Also emphasized in the Kwan Um school is the concept of "Don't Know" mind. Zen Master Seung Sahn explained:

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.^[2]

Another way of describing "Don't know" mind is a clear mind. Thinking forms attachments, the school teaches; when there is no thinking, the mind can "let go" of attachments. The Kwan Um school teachings also emphasize the purity of the present moment. Teachers often express this by hitting the floor or shouting occasionally, bringing themselves and their audience back to the present moment. By regularly practicing with "don't know" mind and staying aware of the present moment using the methods described above, the student develops a "just do it" mind, where he/she can perceive the "correct situation, correct condition, and correct action in each moment".^[3] In other words, regular practice enables a student to know what is the most beneficial thing to do in any given moment, and then to "just do it" without hesitation.

Most Kwan Um School centers hold periodic retreats, dharma talks, and introductions to Zen.

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

• Kwan Um School of Zen