Dennis Wholey interview about Zen beliefs and practices with Hyon Gak Sunim in Seoul, Korea.
Venerable
Hyon Gak Sunim - was born Paul Muenzen in 1964 to a family of devout
Catholics in New Jersey, U.S.A. His mother is a PhD in biochemistry,
and his father was an executive at a prominent American computer
company, and later founded his own company. He has eight brothers and
sisters.
He is currently the Head Teacher of the Zen hall at 500
year-old Hwa Gye Sah Temple in the Sam Gak Sahn Mountain range, outside
Seoul, South Korea. In August 2001, he received inka by Zen Master
Seung Sahn the 78th Patriarch in a lineage stretching back to
Shakyamuni Buddha.
As all things are Buddha-dharma, there are delusion, realization,
practice, birth and death, buddhas and sentient beings.
As myriad
things are without an abiding self, there is no delusion, no
realization, no buddha, no sentient being, no birth and death.
The
Buddha Way, in essence, is leaping clear of abundance and lack; thus
there are birth and death, delusion and realization, sentient beings
and buddhas. Yet in attachment blossoms fall, and in aversion weeds
spread.
To carry the self forward and illuminate myriad things is delusion.
That myriad things come forth and illuminate the self is awakening.
At the time of Suzuki's arrival, Zen had become a hot topic amongst some
groups in the United States, especially beatniks. Particularly influential were
several books on Zen and Buddhism by Alan Watts. Word began to spread about
Suzuki among the beatniks through places like The San Francisco Art Institute
and The American Academy of Asian Studies, where Alan Watts was once director.
Kato had done some presentations at the Academy and asked Suzuki to come join a
class he was giving there on Buddhism.
Venerable Hyon Gak Sunim is currently the Head Teacher of the Zen
hall at 500 year-old Hwa Gye Sah Temple in the Sam Gak Sahn Mountain range,
outside Seoul, South Korea. In August 2001, he received inka by Zen Master Seung Sahn the 78th Patriarch in a lineage
stretching back to Shakyamuni Buddha.
Venerable Hyon Gak Sunim is currently the Head Teacher of the Zen
hall at 500 year-old Hwa Gye Sah Temple in the Sam Gak Sahn Mountain range,
outside Seoul, South Korea. In August 2001, he received inka by Zen Master Seung Sahn the 78th Patriarch in a lineage
stretching back to Shakyamuni Buddha.
Record of the 1992 Dharma Transmission
and 20th anniversary celebrations, plus interviews with four zen masters (1993).
Visit http://www.kwanumzen.com/ for more information.
Zen Master Seung Sahn's teaching
documentary "Wake up! On the Road with a Zen Master". A professional and
entertaining documentary that captures Zen Master Seung Sahn's energy while
presenting the core of his teaching. Wake Up! is not only a rare portrait of an
unusual and provocative teacher, but also an introduction to Zen Buddhism today.
Wake Up! was shot on location during a teaching trip in Europe by award-winning
independent filmmaker Brad Anderson from Boston.
The Path of the Middleway, Zen
in Modern Life. A Talk given at Singapore Zen Meditation Centre, 17 June 2005.
Talk is in English with Mandarin Chinese translation.
Zen Master Dae
Kwang is the abbot of the Kwan Um School of Zen. He is the guiding teacher of
Providence Zen Center in Cumberland, Rhode Island, the head temple of our
international School. He is also the teacher for Zen centers in Wisconsin and
Delaware. Zen Master Dae Kwang travels widely, leading retreats throughout North
America, Europe, and Asia. His interests include meditation practices common to
Christianity and Buddhism. He was ordained a monk in 1987.
