Dropping Ashes On The Buddha

We dedicate this booklet to Zen Master Seung Sahn. It is a tribute to his teaching, a tribute to his relentless efforts to help us to see the way and consequently to help others. I can see him now, straightening the cushions, correcting our chanting, encouraging us to go on as many retreats as possible. How many times did I hear him shout, “Time will not wait for you! Nobody guarantees your life!”
He also always said this practice is “not only for me.” Learning the forms, attending retreats, staying in close contact with your guiding teacher are the foundations of our practice. Let us never assume we already understand this. I trust we will all continue to bow very deeply to Zen Master Seung Sahn’s memory and to his instructions.
It is not a coincidence that the sutras and other suggested readings are in the last section. This rich tradition insists on live speech, direct understanding: “A special transmission outside the sutras.” A slow cultivation and understanding of the teachings of past teachers can be skillfully used to touch the hearts and minds of our wide sangha.
This manual is offered to you. Use it well. Know when to open it, know when to close it. Try, try, try, for ten thousand years, non-stop. – Zen Master Soeng Hyang, School Zen Master
Dharma Teacher Training Guidelines booklet (PDF).

Seung Sahn Quotes

Zen Master Seung Sahn is the founding teacher of the Kwan Um School of Zen. The 78th patriarch in his line of dharma transmission in the Korean order of Chogye Buddhism, he founded Zen centers all over the world. We were privileged to have him visit us and teach here at the KZC on a regular basis from the late 1970’s to the early 1990’s. As documented many places, including Rick Fields's excellent book, How the Swans Came to the Lake (2nd Edition), Seung Sahn had sexual relationships with many women who were followers of his. One such was Soeng Hyang. This caused tension in his community, as well. Zen Master Seung Sahn also authored several books. The PZC and the Kwan Um School practice a unique form of Zen Buddhism interpreted by Seung Sahn that blends Korean and American aspects. In addition to its daily schedule, the center holds numerous one-, two-, and three-day retreats and intensive biyearly winter and summer retreats called Kyol Che. Hyon Gak Sunim became a student of Zen Master Seung Sahn in 1989 while studying in Cambridge, Mass., and lived for several years at the Cambridge Zen Center. He was ordained by his Teacher in 1992 in China, at the Temple of the Sixth Patriarch, on Chogye Mountain: he was the first Westerner to be ordained in the People’s Republic of China. According to author Timothy Miller, “the Kwan Um organization has had to struggle with disclosures of controversial sexual conduct on the part of its leader; Seung Sahn was generally understood by his followers to be a celibate monk, and the revelation that he had had affairs with female students caused some members to leave the movement.”.Zen Master Seung Sahn did admit publicly the nature of the.