Ven. Myong-Ahn's Bhikkhu Ordination (Korea 2011)

On Nov. 23, 2011 Ven. Myong-Ahn along with Ven. Hae-In from Washington received the Bhikkhu Precepts at the Bop Ryun Sa Headquarter Temple of the Taego Order in Seoul South Korea. The training and, lectures and the ceremony itself began on the 21st and culminated on the 23rd. The Ceremony was presided over by Supreme Patriarch Most Ven. Hae-Cho, President of the Order Most Ven. In-Gong, Most Ven. Prof. Oun-Gok. Ven. Myong-Ahn was honored to have his UnsaNim (Ven. Il-Cho), his Ordination UnsaNim (Ven. Sang-Muk Sunim) and Yeon-Hwa Bosal attended the Ordination in a show of support. Total of 95 male and 32 female monks took the Bodhisattva Precepts that day. An excerpt of an interview with Ven. Myong-Ahn can be found in Korean on http://www.bulgyofocus.net/news/articleView.html?idxno=64386. Ven. Myong-Ahn is quoted saying that" It is a great honor to be a part of this traditional ceremony in which we become inducted into the long historical lineage of the Taego Order. The feeling can only be understood through first-hand experience, which my two Doban (Ven. Mooh-Sang and Ven. Duhk-Song) will soon have a chance to experience for themselves". We all congratulate Ven. Myong-Ahn on this memorable occasion.

Words about words

In the near future, we’ll talk about chanting. But I thought it appropriate to first talk about words. Words can be fun, like a toy, we can play with them. “I went to a diner the other day, and order the chicken catastrophe, and eggs overwhelming.   The chicken was so undercooked that it walked down to the end of the counter and tried to beat up my cup of coffee. The coffee wasn't strong enough to defend itself. ” (paraphrased from a Tom Waits song.) Words are tools, descriptive tools. A group of us gets together, and we agree on the meaning of the word and we agree that this thing (word) is going to point to that thing that is the real article. I’m holding up a cup right now. I’m drinking “water”. I’m drinking “aqua”. I’m drinking “mool”, I’m drinking “woda”. Regardless of the word for water, in Spanish, Korean or Polish, the word itself just points to a thing. After all, we cannot drink the word “water”. Like a finger pointing to the moon. Don't get stuck on the finger or ...

Founder's Day 2023 (Abbot's Address)

I have, from time to time, on the rarest of occasions, been accused of being...verbose. I know! I was as shocked then as you are now. So, we are in imminent danger of the lunch getting cold. Yet, I don’t have the words (imagine that!) to express how fortunate we are to be in the mere presence of a Dosa. This is the stuff we each have to stick our head through the mystical curtain of mystery to glimpse. So, we won’t go there now. I thought to myself… if I absolutely had to, choose a single quality of IlCho Dosanim that I would want to highlight. What would that be? And of course, we go through the usual list: wisdom, compassion, knowledge, patience, etc. Yet, as much as all of these are true, today they won’t do. And so, I went on, sifting through and I think I found it. So here it is, the single most impressive quality of Il-Cho Dosanim, for me….expressed in a single word… succinct. Succinct. Never have I met someone who can distill the esoteric and the complexities of our human condit...

SOSHIMSA ZEN CENTER - BLOG

Search This Blog