Soshimsa Zen Center Celebrates Sixth Anniversary

On Sunday, July 12, members of Soshima Zen Center assembled to celebrate the sixth anniversary of Its founding.

The Abbess, Ven. Ji-Hyon Sunim of Kwan Um Sa and her sangha were also present for the occasion.

Women of the Center once again donned traditional Korean dress called Han-Bok to facilitate the presentation of the Six Offerings (Yook Gong-Yang).

Four Soshimsa Zen members were presented with their Dharma names.

Five members spoke; some related their personal experience with the Center, and Ven. Duhk-Song Sunim recounted a bit of the history.

There was a musical performance of “My Own Two Hands”* with instrumental accompaniment by Robert Davey on piano and Rafael Rios on ukulele and vocal participation by the Lotus Buds children.

The Abbot of Soshimsa Zen Center, Ven. Myong-Ahn Sunim officially opened the 1000-day Kwan Um Prayer for the health and prosperity of the collective Soshimsa sangha family and with hopes of Soshimsa coming to own its own facilities in the 1000 day future.

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...

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