From "Zen Master Goes to Europe" (unpublished) by Zen Master Seung Sahn and Mu Sang Sunim copyright 1990 David B. Gerber
APRIL 24, 1978: FRANKFURT, BERLIN
Bowing, 6:00, half hour sitting. Dae Soen Sa Nim gives the following kong-an talk:
YOU DON'T WANT ENLIGHTENMENT
"If you attain enlightenment, one thousand things, ten thousand things become one; if you attain enlightenment, one thousand things, ten thousand things, each become clear. Which statement is correct?"
A student said, "They are the same."
"You say the same, so I hit you. Not the same. Only, if you attain enlightenment, one thousand things, ten thousand things become one. So this is what kind of area?"
The student said, "No mind, no Buddha, it's all one."
"Then what?" The student hit the floor. "Only this?"
The student said, "Outside the noise of the cars."
Dae Soen Sa Nim said, "Correct. So attaining enlightenment, not attaining enlightenment, these are teaching words. These are only teaching words. Many people are attached to these words, so they don't understand truly attaining enlightenment. So these two statements are not the same, not different. Not same, not different means, there is no enlightenment in enlightenment. Enlightenment is no enlightenment. So you must attain no enlightenment. But these are all just teaching words. So some Zen books talk about attaining enlightenment, no enlightenment, a lot of talking about this. But when you pick up a Zen book, does it have bone or no bone? This is very important. If you understand what having bone means, then you understand enlightenment and no enlightenment.
"Here is a kong-an about this. Someone once sat Zen for ten years, he was an old man. He had an interview with the Zen Master and said, 'Zen Master, I have a question. I have been sitting for ten years but enlightenment has not appeared.'
"The Zen Master said, 'You don't want enlightenment, so it has not appeared.'
"'No, no,' said the student, 'I want enlightenment, but it hasn't appeared.'
"The Zen Master said, 'So you want enlightenment, so it hasn't appeared.'
"Then the student said, 'Then what shall I do, Zen Master?'
"The Zen Master said, 'Go to the kitchen, drink cold water.' In Korea, when your mind is not clear you go to the kitchen and drink cold water.
"So the student said, 'O.K., thank you very much,' and went away. This is a very short interview but very important. Everything is in it. So this morning, only drink cold water, O.K.? If you have mind, drink cold water, then your mind will disappear."
Dae Soen Sa Nim added, "Cold water is always good for anger."
After the talk, Dorothy said, "I've learned a lot from books."
Dae Soen Sa Nim replied, "Drink your coffee."
Dorothy said, "Isn't your teaching style, correct questions and answers, just a game?
Dae Soen Sa Nim replied, "Yah, correct, it's a game. Everything is a game. If you have game mind, everything is a game. If your mind is Buddha, everything is Buddha. If your mind is a demon, everything is a demon. I always answer like this."
At 10:20 we fly to Berlin. We're met in Berlin by Michael, a minister and a friend of Jo's (Jo is an old student of Dae Soen Sa Nim). Michael takes us to our hotel and drops us off at a Chinese restaurant for lunch. We spend a leisurely afternoon. Dinner with Michael and a friend of his at a vegetarian restaurant. We walk around afterwards near the Kaiser Wilhelm Monument. Sandra visits a synagogue.
APRIL 25: BERLIN
Bowing, 6:00, half hour sitting. Dae Soen Sa Nim gives the following kong-an talk:
YOU MUST TRY
"One morning at Tahl Mah Sah Zen Center in Los Angeles, Stephen didn't come to bows, so I asked him, 'Are you sick?'
"'Dae Soen Sa Nim, I cannot sleep. Many people come and go to Alicia's room, it's very noisy, so I can't sleep and then I can't wake up early for bows. I am sorry.'
"So I said, 'O.K., this noisy is no good. This is a bad situation, so I will make you a good situation.' So I talked to Linc and asked him to make a door and a wall between the two rooms. He made a beautiful door and a beautiful wall. But the next morning, Stephen again did not come to bows, also the morning after that. So I asked him, 'Stephen, what is the matter with you. Now it's not noisy, we made a wall.'
"He said, 'Dae Soen Sa Nim, outside there's a lot of loud music coming from a man's apartment.'
"'Oh, now I know, your ears are better than mine. Maybe outside it's noisy, but your inside is better than outside. Your inside is noisier than outside. Even if you go to a mountain you cannot sleep. What is noisy, what is quiet, you show me?'
"He said, 'I don't know.'
"He works in a bookstore and spends a lot of time reading, so his mind becomes noisy. Also he doesn't exercise, he likes good food. So I said to him, 'You have a lot of time. If you want to understand Zen, you must listen to me. Every morning, every evening, you must run.'
"He said, 'O.K.,' and he tried this. Then every morning he could get up for bows. But his mind was very lazy. Also he had a girl friend. In the morning he could run, but in the evening she would call him up, they would go out drinking and dancing, he would come back late, and the next morning he couldn't wake up. So I told him, 'You must understand your karma. Your girl friend is important; also drinking is important; dancing is important. What is most important?'
"'I understand,' he said, 'but I cannot.'
"I said, 'You say, "Cannot," your karma says, "Cannot," but your true self is able to do everything. Why do you give in to your karma? Then your karma controls you for your whole life. That's O.K., but why are you staying at a Zen Center?'
"'But I want to try.'"
"'So, your karma is very strong. "I want to try" mind is weak. So if you want the Zen Center to help you, you must only do together action, together action. Then your karma disappears. Then you can control your karma, control your whole life, control everything. Also you can control Buddha, control Dharma, control the whole universe. But you cannot control your karma, so how can you control Buddha, how can you control all beings?'
"'Dae Soen Sa Nim,' he said, 'I am sorry.' He would always say, 'I am sorry,' then begin running for a day or two, but afterwards he couldn't continue. He stayed almost a year at the Zen Center and couldn't fix his mind. This is desire mind. His desire mind was very strong.
"Also, many times I would tell him to stop reading. He would say, 'Dae Soen Sa Nim, I can't stop reading. Everyone comes and asks me what books to buy, so I have to read them to know.'
"I said, 'You like to read the insides so when someone comes and asks you, you can have a long conversation. You like lots of talking, this is your desire. You want to understand something--understand, understand, understand many books. This makes your mind more complicated, it makes your inside noisy, noisy, noisy. Then if you're noisy, every night you cannot sleep.'
"'Dae Soen Sa Nim,' he said, 'I only go to drink coffee, drink alcohol, go dancing, then I have a very good feeling and I can't sleep.'
"I said, 'So your whole life is this style. You sleep until 10 in the morning. Many people have this style. But if you want to make your bad karma disappear strongly enough, it's possible. This is try mind. If you try once, it's not possible. If you try twice, it's not possible. If you try three times, it's not possible. If you try ten times, then it's possible. You must try ten times, just trying once is not enough. This "I cannot" is a no good mind. "I cannot" is a very bad mind. Don't say, "Cannot." Try! Maybe you can't, but don't say "I cannot." Again try, try, try.'
"Once there was a Japanese geisha who wanted a handsome, rich man with a high-class job. Once the man came to the geisha hall. When the geisha saw this man, her mind was only 'Try!' The first time he had no feeling of any kind. He had a wife, a good house, a family. Many geishas tried with no success. But this one geisha thought, 'I only want this man,' then she tried, tried, tried. So she tried ten times, then he fell down. There is an Oriental saying: if you have a big tree, if you hit it ten times, any tree will fall down. So we call this try mind. But our try mind is not the ordinary style. Our try mind is for 10,000 years, not only for one year, not only for life. Try, try, try for 10,000 years, nonstop. It's very important."
David, who is Jewish, and never expected to find himself in Germany, has all energy up, stays at the hotel and bows. Later Dae Soen Sa Nim says to him, "You have try mind." Meanwhile the rest of the group goes to visit the Wall. Then to a Sri Lankan temple, where two Sri Lankan monks and four German laymen are living. It's a beautiful series of buildings on a hill. There's a beautiful Buddha in the library. We have tea in the library.
The buildings were originally used for a Buddhist society, the first in Europe, founded in 1924 by Paul Dahlke. He worked there until he died in 1928 and is buried somewhere in the garden, no one knows where. During the War it was closed. After the War, it was bought by a Sri Lankan society with money from German and European Buddhists and from Sri Lanka. There are always a few Sri Lankan monks there.
Dae Soen Sa Nim goes downstairs to eat with the monks before noon (in their tradition, they cannot eat after noon). They give Dae Soen Sa Nim a banner. There's a meditation hall across the beautiful, terraced grounds. Also, an outdoor amphitheater where they used to hold ceremonies. Once a month there are lectures, mostly intellectual style. We visit the reception hall area, then the library, and the meditation hall, which is in Sri Lankan style with a terrace on the roof. It's pretty, but not suited for the climate. There's a small zendo inside, with Japanese style pictures. A Zen group meets there once a week.
Next we visit the house of a German psychotherapist named K. We have tea. His wife is Christian, we talk about Christian Zen. He is making an addition to his house for a zendo, using his own money. There are 20-30 students. Some may come and visit the United States. He has a small German-Japanese style hut for sitting. He has also studied Zen and tea ceremony in Japan. Dae Soen Sa Nim signs his guest book with a poem:
The Great Way has no gate. The tongue has no bone. Spring comes everywhere. The willow is green, the flower is red.
Next we have lunch at a Chinese restaurant. We look for shoes for Dae Soen Sa Nim, but no luck. Return to our hotel. Dae Soen Sa Nim remarks, "A Zen Master is like a pin ball machine. If a student gives a correct kong-an answer, the bell rings."