"Zen Master Goes to Europe" Part 18

From: "Mu Sang Sunim" Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2001 07:08:42 -0000 Subject: "Zen Master Goes to Europe" Part 18 From "Zen Master Goes to Europe" (unpublished) by Zen Master Seung Sahn and Mu Sang Sunim copyright 1990 David B. Gerber MAY 7: PARIS Bowing, 6:00. Half hour sitting. Dae Soen Sa Nim gives the following kong-an talk: TATHAGATA ZEN, PATRIARCHAL ZEN "We just read Bobby's letter from Dropping Ashes on the Buddha. Bobby's letter was completely correct, but when I answered her I told her each sentence was not correct. This is checking how much a student believes in himself. If you completely believe in yourself then you'll say, 'Zen Master, you are crazy.' "Long ago, Hyang Om Sunim was a student of Zen Master Ang Sahn. Hyang Om Sunim said, 'Now I understand the difference between sutra teaching and Zen teaching.' "Ang Sahn Sunim said, 'What is it?' "Hyang Om Sunim said, 'When it's cold, a chicken flies into a tree, a duck dives into the water.' "Ang Sahn Sunim said, 'You only understand Tathagata Zen, you don't understand Patriarchal Zen.' "Hyang Om Sunim asked, 'What is Patriarchal Zen?' "Ang Sahn Sunim said, 'When it's cold, a chicken flies into a tree, a duck dives into the water.'" In the morning, we split up. Dae Soen Sa Nim, David, Linda, Margaret, and the two monks go to the Champs Elys?, the top of the Arc de Triomphe, and the Eiffel Tower, where they have lunch on the second floor. David goes home, the rest continue on to Notre Dame, Ste. Chapelle, and the Sorbonne. Edward and Dorothy go with their friends. Dae Soen Sa Nim, Dorothy and Linda go to Elizabeth's to discuss arrangements with the interpreters. At 5:30 the rest of us go to Elizabeth's for tea. We meet the interpreters, Pierre and Tanya. Pierre has long been interested in Buddhism. He had wanted to go to Japan to become a monk, but first went to London to study English, where he met his future wife and got married. He couldn't speak English, she couldn't speak French, it was very interesting. At 7 p.m. fourteen of us all go to a Chinese restaurant. There is some talk about translating Dropping Ashes on the Buddha into French (Pierre has translated one book on Zen from English into French). We walk home and go to bed. MAY 8: PARIS Bowing, 6:00. Half hour sitting. Dae Soen Sa Nim gives the following kong-an talk: STEALING THE DHARMA "Ed is an interesting man. He is now teaching Zen in a university. This man understands everything--thinking, he understands everything. He understands all kong-an answers. But this understanding is his problem. Every day we practice at Tahl Mah Sah. When there's a Dharma talk he asks, 'Dae Soen Sa Nim, what is Dharma?' I answer, 'I hit you.' Bong! He cannot answer. He is always asking, 'What is Buddha?' 'What is mind?' always testing the Zen Master, 'How is my understanding different from the Zen Master's understanding?' He's always checking--checking himself, checking other people, checking outside, checking inside, checking reading, checking, checking, checking. He understands everything, all eminent teachers' styles, all Zen words, so he became a monk twice. First, he became a Japanese- style monk, next, a Vietnamese-style monk. Then he came to me and said, 'I want to be your disciple.' I said that wasn't necessary. Then I thought, 'This man already understands everything, but he needs to learn together action,' so I told him if he learned our chanting and bowing and formal practice style he could become a Dharma Teacher. He wanted this, so I made him a Dharma Teacher. "Afterwards, Linda would send him letters. 'You are a Dharma Teacher so you must pay $10 a month dues to the Providence Zen Center.' Ed would reply, 'I don't have to pay Dharma Teacher dues to Providence. Dae Soen Sa Nim made me a Dharma Teacher, not the Providence Zen Center.' He understands too much. How are Dae Soen Sa Nim and the Providence Zen Center different? So he wouldn't pay. We told him this was important, 'If you come to Tahl Mah Sah you must pay money,' so he stopped coming. "Before, whenever I was at Tahl Mah Sah he would come. If I wasn't there, he wouldn't come. He would only listen and steal the Dharma. A thief, a Dharma thief. He would steal a little here, steal a little there, always dealing in stolen goods, not his own things. You must have your own things--why steal other people's Dharma? But he likes many Dharmas: Japanese Dharma, Vietnamese Dharma, Chinese Dharma, Korean Dharma, even American Dharma. Then he sells them all. It's like a department store. 'Do you like this Dharma? I'll sell it to you.' This is a very bad style. But all students like him. He understands everything, but he has no direction. "So I told him, 'If you open your mouth I will hit you.' For one week he kept silence. Then he started talking and talking again. He's very clever, you know. "Once I went to Detroit with Linc to give a Dharma talk. There's a professor there, Michael, who has a Ph.D. from Harvard who invited us. At that time he said he wanted to make a Zen Center and wanted one good Dharma Teacher to help him. I told him I didn't know if we had anyone who could go, but I would ask. When I returned to Los Angeles I happened to mention that there was a professor in Detroit, my student, who wanted a Dharma Teacher to make a Zen Center there. That was all I said. But Ed sent him a letter saying, 'I am Dae Soen Sa Nim's Dharma Teacher. You want a Dharma Teacher to make a Zen Center, so I want to go. Can you help me?' He sent a lot of letters. Michael didn't understand, since I had not sent him a letter, only Ed. So Michael wrote me, 'Ed wants to come to Detroit. Is he a Dharma Teacher? Have you talked to him about this? What is your opinion?' I wrote back, saying I had never talked to him about it, and he had never mentioned it to me, and that Ed was not clear about his situation. So Michael cut him. "Afterwards I talked to Ed, "You don't understand. What is Zen? What is your correct situation? If you want to go to Detroit, first you must talk to me. Then I will talk to Michael, then if Michael says it's O.K., you can write him. This is the correct way. Your writing straight to Michael, 'I want to go to Detroit,' is not correct. Nobody likes this style. You are always teaching other people in this style, so you don't understand Zen. How do you teach other people? First, you must correctly understand your true self. So what is your true self?' "He replied, 'Nothing.' "I said, 'What is nothing?' "He said, 'Nothing is nothing.' So I told him, 'Your practice is the same as, when you are hungry, looking at pictures of bananas, pictures of rice cakes, pictures of cookies. If someone wants food, you give him a picture of some food. If you see picture food, is this enough? Do you get enough stomach? Your style is only like this. Your understanding is like picture food. Picture food cannot help your stomach. Your understanding Dharma cannot help other people. So you must cut all your understanding. One thousand pictures, ten thousand pictures cannot help your stomach. One banana, one real banana is better than ten thousand pictures of bananas.' "So he said, 'Thank you very much. I understand my mistake. But I can't change.' "I answered, 'Just this point. You say, 'Can't.' I say to you, 'You can!' You must try, try, try. You are attached to your understanding. You always think, 'I understand everything.' Thinking, thinking, thinking. Checking, checking, checking. A new book appears, you go right out and buy it, stay up all night reading.it. It all goes into your head and you start using it. This is like a tape recorder. It cannot help your karma. So you must cut all books.' "Dae Soen Sa Nim,' he said, 'I cannot cut books. I am a teacher.' "I said, 'Only sit, only cut, only teach other people cut-books teaching. You only teach read-book teaching, so all your students have a problem, they think like this. They only want picture food, picture rice cakes. Yah, the color is good, the form is good, everything is good, but they cannot help your stomach. Cut off all thinking, only go straight, O.K.' "So he has a problem. Don't attach to picture food, O.K. Then you will have a problem. Only real food is necessary." We eat breakfast together in Dae Soen Sa Nim's room. David mentions, "This trip is very difficult. It's a lot easier practicing in the Providence Zen Center." Dae Soen Sa Nim replies, "Yah, easier, but sometimes difficult is more interesting." After breakfast Dae Soen Sa Nim asks, "Do you have in English the statement, 'Balance of peace'? This is an Oriental statement. It means, for example, if some people are very happy, some people are very sad, this is not balance. If all are equally happy, then balance. So if you keep your correct situation, and then everyone keeps his correct situation, then you get this balance." There is a lot of talking, trying to figure out a better way of saying this in English. At 10 a.m. Linda and Dae Soen Sa Nim go to the Korean Embassy with the two monks. At 12:30, lunch in Sandra's room. There is some mix-up, we think maybe the Ambassador is coming back for lunch, but he doesn't. Much bread, cheese, salad, which Edward and Sandra bought. At 1:30 we leave for the museums. David stays home, rests and sits Zen. Others visit the Louvre. Dae Soen Sa Nim and Linda go shopping at Au Bon Marche. Everyone comes back and rests. At 7:00 we leave for dinner. We're actually a little late, Sandra and her daughters are late arriving. Dae Soen Sa Nim is impatient. Linda has gone early with Elizabeth to set up the hall. We walk down the street the hotel is on and find a nice, small restaurant, where we eat omelettes, yogurt, pastry and mineral water. The talk begins at 8:45 at the Mus? Sociale. Pierre and Tanya translate. It's very difficult for them to understand Dae Soen Sa Nim's grammar and pronunciation. It's hilarious. Dae Soen Sa Nim teaches basic form. He doesn't succeed in getting anyone to hit the floor in response to questions, but a friend of Sunny's comes up and bites the apple, in response to the question, "Is this an apple or not?" In the middle of the talk, Dae Soen Sa Nim switches into Korean, and a Korean woman translates. There's a lot of talking and arguing in the crowd. A Vietnamese, Rinzai monk objects to Dae Soen Sa Nim's talk as being too elevated and incomprehensible to the French, rationalist mind. Dae Soen Sa Nim says, "That's only his opinion. Put it all down, your opinion." We charge ten francs admission, five francs for students. There are 50 people in all, not many university students, mostly older. Dae Soen Sa Nim goes out afterwards with Linda, the two monks, and several Catholic priests who have worked or studied in Korea or Japan. One of them, it turns out, knows Dae Soen Sa Nim's sister very well. She is a Catholic nun. Walking home, we're all in somewhat of a high mood.

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