Zen Sword

Zen Sword Kwan Um Do Kwang Tehachapi, CA USA --- Fall 2020 Retreat Hiking, chanting, bowing, practice... Individual, and group lessons. Dharma talks, and lots of kimchi! Thank .you to Mountain Spirit Center for hosting us.

***Zen Around the World*** Kwan Um // Do Kwang in Poland: A profile of Myo Haeng DT, abbot of the Krakow Zen Center (2012-2019), and KUDK instructor....Continue reading

Outside practice for San Francisco will be resuming in 1 week @ Golden Gate Park. Dojo classes are on hold temporarily except for private lessons. A late summer retreat is being organized with more info coming soon; All active and former students are encouraged to go. Message directly for scheduling, availability, and questions.... https://youtu.be/V8NjC7ydhMw

Watch the remastered version of Wake Up! On the Road with a Zen Master, a documentary about Zen Master Seung Sahn by Brad Andersen. Thank you to Mu Sang Sunim for sharing this!

A good friend who studied sword with me around 1980 has died covid,I am sad but honor the good times we had. Impermanence is a good teacher,on that note I guess I should do my job and relay a dharma talk. Someone asked me last week why do you continue to sit meditation and practice sword forms every day, why do you continue to report on dream practice, isn’t KUDK enough? I said, if one abides in absolute stillness, the bright light of inner silence is pervasive, in this infi...Continue reading

Here is a suggested schedule for 1080 bows: *1 set for morning bows *2 sets before breakfast *2 sets at lunch time... *2 sets mid-afternoon *1 set before evening practice *2 sets after evening practice Bowing practice or prostrations are an effective means of processing our life's karma. Bowing helps us truly understand the Zen aspiration of "how may I help you" in a very real and physical sense. Performing 108 prostrations frequently helps us to balance the scales of our ongoing accumulated karma; however, if our accumulated karma begins to weigh heavily on us, then prostrations can be used as an 'emergency measure' for clearing the mind. They are a very powerful technique for seeing the karma of a situation because both the mind and the body are involved. Something that might take days of sitting to process may be digested in a much shorter time with prostrations. The usual practice is to do 10 bows as a warm up before class. This can be done all at once or as is usually the case, spread out through the day. On Doing Bows From Exposed in the Golden Wind - An Introduction to Zen and Buddhist Forms

Japanese Invasion of Korea During the 15th and 16th centuries, relatively friendly yet deferential ties with China, Korea's powerful patron-ally, along with internal factional strife among the aristocracy, led to a weakened Korean government and military. In 1592 the armies of Japanese daimyo (warlord) Toyotomi Hideyoshi, invaded Korea, landing in Pusan. The Japanese samurai, with their superior armament (Japanese swords and Portuguese muskets), swept over the Korean peninsul...a virtually unchecked. The King and court fled Seoul, retreating as far as the Yalu river on the Korean border with China, leaving the populace to the mercy of the Japanese. Hideyoshi unified Japan under the domination of one ruler, signifying an end to Japan's "Warring States" period and Japan's rise as a single cohesive power. The Japanese were trained fighters, men who followed a strict warrior code and whose sword skills were developed over centuries of internecine war. In the case of the Japanese, their sword arts were abetted by martial technology. The Japanese swords crafted in Hideyoshi's time were the finest edged weapons ever made, revered even to this day. The Korean armies were initially defeated by Hideyoshi, a guerilla army of Buddhist monks under the direction of Sosan Daesa and his student Samyong Daesa turned the tide against the Japanese until the late arrival of the Chinese Army. Although there were only 9,000 Buddhist monks, they were effective in stopping 100,000 samurai led Japanese forces solely because they had trained for three decades under the direction of the great Zen master who possessed mystic knowledge foretelling the invasion. "From that time, Buddhist monks were collectively known as defenders of the nation, playing prominent roles in the defense and martial arts of Korea. Only in Korea were Orthodox Buddhist monks allowed by their religion to actively learn and practice a fighting art." Today, Koryu maintains much of its distinctive "battlefield effectiveness" as a traditional military art with forms that emphasize defense against multiple attackers. The Korean monks studied Japanese styles, not only to emulate them and incorporate techniques, but to develop their own uniquely effective counters. For example, Korean Buddhist one-handed styles, wielding lighter and less resilient swords than the Japanese katana, are designed to deflect and turn a heavy blow and rotate through that deflection into an attack.

I know some of you are waiting for zoom Classes, hope I can get time for them, working as a class assignment helper for Cullen, writing some poetry, and gathering images to start painting again. Working out with an old student and his 2 sons, he was recently the Pan Am and world Ju Jitsu champion for our age group, and has helped me the train harder. I am looking to reactivate the Nevada student body, when I return to SF I anticipate you will be ready to hit the ground runni...ng, before I make the zoom account are these to be group or individual curriculum, fighting form 9 will be available for students over form 30 (it must have 2 practitioners); Shin Beop 3rd section pre-drills, and basic form conversions are available, individual form checks need to be single students, these classes will require a fee, Joe is in trouble so we must do our share, if you want to use dojo for these events we will pay Joe directly, Dylan and Cynthia you must push into all 10 left side July 1 is your test date. I have been trying to set up a retreat this summer in tehachapi, Tae Go Sah , I received a 5 day retreat sword and shamanism retreat including an introduction to 1 am till dawn practice in cave setting, an introduction to filament practice in the secret cave facing the eastern tiger, the finding and using of red fire agate to wake up in dreaming, meditation under lone pines and slow movement on a monolithic precipice. My cohort has returned to France from Nepal and then japan, I hope I can get her to join us there, she was there before the Korean hall was built.... my dreaming master is in the Sierra Nevada’s of Columbia somewhere near the lost cities of Ciudad Perdida, this is all I know of the Kogi Mama at this time, perhaps I can show you the dancing shamans of the deceased Nuwa lineage as he showed me in Tehachapi, full moon needed, also the trip to the yang rock where the karma body can effect destiny through intent, lastly the dangerous, but awesome trip straight down a mountain side utilizing the gait of power.

Origins Of the Chogye Order There were two primary types of Buddhism practiced in Korea, the Kyojong, or doctrinal schools, with their focus on Buddhist writings or sutras, and the Soenjong, or meditational schools focused on the attainment of enlightenment through meditation. The bastions of Korean Soen (Chinese: Ch'an; Japanese: Zen) Buddhism were the Nine Mountain Sects. In 1170 a military coup led by the military class toppled the Koryo government, and for the next hundre...d years, the last 40 of which were spent in almost constant warfare during a time when the Mongols ravaged the country, Korea was run by military dictators. "After the seizure of power by the military a new development occurred as well in Koryo Buddhism. This was the establishment of the Chogye sect within the Son school. When the monk Uich'on founded Ch'ont'ae (Chinese: T'ien-t'ai) sect in Koryo, he drew many of the promising young monks away from the Nine Mountain Sects of Son, but at the same time he inspired a revival within the Son sects. The Nine Mountain Sects of Son now took the new name of the Chogye sect, and began to flourish under the leadership of the monk Chinul (1158-1210). Chinul made 'sudden enlightenment [followed by] gradual cultivation' his basic precept, a formula that gave priority to meditation but also attached importance to invoking the name of Buddha and reading sutras. Thus Chinul combined the appealing directness of Son and the concrete gradualism of the Textual School, while the emphasis on continuous discipline lent itself to incorporation into a military ethos. The Chogye sect won substantial support from the military rulers and proceeded to develop in mountain monasteries throughout Korea as a distinct and indigenous stream of Buddhist faith and practice."

"Chanting meditation means keeping a not-moving mind, perceiving your true self. So when you are chanting, you must perceive the sound of your voice: you and the universe have already become one, suffering disappears, true happiness appears. This is called Nirvana. If you keep Nirvana, your mind is clear like space. Clear like space means clear like a mirror. Red comes; red. White comes; white. Someone is happy; I am happy. Someone is sad; I am sad. Someone is hungry; give them food. The name for this is Great Love, Great Compassion, the Great Boddhisattva Way. This is chanting meditation, chanting Zen." --Zen Master Seung Sahn

The Great Dharani shin-myo jang-gu dae-da-ra-ni na-mo-ra da-na da-ra ya-ya na-mak ar-ya ba-ro-gi-je sae-ba-ra-ya mo-ji sa-da-ba-ya ma-ha sa-da-ba-ya ma-ha ga-ro-ni-ga-ya om sal-ba-ba-ye su da-ra-na ga-ra-ya da-sa-myong na-mak-ka-ri-da-ba i-mam ar-ya ba-ro-gi-je sae-ba-ra da-ba i-ra gan-ta na-mak ha-ri-na-ya ma-bal-ta i-sa-mi sal-bal-ta sa-da-nam su-ban a-ye-yom sal-ba bo-da-nam ba-ba-mar-a mi-su-da-gam da-nya-ta... om a-ro-gye a-ro-ga ma-ji-ro-ga ji-ga-ran-je hye-hye-ha-rye ma-ha mo-ji sa-da-ba sa-ma-ra sa-ma-ra ha-ri-na-ya gu-ro-gu-ro gal-ma sa-da-ya sa-da-ya do-ro-do-ro mi-yon-je ma-ha mi-yon-je da-ra da-ra da-rin na-rye sae-ba-ra ja-ra-ja-ra ma-ra-mi-ma-ra a-ma-ra ra-a mi-sa-mi na-sa-ya na-bye sa-mi sa-mi na-sa-ya mo-ha ja-ra mi-sa-mi na-sa-ya ho-ro-ho-ro ma-ra-ho-ro ha-rye ba na-ma-na-ba sa-ra sa-ra shi-ri shi-ri so-ro so-ro mot-cha mot-cha mo-da-ya mo-da-ya mae-da-ri-ya-ni ni-ra-gan-ta ga-ma-sa nal-sa-nam ba-ra-ha-ra-na-ya ma-nak-sa-ba-ha shit-ta-ya sa-ba-ha ma-ha-shit-ta-ya sa-ba-ha shit-ta-yu-ye sae-ba-ra-ya sa-ba-ha ni-ra-gan-ta-ya sa-ba-ha ba-ra-ha mok-ka shing-ha mok-ka-ya sa-ba-ha -na-ma ha-ta-ya sa-ba-ha ja-ga-ra yok-ta-ya sa-ba-ha sang-ka som-na-nye mo-da-na-ya sa-ba-ha ma-ha-ra gu-ta da-ra-ya sa-ba-ha ba-ma-sa gan-ta i-sa-shi che da ga-rin-na i-na-ya sa-ba-ha mya-ga-ra jal-ma ni-ba sa-na-ya sa-ba-ha na-mo-ra da-na-da-ra ya-ya na-mak ar-ya ba-ro gi-je sae-ba-ra-ya sa-ba-ha

Eighty years before, this portrait is (said to be like) me; Eighty years later, I will be (said to be like) this portrait. - Sosan Taesa

Q. Is Kwan Um Do Kwang focused entirely on sword? A. KUDK begins with the study of the sword. Depending on the instructor, students may also choose to study shin boep (striking arts, typically known in the US as "karate"), ho shin sul (self-defense techniques), long stick, and for advanced students two-sword forms.

Hearing the sound of the bell, all thinking is cut off, Wisdom grows; ... enlightenment appears; hell is left behind. The three worlds are transcended. Vowing to become Buddha and save all people. The mantra of shattering hell: om ga-ra ji-ya sa-ba-ha om ga-ra ji-ya sa-ba-ha om ga-ra ji-ya sa-ba-ha

Commands: (English & Korean) Attention = Cha Ryut Ready, Go = Joon Bee At Ease = Baro... Finish, Rest = Shyot Bow = Kyung Nay Hands Together = Hapchang See more