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Sunday, September 30, 2012

Dharma Talk - The Breaking Point



Talk Given By: Hae Doh Sunim
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Duration - 12:06
Episode # 106


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Listen to other previous Dharma Talks here.



The Muddy Water Zen “100 Dharma Talks” compilation set is now available for purchase on DVD-ROM for only $5 (+ shipping). 

This collection includes all 100 Dharma Talks recorded over the past 2 years and features 14 different speakers, running over 25 hours! It also includes a 16 page full-color information booklet.

Click the Paypal link below to order your copy today!

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Wednesday, September 26, 2012

3 New Monks!


The Overseas Parish of the Taego Order and Muddy Water Zen are proud to announce the ordination of 3 new novice monks!

Bup Hae Sunim (Candace Palopoli)
Bup Woon Sunim (Jason Jay)
Bup Woo Sunim (Tim Sheehy)

were all ordained as novice monks Wednesday, September 26, 2012 at Seonam-sa Monastery in South Korea. 

Here is a short video of Ven. Bup Hae undergoing the Yeonbi ceremony (http://bit.ly/SR4phy) during the ordination. 

More videos, pictures, and stories of all 3 new monks to follow shortly!


Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Thai girl inspires Buddhist nun programme




Not many women are ordained as Buddhist nuns, and even fewer are allowed to join religious orders.

It is common practice for Buddhist boys to become monks as part of their adult development. 

Not many women, however, are ordained as Buddhist nuns, and even fewer girls are allowed to join religious orders.

Yet one young girl's calling in Thailand is making a difference.

Al Jazeera’s Florence Looi reports from Bangkok.

At Seonam-sa Monastery




The Abbot of Muddy Water Zen, Hae Doh Sunim, along with MWZ member Kim and Chung Gong Sunim at Seonam-sa Monastery near Suncheon, South Korea.

At this time the 3 Haeng-ja from MWZ, Bup Woon (Jason Jay), Bup Hae (Candace Palopoli), and Bup Woo (Tim Sheehy) should have finished their final training by completing 일보일배 (1 Step, 1 Bow) and will ordain as novice monks tomorrow morning (Korea Time).

The MWZ contingent will all return back home this coming Friday along with our 3 newly ordained monks. 

This coming Sunday we will hold a special installation service where all 3 will be inducted as staff clergy at MWZ and a celebration will follow after the service with a potluck lunch and dessert. 

All are invited and welcome to attend.



Monday, September 24, 2012

Seven Korean monasteries seek UNESCO World Heritage


The Presidential Council on Nation Branding began its research and investigation for the application of the UNESCO World Heritage Site at 7 monasteries in Korea.

The seven monasteries includes Beopjusa Monastery, Tongdosa Monastery, Buseoksa Monastery, Bonjeongsa Monastery, Magoksa Monastery, Seonamsa Monastery (Taego Order Training Temple), and Daehungsa Monastery. All of these monasteries boast a history of over 1000 years and various important historical and cultural assets within their domain.

The Council met on August 10th at the Ministry of Cultural Assets for a meeting regarding the strategies for the application of the UNESCO World Heritage Site at the 7 monasteries in Korea.

Seonamsa monastery holds National treasure 400,  the beautiful Seungseon bridge and 15 other important treasures.

Journey of a Dream



Journey of a Dream is now available for purchase on DVD! Check out the trailer above!

Journey of a Dream is a heavy metal story of a Tibetan refugee.  It is a feature length documentary that will take audiences on an epic, global journey into heavy metal music, exile, Buddhism and Tibetan roots.


“Journey of a Dream is [a] dynamic yet intimate glimpse into both the chronically misunderstood culture of heavy metal, and the tireless and inspiring Tibetan youth movement, which fights for a land and a culture that has been hijacked for generations. You’ll be seduced by the majestic Himalayas, moved and enlightened by the passion for cultural perseverance, and like it or not, you’ll even do a little headbanging. Now that’s a night at the movies!” 
CBS Minnesota

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Dharma Talk - Sense Perceptions



Talk Given By: Bup Chon Sunim
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Duration - 14:53
Episode # 105

Subscribe in iTunes!

Listen to other previous Dharma Talks here.



The Muddy Water Zen “100 Dharma Talks” compilation set is now available for purchase on DVD-ROM for only $5 (+ shipping). 

This collection includes all 100 Dharma Talks recorded over the past 2 years and features 14 different speakers, running over 25 hours! It also includes a 16 page full-color information booklet.

Click the Paypal link below to order your copy today!

                                                                                                                                                           Buying Options 

Friday, September 21, 2012

Seeking Heartwood




At the end of 2010, I took my savings, left my life behind, and set out to understand and film a subject that has made an impression on me I've never been able to shake off: Buddhism.

I've been driving all over America in my old Honda, going from meditation center to meditation center, monastery to monastery, and teacher to teacher. I've spent my waking life observing American Buddhists, studying the ancient texts, meditating, and filming. All in an effort to uncover the core of what the Buddha actually accomplished and how he taught it. Ultimately, to understand how this 2500 year old tradition is still relevant to the human condition today.

See more info at www.seekingheartwood.com and please consider contributing.

Beautiful Monk Encyclopedia



Available at a bookstore near you! (In Japan, anyway… of course …) “Bibouzu Zukan” (“Beautiful Monk Encyclopedia”) features 41 monks who may change the way you think about robes, shaved heads, and monotonous chanting.
You can read about the monks’ bios and hobbies, and browse their pictures, too. There’s no English version yet, but the translation job should be interesting to whoever does it. If it’s any clue, the subtitle on the cover says: “From good-looking, to healing types, to ‘creamy’ types!”
The author decided to write the book inspired by a memorable encounter with a monk she met on a school trip to a temple while in high school. Apparently he was very handsome and also “transcended gender in a saintly way”.
The author comments that whiles temples used to be central to communities, these days people just associate them with funerals—so why not try to associate them with hot young men instead? From the monks’ perspective, there may actually be quite a few of them who will welcome interested ladies. Being a monk has traditionally been a family business, and there are fewer successors these days due to fewer people sticking with it as well as finding mates.
The first printing of 10,000 copies has almost sold out, and the number of young women visiting temples with the book is reportedly on the rise. 

The Role of Spiritual Practice in the Modern World




Google Tech Talks
April 5, 2007

ABSTRACT

For the past 50 years, people have begun to recognize that advanced technology and material abundance do not provide meaning in their lives. This talk discusses how spiritual practice provides the balance needed to live a life of understanding and harmony.
Before retiring from the corporate, high-tech world in 1990, Les Kaye worked at IBM for over 30 years, as an engineer, salesman, manager, and software developer. In the mid-sixties, while working and raising a family, he started to practice Zen Buddhism. He was ordained as a Zen monk in 1970 and was recognized as a Zen teacher in 1986. Today he is the abbot of the Kannon Do Zen Center in Mountain View. His book Zen at Work includes stories of how his meditation practice enhanced the quality of his life and work at IBM.

Google engEDU
Speaker: Les Kaye

Monday, September 17, 2012

발우공양 - Meal at Seonam-sa


This picture was posted earlier today on the Taego Order's official website and offers an article detailing the ongoing Haengja training. While Bup Woon does not appear in this picture above, he is mentioned in the article attached to this photo.

Hae Doh Sunim (along with 3 other travelers) departs for South Korea this coming Saturday, as they will be present during the Haengjas ordination next Wednesday, September 26, as their monastic training concludes and they become novice monks!

Stay tuned for more pictures and information as it becomes available.

Dharma Talk - Effort and Energy



Talk Given By: Bup Mee Sunim
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Duration - 18:43
Episode # 104

Subscribe in iTunes!

Listen to other previous Dharma Talks here.



The Muddy Water Zen “100 Dharma Talks” compilation set is now available for purchase on DVD-ROM for only $5 (+ shipping). 

This collection includes all 100 Dharma Talks recorded over the past 2 years and features 14 different speakers, running over 25 hours! It also includes a 16 page full-color information booklet.

Click the Paypal link below to order your copy today!

                                                                                                                                                           Buying Options 

Thursday, September 13, 2012

New Podcast



Our sister temple, Grand Rapids Zen Center & Buddhist Temple now has a Dharma Talk Podcast which is available for you to subscribe to for free in iTunes. Now you can get a double dose of Dharma   teachings! Subscribe today!

Subscribe in iTunes here!

Grand Rapids Zen Center & Buddhist Temple

At Bup Ryun Sa in Seoul




Bup Hae (Candace Palopoli) and Bup Woo (Tim Sheehy) have safely arrived in Korea and made it to the Taego Administrative HQ, Bup Ryun Sa, in Seoul, South Korea. They have now departed Seoul and should have arrived at Seonam-sa to begin their monastic Haengja training.

Only 13 more days until ordination!

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

The Collected Works of Korean Buddhism



The “Collected Works of Korean Buddhism,” a 13 volume series of teachings by the three great Buddhist masters of Korean Buddhism; Wonhyo (617-686), Jinul (1158-1210) and Hyujeong (1520-1604) was published in English last month.

The project began in December of 2006 with the support of the Ministry of Culture and took 5 years and eight months to complete.

From Dr. Robert Buswell:

It gives us great pleasure to announce the release of the English Edition of The Collected Works of Korean Buddhism. This edition, completed in July 2012, consists of thirteen volumes of English translations of selected texts from the Hanguk Bulgyo Jeonseo 韓國佛教全 書. The thirteen volumes of this anthology collect the whole panoply of Korean Buddhist writing from the Three Kingdoms period (ca. 57 C.E.‒668) through the Joseon dynasty (1392‒1910). These writings include commentaries on scriptures as well as philosophical and disciplinary texts by the most influential scholiasts of the tradition; the writings of its most esteemed Seon adepts; indigenous collections of Seon gongan cases, discourses, and verse; travelogues and historical materials; and important epigraphical compositions.

For a the full table of contents of the thirteen volumes, and download link, please see:


Tuesday, September 11, 2012

At the Airport!



Bup Hae (Candace Palopoli) and Bup Woo (Tim Sheehy) depart today to journey to Seonam-sa (the Taego Order training monastery) in South Korea to participate in intense monastic training as Buddhist monk postulants. They will join Bup Woon (Jason Jay) who arrived at Seonam-sa one week ago.

All 3 Haeng-ja (novitiates) will ordain as novice monks (sami and samini) on Wednesday, September 26 before returning home the following Friday.

We wish Bup Woo and Bup Hae a safe journey on their long flight to South Korea and safe travels as they make their way to Seonam-sa.

Please keep all 3 in your thoughts and good intentions and wish them the best!

Sunday, September 9, 2012

2012 Haeng-ja Opening Ceremonies



The 2012 Taego Order Haeng-ja (Postulant) training officially begun this past Wednesday at        Seonam-sa Monastery near Suncheon, South Korea.

Muddy Water Zen Dharma Student Bup Woon (Jason Jay) arrived in Korea earlier this week to participate in the full training program.

This is one of the largest Haeng-ja groups with 131 total postulants (96 men, 35 women).

In the video above of the opening ceremonies, you can briefly catch a view of Bup Woon at about the 1:12 mark (don't blink!) The video also shows the President of the Taego Order, Ven. In Gong speaking, as well as Seonam-sa Abbot Seol Eun.

2 other MWZ Dharma Students (Bup Hae/Candace Palopoli & Bup Woo/Tim Sheehy) will depart home on Tuesday, to join Bup Woon in training at Seonam-sa and they all will ordain as novice monks (Sami and Samini) on Wednesday, September 26 after more than 20 days of monastic training.

More updates to follow as they become available!

Haeng-ja Class #37

Seonam-sa Abbot Seol Eun Sunim (Center)

Taego President In Gong Sunim

Opening Ceremonies

Screen Grab from Video


http://www.bzeronews.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=27387 (in Korean)

http://www.nbn-news.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=20259 (Video/Picture Source)


Dharma Talk - The Fire of Desire



Talk Given By: Hae Doh Sunim
Sunday, September 9, 2012
Duration - 24:40
Episode # - 103


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Listen to other previous Dharma Talks here.


The Muddy Water Zen “100 Dharma Talks” compilation set is now available for purchase on DVD-ROM for only $5 (+ shipping). 

This collection includes all 100 Dharma Talks recorded over the past 2 years and features 14 different speakers, running over 25 hours! It also includes a 16 page full-color information booklet.

Click the Paypal link below to order your copy today!


                                             

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Walk to Feed the Hungry


The Buddhist Global Relief (BGR) Walk to Feed the Hungry will take place on Saturday, October 13 in Kensington Metropark in Milford, MI. 


http://www.firstgiving.com/BuddhistGlobalRelief/bgr-walk-to-feed-the-hungry-michigan


SMBC - "Father" Doesn't Exist

A great cartoon from SMBC


Being With Dying

Burma's Buddhist Chauvinism



Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi extols Buddhism as a source of personal strength, allowing her to endure 15 years of house arrest at the hands of Burma's generals. Buddhist precepts such as loving kindness and compassion can also guide Burma's democratic transition, she says, by fostering reconciliation with the military.

 Yet Burma's Buddhist tradition also has a nationalistic and at times hateful side, as the violence since June against Rohingya Muslims in the western state of Rakhine demonstrates. A sense of racial and religious superiority among majority Burman Buddhists has poisoned relations with the 40% of the population made up of non-Burman minorities.

 The anti-Rohingya violence, some of it committed by Buddhist mobs and some by the Buddhist-dominated security forces, led to scores of deaths, the burning of settlements and a refugee exodus of 90,000 into neighboring Bangladesh. There, up to 300,000 Rohingya refugees still languish in makeshift camps from the last anti-Rohingya pogrom 20 years ago—part of what the United Nations calls "one of the world's largest and most prominent groups of stateless people."

According to the U.N., the Rohingyas, who number about 800,000, are "virtually friendless," subject to forced labor, extortion, police harassment, restrictions on freedom of movement, land confiscation, inequitable marriage regulations, a de facto "one child" family policy, and limited access to jobs, education, and healthcare. A 1982 law denies them citizenship, based on the presumption that they are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, even though many have lived in Burma for generations....

Read the full article at the WSJ here. 

TED: Fighting with Non-violence

Statistical Decline of Buddhism?





From Flower Ornament Depository (one of the better Buddhist blogs out there)

In June of 2011 Ven. Dhammika on his blog reported that statistics in Singapore show over ten years from 2000 to 2010 the number of Buddhists dropped from 42.5% to 33.3%. He also noted that similar trends are to be found in Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan. I think the same thing can be said for Japan. While nominally people might identify as Buddhist, or even as a Shinto adherent, most people only walk into temples when someone has died or they're out visiting a historical site as a tourist.

It has been suggested that as Buddhism is transmitted into the western world a kind of "Western Buddhism"  might very well become a major component of the global Buddhist population. There is of course good reason for this given the statistics available which clearly have shown an interest in Buddhism in the English speaking world....


BSR Archives Volumes 1-22 (1983-2005) Available for free download


The Buddhist Studies Review Journal has volumes 1-22 (1983-2005) available for free download in PDF format from their website at:

http://www.ukabs.org.uk/ukabs/resources/journal-archives/buddhist-studies-review-vols-1-22/

Stop by, download the PDFs and learn a great deal about Buddhism!


Monday, September 3, 2012

Haengja Training at Seonam-sa in South Korea

Bup Woon, Bup Woo, Bup Hae


The first of MWZ's 3 Haengja (postulant monks) Bup Woon Jay (Jason Jay), leaves for Seonam-sa in South Korea this morning for monastic training and ordination as a junior monk!

Bup Woo (Timothy Sheehy) and Bup Hae (Candace Palopoli) will join Bup Woon after next Tuesday for their 2 weeks of training and ordination.

This is a special time for the Overseas Parish of the Taego Order as Bup Hae will be the 1st non-Korean woman to undergo this Haengja training at Seonam-sa.

Bup Chon Sunim and Bup Mee Sunim both completed their training and ordination at Seonam-sa in 2010 and 2011.

They will all undergo intensive monastic training which includes a very demanding schedule and hard physical and mental challenges!

Their training will be held at the historic and traditional Seonam-sa temple, the main training temple of the Taego Order. They will be joined by over 100 other Korean postulants.

Muddy Water Zen Abbot, Hae Doh Sunim, as well as several other family and friends will also fly out to South Korea at the completion of their training to witness and support their ordination.

The entire MWZ contingent will return home on Friday, September 28th. There will be a special installation service at Muddy Water Zen that Sunday, September 30th, where all 3 new monks will join the MWZ clergy and will celebrate with a pot-luck lunch.

Please keep all three of them in your thoughts and wish them well in their travels and training as they take this next step on their paths!

Sunday, September 2, 2012

Dharma Talk - Certainty



Talk Given By: Bup Woo (Tim Sheehy)
Sunday, September 2, 2012
Episode # 102
Duration - 18:43


Subscribe in iTunes!

Listen to other previous Dharma Talks here.


The Muddy Water Zen “100 Dharma Talks” compilation set is now available for purchase on DVD-ROM for only $5 (+ shipping). 

This collection includes all 100 Dharma Talks recorded over the past 2 years and features 14 different speakers, running over 25 hours! It also includes a 16 page full-color information booklet.

Click the Paypal link below to order your copy today!