How are you?

I have always loved the forward that is in Zen Master Seung Sahn's Ten Gates which was written by Aitken Roshi. It strikes a chord with me because of my first meeting with Zen Master Seung Sahn. 


Some time in the early 1990's Zen Master Seung Sahn, gave a public talk which I had the privilege to attend: he kept talking about 'Don't Know' and 'Don't Know Mind' and my head was spinning out of control. I really didn’t know what this guy was talking about and I had problems fully understanding his Korean version of English, but I knew I wanted to attain the concepts he was putting forth. He was light hearted and he laughed constantly, even at himself. Nothing seemed to faze him, no question put to him caused him to return any type of conceptual answer. Everything he said rang true at some core of my being that I had never connected with. The next day I decided to join the Zen Center and drove back into Los Angeles to turn in the paperwork. I ran into Zen Master Seung Sahn in the living room, he was leaving with the Zen Center’s Head Monk, Musang Sunim, to go out to dinner. Musang Sunim introduced me to Zen Master Seung Sahn as the Center’s newest student having just joined the school. Zen Master Seung Sahn shook my hand and said, “How are you?” all I could find to say to this great man was “don’t know!” He immediately laughed very loudly and exclaimed; “Oh! So, you are a great Zen Student!” From this first encounter with this enigmatic teacher, I knew that I would dedicate my life to this path of Korean Zen. 

How are you?

Sŏnsa-nim begins his letters by asking “How are you?”, and his students take up the question too. “How are you?” they ask in turn in their letters to their teacher. We begin to notice this most routine of American greetings as though for the first time.

Does Sŏnsa-nim’s “How are you?” differ from his students’ “How are you?” Is their “How are you?” just an echo? Are they being imitation Sŏnsa-nims? If so, that won’t do. Sŏnsa-nim stands on his own feet, you stand on yours, I stand on mine.

If you stand on your own feet, then what do you say? “Fine!” might be all right, or maybe you are just temporizing. “Temporizing” there’s an interesting word. It means you are gaining time, but gaining time for what? The next question and the next temporizing? When will you come to terms?

“How are you?” “Fine!” That’s more like it. There are other questions like this in this book. Please pay attention.

Robert Aitken
Koko An Zendo, Honolulu
Spring Training Period, 1987