Five Mountain Spring Retreat 2011

Although we have awakened to original nature, beginningless habit energies are extremely difficult to remove suddenly. Hindrances are formidable and habits are deeply ingrained. So how could you neglect gradual cultivation simply because of one moment of awakening? After awakening you must be constantly on your guard. If deluded thoughts suddenly appear, do not follow after them. Then and only then will your practice reach completion.

Zen Master Chinul, "Facing the Heat"

We returned to Las Vegas to the wonderful space that is the Zen Center of Las Vegas (Dae Myong Son Won) at the invitation of Rev. Thom Kwanjok Pastor, JDPSN. The transformation that I have witnessed to this location over the past twelve months is phenomenal. Ten Thousand Eight Hundred bows to Jim Standford who is truly a great Bodhisattva.

We were all blessed, including the local Sangha, to attend an amazing Dharma Talk by Zen Master Hae Kwang (Stan Lombardo) and Judy Roitman, JDPSN on Thursday evening. They shared Zen Master Seung Sahn's Dharma with precision and insight.

Our group practiced hard and we all shared in a Precepts Ceremony and a Special Panel discussion by our four Psychology Professionals on Zen and Psychology in the twenty first century.

Rev. Jishou Sears became a Senior Dharma Teacher, Rev. Jigen Billings took seventy four precepts and became a Bodhisattva Priest following his Graduation from the Five Mountain Seminary with a Masters in Buddhist Studies. Additionally, Rev. Chongan Denton became a Dharma Priest and both Bonjok Hoff and Bonyon Neal became Novice Priests.

We are a small and growing Sangha, and many of our members were not able to make this retreat, as time continues we will hopefully have more opportunities to share together in the future.

My congratulations to all who have committed to service in the Dharma, and my honest appreciation for everyone's dedication.

Zen Master Kusan sunim (nine mountain)

Jack Ferguson shared this on Facebook and I thought more people ought to see it. Among Master Kusan's written works are his 1975 book, Seven Perfections, aimed at bringing Buddhism back into daily life, and his 1976 book, Nine Mountains, an English version of his dharma talks, written for the benefit of his foreign disciples. After receiving much attention from scholars of Buddhism and eastern philosophy around the world, Nine Mountains was revised and published in Korean as Seok Saja (Stone Lion). After Master Kusan's passing, his foreign disciples published Seon! My Choice, a compilation of their impressions and experiences regarding Korean Buddhism and their Seon training at the Bulil International Seon Center. In 1985, Master Kusan's disciples Stephen Batchelor and Martine Fages edited an English compilation of his dharma teachings, The Way of Korean Zen. The Society of Kusan Followers also published Kusan Seonmun (Seon Teachings of Kusan) in 1994, a volume of the Master's Seon sermons, and Kusan Seonpung (Seon Tradition of Kusan)in 1997, a collection of his dharma sermons delivered in the early 1980s while touring the United States, Taiwan, Europe and elsewhere