Wanting Enlightenment Is a Big Mistake Teachings of Zen Master Seung Sahn

by Gak, Hyon; Sahn, Zen Master Seung; Kabat-Zinn, Jon

• ISBN13: 9781590303405
• ISBN10: 1590303407
• eBook ISBN(s): 9780834825628
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-08-08
• Publisher: Shambhala
• More Book Details
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Summary

A major figure in the transmission of Zen to the West, Zen Master Seung Sahn was known for his powerful teaching style, which was direct, surprising, and often humorous. He taught that Zen is not about achieving a goal, but about acting spontaneously from "don't-know mind." It is from this "before-thinking" nature, he taught, that true compassion and the desire to serve others naturally arises. This collection of teaching stories, talks, and spontaneous dialogues with students offers readers a fresh and immediate encounter with one of the great Zen masters of the twentieth century.

Author Biography

Zen Master Seung Sahn (1927–2004) was the first teacher to bring Korean Zen Buddhism to America, having already established temples in Japan and Hong Kong. In 1972 he came to the United States and started what became the Providence Zen Center, the first center in what is now the Kwan Um School of Zen, which now includes more than eighty centers and groups worldwide. His students called him Dae Soen Sa Nim, "Great Honored Zen Teacher," and he was the 78th Zen master in his line of dharma transmission in the Chogye order of Korean Buddhism. His books include The Compass of Zen, Dropping Ashes on the Buddha , Only Don't Know, and The Whole World Is a Single Flower: 365 Kong-ans for Everyday Life.

Table of Contents

Foreword	ix
Editor's Preface	xv
Enlightenment	1	(3)
The Rice-Pot Master	4	(7)
Not-Thinking Action	11	(6)
Shoot the Buddha!	17	(2)
Why Zen Seems Difficult	19	(2)
Crazy Mind	21	(4)
Zen Master Ko Bong's Try-Mind	25	(4)
Frog Stand	29	(2)
Zen Master Man Gong's Thumb-and-Forefinger Zen	31	(5)
Original Clothes	36	(6)
Good Things	42	(1)
Natural Style	43	(1)
Tollbooth Bodhisattva	44	(2)
Poison Arrow	46	(2)
Special-Practice Monks	48	(6)
Beginning of This World	54	(3)
Why Are We Here?	57	(4)
The Sixth Patriarch's Mistake	61	(4)
Where Is the Real Buddha?	65	(1)
God's Substance	66	(2)
Dog Kills Joju	68	(1)
Understanding Nothing, Attaining Nothing	69	(3)
Attaining Nothing, Part Two	72	(2)
Zen Math	74	(3)
I Want to Die!	77	(2)
Making Life and Death	79	(3)
Magic Thinking	82	(2)
What Is God?	84	(3)
Zen and World Peace	87	(4)
Keeping Not-Moving Mind	91	(3)
Why Is the Sky Blue?	94	(3)
Who Made You?	97	(7)
Abortion	104	(4)
What to Do about Sleeping	108	(3)
Cinema Zen	111	(2)
Killing Plants	113	(3)
Zen Master in Love	116	(1)
Karma Talking	117	(5)
You Are a Robot!	122	(4)
Your Nature Is Not Strong	126	(1)
(Never) Finish Saving All Beings	127	(1)
Zen, Astrology, Karma	128	(6)
Zen Master Seung Sahn Remembers His Teacher	134	(5)
Wild-Action Teachers	139	(6)
Intelligence in Zen? Three Courses in Zen Math	145	(8)
Homesick	153	(1)
Learning from Las Vegas	154	(3)
A Good Sense of Direction	157	(4)
Great Suffering, Great Vow	161	(5)
Women Cannot Get Enlightenment!	166	(3)
Letter to a Dictator	169	(26)
The Early Life of Zen Master	195	(6)
Seung Sahn
About the Editor	201