Conversations with Zen Master Wu Bong / Part I

Es gab eine Zeit am Beginn meines geistlichen Suchens - ich hatte die Kunst beiseite gelegt und ging zum Yoga und in die Kirche - da fragte ich viele Menschen, die ein geistlich-spirituelles Amt bekleideten, nach der (gedanklichen) Lösung der entscheidenden Fragen und Konflikte. Ich suchte noch außen, denn da waren doch eben jene professionellen Priester und Meister, die doch Bescheid wissen mussten; oder Heilige, die deshalb zu solchen erklärt wurden, weil sie einen Schlüssel besaßen. Zudem streute ich meine Aufmerksamkeit in verschiedene Bereiche der Spiritualität, ging auch bald zur Zen-Meditation, denn es gab einen Tempel in meiner Nähe. Dort traf ich ich auf Wu Bong (1950 - 2013), einen Zen-Meister aus den USA mit polnisch-jüdischen Wurzeln, der in Europa eine Gemeinschaft entsprechend seiner koreanischen Linie, dem Kwan Um Zen, gründete und unterstützte.

Am 22. Februar 2012 schrieb ich das erste Mal an ihn:

Highly esteemed Master of Zen, Wu Bong!

My question is about the guarantee of the methods of awakening.

When I walk up to the Zen-Centre in Berlin, I see always some old members of the Sangha smoking cigarettes standing in the hallway by an open window. First time I was just appalled, and then I felt sympathy with them filling a lack of luck in their lungs by this self-destructive way. Furthermore, I think why Zen is not helping them?

Same situation in the church: Old churchgoer does not reach the point where they can open up with their heart to others. They stay lonely and the nowadays-Christian communities are often fragmented. Just shaking hands is a big challenge for them. Why is the Jesus not helping them?

Same in yoga. People are doing yoga for ten years. They are able to do the most difficult asanas, and they are teaching other people for a long time. But mostly it is just a job with that they earn their bourgeois life. Cause there are too much angst’s of getting rid of the person itself. Why is yoga not pushing them out of the ego?

I often feel so sorry about all these different efforts in the different spiritual fields. Are they all in vain? Of course, they are not vainly done and perhaps I do not have the patience. What I can see is, that there is no guarantee for awakening, no method, that is stronger or more helpful than the other is. Since I see everywhere, in Zen, Church or Yoga - people are always yet suffering.

And is not the kind of eternal suffering that we are all stigmatized to since we are humans. It is the suffering of the ego, this old devil.

What do you think as a master when you see the powerful devil inside of your students, in me? Or don’t you see it?

In the Dharma,

Bastian

Wu Bong antwortete am 27. Februar 2012:

Dear Bastian,

long ago a monk visited Chou Chou Zen Master and said to him, "I have many times heard of the stone bridge of Chou Chou (Zen Master's name and the city's name were the same) but coming here I only see a simple wooden bridge". "Yes", said the Zen Master, "you only see a simple wooden bridge. You do not see the stone bridge"."Then what is the stone bridge of Chou Chou?" asked the monk."Asses cross, horses cross", replied the Zen Master. If you understand this exchange then you will understand yourself the answer to your question. My advice is not to concern yourself with the faults of other practitioners, but rather with yourself, and your own practice. We say that in Zen, a bad student cannot learn even from the Buddha, but a good student can learn even from a demon. If you become a good student then all those practitioners whom you see so lacking, will become great teachers for you. You see a devil within yourself, but I see a Buddha there.

In the Dharma, Wu Bong