Page 30 - EH67

28 EASTERN HORIZON | FACE TO FACE

continue to attend meditation retreats led by Ven. Chi happy that it would run for 3 months. A few months
Chern (繼程法師) every year. before the retreat, Zen Master Dae Bong of the Kwan
Um School of Zen came to Kuala Lumpur to give Dharma
I understand you follow the Kwan Um School of Zen talks and one of his stops was Hoeh Beng Temple. I
founded by Korean Zen Master Seung Sahn. Is this told him that I was going to South Korea for the winter

your first exposure to meditation? retreat at the end of the year. It turned out that he was
the teacher who would be leading the winter retreat.
Ven. Chi Chern taught me meditation using the Tiantai This was how I came in contact with the Kwan Um
school’s (天台宗) Six Subtle Dharma Gates (六妙門), School of Zen.
particularly the practice of samatha and vipassanā (
止觀), but we also practise the meditation of constant The first thing that attracted me about the Kwan Um
prodding with discussions or huatou (話頭). This School of Zen was its emphasis on Bodhicitta and the
provided me a very important foundation to practice Bodhisattva Way. From my experience, Chinese Chán on
right concentration although I still struggle with the other hand place much emphasis on developing a
gaining insight. clear mind, seeing one’s true self nature and becoming
awakened. I recalled the first day when I arrived with
I first came to know of the Kwan Um School of Zen when my heavy luggage filled with winter clothing, and we
I was giving Dharma talks in Kuantan where I met a had to climb a flight of stairs. A Western monk (bhikṣu)
bhikṣuṇī who invited me to join her in attending the saw me struggling with the luggage and he immediately
winter retreat in South Korea that year. I was attracted came over to help take the luggage to my room. It was a
to the idea of a 3-month retreat as previous retreats simple act of kindness, but it left a massive impression
that I had attended were usually for a month, which on me. Back then, there was a sense of male or bhikṣu
I felt was too short. At that point in time, I did not superiority and it was almost impossible for a bhikṣu
know anything about the winter retreat, or the teacher to take the luggage for a bhikṣuṇī! This sense of male
conducting it. But I registered for the retreat as I was superiority did not exist in the Kwan Um School of