Interview: Chun Moon Sunim
Nestled at the base of Mt. Geumjeongsan (금정산) on the border of Busan lies Beomeosa (범어사). It is a beautiful old temple that was first built 1,300 years ago by the monk Ui Sang and King Manmu of the Silla Kingdom. The temple was destroyed during the Japanese invasion of 1592, but it was rebuilt in 1713. In the geography book, ‘Donggukyeojiseungram,’ the temple was said to have come from “a well on the top of Mt. Geumjeongsan [that held golden water]”. The golden fish in the well rode the colorful clouds and came down from the sky. This is why the mountain is named Geumsaem (gold well) and the temple is named ‘fish from heaven’.” (visitkorea.or.kr)
In February, I took some friends on a Templestay at Beomeosa. Having done some temple stays in the past, I knew it would be a uniquely Korean experience that I wanted to share with my friends. Beomeosa and the great hiking opportunities in the mountains around it was just the place I wanted my friends to experience. I also wanted to show them around Busan, so early one Saturday morning, we hopped on a bus and did it.
Beomeosa is a very short cab ride or subway/bus ride from the Nopo Bus Terminal in Busan. The temple is a little ways up Geumjeongsan, so if you are planning on making a hike, plan extra time for traveling. On the way to the Templestay area, we passed through the front gate called the Il Ju Gate. Il Ju means “one pillar.” The gate itself is the only four-pillar gate in all of Korea, but it looks like one pillar when viewed from the side (it is unsurprisingly a national treasure).
After arriving and getting comfortable in our monk-like robes, we were introduced to Chun Moon (천문). Chun Moon was the monk who would be leading our Templestay and I was surprised to see that he was not Korean. I was immediately intrigued by this western monk in Korea.
Chun Moon is a Polish man living and practicing at Beomeosa. He first started his journey to the monastic life at the Zen Center in Cumberland, Rhode Island, in America. After some small talk, he was thrilled to learn I was from Woonsocket, a “stone’s throw away” from the Zen Center in Cumberland. It was a definite moment of synchronicity.
Chun Moon’s Polish background, his time spent at the Zen Center in Cumberland and his presence at a mountain temple in Korea fascinated me, and I wanted to learn a bit more about his story and some of his thoughts on Buddhism from a monastic point of view; particularly a monastic in Korea, one of the predominantly Buddhist regions of the world, as opposed to the Western lens of Buddhism that I was brought up with. After the Templestay, I made an appointment to chat with Chun Moon about his life as a monk living in Korea. The following is a transcript of our interview:
You are probably one of the few Western-born monks living in Korea, and I, for one, was surprised when I met you.
There are actually quite a few western monks in Korea. There are American monks, Russian monks, some Argentineans; there are over fifty monks living in the Cho Gye Jong Order.
Where did your path to being a monk begin? Was there an epiphany moment? Many Christians speak of hearing a call to priesthood or to be a monk, but was your calling more subtle?
It was not really a calling. I don’t like those Christian terms. I started getting into yoga and Buddhism in my late teens/ early twenties. At twenty I met my teacher Soong Sang (숭상). He was a Korean and he started a Zen Center in Providence, Rhode Island. In 1986, I went to the United States to study at the Zen Center, and after Soong Sang’s death in 2004, I made the decision to become a monk. In 2007, I came to Korea and started living as a monk.
What is the difference between a Zen Center, where you were, and a Temple?
Zen Centers are for lay people where they go to practice meditation, [who are] concerned with the practice side of Buddhism or meditation. Lay people go to practice living in the present. If you are doing something, just do it; nothing else. If you eat, just eat. If you drive, just drive. The Cultural Revolution in the 1970s brought a lot of Eastern philosophy into the United States and the popularity of meditation came out of that. Zen Centers started to open up to give people a place to go.
There are no monastics in the West. Temples are only in Korea and in this part of the world. Korean Buddhism is engrained in the society and has been for thousands of years; much like Catholicism is engrained in parts of the Western world. And much like old women and people in general find community in churches in the west, old women come to temples to pray, but also for social purposes.
Buddhism is one of the major religions of the world; do you think that all religions attempt to answer the same fundamental questions? Or were you drawn to Buddhism because it was different?
You have to answer it. The questions are there for your answers. Buddha teaches that anyone can be Buddha. The big question is simple, ‘Who am I?’ Everyone can answer it. My teacher, Soong Sang, used to teach Trappist monks at the Abbey of Gethsemani ways to meditate, and he used to say it was so simple because they were doing the same thing. Do you know Thomas Merton? It was his abbey.
We are caught up in a realm of name and form. It’s only transitory, this whole world and the names and forms we give things don’t make a difference. Our language works in absolutes: light and dark, black and white, good and bad. We are too caught in the concepts and language, it is really very simple: ‘Who am I?’
Is meditation as simple as breathing or should it be done with more intent, like a prayer?
I don’t like the term ‘prayer.’ It is loaded. Prayer immediately makes me think of asking for something. People pray with the wrong intent. They pray for something. They have a goal or a desire. A great mind once said, ‘prayer is the petition considering himself or herself unworthy before a power.’ Praying for something is not how it works, it is a good intention, but it ends there. It is just an intention.
Meditation is special attention. It is breathing and simply being. There is no focused thought or desire. It is being as one is.
‘Outside people’s’ meditation has often become to become better; to be more focused or to prepare for something. But in truth, meditation should have no goal, you already have everything; nothing else is needed. Meditation is just about clearing your mind. A good mantra is to simply inhale ‘clear mind’ and exhale ‘don’t know.’ It is all about keeping a moving mind on this moment. It is all there is, we should not be separate from it. And underlying all meditation is the question, ‘who am I?’
A big obstacle is constantly checking yourself to see if you are doing it right. Meditation is an act of Great Faith, Great Courage and Great Question. Great Faith, like a hen on eggs waiting patiently for the eggs to hatch, knowing they will hatch. Great Courage, like a cat focusing on a hole a mouse just ran into, waiting ready to pounce when he comes out. Great Question, ‘Who am I?’
Let’s talk about mindfulness. In this day and age, we are completely hyper-connected. Everything is instantaneous and at our finger-tips. Define being mindful for the Millennial Generation.
When you do something, do it 100 percent. Only do what is present, completely. Information and minds work fast and our concentration is scattered. Mindfulness is being fully aware of what you are doing. Mindfulness also means not getting attached to words. Just do what you are doing, 100 percent, and you will never be anywhere but the present.
My teacher was once seen going to the bathroom with a newspaper and when he came out, some of the people at the Zen Center cornered him and said, ‘You are always telling us to do everything 100 percent, how can you go to the bathroom and read?’ and without missing a beat my teacher said, ‘I was shitting and reading 100 percent.’
Beomeosa is a wonderful place for a Templestay and a great start to a weekend in Busan. If you would like to do a Templestay at Beomeosa and meet Chun Moon for yourself, you can visit their website at www.beomeo.kr/eng_templestay/idt.php and sign up.