About the Five Mountain Zen Order
The Five Mountain Zen Order was an American Zen Organization in the Korean Sŏn lineage of Zen Master Seung Sahn as well as the Vietnamese Thien lineage of Ven. Dr. Thich Thien-An. The Sangha is focused on Zen practice incorporating meditation, Kong'an practice and expressing the Dharma within the circumstances of an everyday householder life. Our approach is practice-centered, integrative and experiential.
Only the present moment is real and available to us. The peace we desire is not in some distant future, but is something we can realize in the present moment. To practice Buddhism does not mean to endure hardship now for the sake of peace and liberation in the future. The purpose is to have peace for others and ourselves right now, while we are alive and breathing. Means and ends cannot be separated. Awakened Beings are careful about causes, while ordinary people care more about effects, because Awakened Beings see that cause and effect are one. Means are ends in themselves. There is no path to awakening; awakening is the path.
The mission of this unique religious organization of decentralized peers is to establish and maintain public practice and teachings in accordance with the principles of Zen Buddhism as transmitted through a lineage of masters too many to list here.
The direction, however, involves a commitment, first and foremost, to the student, as well as a commitment to the teaching and education of that student that will enable he or she to carry on the tradition in an open and diverse manner yet staying true to the teaching that has been handed down for centuries. Zen Teachers, as a genre, spend far too little "face time" with their students. Many students are limited to between 5 and 20 minutes a month, and it seems that a majority get to see a teacher maybe once a month at best, hardly time to engage in the matters of life and death.
After much study and examination of the way the ancients taught their students, Ven. Dr. Wonji Dharma decided that a Student Centric approach to Zen was in order. This means that teachers spend time, at least an hour a week working with each of their students. Of course, Five Mountain will be limited in its growth, because this is a huge commitment for the teacher. But Ven. Wonji feels this is a most effective way to transmit the Dharma and today we need more quality and less quantity.
Secondly, there is not a Buddhist Organization in the World that ordains individuals without their postulants attending and graduating from a formal Buddhist University, that is except in the West where almost every Zen Organization has adopted the "Bodhidharma Syndrome." This developed from a statement that is supposed to attributed to the great Zen Founder Bodhidharma.
If you pass through this gate,
do not give rise to thinking
not dependent on words and speech,
a special transmission outside the scriptures.
Because of this, almost every Zen Organization in the West has abandoned any form of formal education. There are a few recent exceptions, the T'aego Order, the Fo Guang Order and the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas being a few of them. It should be noted that each of these exceptions are Asian Orders with large centers in the US. The others that have curricula are focused on single paths like Chaplaincy or Hospice Care. The fact is that every one of these Asian Teachers who came to the West had at least a Bachelors Degree if not an Advanced Masters or Doctorate degree in Buddhist Dharma. It was expected of them, and it should be expected of western practitioners as well. This is why the Five Mountain Zen Order has a Seminary to augment the students studies with their individual teacher. Ultimately, the age-old principles of Zen will be carried on through the formal education and intuitive realization of the Order’s members as they seek to save all beings from suffering, through developing charity, love, compassion and awareness.
Our Order maintains no affiliations with other Zen organizations or religious denominations; however, membership in the Five Mountain Zen Order community does not preclude individual affiliation with other groups. Within Five Mountain Zen there is no hierarchy amongst Dharma successors. Zen Buddhism is universal; the medium and methods used to facilitate realization vary according to each individual’s circumstances. Dharma successors within the Five Mountain Zen Order may apply varied practice approaches and resolve on the structure of any construct that she or he may develop to facilitate practice.
Our Dharma successors recognize they are ongoing students and that the value of their teaching derives from the quality of their practice. As continuing students, our teachers are dedicated to the openness and flexibility of practice, wherein the wisdom of the unconditional may be manifest in life.
A vital component of the Five Mountain Zen Order community is the continuing examination and expansion of efficacious instruction approaches to ensure all-inclusive observation in every aspect of life.
Only the present moment is real and available to us. The peace we desire is not in some distant future, but is something we can realize in the present moment. To practice Buddhism does not mean to endure hardship now for the sake of peace and liberation in the future. The purpose is to have peace for others and ourselves right now, while we are alive and breathing. Means and ends cannot be separated. Awakened Beings are careful about causes, while ordinary people care more about effects, because Awakened Beings see that cause and effect are one. Means are ends in themselves. There is no path to awakening; awakening is the path.
The mission of this unique religious organization of decentralized peers is to establish and maintain public practice and teachings in accordance with the principles of Zen Buddhism as transmitted through a lineage of masters too many to list here.
The direction, however, involves a commitment, first and foremost, to the student, as well as a commitment to the teaching and education of that student that will enable he or she to carry on the tradition in an open and diverse manner yet staying true to the teaching that has been handed down for centuries. Zen Teachers, as a genre, spend far too little "face time" with their students. Many students are limited to between 5 and 20 minutes a month, and it seems that a majority get to see a teacher maybe once a month at best, hardly time to engage in the matters of life and death.
After much study and examination of the way the ancients taught their students, Ven. Dr. Wonji Dharma decided that a Student Centric approach to Zen was in order. This means that teachers spend time, at least an hour a week working with each of their students. Of course, Five Mountain will be limited in its growth, because this is a huge commitment for the teacher. But Ven. Wonji feels this is a most effective way to transmit the Dharma and today we need more quality and less quantity.
Secondly, there is not a Buddhist Organization in the World that ordains individuals without their postulants attending and graduating from a formal Buddhist University, that is except in the West where almost every Zen Organization has adopted the "Bodhidharma Syndrome." This developed from a statement that is supposed to attributed to the great Zen Founder Bodhidharma.
If you pass through this gate,
do not give rise to thinking
not dependent on words and speech,
a special transmission outside the scriptures.
Because of this, almost every Zen Organization in the West has abandoned any form of formal education. There are a few recent exceptions, the T'aego Order, the Fo Guang Order and the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas being a few of them. It should be noted that each of these exceptions are Asian Orders with large centers in the US. The others that have curricula are focused on single paths like Chaplaincy or Hospice Care. The fact is that every one of these Asian Teachers who came to the West had at least a Bachelors Degree if not an Advanced Masters or Doctorate degree in Buddhist Dharma. It was expected of them, and it should be expected of western practitioners as well. This is why the Five Mountain Zen Order has a Seminary to augment the students studies with their individual teacher. Ultimately, the age-old principles of Zen will be carried on through the formal education and intuitive realization of the Order’s members as they seek to save all beings from suffering, through developing charity, love, compassion and awareness.
Our Order maintains no affiliations with other Zen organizations or religious denominations; however, membership in the Five Mountain Zen Order community does not preclude individual affiliation with other groups. Within Five Mountain Zen there is no hierarchy amongst Dharma successors. Zen Buddhism is universal; the medium and methods used to facilitate realization vary according to each individual’s circumstances. Dharma successors within the Five Mountain Zen Order may apply varied practice approaches and resolve on the structure of any construct that she or he may develop to facilitate practice.
Our Dharma successors recognize they are ongoing students and that the value of their teaching derives from the quality of their practice. As continuing students, our teachers are dedicated to the openness and flexibility of practice, wherein the wisdom of the unconditional may be manifest in life.
A vital component of the Five Mountain Zen Order community is the continuing examination and expansion of efficacious instruction approaches to ensure all-inclusive observation in every aspect of life.
The Five Mountains of Chán Buddhism
The Five Mountain Zen Order was founded in 2008 by Ven. Dr. Wonji Dharma to bridge the limitations created by a lack of suitable locations and accessibility to effective Buddhist teachings by utilizing modern technology to reach potential seekers in all corners of the globe. He chose the tagline, "A Monastery Beyond Walls," because this new organization would not be constrained by traditional limitations found with fixed locations.
Ven. Wonji chose this name to honor his first Chán teacher, Seung Sahn Dae Jong Sa, as this great teacher was named after Bodhidharma’s sacred mountain in China, Sōng Shān (嵩山) – pronounced Seung Sahn in Korean. This is where the Shàolín Monastery (少林寺) still exists. The Five Mountains and Ten Monasteries System (五山十刹制度), more commonly called simply Five Mountain System, was a network of state-sponsored Chán Buddhist temples created in China during the Southern Song (1127–1279). The term “mountain” in this context meant “temple” or “monastery” and was adopted because many monasteries were built on isolated mountains.
1. Central Great Mountain (Zhōngyuè): Sōng Shān, Seung Sahn was named after this mountain.
2. Eastern Great Mountain (Dōngyuè): Tài Shān
3. Western Great Mountain (Xīyuè): Huà Shān
4. Southern Great Mountain (Nányuè): Héng Shān (Hunan Province)
5. Northern Great Mountain (Běiyuè): Héng Shān (Shanxi Province)
The Five Sacred Mountains of Buddhism
1. Sōng Shān: the home of Bodhidharma, the founder of Chán Buddhism
2. Wǔtái Shān: the home of the Bodhisattva of wisdom, Mañjuśrī
3. Éméi Shān: the home of the Bodhisattva of wisdom, Samantabhadra
4. Jǐuhuá Shān: the home of the Bodhisattva of wisdom, Kṣitigarbha
5. Pǔtuó Shān: the home of the Bodhisattva of wisdom, Avalokiteśvara
Five Mountains of Practice
1. Bowing—tipping the scales of our karma
2. Chanting or Mantra Practice—connecting our hearts to wider compassion
3. Meditation—creating deep Samadhi and focus
4. Education, Interviews, and Dharma Talks—opening our innate wisdom
5. Retreats—deepening practice and discipline
Ven. Wonji chose this name to honor his first Chán teacher, Seung Sahn Dae Jong Sa, as this great teacher was named after Bodhidharma’s sacred mountain in China, Sōng Shān (嵩山) – pronounced Seung Sahn in Korean. This is where the Shàolín Monastery (少林寺) still exists. The Five Mountains and Ten Monasteries System (五山十刹制度), more commonly called simply Five Mountain System, was a network of state-sponsored Chán Buddhist temples created in China during the Southern Song (1127–1279). The term “mountain” in this context meant “temple” or “monastery” and was adopted because many monasteries were built on isolated mountains.
1. Central Great Mountain (Zhōngyuè): Sōng Shān, Seung Sahn was named after this mountain.
2. Eastern Great Mountain (Dōngyuè): Tài Shān
3. Western Great Mountain (Xīyuè): Huà Shān
4. Southern Great Mountain (Nányuè): Héng Shān (Hunan Province)
5. Northern Great Mountain (Běiyuè): Héng Shān (Shanxi Province)
The Five Sacred Mountains of Buddhism
1. Sōng Shān: the home of Bodhidharma, the founder of Chán Buddhism
2. Wǔtái Shān: the home of the Bodhisattva of wisdom, Mañjuśrī
3. Éméi Shān: the home of the Bodhisattva of wisdom, Samantabhadra
4. Jǐuhuá Shān: the home of the Bodhisattva of wisdom, Kṣitigarbha
5. Pǔtuó Shān: the home of the Bodhisattva of wisdom, Avalokiteśvara
Five Mountains of Practice
1. Bowing—tipping the scales of our karma
2. Chanting or Mantra Practice—connecting our hearts to wider compassion
3. Meditation—creating deep Samadhi and focus
4. Education, Interviews, and Dharma Talks—opening our innate wisdom
5. Retreats—deepening practice and discipline
