Eating Is also a Time for Meditation

Q: When one has a dialogue with a monk, it is often called “a conversation over tea.” It seems like there is a special relationship between temples and tea. I hear that you regard tea as having a special function at temples.

A: There are three main reasons people started drinking tea in temples.
Among all the plants, tea is the best for purifying our minds.
Since ancient times, it has been said that there are three difficulties in practicing Seon/meditation: it is difficult to prevent delusions from arising, it is difficult to prevent drowsiness, and it is difficult to sit comfortably.
However, tea clears the mind, so delusions and drowsiness are reduced.
Also, tea can have five different tastes: bitter, astringent, sweet, sour, and salty.
Among them, the bitter taste affects our physical heart, meaning that it is also good for the body.

The two most important things in a temple are practice and harmony.
And since Seon Buddhism is a religion, there must also be rituals, so tea satisfies these three components of practice, harmony, and ritual.
The most important thing is to refine one’s character.
Only then can one practice Seon, achieve harmony, and perform rituals correctly.
If one does not have good character, one can never achieve harmony with others.
That is why the most important thing to focus on while drinking tea is the cultivation of character.

A Dharma talk for a large gathering [daecham] is given by a teacher in a Dharma hall,
while the purpose of a Dharma talk for a small gathering [socham] is to give guidance for character development in everyday life.
A teacher talks about the same things over and over again.
And a spiritual patriarch talks about them again while drinking tea.

In Pure Rules for a Monastery, written by Chan Master Cijue Zongze in 1103, there are detailed instructions on how to drink tea properly.
It mentions four attitudes required for drinking tea properly.
First, drink gently but with solemnity.
Second, drink with confidence and dignity.
Third, drink tea following the proper established method.
Fourth, drink tea in accordance with the Middle Way, which means not to be obsessed with oneself or with tea.
If you drink tea with these attitudes, it is proper Buddhist practice.

It’s amazing. It’s really wise.
While drinking tea, you cultivate your personality, which is the point of Buddhist practice.
And in doing so, practice happens naturally, harmony happens, and ritual happens naturally too.
When tea culture at our Seon center is revitalized, our Seon culture and Seon will be revitalized too; that’s what I often think.

Q: I heard that you suffered from “meditation sickness” while studying, and your physical strength was very poor, resulting from an imbalance of fire and water energy.
You said you treated it by controlling your diet.
Maybe because of that experience, you are very interested in tea and diet.
Ordinary people who are not practitioners cannot go to a Seon center and study,
but there must be a way to reduce their suffering in daily life.
Is this possible through diet?

A: The food eaten at a Seon center is called “Seon food (seonsik).”
These days, people often get sick because of their diet.
This is because there are too many tasty foods available, and people tend to eat too much.
I think Seon food is the best food for modern people to eat.

In Seon food, we eat simple porridge for breakfast, filling our stomach about 60%.
We cook rice and eat a full meal for lunch, filling our stomachs to about 80% full.
And in the evening, we eat “yakseok,” a light, healthy dinner to make our stomachs about 50–60% full.
This is very important.
Normally, you must feel hungry before eating a meal, so you should finish digesting the previous meal before eating the next one.
Late-night snacks are poisonous to the body.
If you have food in your stomach while you sleep, your internal organs will be active all night.
You can’t rest properly, and you can’t help but get sick.

More importantly, our lives are difficult because of greed/desire.
Buddhism says there are five types of desire: desire for money, sex, food, fame, and sleep.
Of these, the easiest to reduce is the desire for food.
If you restrain just one of these five, the rest can be easily controlled.
If you eat Seon food, your desire for food will gradually diminish.
Then, later on, the other four desires will be easier to control, so if you conquer one, the others will be easy.

From ancient times, it has been said that even the time you spend eating is a time for Buddhist practice.
It goes without saying that drinking tea is also a time for meditation.
Going to work is also a time for study.
You can investigate a hwadu (gongan) while working.
If you do this, your entire life becomes a time for meditation/practice.

Ganhwa Seon Is Easier to Practice than Meditation

Q: I thought Buddhism taught that you can attain enlightenment by practicing sitting meditation, but you say one can cultivate Seon not only while sitting but also while enjoying daily life.

A: Patriarchal Seon focuses more on “moving Seon” than sitting Seon.
It teaches that all of our daily activities—including walking, standing, sitting, lying down, speaking, being silent, moving, and stillness—are Seon practices.
Patriarchal Seon makes daily life a Seon practice.

The Sixth Patriarch hated doing sitting meditation for long periods of time.
He said that if you just become free from discursive thoughts, you will attain enlightenment.
He said that the threefold training of morality, meditation, and wisdom is one.
You don’t cultivate morality, meditation, and wisdom separately.
When you investigate a hwadu, that in itself is the threefold training.
The threefold training in morality, meditation and wisdom is cultivated all at once.
That is why the hwadu embodies the Supreme Dharma.

Q: You are saying, if we investigate a hwadu, we can also practice Seon in daily life.

A: Just investigate your hwadu continually, regardless of what you are doing—sitting, eating, drinking tea, working, bathing, sleeping, etc.
If you investigate your hwadu earnestly, the threefold training of morality, meditation, and wisdom is all there.
We call it sudden enlightenment.
If you are just free from discursive thoughts, you can be awakened overnight.

The Korean monk who attained awakening the fastest was Gyeongheo Seunim, who attained enlightenment three months after he began investigating his hwadu.
Seosan Seunim attained awakening in ten years, and Master Taego Bou, who revived the Jogye Order, took 18 years.

When you become free from discursive thoughts, you will attain awakening when the opportune conditions occur:
perhaps just upon hearing a sound,
perhaps just upon seeing something,
perhaps when you just sit down and meditate,
perhaps when finishing working, etc.

Because we see the threefold training as one, Hwadu Seon is a very developed and high-level Seon.
There is no Seon practice that can surpass this.

Sixth Patriarch Huineng valued laypeople more than monastics.
Seon that is centered on movement can be said to be the Seon practice for laypeople.
Patriarchal Seon says: “It is not necessary to sit and practice for a long time to have awakening.
You just turn around a single thought, and you have awakening.”
This is how Patriarchal Seon was established.
We found a method through which ordinary people can easily achieve enlightenment.
But now the public concept of Patriarchal Seon has been subverted, and people think Ganhwa Seon is difficult.

Q: Why do you think Ganhwa Seon is misunderstood as being difficult?

A: That’s why I feel frustrated.
We are old and have been educated in the past, so it is difficult to explain it to modern people.
That’s why I made up my mind to establish a Ganhwa Seon research center and gather together young practitioners and scholars,
so we can come up with a concise explanation that modern people can understand.

Ganhwa Seon is easier than traditional meditation.
I think it is important to explain this to modern people in a way that they can digest concisely.

First the Teacher, Second the Friend, Third the Environment.

Q: But in reality, Ganhwa Seon is something that only those who have experienced it can comprehend.
It is not something that can be described by someone who has only studied it intellectually.
Since you realized physically that moving Seon is very important as you battled your illness, you might ask yourself,
“Why do people not comprehend such an easy practice?”
But I think this is not simply a difference between traditional education methods and how young people think;
it is also a difference between having firsthand experience and not having it.
Is that why you played such an important role in establishing the Mungyeong World Meditation Village?
Because you thought it was important to let people try it first?

A: I thought, “I hope Ganhwa Seon will spread globally.”
At that time, many monks—including Gou, Jeongmyeong, Imgak, Muhyeon, Hyegok, Jeongchan, Jihwan, and Yeongjin—gathered together and said,
“They say that Seon will guide human civilization in the future, so let’s establish a world meditation village. It is important that we create a world-class Seon center. Let’s create that.”
They gave me that responsibility.
Afterward, I and some other monks visited about 40 of the most famous meditation centers in the world.
We investigated how they run their programs, what they study, and how they operate.
The current director of Meditation Village, Gaksan Seunim, also went with us.

Now, he teaches meditation in the United States, saying he will guide human civilization through meditation.
The harmony of the threefold training is necessary, but Westerners have no concept of the Buddhist precepts at all; they only practice meditation.
Many modern people become ill due to extreme stress, but they can get better if they just stabilize their minds.
However, among the three trainings of morality, meditation and wisdom, they only practice meditation, and they end up studying only to improve their health.
All of us monks worry about this.
I don't know what kind of side effects will occur from such a lopsided practice.

Q: World-class meditation centers are good, but what if we make better use of our temples?
We are already operating many Templestay programs.
If Templestay participants learn the basics of Ganhwa Seon or its core principles to practice in daily life, couldn’t they apply them at home?

A: I plan to establish a monastery for Ganhwa Seon Templestay programs for the general public,
where I will teach others what I have learned.

Q: I think people who really want to study thirst the most for a good teacher.

A: A teacher is most important.
Bodhidharma’s Treatise on the Blood Vessel says: “To do this study, you need first, a teacher, second, a Dharma friend, and third, the proper environment.”
You can see the importance of this because past Seon masters have said the same thing.
My teacher, Songdam Seunim, also said the same thing: “You must meet a good teacher.”
I heard this many times after I entered monkhood.
I went to Unheo Seunim—who was then the guiding teacher at Bongseonsa Temple—and asked, “What can I do if I want to practice Buddhism really well and sincerely?”
He answered: “First, learn the teachings to some extent to understand what the Buddha said, and then practice Seon.”
When a new disciple first entered the Buddhist monkhood, Unheo Seunim first taught them the teachings to arouse their aspiration for enlightenment, and then guided them to practice Seon.

Beginners don’t know much, so first, you should read books about Buddhism.
Once you have established a basic foundation, you will be able to say “Oh, I see” when you receive teachings/guidance from elders.
Then, you can easily find a teacher and truly begin studying Buddhism.

Q: Which books do you recommend?

A: For those who want to practice Seon, I recommend the Korean language book Ganhwa Seon, and also the English language book Great Doubt, Great Enlightenment, published by the Jogye Order.
It has a comprehensive description of Seon practice, so it would be good to read it.
There is also Huineng’s Platform Sutra (translated by Kim Jin-mu).
The book has the original text of the Platform Sutra and a good commentary.
It is also good for modern people to read, and it covers a variety of topics related to Buddhism and Seon culture.
I think reading it will deepen your understanding of Seon.

While taking pictures of Uijeong Seunim after the interview, I looked at his face as he sat in meditation and recalled his face as he roasted tea leaves from the wild tea fields; they were both faces in meditation.
Whether he was roasting tea, drinking it, or just sitting quietly after setting down the tea cup, he had the face of a practitioner who continually investigates a hwadu.
I thought I finally understood his most weighty and truthful message.

 Uijeong Seunim is the Spiritual Director of Yongmun Seon Center at Sangwonsa Temple in Yangpyeong. As director of the Association of Korean Seon Monks’ Cultural Welfare Association, he leads the movement to propagate Ganhwa Seon. He served as a member of the committee to compile Ganhwa Seon, the Jogye Order’s guidebook for Ganhwa Seon practice, and also chaired the committee to compile Seonwon Cheonggyu (Pure Rules of a Seon Monastery).

Baksa is a book columnist and famous as a “Buddhism geek.” She has introduced others to books and culture through various media including broadcasts and daily newspapers, and has interacted with the public through programs including “Book Listening Night” and “Book Listening Evening.” Her Korean publications include: To Me, Travel, and If You Could Smile Even if Your Chicken Had Only One Leg.