Musangsa

Seung Sahn International zen center Musangsa is open to anybody who seeks true meaning of life and its direction disregarding race, religion, nationality and age. Musangsa walks together with you on the Boddhisattva path. Through practicing with us, you will be able to find your true self and help your neighbors, society and whole world with your compassionate mind.

Kwan Um School of Zen

The Kwan Um School of Zen (KUSZ) is a Zen Buddhist organization founded in America by Zen Master Seung Sahn in 1983. He was the first Korean Zen Master to spread the Dharma in the West and to establish an international Zen Buddhist organization.
He taught the truth, wisdom and direction of life to numerous practitioners from around the world using simple yet clear teaching phrases such as: “What am I?” “Only don’t know”.

In 1972, the Zen Master met his first Western students in Providence, Rhode Island in the United States and founded Providence Zen Center, the first Zen center of the KUSZ. Soon after, many other Zen centers were established on the East Coast (New York, Boston), West Coast (Los Angeles, San Francisco) and Midwest (Kansas and other states).

In 1978, Zen Master Seung Sahn started to travel to Europe and quickly opened Zen centers in a number of European countries, such as Spain, Poland and Germany.
Furthermore, he visited Asian countries outside of Korea and founded Zen centers in Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia.

He often sent his Western students to Korea for them to experience deep traditional Zen practice. At Kyol Che, a 90-day retreat that occurs twice a year in summer and winter, practitioners are not allowed to leave the temple and concentrate solely on their practice. This is a crucial part of Korean Zen practice. This practice period has been passed down from the time of Shakyamuni Buddha and it has been practiced over 1,000 years in Korea. 
(Currently Zen centers of Kwan Um School of Zen in the United States, Europe and Asia hold Kyol Che every year.)

In 1983, this rapid growth led to the formal organization of the KSUZ, with the purpose of providing cohesion and administrative support to all of its centers. The words Kwan Um are taken from Kwan Se Um Bosal (Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva) meaning “perceive the sounds of the world,” to compassionately hear the cries of the universe.

Musangsa in Korea is the Head Temple of KUSZ in Asia.

Today, KUSZ counts over 100 zen centers and groups and they are open for anybody who wishes to join Zen practice, Dharma talks and Kyol Che. 
Zen Master Seung Sahn set specific conditions in order to authorize his students to teach Zen and whoever passes those conditions are called “Zen Master” or “Ji Do Peop Sa”. Currently, there are about 40 authorized students all over the world teaching Zen in their own regions.