Program & Training

① Regular Program

Musangsa offers meditation practice in the mornings and evenings, except during retreats. Practice is always free of charge. Please arrive 10 minutes before the scheduled start time.

Morning practice begins at 5:00 a.m in the Buddha Hall and Evening practice begins with chanting at 6:00 p.m. and sitting meditation at 7:00 p.m. On Thursday evenings once a fortnight, we offer additional meditation periods until 9:00 p.m.

The following talks and programs are open to both newcomers and the public throughout the year. All are welcome for morning chanting, please register with us in advance if you also wish to join the meditation 

※Chanting takes place in the main Buddha Hall. Limited visits to the Buddha Hall ONLY (entry into all other buildings are prohibited)
※Zen meditation takes place at the Meditation Hall
※Morning chanting requires no registration however please contact the office to register to join the meditation

② Sunday Offering Chanting Kido & Dharma Talk

* The Sunday Dharma Talk, which is held every Sunday, is currently only held on the first Sunday of every month. The Rice Offering Chanting Kido are held daily as usual.

Every first Sunday of the month – Rice Offering Chanting Kido 10am, Dharma Talk 11am.

*Notices related to the Sunday Dharma talks can also be found on Musangsa’s Facebook page.

On Musangsa’s YouTube channel, you can watch various teachings. Videos of Zen Master Dae Bong, Zen Master Tan Wol,  as well as other Zen Masters and Ji do Peop Sas from the International Kwan Um School of Zen are regularly uploaded. You can get to the Musangsa YouTube channel directly from the Musangsa homepage.

We hope that you will listen to many Dharma Talks and attain wisdom and happiness in your life.

③ Monday Zen Meditation Class

Musangsa offers the ‘Monday Zen Meditation Class’, which is a meditation practice from 1:00 pm to 3:30 pm every Monday. This is a good program for those who want to devote themselves to practice with other practitioners for one day a week and also receive teaching from the teachers who lead them. The door is open to all regardless of their experience with Zen meditation.

A semester’s schedule consists of meditation, Dharma Talks, Kong An interview, hiking and Q&A with Teachers, available in English and Korean.

Each semester is usually run for 5 months; from March to July and from September to January, with a one-month break in the middle. The start date will be announced on the Musangsa website, Facebook, Instagram, etc. immediately after the end of one semester, that way you can apply to the next Monday Zen Class in advance.

Fall semester of 2021: September 6 – January 24, 2022

Monday 1:00 PM – 3:30 PM

Participation fee: 200,000 won

Inquiries and applications: Musangsa Temple Office (Applications must be made before the start date.)

④ Sunday Meditation & Zen Cafe with Q & A

The Sunday Zen Café consists of sitting meditation and Q&A sessions. A meditation session is included, as well as an opportunity to ask questions to the Zen Master, JDPS and Sunims in a relatively relaxed atmosphere. Anyone with or without experience in meditation is welcome to attend.

*Zen Café is currently running on-line via Zoom. For participation, please apply on the Musangsa Facebook Messenger, Instagram DM, Musangsa email: office@musangsa.org or call (042)842-6084 in advance.

* Every Sunday at 1:30 pm sitting meditation

                           2:00 Dharma Talks and Q&A (about 40 minutes)

*Note

• please wear comfortable clothes for sitting meditation
• Talks and instructions will be provided in Korean and English at the same time.
• when joining for the first time, we will give meditation instruction before the start of the meditation time (1pm).(may be omitted if proceeding with online zoom).
• This program is free and open to the public. Donations (Dana) are most welcome to support the community of international Sunims, practitioners and ongoing teaching at Musangsa.

* Please go to the Donate page

Temple Stay Programs

Do you need some time alone looking into yourself, in a quiet mountain temple? 
Leave behind your busy city life for a while, and find your “true self” at Musangsa.
Wake up in the morning to the sound of the moktak, and Sunim’s chanting. 
Challenge yourself to a hundred and eight bows, to make your mind and body become one. 
Chant the correct direction of life, and repentance of past transgressions. 
Sit to look inside your own mind, looking into your “true self”.
Breathe in the clean air at our temple in Gye Ryong mountain, practice Zen, and find true meaning in your life!
At Musangsa, many practitioners around the world live together and practice. Temple Stay program participants can experience their everyday routine for one day. The program is in both Korean and English.

• Entry date: Saturday and as announced on Musangsa website and Facebook
  
• Arrival Time at Temple: 2pm (Orientation). Please arrive on time.
  (If you arrive a little early, please wait at the Musangsa Temple Office.)
• End of Temple stay: 12:00 PM on the next day (Sunday).
  (Feel free to attendant our Sunday Zen Cafe held from 1:30 pm to 4:00 pm on Sundays)
  *Participation fee: 50,000 won for general public / 30,000 won for full time students
  

※ Notice ※

• If this is your first time joining the Musangsa Templestay Program you may participate only in the above-scheduled entry weekends.
• If you have already taken part in a Musangsa Templestay program or retreat, you may apply for Templestay for any weekend or weekday. In this case, please mention in your application that you have already participated in a program at Musangsa and the dates you were here.
• You must contact the Temple in advance (at least one week in advance) and ask for permission. In either case, you must follow the Musangsa Daily Practice.
• Please make sure to send in your application one week in advance.

❖ Things to bring ❖

• Clothes according to weather (Personal t-shirts, underwear, sweater, hat, etc.)

• Raingear or outerwear
- Socks (Socks must be worn in public places such as Buddha Hall, Meditation Hall, and dining room)
.
• Good walking shoes and water bottle if you intend to do some hiking
- Personal towel and toiletries
- Personal prescription medications.

❖ Temple will provide ❖


• Bedding and blankets

• Templestay clothing (vest and trousers)
  

What is Haeng Won Program?

In Korea, Bo Hyun Bosal is often called, “Bo Hyun Haeng Won” (보현행원): “Samantabhadra of the Action Vows.” These vows are found in the final chapter of the Avatamsaka Sutra. There, Bo Hyun Bosal teaches that wisdom only exists for the sake of putting it into practice and is only good insofar as it benefits all living beings.

Purpose and Significance

It is in the tradition of these great vows that Musangsa would like to introduce the same practicing forms and teaching of the KUSZ. Musangsa was founded by Zen Master Seung Sahn in 2000 to host practitioners from all over the world. As we are in Korea, the program at Musangsa is also influenced by the Korean Buddhist 1700-year-old tradition and culture. But Musangsa is not a traditional Korean Buddhist temple.

Participants of the program deepen their practice by getting in touch with Zen Master Seung Sahn’s teaching, while practicing with the Kwan Um School in a temple environment.

The program provides the opportunity for unique development of both wings of Zen practice: Meditation and wisdom—cultivated through 5 hours of daily formal practice, weekly kong-an interviews, community living and 5 hours of daily work practice.

Community living in the temple simplifies our lives so that practitioners can clearly perceive and digest their karmic habits. Working for the Sangha provides the opportunity to express our Bodhisattva vows, while enabling your formal practice to take root in the ground of its history and tradition.

This program can function either as an entrance to a future monastic life in Korea or as an enriching experience of intensive practice to share with your home Zen Center in the West.

Haeng Ja (Postulant) Training

The true purpose of leaving behind the secular world and becoming a monastic, is to find our true nature and help all beings. Monastic life is not to run away from the world, nor is it to seek a joyous convenient life only for myself.
Musangsa offers certain conditions and processes to those who seek to follow the monastic path. Those who make it through are given the monastic precepts.
The syllables “Haeng” “Ja” literally mean “Action” and “Person”. A Haeng Ja uses his/her own everyday work routine to learn the life the monastic way which is to dedicate your life to all beings and everyone who visits the temple.

Poem by Zen Master Seung Sahn:

Very soft is true strength
With harmony comes luck
Goodness brings you virtue
Follow situation then get happiness
Forbearance will make you a great person

Haeng Ja Application Requirements

At Musangsa, our tradition is in line with the Kwan Um School of Zen, and its founder, Zen Master Seung Sahn. Practitioners from around the world come, and some of them become monastics. From our experience, and due to our unique position among Korean temples, our Haeng Ja application requirements have a few differences from many other traditional Korean Temple

• Applicant should be, physically and mentally, in good health. Haeng Ja training is dedicated to volunteer service for the sangha. Applicant has to be able to perform various physical tasks, and must have a correct mindset that seeks Truth. 

• Applicant should be single and have no other marital status by law, have no liability to a family member that he/she is supposed to support, and should not be involved in lawsuits or have any debt obligations. 

• Applicant should have had a minimum of three months training as Haeng Won at Musangsa. (Refer to Haeng Won program on our website for details).

Requirement

All Haengjas must follow the guidance of and report to the Guiding Teachers and Kyo Mu Sunim.

The Haengja training program consists of:
Work / Formal practice/ Study of the basics of Buddhism/ Learn form and etiquettes of temple life

All Haengjas are responsible for following the instructions of the Guiding Teachers and Director Sunims of the temple.

1. Keep a humble mind and supportive attitude as a Haengja.
2. Follow the temple rules and situation, respect all Sunims and lay people; respect fellow Haengjas and always do together action with them. These are the parts that will help you a lot in your practice and these are the things you should always keep in mind even after becoming a Sunim.
3. Haengja should be reminded that the core of the Haengja training is to always maintain the attitude of taking care of the temple, other members and people rather than practicing or resting for themselves. Follow daily schedule and instructions from Supervisor completely. Help with all work required by the temple. Help to provide a clean and harmonious environment that supports everybody who comes for practice. Haengja’s main practice is putting down ‘I, My, Me’, to be mindful and respectful and learn how to help others,
4. Make an individual extra practice plan with consultation and approval of Guiding Teachers and Supervisor.
5. Haengja is expected to stay within the community and not leave temple grounds without Supervisor’s permission throughout whole Haengja training.
6. Haengja is not to cultivate interests and hobbies from lay life.
7. Haengja is responsible for maintaining their correct legal status in terms of validity of passport and visa even though temple will support it. If serious medical condition develops, it may be necessary for the Haengja to go back to their country for treatment and care.
8. Teachers may request additional period of training in another temple to give a chance for the Haengja to experience training in a different context.
9. Before ordination, learn the basic etiquette and behavior to live in a practicing community.
10. If Musangsa rules are consistently broken and teachings from Guiding Sunims are not followed in a cooperative manner, the Haengja will be given two formal warnings and the third warning from the Guiding Teachers. If the Rules concerned are still not followed, the Haengja may be asked to leave.
11. In order to receive the Sami/Samini precept from Musangsa and become a Sunim, you must complete at least one year of Haengja, and you will receive the precept with the consent of the Guiding Teachers and leading Sunim. Some individuals may need to spend more than a year. 

After completing Haeng Ja training, those who become monastics are called Sami (male) or Samini (female) Sunims for the first four years. It has been a tradition in the Buddhist Sangha to have this novice monk stage, before becoming a full monk. The first example was Rāhula – Buddha’s own son – who became a monastic at a very young age. The Sami/Samini stage became a policy over the years, to give some time for novice monks to get used to the monastic life. Sami/Samini Sunims are given ten precepts, before being given all the precepts as a proper monk. 

One who is a proper monk is called a Bikkhu (male) or Bikkhuni (female). It is a tradition to receive 250 precepts as a Bikkhu, and 348 as a Bikkhuni. It is okay to call all monastics in Korea “Sunim”s – including Sami’s and Samini’s – but Bikkhu’s and Bikkhuni’s are sometimes distinguished as they live by more precepts. This has been a very long Buddhist monastic tradition. 

At Musangsa, those who have completed both Haeng Ja training, and received permission to become a monastic are given Sami / Samini precepts. Since Samini precepts require guidance from Bikkhuni Sunims, Samini trainees can be sent to other Bikkhuni temples: i.e. traditional Korean temples, or international temples in Kwan Um School of Zen. 

Sami / Samini are the monastics who learn how to be in harmony with everybody, and how to practice the dharma.
— Zen Master Seung Sahn —

At Musangsa, the training courses for Sami / Samini Sunims are briefly as follows:

**Musangsa is the head temple in Kwan Um School of Zen Asia. And the school has its roots in the tradition of Korean Buddhism. Because of these backgrounds, the Sami / Samini training at Musangsa is based on the training in the Korean Jo Gye Order of Buddhism, with extra elements to reflect Kwan Um School of Zen, and the unique position Musangsa has.