Master Won Hyo (617-686) (Image is borrowed from koreanbuddhism.net.)
I always thought of Zen as a rather grim tradition–maybe because I viewed it through the lense of my own (paradoxically) pleasureless American culture.
But perhaps I was misinformed, as this story suggests:
“Won Hyo, nicknamed the Unbridled Monk, was a Korean master of the seventh century. He is venerated as that country’s most profound and creative thinker. One day, one of Won Hyo’s masters took him to a brothel. It is not good for a monk to live in heaven all the time, the master said to Won Hyo. It is necessary to visit hell once in a while to assist the inmates there, too.
“After spending the night with the prettiest girl in the house, Won Hyo cast off his robes and danced through the street, singing The universe is just like this! Won Hyo had the characters no obstacle embroidered on the crotch of his trousers and entertained any lady who desired his company. He later became the lover of Princess Kwa, and she bore his child. Won Hyo’s motto was Only one with no worries and no fears can conquer life, death, and transmigration.”
[Excerpted from Lust for Enlightenment: Buddhism and Sex, by John Stevens. (Boston: Shambhala Publications, 1990.) As included in The Basket of Tolerance, the Epitome of Traditional Wisdom list, section "on controlling the vital", by Adi Da Samraj.]
Update May 2013: Please note that I don’t believe this story is intended to encourage prostitution or promiscuity. The story most likely took place after many years of living like a saint. My own interpretation of the story is that he realized that no part of himself was an “obstacle”, and perhaps it helped free him from looking down on others. Perhaps this incident helped him remove the “deadly sin” of pride.
Even in this story, it’s interesting that women still seem to play a secondary role–serving the desires of men in the brothel rather than having their own desires served, and it being a story about a man’s spiritual realization rather than also women’s.
Questions for consideration:
- How important was the company of women for Korea’s “most profound thinker”, according to this passage?
- It seems many human beings have very negative ideas about women and pleasure, or feel pleasure is somehow opposed to spirituality. Do you think this is in fact accurate? Where do we get these ideas from?
- Living during difficult economic times, some might think pleasure is an unaffordable luxury– “well, perhaps we should all be unhappy and grim”. But how many bank notes does it cost to enjoy a hot cup of tea with a friend, to pleasure your wife, to feel the sun on your face, or to give someone a relaxing massage?
Regards,
BoT Student
This reminds me of some wisdom from the Huang Di the legendary Yellow Emperor and a patron of Taoism: “In order to know thy head, one must investigate thoroughly thy tail.”
:)
Thanks Marcus.
I was talking about pleasure with a friend this morning, and he mentioned something about his Catholic upbringing. He said our spiritual teacher once told a man something about how he would never experience sexual pleasure in the fullest sense, because the guilt from his Catholic upbringing was too deep-rooted to allow it.
Wow.
“Only men of pleasure know the Truth.” —Da
Appreciated this offering of yours very much. You and your readers might find the summary article from the Buddhist portal in Wikipedia, found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_Buddhism , rather interesting.
Whenever I encounter any uniquely anti-female point of view, I remember and recall and feel into Adi Da Samraj’s many instructions about Prior Unity. One of His radical one-line summations always helps me avoid reactivity around these polarities between female and male:
“There is only one event: something arising.”
And then I usually turn the energy around with some kind of humorous remark whenever I can; or just smile, and walk away.
Thanks for your service. I enjoy reading your offerings every time they appear in my mailbox; and your questions are always insightful and stimulating.
– Pamela
Not sure if this is the best series of translations of Ikkyu’s Love Poems.
He certainly was a great Zen master. These days Korean Zen priests are formally celibate, in the main Zen school prevalent in Korea.
Japanese Zen priests on the hand are not.
These statistics are not exact by any means but it is interesting to note that
Korea is in my reckoning about 30% Christian at least. Japan is about 1% Christian.
These figures tend in my understanding to indicate cultural views towards sexualty
generally in Korea. ( happy for anyone to debate this if they disagree :-)
http://taotechingdecoded.com/chapter6pu.aspx >>> enjoy !
Thank you for your posts on Facebook !
Unfortunate about the use of the words “dirty” and “clean” in the analysis of the poems quoted in the link I posted
however that said, the poems are an enjoyable read.
Hi! Thanks for the post!
I am inspired in the same way you are by this tale, but there is a factual correction to make:
Although it is a common mistake on websites dealing with Wonhyo,
There is no way Wonhyo was a Zen/Seon Monk.
Wonhyo never heard of Zen. Nobody Wonhyo ever met heard of Zen. Nobody Wonhyo met had ever met anyone who had ever heard of Zen.
There is no way Wonhyo was a Zen/Seon Monk.
Let’s ignore the difference between Zen (Japanese) and Seon (Korean), although there are real differences in the ways those traditions deal with koans, teacher-student relationships, etc… But for our purposes, lets pretend Seon and Zen are the same thing.
——————-
Wonhyo lived from 617 to 686.
Doui introdued Seon/Zen to the Korean peninsula in 821.
——————-
Was Wonhyo a proto-Zen monk?
Depending on what you mean, you can make this case. Recognize, though, that much of what Wonhyo said and did, the Zen tradition rejects. And vice versa. So it would not be fair to call Wonhyo a Zen monk. Let’s look at it more closely:
Wonhyo was influenced by the Huayan school.
Huayan is similar in some ways with Zen
Huayan, centuries later, developed a very close relationship with Zen.
The problem is, Wonhyo was not a Huayan Buddhist. He was influenced by them, but he was influenced by many schools.
Take Uisang, who was Wonhyo’s friend. Uisang was a Huayan Buddhist.
Was Uisang a Zen monk?
No, because Huayan at the time of Wonhyo/Uisang was different from the Huayan that merged with Zen centuries later. And, Huayan retains some difference with the dominant Korean Zen practice even today.
So, they are not identical, and although we could say Uisang’s tradition was pretty close to the Zen tradition, it is dishonest to say Uisang was a Zen monk.
——————-
So, Uisang wasn’t quite Zen… how about Wonhyo?
Wonhyo differed greatly from the Huayan Buddhism of his time – that’s why he refused to join them. Instead, Wonhyo’s Buddhism is an ecclectic compilation of many schools, and cannot be simplified into any one of his influences.
So, Wonhyo was not a Zen monk, by any sensible definition.
Some of Wonhyo’s writings were accepted by Zen, and influenced Zen a great deal, so he is not totally distinct of them, but claiming Wonhyo was a Zen monk is anachronistic and unfair to the complexity of that great scholar.