"Chungnam Province - Kye Ryo ..." a Chungnam Travel Page by Eurasian68

The temple consists of three buildings, the Main Buddha Hall, a Zen Hall and the Residence building. The Zen building has two floors, the first containing eight residential rooms, and the second a large Zen room in which everyone practices together. The Dormitory building has three stories, the first housing a kitchen and dining room, and the other floors, residents' rooms.

In 2004, the 60 pyeong wooden Buddha Hall was completed, with six carved wooden dragonheads on the front, forming an impressive sight.

The Main Buddha Hall, or Dae Ung Jon in Korean, sits on a small rise above the Zen building. It is has an inspiring view of the valley of rice fields below and the mountains in the far distance. The Buddha Hall is clearly visible from the valley and bids an impressive welcome to visitors as they approach Mu Sang Sa.

Inside the Buddha Hall, Sakyamuni Buddha is enshrined in the center, with the Samantabhadra Bodhisattva (Bohyeon Bosal) and the Manjushri Bodhisattva (Munsu Bosal) on each side, forming a triad representing great enlightenment, great action, and great wisdom respectively. On the left wall, there is a painting showing the Amitabha Buddha (Amitabul) and the Western Pure Land on the altar for spirits of the deceased, and just next to this is a memorial altar for Seon Master Seungsahn.

Mu Sang Sa is located on Kye Ryong Sahn, a mountain famed for its strong mystical energy in Korea. It sits directly beneath Kuk Sa Bong (National Teacher's Peak), where long ago an eminent master predicted that 800 Great Dharma Teachers would appear to help this world. Other great temples are also located on this mountain, such as Dong Hak Sa, Kap Sa and Shin Won Sa.

Many great Korean Zen Masters, such as Kyong Ho Sunim and Man Gong Sunim have also practiced on Kye Ryong Sahn. Zen Master Seung Sahn carefully viewed many sites over a period of five years before finally choosing the present location at the end of 1998.

At three in the morning the sound of chanting and the steady beat of the wooden moktak broke the freezing pre-dawn stillness of the night. Each day the Haengjas (postulants) walked between the buildings of the monastery rousing the community for the 108 full prostrations in the meditation hall that would start the day at 3:20 in the morning. Then, after a quick cup of tea, all processed up to the main shrine hall for the morning chanting. Every day the same chants were used in the Sino-Korean translations of ancient Sanskrit scriptures, sung from memory. The interior of the hall itself was covered with ornate carvings and paintings of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, dragons and protector spirits. Then off to the meditation hall for an hour and a half of sitting meditation before the blissful warmth of the breakfast rice-gruel at six o’clock in the refectory.

This was the start of each day for almost the two weeks of the winter retreat at the Zen Buddhist monastery and retreat centre at Musangsa in Korea, which I was able to attend this winter of 2007. The monastery has an international community of monks and nuns, from America and Europe, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Vietnam and Korea itself. All are members of the Kwan Um School of Zen, founded by Zen Master Seung Sahn.

From his arrival in the West in the 1970s, without much knowledge of the English language, people began to gather around him, and eventually Zen centres were founded which now spread around the world. Musangsa is their Korean headquarters, and is run by close disciples of Zen Master Seung Sahn, who died just a couple of years ago.