Chapter 1: Fundamental Questions

The first chapter of 'No River to Cross', despite being just five pages long, gets off to a rigorous start. "Above all else" Seon Master Daehaeng writes, "you have to truly know yourself." Kun Hyaedan Sunim seemed to have that first sentence constantly in mind as she led our discussion last night. In every comment was an underlying message to each person to find out for themselves.

It was a good crowd. My friend Will, a self-described 'cafeteria seeker', came along, and there were other interesting people too. One man, in Bangkok for a short while, is a regular at the San Francisco Zen Centre and someone else was ordained in Japan for ten years. A third new friend has also lived in Korea and was keen to learn more about Kun Daehaeng Sunim's teachings.

Both resident Sunims were there, plus Dr Lee Bhikkuni from the International Women's Meditation Centre, and regulars and new faces from the Korean temple community. We started with some meditation, and then opened up for discussion. As usual, the questions soon focused on the trickiest theory, teachings on the self for example, but in a spirit of genuine and friendly enquiry.

The Bangkok Seonwon has a great teacher. Kun Hyaedan Sunim combines an intellectual toughness, a real no-nonsense approach, with a gentle humour that is obvious to all regardless of the language. And Eun Young, once again, did a magnificent job of translation. There were, bar a few comments I couldn't catch due to my increasingly poor hearing, no difficulties in communication.

What is Buddha-nature? What is Buddha-Dharma? Few had had the chance to read the first chapter, but its questions were thoroughly discussed. Not out of mere curiosity, but to get to the most vital question of all: Who am I? "The purpose of studying Buddhism" Kun Daehaeng Sunim writes, "is to discover who I am. Discovering who I am means returning to my foundation."

We bowed to the Buddha and to each other and went to a nearby bar to keep the discussion going. Eun Young talked about how Kun Daehaeng's work, especially her translations of the traditional chants into Korean, has helped make Buddhism more accessible for her and for so many Korean people, and Linda talked about the benefits Buddhist practice has brought to her own life.

I'm moved by everyone's kindness. Everyone at the Bangkok Seon Centre who opened up their beautiful hall late on a Saturday night to share the teachings, and everyone who sat, asked questions, and told their personal stories. Thank you to everyone who came along, building, by being there and by sharing, Bangkok's first English-language Seon community. Thank you.