Maum Meditation Centers

I want to address this particular organization today because this organization misapplies the concept of meditation in all the wrong ways. 

I was a member of the organization for about a year, and my wife was a member for many years. 

The organization says it is all-inclusive, taking in members of all different types of religions—Christians, Buddhists— including atheists.

Many mistake Maum Meditation as something similar to Buddhist Zen meditation centers.

In reality however the Maum Meditation Centers' meditation system of "Emptying the Mind," is nothing like Buddhism's Non-Self, "Emptying the Mind."

How do they, Maum Meditation Center empty their minds? 

They are emptying their mind by erasing their memories of mind. In real and actual practice, they mentally chop and mince a body organ after a body organ to oblivion, deleting all bad or past experiences related to body organs and therefore one's whole body. 

This same mental deduction practice applies to the relationship to the people, especially troubled relationships with people who are close to them.

The way these mind deduction practices apply, I can see how dangerous these mind deduction mental exercises can be to the minors, young adults, mentally unstable or challenged, and people with already vulnerable life situations.

Their mental suggestions of violent treatments of one's own body can in my own opinion be too suggestive and therefore very dangerous. 

And they are very vengeful people, like all other religious cults are; they harass their ex-members constantly by stalking, threatening, injuring, and even killing if they can get away with it. They hold that much hatred for people who leave their organizations or talk truth about their organizations. I believe they do this to set an example for those who are thinking about leaving them. 

I am dealing with them every day in Korea. You can't point fingers but they are there following me around, trying to find ways to hurt us in Korea.  

They could be everywhere, especially in KORAIL, KT, the police departments, fire departments, all levels of government, and in all professions, including real estate agents, engineers, bank employees, herbal doctors, acupuncturists, medical doctors, nurses, and all types of business. 

In the US, there are many members who work in Korean grocery chains equally vindictive and vicious. 

In Korea, I feel, their presence of hatefulness everyday. They just make your life difficult, harassing, stalking in any way possible if they mark you as enemies. All I know, I could be living right next to their houses or building. That's how close they are. They stalk you 24/7.

Maybe that's how they make money or get free rent—by doing odd contract hit jobs like stalking, harassment, all sorts of frauds, and running over with a car.

These are very dangerous people, especially those who are in the high grades and run these centers. It is best to avoid them from the very beginning. They are like all other religious cults, the Unification Church and SinCheonJi.

The leaders of these cult organizations accumulated enormous wealth on the backs of their followers. 

With Maum Meditation, members were required to pay exorbitant amounts of money to stay with the organization and its required activities. The higher the grade you are, the more hooked you are for life.

These days I hear all this news on corrupt politicians from both parties taking bribes by these organizations in Korea. 

Maum meditation is no different from them, except that the Maum meditation leader, Woo Myung, stays in the US and South America mostly. I am sure he is well protected by a cadre of lawyers, politicians, and government leaders.

I believe the Maum Meditation Centers and their less known offshoot organizations targeted me for retaliation, harassment, and destruction because I know too much about what organization it really is. I saw him, Woo Myung, a few times in Norcross, GA. 

It is very disingenuous of them that they entice and welcome new members as if they are some sort of Zen meditation center, luring people like us who desperately needed spiritual guidance.

As a Buddhist, I find it abhorrent. Karma has very severe consequences for those who knowingly mislead their followers' trusts for their personal gains.

What I really like about the Buddha

Here I am talking about Siddhartha Gautama, Sukaymuni Buddha, the Buddha who founded Buddhism as we know it today 2600 years ago.

There were no pretenses or additives added to him. He was all flesh and blood. He gets sick like we ordinary human beings do; he had a body ache, and there was nothing that was superhuman about him. He was just like another human being, like any of us, as far as we can tell. He never puffed himself up. Anything that was puffed about him was done by his followers hundreds of years after his death. His disciples did not puff him up, although they always showed him respect as their teacher. He did not ask for Buddhist temples or Buddha statues that made likenesses of him to be worshipped after he was gone.

He asked his followers to rely only on oneself and the dharma as their only teacher, no one else, 자등명 법등명 自燈明 法燈明.

Every day, he went into a town to beg for food once, like every member of his sangha did. He didn't ask for better food because he was the leader, the enlightened one, the Buddha. In fact, he got food poisoning, and he really died from eating spoiled food when he was 80 years old.

When his cousin Ananda was in tears at the Buddha's deathbed, he implored Ananda to ask him questions he wanted to ask him before he was gone.

What I really like about Siddhartha Gotama Buddha is that he was a realist. When Ananda asked about the six monks who always, at the time, made rochus in the sangha crowd when the Buddha was absent, he gave Ananda this advice: "Ignore them. Don't respond to them. Once they are finally fed up with the non-response from the other bhikkhus, they will leave," and they did leave.

He was a wise counselor; at the same time, he was the Buddha. He cared so much about everyone who sought his advice; he altered his deliverance of his advice to fit each particular individual's education level or background. 

He didn't dwell on abstract subjects such as where and when the humans came from. He concentrated on today's problem. He tried to save every human being from today's problem, the sufferings, dukkha. 

He gave this example to a person who kept asking him such abstract questions like where and when the universe was originally created or began. He said, "Let's say you were hit by a poisoned arrow; it is like you refuse to pull that arrow until you know who shot the arrow, what the arrow and poison were made of, or what direction it came from." You would be dead before you get your answers. 

I wonder what advice Sukaymuni Buddha would have given me dealing with these vicious, hidden, and powerful individuals made up of politicians, corporate executives, billionaires, and institutional terrorists (corrupted and evil police, firemen, EMTs, government employees, NGO and Nonprofit employees, and more) attacking me for more than the past eight years.

Six Paramitas 육바라밀 六波羅蜜多

Six Paramitas: Practices to Cross to the Other Shore | Thich Nhat Hanh (short teaching video)

The Six Paramitas - Dana (Generosity)

The Six Paramitas - Sila (Precepts)

The Six Paramitas - Kshanti (Patience)

The Six Paramitas - Virya (Effort or Zeal)

The Six Paramitas - Samadhi

The Six Paramitas - Prajna (wisdom)

1. 보시는 재시·법시·무외시로 나누어 조건 없이 베품. 
2. 지계는 계율을 지키며 선을 행함.
3. 인욕은 모욕과 번뇌를 참고 견디는 것임.
4. 정진은 순일하고 물들지 않는 마음으로 항상 부지런히 닦아 꾸준히 나아감.
5. 선정은 마음을 바로 잡아 통일되고 고요한 정신상태에 이르는 것. 
6. 지혜는 진상(眞相)을 바르게 보는 정신적 밝음. 

🙏 육바라밀 완전해설 | 부처님이 되는 6가지 완성의 길 | 불교오디오북

Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva 관자재보살 觀自在菩薩

*** 첫머리에 숨겨진 비밀… ‘관자재보살’ 다섯 글자에 이미 수행의 전부가 담겨 있다 ***The secret hidden at the beginning of the Heart sutra. The five letters of "Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva" 觀自在菩薩 already contain the entirety of the Buddhist practice.

The Heart Sutra is the single most recited Buddhist sutra in the Mahayana Buddhist tradition. It is most popular because of its brevity but depiction of all core principles of Buddhism so concisely. Xuanzang translated it into Chinese with only 260 letters. And he translated Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva as 觀自在菩薩.

In addition to the most popular known belief and depiction of 觀自在菩薩 as Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva who sees and hears of all sufferings and thus renders all compassion and helps to those in need and in trouble, these five letters compose a hidden message of four distinctive meanings and words. The first three words, 觀自在, show how a Buddhist must practice and live to become a liberated being, Bodhisattva, 菩薩. 

觀 means "see," "watch," or "observe keenly." 回光返照—Because one can't see oneself with one's own eyes, one can only see one's true self, the invisible "I" by 回光返照, letting the MIND illuminate oneself invisibly. 

自 means self, true self, 本來面目 (Original Face), the original "I", the invisible "MIND" that was never born, never changes, and will never die—depicted in the Heart Sutra as 不生不滅 不垢不淨 不增不減.

在 means now, this moment, today; not yesterday, the past, tomorrow, or the future.

So if a Buddhist practices the mindfulness of every moment of their life, they become aware all sufferings and phenomena are results of workings of the five aggregates, and thus false "I", becomes a Bodhisattva, 菩薩, by adhering to a life of the Noble Eightfold Path..

Therefore, 觀自在, the name of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, is literally the daily Buddhist practice tool that completely satisfies one element of the Noble Eightfold Path, the Right Mindfulness (정념, 正念).   

It is so amazing to find out that all Buddha teachings are based on self-help. 

So when one becomes happy, sad, angry, or in any other ego-driven mental state, one must see what they are—the impermanent and interdependent working nature of the five aggregates, the false "I"—that is going through such a mental state. By understanding such feelings and phenomena as what they really are, by being mindful of what one's mental state is in any moment, one can truly overcome the suffering of any impermanent making of a false "I."

Here, the false "I" is composed of the five aggregates, 五蘊.

In the Heart Sutra, it is said that the five aggregates are inherently empty, impermanent, and false, 照見五蘊皆空.

‘照見五蘊皆空(조견오온개공)’은 반야심경의 핵심 구절로, 오온(색·수·상·행·식)이 ‘실체가 없고 공(空)’임을 직관하면 고통의 대상이 사라져 해탈에 이른다는 뜻입니다. 

‘Looking at the five aggregates and seeing that they are all empty’ is a key phrase in the Heart Sutra. It means that if you directly see that the five aggregates (form, feeling/sensation, perception, mental formation, and consciousness) are ‘without substance and empty,’ the object of suffering disappears and you reach liberation.

*The Five Aggregates (Skandhas, 오온, 五蘊) in Buddhism are the five temporary, ever-changing components that constitute a person's mental and physical existence: Form (matter), Sensation (feeling), Perception (recognition), Mental Formations (volition), and Consciousness (awareness), explaining that a permanent "self" isn't found, but rather a collection of these interdependent processes, leading to understanding impermanence and no-self (anatta). 

* 본래면목(本來面目)은 불교, 특히 선종(禪宗)에서 ‘참된 자아’, 즉 번뇌 이전의 청정한 본성을 가리키며, 모든 중생이 본래부터 지니고 있는 불성(佛性)을 깨닫는 것을 의미합니다. 

In Buddhism, especially in Zen Buddhism, the original face (本來面目) refers to the "true self," that is, the pure nature before afflictions, and means realizing the Buddha nature that all living beings inherently possess.

 * 回光返照(회광반조)는 ‘빛이 되돌아와 자신을 비춘다’는 뜻으로, 본래는 자기 내면의 본성을 성찰하거나 본래의 밝음을 되찾는 수행법을 의미합니다

回光返照 (returning light) means ‘light returning to illuminate itself’, and originally refers to a practice method to reflect on one’s inner nature or regain one’s original brightness, 本來面目.

 붓다가 말씀한 ‘무생법인’, 그 ‘무생’은 어떤 경지인가? 현장 스님의 번역에 그 답이 있다

사람은 죽은 뒤 어디로 가는가? 천상도 지옥도 아닌 그곳을… 허운 대선사가 임종에 남긴 두 글자가 밝혀준다

〈능엄경〉 속 단 한 구절… 수행의 궁극적 비밀을 꿰뚫으면 평생의 길이 달라진다

〈아미타경〉의 궁극 해독… 극락세계의 진실한 모습을 깨치고 정토왕생의 수행 길을 안내하다

평생 수행해도 '이것' 모르면 헛수고? 혜능 스님의 마지막 경고

《반야심경》에서 말하는 “오온을 비추어 공함을 본다”는 것은 도대체 무엇을 비추는 것인가? 이를 진정으로 이해한 사람은 극히 드물다

마하반야바라밀다심경 摩訶般若波羅密多心經

마하반야바라밀다심경

관자재보살 행심반야바라밀다시 조견오온개공 도일체고액

사리자 색불이공 공불이색 색즉시공 공즉시색 수상행식 역부여시

사리자 시제법공상 불생불멸 불구부정 부증불감

시고 공중무색 무수상행식 무안이비설신의 무색성향미촉법

무안계 내지 무의식계 무무명 역무무명진

내지 무노사 역무노사진 무고집멸도 무지역무득

이무소득고 보리살타 의반야바라밀다

고심무가애 무가애고 무유공포 원리전도몽상 구경열반

삼세제불 의반야바라밀다 고득아뇩다라삼먁삼보리 

고지반야바라밀다 시대신주 시대명주 시무상주 시무등등주

능제일체고 진실불허 고설 반야바라밀다주 즉설주왈

『아제아제 바라아제 바라승아제 모지 사바하』(3번)

왜 《심경》은 ‘이해’하는 경이 아니라 ‘녹여내는’ 경전일까? 불법이 전하는 뜻밖의 핵심

260자 가운데 진짜로 사람을 건너게 하는 말은 ‘색즉시공’이 아니다… 모두가 놓친 이 한 구절이다

‘조견오온개공’, 도대체 무엇을 비춘다는 뜻인가? 이를 제대로 아는 이는 극히 드물다

*** 첫머리에 숨겨진 비밀… ‘관자재보살’ 다섯 글자에 이미 수행의 전부가 담겨 있다 ***

摩訶般若波羅密多心經

觀自在菩薩  行深般若波羅密多時  照見五蘊皆空  度一切苦厄  

舍利子 色不異空  空不異色  色卽是空  空卽是色  受想行識  亦復如是 

舍利子 是諸法空相  不生不滅 不垢不淨 不增不減 

是故 空中無色 無受想行識 無眼耳鼻舌身意 無色聲香味觸法 

無眼界 乃至 無意識界 無無明 亦無無明盡 

乃至 無老死 亦無老死盡 無苦集滅道 無智亦無得

以無所得故 菩提薩埵 依般若波羅密多 

故心無罣碍 無罣碍故 無有恐怖 遠離顚倒夢想 究竟涅槃 

三世諸佛 依般若波羅密多 故得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提

故知 般若波羅密多 是大神呪 是大明呪 是無上呪 是無等等呪 

能除一切苦 眞實不虛 故說般若波羅密多呪 卽說呪曰 

揭諦揭諦 波羅揭諦 波羅僧揭諦 菩提 娑婆訶 -3-

There Are Three Types of "I"

And there is only one True "I". 

1. No-Self, False "I".

This is the "I" we normally refer to ourselves as. This is the physically visible, existing "I" we call ourselves in the human realm. This is the false "I" that goes through the continuous rebirth cycle of samsara because this "I" attaches itself to an ego. The stronger the ego, the stronger the karma that prevents one from discovering the true "I" that has resided within oneself all along. 

2. Gap-I, In-Transit "I".

Gap-I has a lifespan of up to forty-nine human realm days. Gap-I is invisible and without a physical body, but it can see, move around without any physical impediments like walls, and move fast, reaching an infinite distance in a fraction of a second. It is constantly, often desperately, seeking a next life and is reborn during this limited time. Karma is the main determinant of what form of life it is going to transit into.

3. True-I

Then, there is the True-I that we always had, have, and will always have—the one "I," ourselves. This "I" never dies or is reborn. This is the true "I" that is described in the Heart Sutra as an entity that is "neither born nor destroyed; neither dirty nor pure; neither increasing nor decreasing" 불생불멸 불구부정 부증불감 不生不滅 不垢不淨 不增不減.

Maha Prajna Paramita Hridaya(Heart) Sutra

When Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva practiced the profound Prajnaparamita, he saw that the five aggregates were empty and overcame all suffering.

Shariputra, form is no other than emptiness, and emptiness is no other than form.

Form is exactly emptiness, and emptiness is exactly form.

Feelings, perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness are likewise like this.

Shariputra, all dharmas are inherently empty; neither born nor destroyed; neither dirty nor pure; neither increasing nor decreasing.

So within emptiness there is no form; no feeling, perception, mental formation, or consciousness. No eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, or mind; no color, sound, smell, taste, touch, or mental discernment.

No realm of sight, no realm of consciousness, no ignorance and no end to ignorance, no old age and death, and no end to old age and death; no suffering, no cause of suffering, no extinguishing of suffering, no path to nirvana, no wisdom, and no wisdom to gain.

Because there is nothing to gain, the bodhisattva relies on Prajna Paramita.

There is no darkness in the Prajna Paramita, thus, no hindrance and no fear; it vanquishes all deluded thoughts and reaches nirvana.

All past, present, and future Buddhas rely on Prajna Paramita and therefore attain anuttara samyak sambodhi.

Thus know that Prajna Paramita is the greatest mantra, the brightest mantra, the highest mantra, the unequalled supreme mantra.

It completely clears all sufferings, and that is the truth, not a lie.

So set forth the Prajna Paramita mantra,

Set forth this mantra and say,

Gate! Gate! Paragate! Parasamgate! Bodhi Svaha! (3 times)

The Heart Sutra — (a word for word explanation)

Heart Sutra: Essence of a New Wisdom

Quantum Physics and Emptiness: Parallels Between Buddhism and Science

마하반야바라밀다심경

관자재보살 행심반야바라밀다시

조견오온개공 도일체고액

사리자 색불이공 공불이색 색즉시공 공즉시색
수상행식 역부여시

사리자 시제법공상 불생불멸 불구부정 부증불감
시고 공중무색 무수상행식 무안이비설신의 무색성향미촉법

무안계 내지 무의식계 무무명 역무무명진
내지 무노사 역무노사진 무고집멸도 무지역무득

이무소득고 보리살타 의반야바라밀다
고심무가애 무가애고 무유공포 원리전도몽상 구경열반

삼세제불 의반야바라밀다
고득아뇩다라삼먁삼보리 

고지 반야바라밀다 시대신주 시대명주 시무상주 시무등등주

능제일체고 진실불허 

고설 반야바라밀다주

즉설주왈

『아제아제 바라아제 바라승아제 모지 사바하』(3번)

<한글 반야심경>

마하반야바라밀다심경

관자재보살이 깊은 반야바라밀다를 행할 때,

오온이 공한 것을 비추어 보고 온갖 고통에서 건너느니라.

사리자여! 색이 공과 다르지 않고 공이 색과 다르지 않으며,

색이 곧 공이요 공이 곧 색이니, 수 상 행 식도 그러하니라.

사리자여! 모든 법은 공하여 나지도 멸하지도 않으며, 

더럽지도 깨끗하지도 않으며, 늘지도 줄지도 않느니라.

 

그러므로 공 가운데는 색이 없고 수 상 행 식도 없으며,

안 이 비 설 신 의도 없고,

색 성 향 미 촉 법도 없으며,

 

눈의 경계도 의식의 경계까지도 없고,

무명도 무명이 다함까지도 없으며,

 

늙고 죽음도 늙고 죽음이 다함까지도 없고,

고 집 멸 도도 없으며, 지혜도 얻음도 없느니라.

얻을 것이 없는 까닭에 보살은 반야바라밀다를 의지하므로 

마음에 걸림이 없고 걸림이 없으므로 두려움이 없어서,

뒤바뀐 헛된 생각을 멀리 떠나 완전한 열반에 들어가며,

 

삼세의 모든 부처님도 반야바라밀다를 의지하므로

최상의 깨달음을 얻느니라.

반야바라밀다는 가장 신비하고 밝은 주문이며 위없는 주문이며

 

무엇과도 견줄 수 없는 주문이니,

 

온갖 괴로움을 없애고 진실하여 허망하지 않음을 알지니라.

 

이제 반야바라밀다주를 말하리라.

 

아제아제 바라아제 바라승아제 모지 사바하(3번)

摩訶般若波羅密多心經

觀自在菩薩  行深般若波羅密多時  照見五蘊皆空  度一切苦厄  舍利子

色不異空  空不異色  色卽是空  空卽是色  受想行識  亦復如是 舍利子

是諸法空相  不生不滅 不垢不淨 不增不減, 是故 空中無色 無受想行識  

無眼耳鼻舌身意 無色聲香味觸法 無眼界 乃至 無意識界 無無明

亦無無明盡 乃至 無老死 亦無老死盡 無苦集滅道 無智亦無得

以無所得故 菩提薩埵 依般若波羅密多 故心無罣碍 無罣碍故 無有恐怖

遠離顚倒夢想 究竟涅槃 三世諸佛 依般若波羅密多 故得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提

故知 般若波羅密多 是大神呪 是大明呪 是無上呪 是無等等呪 能除一切苦

眞實不虛 故說般若波羅密多呪 卽說呪曰 

揭諦揭諦 波羅揭諦 波羅僧揭諦 菩提 娑婆訶 -3-