1. The Mission Statement of Wookok Zen Center

Wookok Zen Center deals with the human beings' four basic propositions - birth, aging, suffering and death - through Zen, so that, we can contribute to achieve the eternal dream of man.

As the materialism predominates in modern world, the basic tranquil mental state of mind has been devastated, and consequently the common value system is dreary in our society.

Living a true life begins with realizing the 'true nature' of existence. It is possible when we are free from all kinds of grasps. On the basis of understanding the true nature of existence, we are able to make a right judgement about what to do in our everyday life. It lead us to live without diverting our attention to the outward non-essential things. However, it is very difficult to be free from the grasps because of possessions and egoism which have been spread all over the world these days.

Zen can lead us to accomplish a perfect state of mind which can be the basis of our right judgments. As we reach the state of mind, we can become the master of our lives and realize our true self. It will help us to bring about the ideal world that all human beings have dreamed of.

People with the purified spiritual energy which emerges from Zen and life based on great teachings of the past will manifest wisdom which can contribute to the well-being of our society by themselves. Wookok Zen Center - a corporate judicial body - believes that fostering the purified spiritual energy through Zen is the most effective way of achieving human welfare. Therefore, the mission of Wookok Zen Center is to foster the purified spiritual energy, to gather the spiritually reborn people, and to embark in new ventures in order to contribute to human welfare.

While concentrating on the development of purified human mind on the basis of Zen, Wookok Zen Center will keep researching and studying Zen, and try to popularize and globalize Zen. Also this center will devote its energy to education, publication, translation of the Zen related materials. Eventually Wookok Zen Center will help people to enjoy real happy life through overcoming birth, aging, suffering and death.

2. Components of Basic Activities

(1) Birth

Our life is only one-time process. Man can be happy when he has sound mind and healthy body. By cultivating the higher spiritual perception, we will be able to harmonize with the rapidly changing world and to reach the eternal world. Also when we foster the centripetal spiritual energy in our mind which can help us to avoid all kinds of diverting forces, we can have the wisdom to cope with changes effectively, and can be reborn as a highly spiritual person who attain enlightenment, and can enlighten all beings.

By establishing Wookok Zen Village where people can have retreats and attend various Zen training programs such as Zen practice, physical exercises, and education of basic Zen concepts, we can accommodate people to cultivate their higher spiritual perceptions. It will help people to build perfect character with the strong centripetal force in their minds and eventually they will be leading mentors to others.

(2) Aging and Suffering

Everybody is to be old, to suffer from various kinds of sicknesses and ultimately die away. Because we are born, nobody can avoid such dying process. We all have innate fear on this process. This fear comes from our grasps of the past, present and future life which are governed by our sensory organ.

The people, who do not believe in the law of cause and effect and try to avoid the natural order, have to go through the painful tunnel of  aging and suffering.

Recently, medical technology has been solving many illnesses which were not cured in the past. Nevertheless the medical technology cannot be an alternative to cure human sufferings. If we have the strong spiritual power in our heart through Zen, we can be free from unnecessary stress from aging and suffering. Zen teachings provide us various ways of being, away from aging and suffering.

Wookok Zen Center published 5 books on the Buddhist teachings and Wookok Zen master's experiences of self discipline. Also Wookok Zen master, who has experienced the enlightenment process, guides us to a right way to overcome the suffering. Those books and Zen master's guidances have given many people to achieve peacefulness in mind and health in body.

Zen can implant the power to overcome all human sufferings. Wookok Zen Center plans to found a Zen Village. The Zen Village will include an Oriental Medical Center, which will use our unique way to cure the patients, and a Silver House combined with Nursing Home and Mental Curing Center in the Bulmo* mountain near Busan.

(3) Death 

Everyone is destined to die. Everybody, coming into being, lives by what the nature gave us, so to speak, earth, water, fire, wind and etc. Death is the process returning to the nature.  However, according to the Buddha's teaching, karma is left even after death, and it is succeeded to the transmigration cycle.

When human beings deeply realize the facts that the materials do not belong to them, but they are products of the natural order, and they can be free from their grasp on the materials. However, it is not easy for them to be free from their distorted beliefs which do not fit with the law of cause and effect and the basic human ethics. It becomes the basis of forming of undesirable life cycle. Moreover, we are living in the age of materialism and various religions. Therefore, it is possible the distorted beliefs become the dominant force in the spiritual space world.

Everyday we see our souls dying in the middle of in the chaotic and material-centered society. Before too late, somebody has to provide a new way of civilization and lead the world with a torch of hope. The Wookok Zen Village hopes to be the birth place of the new civilization based on Zen and Buddha's teachings.

The more we live by Buddha's teachings, the more we can reach the Buddha's pure land. Wookok Zen Village will be the first place to realize the Buddha's pure land which can resolve human agonies originated from birth, aging, sufferings, and death.

(4) Globalization of the Zen Village

Nowadays we can run into various signs that the western material-oriented civilization is searching for a new spiritual model in the eastern civilization. We often see that the westerners are challenging the profound eastern philosophy to understand the spiritually enlightened state of mind and to have the higher spiritual perceptions.

In particular, Buddhism can be understood only through experiences and insights. The westerners' structure of understanding the world is so different from that of the easterner's. It is not easy for the westerners to understand the theory of Buddhism.

Zen can be approached through meditation. In some respect, zen is beyond the theoretical explanation. But, the comprehension of the world can be reached through Zen. However, everyone has his own way. Not word but action, and continuous practice of mental tranquility may help people to open the absolute world of Zen.

Wookok Zen Village will offers natural conditions which pacify human mind. The place has the energy which can foster people recognize the essence of the world. The Village can provide a unique experiences to them.

We believe that Zen based on Buddha's original teachings exists now only in Korea. Although theory of Buddhism has been developed systematically in Japan, Japanese Buddhism only assumes the rituals of admiring their ancestors or wordplay. In China, Buddhism has already been transformed into a kind of shamanism. Also, Buddhism in Southeastern Asia emphasizes the strict observance of regulations of Buddhism. The Tibetan Buddhism heavily concentrates on the after-life. These are not directly related to the recognition of true self what Buddha has emphasized on. Attainment of the higher spiritual perception can be achieved only by Zen practice that has been left in Korea.

Wookok Zen Center - a corporate judicial body - has tried to globalize, popularize and exploit Zen recourses, and it manages an internet site and helps people to practice Zen in the ordinary life.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------Footnotes

*Bulmo means the mother of enlightened men. From the name of the mountain, we can see that it is a right place for a Zen center.