3. A short FoQi & ChanQi
For English readers
This piece has been published before. If you have already read it, please feel free to skip it. As “My Five Years of Cultivation in the U.S.” is likely to continue, I am now compiling these writings into a Brunch Book, and I appreciate your understanding.
② How did I end up going to the U.S.?
More people came than I expected.
The first three days were the 'FoQi(佛七)'.
There were bright melodies, many carefully prepared rituals that filled the whole day, and the chanting of Amituofo (Amitabha Buddha) kept getting faster and faster. I was used to Korean-style chanting—short, simple, but strong and dignified—so at first, this felt a bit unfamiliar.
In the evening, Master YongHua gave a Dharma talk. When the talk ended, another very long chanting session called the “Great Transference” began. (Oh my…) During the “Bowing to the Patriarchs” part, we bowed to every single patriarch in history, one by one. It felt like it would never end. Strangely, while I was nearly out of breath from all those bows, I also began to feel trust.
I had often noticed this when attending big Dharma Assemblies or famous temples overseas: sometimes, the great master is respected almost like a god. Here, Master YongHua barely stood out at all. Instead, there was deep respect for all the past patriarchs. I thought to myself, This group has deep and fundamental Mahayana roots.
Then came the next three days—the 'ChanQi(禪七)'.
This time, there was no chanting at all. We simply repeated one hour of sitting and twenty minutes of walking all day long. Everyone sat in full lotus. Already worn out from the 'FoQi', I became a little sneaky. I would sit for a while, then quietly leave. From the room next to mine, the cries of people learning full lotus posture played nonstop, like background music.
Then suddenly, a thought hit me:
I came all this way. Shouldn’t I try sitting properly at least once?
With a serious heart, I entered the meditation hall.
Once I truly decided to sit, the scene around me was quite something.
One person kept hitting their head on the pillar they were leaning against. Another person found that disturbing, jumped up, moved somewhere else—then jumped up again and moved again. In the middle of all this sat Master YongHua, still and steady like a bell. Nearby, some of his disciples sat with their head almost on the floor, snoring...
At that point, I thought, Even if I roll around complaining about my back, no one will care.
(Ugh…) Let me just focus on myself.
I squeezed my eyes shut and pulled myself firmly into full lotus. It felt like energy was gathering. My legs hurt—so maybe forty minutes had passed? After thinking this a few times, the bell rang. One full hour had already gone by.
A scene from the FoQi at the International Seon Center, spring 2019.(To be continued)