3 New Monks!

The Overseas Parish of the Taego Order and Muddy Water Zen are proud to announce the ordination of 3 new novice monks!

Bup Hae Sunim (Candace Palopoli)

Bup Woon Sunim (Jason Jay)

Bup Woo Sunim (Tim Sheehy)

were all ordained as novice monks Wednesday, September 26, 2012 at Seonam-sa Monastery in South Korea. 

Here is a short video of Ven. Bup Hae undergoing the Yeonbi ceremony (http://bit.ly/SR4phy) during the ordination. 

More videos, pictures, and stories of all 3 new monks to follow shortly!

New Podcast!

The Grand Rapids Zen Center & Buddhist Temple now has a Dharma Talk Podcast which is available for you to subscribe to for free in iTunes. Now you can get a double dose of Dharma teachings from both Muddy Water Zen and GRZen! Subscribe today!

Subscribe to GRZen Podcast in iTunes here!

Subscribe to MWZ Podcast in iTunes here!

Grand Rapids Zen Center & Buddhist Temple

At Bup Ryun Sa in Seoul

Bup Hae (Candace Palopoli) and Bup Woo (Tim Sheehy) have safely arrived in Korea and made it to the Taego Administrative HQ, Bup Ryun Sa, in Seoul, South Korea. They have now departed Seoul and should have arrived at Seonam-sa to begin their monastic Haengja training.

Only 13 more days until ordination!

At the Airport!

Bup Hae (Candace Palopoli) and Bup Woo (Tim Sheehy) depart today to journey to Seonam-sa (the Taego Order training monastery) in South Korea to participate in intense monastic training as Buddhist monk postulants. They will join Bup Woon (Jason Jay) who arrived at Seonam-sa one week ago.

All 3 Haeng-ja (novitiates) will ordain as novice monks (sami and samini) on Wednesday, September 26 before returning home the following Friday.

We wish Bup Woo and Bup Hae a safe journey on their long flight to South Korea and safe travels as they make their way to Seonam-sa.

Please keep all 3 in your thoughts and good intentions and wish them the best!

2012 Haeng-ja Opening Ceremonies

The 2012 Taego Order Haeng-ja (Postulant) training officially begun this past Wednesday at        Seonam-sa Monastery near Suncheon, South Korea.

Muddy Water Zen Dharma Student Bup Woon (Jason Jay) arrived in Korea earlier this week to participate in the full training program.


This is one of the largest Haeng-ja groups with 131 total postulants (96 men, 35 women)


In the video above of the opening ceremonies, you can briefly catch a view of Bup Woon at about the 1:12 mark (don't blink!) The video also shows the President of the Taego Order, Ven. In Gong speaking, as well as Seonam-sa Abbot Seol Eun.

2 other MWZ Dharma Students (Bup Hae/Candace Palopoli & Bup Woo/Tim Sheehy) will depart home on Tuesday, to join Bup Woon in training at Seonam-sa and they all will ordain as novice monks (Sami and Samini) on Wednesday, September 26 after more than 20 days of monastic training.

More updates to follow as they become available!

Haeng-ja Class #37

Seonam-sa Abbot Seol Eun Sunim (Center)

Taego President In Gong Sunim

Opening Ceremonies

Screen Grab from Video

http://www.bzeronews.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=27387 (in Korean)

http://www.nbn-news.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=20259 (Video/Picture Source)

Haengja Training at Seonam-sa in South Korea

Bup Woon, Bup Woo, Bup Hae

The first of MWZ's 3 Haengja (postulant monks) Bup Woon Jay (Jason Jay), leaves for Seonam-sa in South Korea this morning for monastic training and ordination as a junior monk!

Bup Woo (Timothy Sheehy) and Bup Hae (Candace Palopoli) will join Bup Woon after next Tuesday for their 2 weeks of training and ordination.

This is a special time for the Overseas Parish of the Taego Order as Bup Hae will be the 1st non-Korean woman to undergo this Haengja training at Seonam-sa.

Bup Chon Sunim and Bup Mee Sunim both completed their training and ordination at Seonam-sa in 2010 and 2011.

They will all undergo intensive monastic training which includes a very demanding schedule and hard physical and mental challenges!

Their training will be held at the historic and traditional Seonam-sa temple, the main training temple of the Taego Order. They will be joined by over 100 other Korean postulants.

Muddy Water Zen Abbot, Hae Doh Sunim, as well as several other family and friends will also fly out to South Korea at the completion of their training to witness and support their ordination.

The entire MWZ contingent will return home on Friday, September 28th. There will be a special installation service at Muddy Water Zen that Sunday, September 30th, where all 3 new monks will join the MWZ clergy and will celebrate with a pot-luck lunch.

Please keep all three of them in your thoughts and wish them well in their travels and training as they take this next step on their paths!