In "The Ibex Sutra,” Mu Soeng, inspired by Anguttara Nikaya 10.26 and Samyutta Nikaya 12.23, takes up the image of an ibex seeking salt as a way of understanding craving, conditioning, and the possibility for change. Mu Soeng is Scholar Emeritus at BCBS. He trained in the (Korean) Zen tradition and was a monk for eleven years. He is the author of Thousand Peaks: Korean Zen (Tradition and Teachers); The Diamond Sutra: Transforming the Way We Perceive the World; Trust in Mind: The Rebellion of … [Read more...]
Mu Soeng
2017 Vedana Conference
BCBS held a symposium July 13-16, 2017 on the topic of vedana. Conceived and organized by Martine Batchelor, this symposium was one of the Buddhist “think-tanks” the Study Center periodically organizes and hosts. This article is part one in a two-part series on vedana. Here, BCBS resident scholar Mu Soeng overviews the concept of vedana and offers a brief summary of each speaker's presentation at the symposium. Part two will be a new article from Bhikkhu Analayo on the issue of the third kind … [Read more...]
Urban Hermit: A Different Way of Being in the World
Read Mu Soeng's previous article introducing Psychological Homelessness and the Urban Hermit Ideal. In the fall of 2013, I was fortunate enough to undertake a three-month meditation/writing retreat in a small cabin in Vermont. The cabin belongs to a friend who lives in a similar cabin next door. As it turned out, being in proximity to this friend (who I shall call Walter) and getting to know him a little better was perhaps the most rewarding part of my retreat. Walter was inspired to … [Read more...]
Going Forth: A Buddhist Approach to Retirement & Old Age
Buddhism in the West began its latest emergence in the middle of the twentieth century. Here at the beginning of the twenty-first, those baby-boomer converts find themselves ready for a new phase of life: retirement. Mu Soeng, the study center's program director, resident scholar, and a core faculty member, observed this emergence, and the questions it was generating from people who come to Barre. He thought it might be useful to combine the knowledge of the Buddha's teachings with related … [Read more...]
