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About The Five Mountain Sangha
we fool ourselves with an idea,
and we think that
there is some future time
that exists outside of the present
that is so clear and transparent
that we can dis-regard
all that it has become
for our ideas create an alternate
reality that although imagined
will never exist.
Paul Dochong Lynch, JDPSN
The Five Mountain Sangha is an American Zen Organization in the Korean Sŏn lineage of Zen Master Sŭngsan (Seung Sahn) through the Jögye Order of Korean Buddhsim.
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The Sangha is focused on Zen practice incorporating meditation, Kōan practice and expressing the Dharma within the circumstances of everyday life. Our approach is practice-centered, integrative and experiential.
The Community's Guiding Teacher is Paul Lynch, JDPSN, who is a Dharma Successor of Zen Master Jibong of the Golden Wind Zen Order. Our practice locations are all located in Irvine, California, Berkeley, Californa, Cincinnati, Ohio and Gainesville, Georgia.
Only the present moment is real and available to us. The peace we desire is not in some distant future, but is something we can realize in the present moment. To practice Buddhism does not mean to endure hardship now for the sake of peace and liberation in the future. The purpose of practice is not to be reborn in some paradise or Buddha Land after death. The purpose is to have peace for others and ourselves right now, while we are alive and breathing. Means and ends cannot be separated. Enlightened Beings are careful about causes, while ordinary people care more about effects, because Enlightened Beings see that cause and effect are one. Means are ends in themselves.
Based on this insight, all activities and practices should be entered into mindfully and peacefully. While sitting, walking, or working, we should feel peace within ourselves. When we practice we do not expect the practice to pay large rewards in the future, even nirvana, the pure land, enlightenment, or Buddhahood. The secret of Buddhism is to be awake here and now. There is no way to peace; peace is the way. There is no path to enlightenment; enlightenment is the path.
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