User:Ven Mujin Karuna
Ven Mujin karuna 法师无尽卡鲁纳 In 1998 I started studying Buddhism in the Tibetan tradition with The Asian Classics Institute. It involved The Formal Study Courses designed as a teacher-training program, and coved the same basic core of information that a (Doctor of Theology) learns at a Tibetan Buddhist monastery. Obtaining a Geshe degree from a Tibetan Buddhist monastery requires approximately 20 years studying. While under the guidance of Geshe Michael Roach I was engaged in the study of The Six Great Books of Buddhism: The Perfection of Wisdom (Prajna Paramita), Middle-Way Philosophy (Madhyamika), Higher Knowledge (Abhidharma), Buddhist Discipline (Vinaya), Logic and Perception (Pramana), and The Steps to Buddhahood (Lam Rim). While under the supervision of Geshe Michael Roach I went so far in The Principal Teachings of Buddhism as,The Steps to Buddhahood (Lam Rim). Buddhist Refuge, The Perfection of Wisdom (Prajna Paramita). Applied Meditation, The Steps to Buddhahood (Lam Rim). The Proof of Future Lives of Buddhist Logic and Perception (Pramana). : How Karma Works, of Higher Knowledge (Abhidharma). The Diamond-Cutter Sutra, of The Middle-Way Philosophy (Madhyamika). The Bodhisattva Vows of The Middle-Way Philosophy (Madhyamika). In these teachings I was not only taught the Philosophy but how to read and Tibetan and Tibetan track.Finishing half of the material to my Doctor of Theology of Ancient Asian Philosophy in Tibetan study and involved in the Kadampa`s teacher training course. I had also been studying Zen with the Zen Mountain Monastery with Master Shugen Sensei and John Daido Loori Rosh. I had a very strong pull toward Zen and it`s training. This pull of Karma was so great that I ended up leaving Tibetan teachings and all my Tibetan study to train in the soto/rinzai school of Zen and follow the Path of Zen and the koan. This led me to the Ven. Karuna Dharma and the International Buddhist Meditation Center investigating the teachings of Self and Other Power with the Vietnamese Pure Land Zen Tradition for which I eventually took the 16 monastic Precepts under the traditional Vinaya teachings, and under the Ven. Karuna at the International Buddhist Meditation Center in L.A. In 2011 I started my trek you can say that lead me to a pilgrimage to the Blue Dragonfly Zen Center in Northern Kentucky as an outreach center of the Furnace Mountain Temple. I started training with Zen Master Dae Gak formally taken as his student and offered to retake my Precepts as a Bodhisattva monk in formal ceremony given the name Mu Jin do to the retiring of my Master the Ven. Karuna Dharma. Still my teacher to this day as the teacher student bond is a life time commitment no matter how life unfolds and Zen Master Dae Gak and I still having an on-going student teacher relationship, the Dharma has lead me to Asia. As I left the U.S I am now the founder and Abbot of the Shobogenzo Zen Center , founded on the first full moon of the 13th month of 2012.The center has grown drastically within its first year. Raising proceeds with its affiliated store that involves the hand making of local Philippine products, Mujin`s Asian Exports. We as a Sangha of close to 50 students within this first year have built a new Zen Center in Biclatan, General Trias, Cavite opening yet again on this next 13th month of the first full moon.
As the founding Abbot of the Shobogenzo Zen Center, we have committed to Humanitarianism and Global Relief in our many projects such as the Mindanao rice fields to bring jobs and quality rice to nearby Provinces and countries. In this project that will be on its ways this coming March 2013, it will insure not only the production of quality rice, but as mentioned jobs and food for the local workers and their families. All proceeds go toward the need of the homeless and the hungry families here within the third world. It also provides the means to ensure that the students of the Shobogenzo Zen Center are able to continue their practice of the Dharma in nearby Japan in the residential training programs offered to them by the Soto school.
