Great Lake Zen Center

Great Lake Zen Center The Great Lake Zen Center is affiliated with the Kwan Um School of Zen. The guiding teacher for this center is Zen Master Dae Kwang.

The Great Lake Zen Center is part of the Kwan Um School of Zen founded by Zen Master Seung Sahn.

05/10/2026

"Enlightenment is believing in yourself." Quote by Zen Master Soeng Hyang. See more quotes: https://bit.ly/3NIeINR

05/02/2026

"Like or dislike is what creates a prison that we live in." Quote by Zen Master Bon Soeng. See more quotes: https://bit.ly/4rpq9Iv

04/29/2026

In Mahayana practice, my precepts and my practice are not for me: they are only for all beings. So I keep these precepts not for myself, but to help other beings. This means that sometimes, in some situations, breaking the precepts can help others much better than holding the precepts. If you mind is clear, then keeping the precepts is correct practice and breaking the precepts is also correct practice. The most important point is, why do you do it? Is it only for you, or for all beings? —Zen Master Seung Sahn

04/04/2026

"We must put down our prejudices." Quote by Zen Master Seung Sahn. See more quotes: https://bit.ly/4pxDvS4

04/01/2026

Be Yourself
By Rebecca Otte, JDPSN
One day, Jin Jae Sunim asked his teacher, Zen Master Hyang Gok, “Whose song do you sing? Whose lineage do you follow?” Hyang Gok replied, “ I received one word from Zen Master Un Mun and I have never exhausted it.” Isn’t it interesting that Ji Jae Sunim would word that question that way? “Whose song do you sing?” But I wonder the most about Hyang Gok. Why isn’t he singing his own song? Instead, he falls back on the word of his teacher Zen Master Un Mun.

Each one of us has unique sensibilities and talents - our true nature is manifested in that. No one needs mimic the words of their teacher - the dharma teaching flows from us naturally as we continue to practice. Zen Master Wu Kwang in his book, Elegant Failure, puts it this way.

“Be yourself. Who else do you think you could actually be? After playing the fitting game for eons, we all become tired and finally come to the recognition that there is no one else to be but who we are.” So just be as you are and let your song mingle with the sound of the wren in the garden and the wind in the trees.

03/26/2026

The direction of bowing is very important. I want to put down my small "I", see my true nature and help all beings. So, any kind of exercise can help your body and mind become one, but with just exercise, the direction is often not clear. Sometimes it’s for my health, sometimes it’s for my good looks, sometimes it’s to win a competition, but in Buddhism, everything’s direction is the same point – how to perceive my true nature and save all beings from suffering.
Our bowing takes away our karma mind, our thinking mind, and returns us to this moment very clearly, this want to find our true nature and save all beings from suffering. This is why bowing practice is so important. If somebody has much anger, or much desire, or lazy mind, then every day, 300 bows, or 500 bows, even 1,000 bows, every day. Then their center will become very strong, they can control their karma, take away their karma, and become clear. This helps the practitioner and this world. —Zen Master Dae B**g (Photo by Francis Lau.)

03/20/2026

By Natural Process
By Rebecca Otte, JDPSN
Recently, I had a conversation with a young man who has been practicing Zen for some years and is quite sincere in his meditation practice, but he had been finding himself floundering. “Why am I doing this?”, he asked. “I’m tired. My body hurts. And nothing seems to be happening anyway. Why should I bother?”

Once there was a sick man, who went for help to many doctors, but they only spread their arms helplessly - they were not able to help him. At last, he found a person whom we usually call a wise old man. This man was an herbalist. He said: "I can help you. Not far away from here in the forest, in the mountains, grows a medicinal plant. If you only look for it according to my instructions - patiently and carefully - you will surely find it and you will be healthy again". So this man, feeling very happy, set off to look for a plant. At the beginning he was alert, patiently and carefully looked around. But as time passed, he became less careful - he noticed a lot of interesting bushes and a lot of beautiful rocks and stones and slowly, slowly he forgot about the instructions of the herbalist and finally forgot why he had come to the forest.

Our practice can be like that. When we first come to Zen, we are often excited about a chance to have our questions answered and our wisdom to grow up. We want to be enlightened or become kinder or become less anxious. But once we get into the core of practice, gradually the excitement wears down. Like the sick man, we stop looking for the medicine we need so that gradually we forget why we came to practice in the first place. It is at this juncture that many people just give up, thinking that there is no medicine in this forest of practice.

This wanting something from practice is a mistake that is at the heart of our disappointment. One of the basic teachings in Zen is to “let go”. This “letting go” is surrendering our wants and desires, our opinions and biases, our ideas of what should and shouldn’t be and we do this over and over in our meditation. For a long time, it feels as though nothing is happening, but, by natural process, this “letting go” transforms this “I, my, me” life into a life of greater compassion.

02/26/2026

It's possible to actually see what's happening in this very moment..."

Address

1717 N. 73rd Street (Thursday Practice Location)
Wauwatosa, WI
53213

Opening Hours

7pm - 8pm

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