Zen Master Min Pai

Zen Master Min Pai was born in Korea in 1934. He died at Wellspring Monastery in Pound Ridge, New York in 2004.

He began his martial arts studies at the age of 10. At 18 he immigrated to New York with a full scholarship and began his studies in science and math.  At this time he was already a high-ranking black belt known throughout Korea, and an authentic master of several different styles of martial arts.  In 1956 he opened the first karate studio in New York City named Yun Mu Kwan.  Over the course of the next 48 years he would produce hundreds of black belts and earn the reputation of running the best, most disciplined dojo in New York.

In 1971 he began studying Tai Chi Chuan with Master Cheng Man-ch’ing. He quickly mastered the traditional solo form as well as the sword form, and most importantly, push hands. He would go on to teach thousands of people Tai Chi.  Simultaneously he also began formal Rinzai Zen training at New York Zendo and Dai Bosatsu Zendo under the guidance of Eido Roshi. 

In 1972 he attained his first Kensho (Enlightenment) experience.  He came away from this experience feeling that, if all people could experience Kensho, there would be no war, no hatred, no fear of death, only a happy, loving society.  As he integrated Zen into his martial art system, his students’ training was skyrocketing into a new dimension unparalleled anywhere. He insisted that his serious students do Zazen Meditation, and they began to “sit” during every class as part of their training. He also began to have day long and weekend Sesshins with them every month.  Roshi insisted Master Pai establish a Zendo to formally train his martial arts students and others in Zen Practice.  Master Pai purchased a wooded lot in Pound Ridge, NY in 1979 to establish a Zen Monastery. 

With no funds to build a Monastery, Master Pai donated his life savings to what soon would become Wellspring Zen Monastery.  However, it would take greater resources to build the Monastery, and the Master raised the money from donations he received from his Sangha and local residents, in return for his extraordinary healing and purifying abilities he had cultivated through his Zazen practice.

Under Master Pai’s guidance and in Wellspring’s energy environment, his students started doing silent work practice, traditional in Zen as “meditation in action.” This gave his students additional opportunities to build their spirit/breathing bodies. In 1985 the Monastery was completed, and Wellspring began conducting Zazen on a daily full-time basis. Weekends were comprised of Zen Meditation and martial art practice with traditional “work practice” to maintain and work on the property.   The arduous schedule was so severe that many students were unable to sustain this intensity. 

Zen Practice and Martial arts were now synonymous, and the Master had no interest in teaching anything that did not promote spiritual growth and internal power.  The practice was all encompassing and many a day’s training went through the night only to see the next morning.  This training was not for ordinary consumption.  Weekend Sesshins often became 3-day Sesshins and his students often sat around the clock, sometimes for several days. Wellspring began to have traditional 8-day Rohatsu Sesshins.  It was during these periods that Master Pai’s brilliant teachings were truly revealed and he would relentlessly push his students to grow.

Although he had previously produced Kensho students, he now was producing students who would practice to incorporate their experiences into their daily activities.

Master Pai sanctioned two of his black belts as Masters. Master Pai sanctioned five of his students as Tai Chi Teachers. In nearly 50 years as a teacher he taught many, many qualified people to be well versed in martial arts. These people have worked and trained diligently to attain what they have attained. 

Everyone who encountered Master Pai, even briefly, never forgot the interaction. Master Pai lived everyday life transparently, not as a monk, but as one whose actions and responses were based on his development in Zen practice.  He wore ordinary clothes and made no show of his extraordinary spiritual elevation.  Yet people from all walks of life, with no interest in Zen, often commented that something in their life changed for the better when they met him or he frequented their environment. He radiated like the sun, and people were healed by his Enlightened energy.

Buddha’s words “Rely on yourself,” are the first lines we recite in traditional Rinzai morning service. These words are a basic tenet of both Zen and American life.  Wellspring Monastery is an independent Zen Monastery.  Our practice retains the traditional ingredients essential for spiritual growth, without many of the rituals associated with Japanese expression (an example would be elaborate/excessive bowing). Our practice is appropriate to everyday American lifestyle.

A proud U.S. citizen, Master Pai took a lively interest in the world around him and the development of each of his students as individuals, each with his or her own greater future.  Careers and relationships benefitted from the infusion of his elevating energy presence.   He gave back to the community and encouraged this spirit of philanthropy and civic mindedness. 

Master Pai was a formally trained gifted classical painter, and he was able to share his passion for the arts by teaching interested students.  Like other famous Zen Masters, he could transmit his Enlightened Energy into his paintings, or for that matter, anything he touched, especially people. Through this transmission he raised the funds to build and support Wellspring Zen Monastery – all along the way helping so many people in so many ways… physically, emotionally, financially, and spiritually.

He was always ahead of his time.  Leaving no stone unturned, Master Pai gobbled up information on religions, language, particle science, astrology, palmistry, architecture and the landscape, music and dance, food, drink, nutrition, health, and current events.  His zest for life was insatiable, and he incorporated all  his interests into his Zen lifestyle.  In conversation and brilliant spontaneous teishos he could explain, by example or in plain and earthy language, what seemed cloaked in mystery.  There was never a better joke teller, and he could get us to explode in laughter—at just the right time.  All activity supported our Zen practice and growth.

Master Pai sanctioned six of his students with having Enlightenment experiences, and in 2003 appointed one of them, Michael Byrne, as his successor.  The Wellspring Monastery practice schedule has remained the same since its inception.  Master Pai’s legacy in traditional Rinzai Zen practice that leads to Kensho lives on and is available to those who are motivated to learn Its Way.