An Introduction to Hanmi Buddhist Teachings with Charlotte Steen

Good morning and welcome to Green Tea Conversations, a radio show that delves into the pages of Natural Awakenings Magazine to bring the local experts who share progressive ideas in the latest information and insights needed so you can lead your best life. I'm your host, Candi Broeffle publisher the Twin Cities edition of Natural Awakenings magazine, and I've had the honor to meet hundreds of interesting and highly qualified professionals in the areas of natural medicine and healthy relationships, and I wanted to find a way to help them expand their reach, to share their expertise with you.

 

Green Tea Conversations is our vehicle to do just that. We have in our studio today. Charlotte Steen, founder of the Upper Midwest Home Buddhist Association. Charlotte is an ordained teacher in the Hanmi Buddhist lineage and teaches Hanmi Buddhist meditations, offer spiritual healing services, and conducts Buddhist prayer services to relieve suffering. Welcome to Green Tea Conversations, Charlotte!

 

Thank you so much for having me, Candi.

 

I'm so happy that you're going to be talking with us today so that we can share with our listeners the important work that you're doing and let them know how they can join you and get involved with what it is that's happening at your temple.  Before we start. I'm curious as to how you became an ordained Hanmi Buddhist and to start with just share with our listeners how you were introduced to Buddhism.

 

Thank you. When I went off to school, I decided that I wanted to not only pursue my professional growth, but I also wanted to grow spiritually. And so that led me to ten years of being at this wonderful Christian Church out in Amers, Massachusetts, full of gospel music and progressive views. And then in about 2001, I realized that I really wanted to keep growing and it wasn't enough for me. So I started looking for other spiritual teachers, other spiritual Masters. And that journey brought me out to California, where I so I was in the audience when Master Dechan Jueren or Master Yu came on the stage and he started teaching to the the crowd of us who are there.

And I knew then that that was the teaching that he was the teacher I wanted to learn from.

 

So what was it about that experience that made you ultimately want to become an ordained Buddhist teacher?

 

I didn't really start out wanting to be ordained. That was something that was part of the process. What what brought me to wanting to get involved and to learn these teachings from the Chinese Mystery School is that he was the first enlightened master who not only wanted to do healing and offers upliftment for people who are suffering, but that he also really wanted to help us to awaken ourselves, to awaken our own Buddha nature. And he was the first one who spoke about that. And it really resonated with me that here's a teacher who is willing to teach us how to become awake and that's what really took me in.

 

Okay. When you say taught you how to be awake or to awaken your Buddhist nature, your Buddha nature, correct. What is that? What do you mean by that?

 

Well, as I'm not fully awakened, that understanding is still evolving. But it is someone like we were talking about with Laura earlier is how to be the spiritual being and the radiant spiritual being that you are out out in the world and to have that spiritual being be what is the lead in what you do in the world and not the follower are not the small part of you, but is the full fullness of you. Everyone is born with this intrinsic Buddha nature. But most of us don't have the opportunity to really have that awaken.

 

The Chinese Mystery School or Hanmi Buddhism teaches methods to help people awaken in this lifetime. You don't necessarily need lifetime after lifetime of doing good things in order to have that happen. If you follow the practices and also work on yourself, you can accomplish that in this one lifetime. This now.

 

So you practice what's called Hanmi Buddhism and can you share with our listeners what kind of the history of this is.

 

Sure. Chinese Esoteric Buddhism or Hamni Buddhism became that back in 716 and 720 Ad, the great Buddhist Masters came from other places from India into Sean To, which was then the capital of China. Supa Car Simha came in 716, and Vagabond and Mo Gavara came in 720, and they came together and joined their teachings. And Mo Gavara became a disciple of both of them. And thus when they also integrated the teachings of Confucianism and Taoism, the native Chinese spirituality, that is, what is the Chinese Mystery School or the Chinese esoteric Buddhist teachings?

 

And those are the teachings that have been passed down for the purely through master change. Master Yu do his disciples to this date.

 

And at one time I know you shared with me that he was instructed to open the teachings to everyone.

 

Yeah. So what happened in my understanding is that back in 700, so they opened up the teachings to everyone in China, learned them from empresses and emperors to the peasants. But I believe they were all disciples, not just so they were all allowed to become disciples and then learn the teachings. And then for a time, the this Buddhist school came out of favor. And so the teachings actually were no longer open to the public. And they were only passed on from one master to one student who then became the next master.

 

Master use teacher. Great Master Whaling instructed master to change and that it was his duty, his mission to open up these teachings to and teach them to as many people as he could, not just to the next language bearer. And so he did that first in China, he spent 910 years traveling throughout China, transmitting Darma, healing people, taking on over 10,000 disciples. And then in 998, he came to the United States and had realized that he had also potential disciples and students here in the west.

 

And so he started at that point, starting to teach here and finding disciples and taking them and founding the Day Rule temple in Los Angeles.

 

And you said prior to that it was taught from one teacher to one student. How long did that?

These teachings were very private teaching for over 400 years. And so it's only really been in the last 30 years, 2030 years that it's been opened up. And actually, it's my understanding that many of the practices are now opened up also to nondisciples. So really, there are many practices within our lineage that you do not need to become a disciple or an initiate in the Chinese Mystery School in order to practice or to attain, you can come in with an open heart and learn them and have success at realizing both the spiritual as well as the health benefits within that practice.

 

And so when you talk about the lineage, what exactly do you mean by the lineage?

 

So our lineage goes back to traces itself back through Shaka Muni and from there down to Nagarjuna and both Supercar Sima and Radio were disciples of Nagarjuna and then down to Mo Gavara. And then from there it was the one student thing from Wailing then to Great master to Candi lineage is actually the ancestry of the Dharma teachings of the the Dharma teachings. And so when the teachers now transmit Darma or teach Darma to others, they actually are in alignment and supported by the other 49 49 Masters that have come before them to do that teaching, which is why it's only ordained teachers who are allowed permitted to pass on the teachings.

 

So today we're talking with Charlotte Steen of the Upper Midwest Hami Buddhist Association. And if people would like to learn more about what you do, Charlotte, what is your website address?

 

It's Minnesota so MN-Hanmi H-A-N-M-I Buddhism.org.

 

Okay, great. And when we come back, we're going to talk about specific Buddhist teachings that you offer and how when practice regularly, they can help you with your spiritual development. To read the online edition of Natural Awakenings Magazine, visit NaturalTwinCities.com. You can find a podcast of the show at AM950Radio.com, on iTunes or anywhere you get your podcasts. You're listening to Green Tea Conversations on Am 950, The Progressive Voice of Minnesota, and we will be right back.

 

Welcome back to Green Tea Conversations here. We delve into the pages of Natural Awakenings magazine and talk to the professionals who share their expertise on natural health with you. I'm your host, Candi Broeffle, and today we're talking with Charlotte Steen, founder of the Upper Midwest Home Buddhist Association. Thank you for being with us today Charlotte.

 

Thank you for having me.

 

So just before the break. You were telling us about the history of the Hanmi Buddhism and how you were introduced to the teachings, and ultimately you became an ordained teacher. There are several ways that people can receive services from you at your temple, including Darma Rights, spiritual healing services, and learning meditations in the February 2018 issue of Natural Awakenings. And I want to let people know that is February 2018, not 2019. You wrote an article called A Hidden Jewel Your Midst in Our Midst, in which you introduce readers to the Hanmi Buddhist style of meditation.

 

By the way, people can find that article. If they search, go to our website at NaturalTwinCities.com and just put in the search, you can use your last name, which is Steen, and it will come right up. So how is the Hanmi Buddhist style of meditation different than other meditations that we might be used to here in the US? 

 

Hanmi Buddhist meditations incorporate the three mysteries. So they incorporate the mystery of mantra. So you're chanting a Sanskrit mantra while you are doing the meditation, and then you're holding a Mudra and you're also holding a visualization.

 

Okay. And what is a Mudra?

 

It's how you hold your hands. Like if you see some Buddhist statues, all of them will most often have their hands held in a different way. Those are different Mudras. They align the body to the meridians in the body, and so set up a different it works on the physical level, so to speak.

 

Okay. And then you said it also has there's different visualizations and are people given the visualizations? Do you help them understand what the visualizations are? Or is that something that it comes to them?

 

All of the visualizations are part of the meditation. And so people are given the the whole process all at one time. That's a step-by-step visualization that one follows to actually use that to transcend your consciousness.

 

Okay. And in the article you mentioned in your article, you mentioned that there are several different types of meditations that you teach, and there are several of them that are listed on your website, including there's one that's called clear eye Meditation. What is clear Eye meditation used for?

 

Yeah, or clear vision? There's one called the Clear Tape Buda. And then there's is the one that's the clear vision. A lot of our meditation. They're both to help you with your physical site as well as with your wisdom site to open them up. If people practice them enough, both can happen.

 

Okay. And how do the meditation help with the physical sites?

 

Well, all of our meditations work at a prayer level. So we have this kind of spiritual, and then we have the emotional self, and then we have the physical self. And so kind of going through those layers. A lot of what happens in our body is because of our emotional reaction to the world. And so if we can use our spiritual help to kind of shift that then the physical can also be transformed. So it's kind of a slow process sometimes, although it really is dependent on the person, like what their Karma is and what their practice, it's like.

 

Okay. And when you say what their Karma is, what do you mean by Karma?

 

Well, it's kind of what their destiny is with the meditation. So some people have different destinies with different meditations. Also, we have a Karma is the universal law of cause and effect. So what we put out, we get back what you re, what you saw, what you reap what you saw, you reap. And so the Karma is that we each are. Sometimes people are learning in meditation and a lot of the time that they're practicing. It's about purifying, that Karma that they have built up. And then after the purification is done, then there's the real transcendence transformation.

 

But everybody is different, just like each of us have our own histories in life. Even two siblings can grow up in the same household and have different life experiences because of how they meet and interact with the world, even though they have same parents, much of the same environment.

And I think that's really when you say that there's so many of us, so many of my friends and I who talk and we all have siblings. And it's kind of amazing how different our experiences are growing up. Like, sometimes I think with my own siblings, did we grow up in the same household because I don't remember. I don't remember all of those experiences that you remember. And so that's what you're talking about?

 

Exactly.

 

How you you show up and how you experience the world once you're here.

 

Right. And so that affects also how you take in the Derma and how you're able to practice it. So, however, each of us can practice the Derma and attain to the same state of transcendence. And because of our different backgrounds or Karma will feel it is experience different. But it's not that we haven't each attained the same state. It's just that we have experienced it differently because of our history.

 

And so it's a very individualized experience for each person.

 

Yes.

 

Okay. So it's my understanding that the teaching should be practiced every day. Why is it important for us to practice the teachings that you provide every day?

 

It's kind of like taking vitamins or for running or going to the gym. It's easiest to develop the practice and strengthen it if you do it on a daily basis. And it really it really is. Every single day is really important. Now, that doesn't mean that you have to do it at the same time, every day. A. How does it fit into your schedule you put it in? Although sometimes because we're creatures of habit, it's easier to do something if you always do it at the same time.

 

So if you want to fit in the run. It's better if you do it in the morning. For some people, the same with the meditation, you find where it fits.

 

Great. So we need to take a quick rank. And when we come back, we'll learn about a few of the Dharma as well as the spiritual healing services that Charlotte provides. To read the online version of Natural Awakenings Magazine, visit NaturalTwinCities.com. You can find a podcast of this show on Am50Radio.com on iTunes or anywhere you get your podcasts. You're listening to Green Tea Conversations on Am950, The Progressive Voice of Minnesota, and we will be back in just a bit.

 

Welcome back to Green Tea Conversations, where we delve into the pages of Natural Awakenings magazine and talk to the professionals who share their expertise on natural health with you. I'm your host, Candi Broeffle, and today we're talking with Charlotte Steen, founder of the Upper Midwest Hanmi Buddhist Association in Little, Canada. Welcome back, Charlotte.

 

Thank you.

 

So just before we left, you were sharing with us one of the meditations that you teach called The Clear Eye or the Clear Vision Meditation. And those are actually two separate meditations. Great. And now I want to get into one that when I'm particularly interested in for personal reasons, but I'm hoping that you can share with us what the diabetes self-healing meditation is.

 

So it's really just that it uses the meditation practice to actually help people change their physical makeup, so they're they're either propensity to be diabetic or to let go of having diabetes. This is one of the meditations that was researched in China and master you taught it to disciples and did a scientific study as a follow-up. And these practices there's actually two of them had a 93 point 77% success rate for people. So it made a huge difference in people's lives. And I think it's one of those things that sometimes an obstacle to having these be successful as the daily practice.

 

But I think about it and how much of if you don't change something, diabetes is a lifetime thing, so it's worth your while to try something for every single day and see if it works for you tried for 108 days, try it for six months, see how it works, see how it follows up. And that's actually one of the reasons why I'm offering a four-day class instead of just a one-day class for it. I really want to give people a chance to practice it in the temple together with me and the other people in there more than just once, so that they kind of start to develop the habit of practicing it.

 

And they also have the support of one another and myself to talk about different things that might come up. And I'll also be offering some short Darma teachings about Buddhism and how to integrate this into your life in other ways.

 

And so the class that you're talking about, it's called diabetes, self-healing, and prevention, and it starts actually on March 9.

 

That's correct.

 

And so people can go to your website to register.

 

Yes.

 

And again, the website is MN-Hanmi-Buddhism.Org and it's M-N-H-A-N-M-I Buddhism.org and Charlotte has some scholarships that are available if people would like to try the class and they have a diabetic condition. There is some a few scholarships that have been made available to her. And this is something that's really I'm particularly passionate about. I've lost both my grandmother and my mother to complications of diabetes. They they both passed away at age 67, which is kind of ironic, but they both ended up developing adult-onset diabetes and never were able to really, I guess get a handle on the lifestyle that they needed to.

 

And so I'm really interested in this particular meditation because it helps bring in that mindfulness. And it sounds like you provide a lot of support to people when they come in for this.

 

That's my goal.

 

And so just kind of being with other people who are having the same struggle as well, and then learning these mindfulness practices, I think could be extremely beneficial to people. So for people who are interested again, it starts on March 9. You also have a meditation called the Wisdom Do Beauty Yoga. Is that a meditation or is that a yoga practice?

 

It is yoga means to come into Union with the guru. But it's actually its effect is that it helps to smooth out the wrinkles and spots on your face because it's detoxifying your skin. And apparently the disciples in China nicknamed it the Beauty Darma. It actually also has a spiritual effect. And so like many of these meditations, they have both a spiritual easy as well as a healing emphasy. They are helpful in many accounts.

 

On many different levels.

 

Yeah.

 

Excellent. So we also are talking about you have some teachings that you have three different ways that people can get involved correct. They can learn dharmas, they can learn the meditations, and they can also have spiritual healing with you. What is the difference between a Darma and a meditation?

 

Darma is Buddha dharma is actually both practicing the meditations and being willing to change yourself. Looking as you practice these meditations over time, you will see you'll come into contact with either people who share with you how you need to change to be better, or you will actually see the truth in yourself of how you need to change so that you are not sandbagged by these bad behaviors, bad habits, ways of thinking. And so as you do both change yourself as well as practice the meditations, you are able to reach a certain state of awareness.

 

And so really, the attainment really depends on both being in this world and also being in the cave. So to speak, to just meditating. So you need to have both that's kind of the difference.

 

And on your website it says that you have two different types of dharmas that people can get involved with. There's public dharmas and there's request dharmas.

 

Okay. So yeah, there's Darma rights. Those are Buddhist prayer services, and we are now that I have a temple here, I can offer public Darma rights, which is for all sentient beings, the first, the new moon and the full moon of each month, lunar month, or the first and the 15th of each winter month. And then also if people are interested in requesting a Darma, right, like they like to have a prayer service done for somebody themselves or a loved one, they can also do that, which is slightly different.

 

And of course, it's specific. You should contact me if you have any questions about it, and I can both tell you more about it and also get it into the calendar to get that set up. Anybody who wants to come and receive healing during the public dharma rights is welcome to do so also during the healing service, spiritual healing services in the morning. I first do an extinguished disaster dharma rights. So if people are experiencing health issues, it's a good dharma right to just kind of come and sit in and receive the benefit.

 

It's different, of course, than if they are requesting it for themselves, but they still certainly receive benefit from it.

 

And what time do you do that?

 

Mostly at 10:00 a.m. Unless if I'm needing to be someplace else. So I have to change the time. So you should really check out my website to get an accurate time of when I am there. And also they'll have a link now to my meetup group, which is where you can RSVP if you're planning on coming. So that if we have a snow day or anything, I can contact you and let you know that we need to shift the time or something. But there's an RSVP option, and you can also just contact me or just show up.

 

So one of the Darma rights that you have listed on the website is called the Medicine Buddha Dharma.

 

Yeah. The Medicine Buddha Dharma Practice and Empowerment. That's one of the most amazing practices is that Master Yu opened up to the general public. It used to actually only be taught to really senior disciples like back in the Tang dynasty, I suppose. And it was never certainly taught to people who hadn't become students themselves because of the SARS outbreak in 2003. Master Yu decided to really protect humanity and opened up the teachings to people far and wide to start practicing the meditation and chanting the mantra and doing the practices.

 

And so this is something that are you offering a class on this or is this something that is and when is the class scheduled?

 

The next upcoming class will be on April 20 from one to five.

 

And it will be at your?

 

 It will be at the shrine. The temple.

 

What is the address of the shrine?

 

80 County Road C West No 804 in Little Canada in Minesotta 5517

 

Okay. And the temple is actually located within a building. So people are not going to see, like, if they come up there, it's not going to look like a temple.

It's it's an office building. And you start with what you have as the Upper Midwest Hanmi Buddhist Association grows, we can grow into a larger space. But at this time, this is what I can afford. So we're in a small space. Start with your humble beginnings.

Yes. And it's a very beautiful space. So you've done it a lot with it.

 

Well, it's been very blessed by the Buddhas buddhist office  lately.

 

So another one of the rights that you have in a request rate is called the birthdate armor right. What exactly is this?

 

The birthday dharma right? Yeah. It's actually for your birthday. And it's one of the rights that you can do for yourself or your loved ones to really kind of help make the year better smoother. There's support both for longevity, good luck and overcoming obstacles within the term. Right. You can request these rights and you don't have to come actually, to the temple. You can request them and they'll still be effective. But if you come for your birthday dharma right, we'll have a cake. So come and have some cake and you can bring your friends if you want.

 

Well, that's really cool. So another part is the spiritual healing. You said in order if people are interested in doing that, to contact you directly and to talk about what it is specifically that they're looking for.

 

Yeah, they don't really have to. Actually, they can just RSVP on the meet up or through my website. And then when they come in the door, they can share with me what they're challenges are and what they're working on.

 

Great. So if people want to schedule a service with you, they want to schedule a private service or they want to sign up for one of your classes. What is they can contact you by phone and what is your phone number?

 

6512780697 they can also my email is [email protected].

 

Steen, [email protected]. Great to read an online edition of Natural Awakenings Magazine. Visit NaturalTwinCities.com. You can find a podcast of this show on Am 950radio.com on itunes or anywhere you get your podcast. You're listening to Green Tea Conversations, Am950, The Progressive Voice of Minnesota. And we will be right back.

 

Welcome back to Green Tea Conversations, where we delve into the pages of Natural Awakenings magazine and talk to the professionals who share their expertise on natural health with you.

 

I'm your host, Candi Broeffle, and today we're talking with Charlotte Steen, the founder of the Upper Midwest Hanmi Buddhist Association. Welcome back to the show, Charlotte.

 

Thank you.

 

So we have been talking about all of the different medications that you provide at your temple in Little Canada. And again, the address to that is 80 Connie Road C 804 in Little Canada. So we've been talking about the benefits of the meditations, and you provide some Dharma rights and some spiritual healings. What is something else that you want us to really understand about Hanmi Buddhism?

 

I just wanted to say a little bit more about the benefits of practicing these meditations and how it can really help change your life. I started learning these practices back in 2002, and so it's been almost 17 years now that I've been practicing them. And what I have seen in myself as I have gone through this process is not only are my meditation now at a totally different level of practice but also the way I am in the world has shifted. And so there's something called like the Five poisons or whatever.

 

So anger, greed, loss, jealousy. And I think anxiety or worry, and what I've noticed is seemed like anger was something that was easy to like, just get me sometimes. And even though I was doing my best, what I realized, though actually over time, is through the process of doing the practices and then also looking at myself and changing myself. There was a shift in my reality. And so people could start doing the same things that used to bother me. And I just wasn't angry anymore. I wasn't upset.

 

I wasn't even a little Eve. It was nothing. It was. It was as if the huge waves were all of a sudden a calm and there was no upset about whatever it was. So if people are really looking for a different quality of life, one way, they can really be more at peace and have more radiant health and really experience life with more joy and even abundance. This might be a path for you. This might be a practice, one or two that you might want to see.I have a couple.

 

The Purity of Avalokiteshvara will be the first meditation I'm offering in March, then the diabetes, self-healing and prevention, and then the treasure based chef class, which is class that both gives you through meditation, you're able to develop and generate your own your own body life energy to sustain you, as well as having methods to cool you. And when it is hot out or warm you up when it's called out, like in Minnesota, we have the chance to practice both of them throughout the year.

 

So it's really a really beautiful protection practice, and it's only about 1520 minutes a day to do the meditation practice. So it's pretty accessible even for people who are really busy. All of these meditations that I'm offering in March are not our to our meditations. They're all pretty short. So my hope is that people can really start to integrate them into their lives, as well as the opportunity to kind of touch on, how do they want to be different in the world? Show up and more kind and more loving and more open to the beauty of the world.

 

And with your treasure of vast both meditation. I see that that is over a period of two weeks?

 

Yeah, it's again set up so that people have a chance to practice together so that you can really kind of ground yourself in the meditation and also try to build a sense of community within our group. And so that people have a chance to connect with one another as well as with the teaching and kind of expand their understanding of the Dharma in the world as well as the meditation practice itself. People will learn the complete Darma. And no there isn't. You don't have to come. But the benefit of coming for those different four or five different.

 

I don't know. Those additional times is that it gives you space to grow and really make sure those seeds are nurtured so that they can really Bloom and grow.

 

So I know that there are many different ways that people can get involved with the Upper Midwest Hanmi Buddhist Association, and there's many ways that we can support you. So if people want to support the peace that you are bringing into the world, what are some ways that they can do that?

 

Well, one of the things that they could do is if they would like to I'm interested in going out into the schools and helping students learn some simple meditations to kind of relieve their anxiety and challenges that they're dealing with. And so if people give an offering, then I can make sure that that happens. It will cover the cost for the gas to get there and whatever is necessary. And actually, I'm going to be asking the kids that they not just receive this, but they actually have to go out and do some kind of service as a payment back into the community for what they received, so that they are actually also doing an offering of their own in their own way without money, but that they are giving out.

 

So going out and helping other people is really a good start respecting other people. Forgiving people. Those are really kind of the key things to do. If you want to be really specific and offer a scholarship for people to take classes or join in any of the activities, it would be wonderful.

 

And you have a program that you actually call Pay It Forward the Pay It Forward program, and that kind of encompasses both the scholarship ideas. So if I want to provide some so monetary donation in order to help you support the work you do so that other people can get involved because we don't want to turn people away as much as I'm sure you want to be able to spread this to everyone and allow everyone to do it. So if I can if with the means to do it can support that. Then I can just make a donation to the Association.

 

Correct.

 

And that can also be used then in your school program as well.

 

Correct.

 

Well, thank you so much for being with us today, Charlotte. And again, people can get a hold of you by calling 651-278-0697, and they could also get to your website at MN-Hamni-Buddhism.org.

 

Thank you for joining our conversation today and be sure to come back next week as we awaken to Natural Health to read the online edition of Natural Awakenings Magazine, or to check out our complete online calendar of events, visit NaturalTwinCities.Com you're listening to Green Tea Conversations on AM950 The Progressive Voice of Minnesota and I'm wishing you a lovely day!