Figuring out how to use our mind in new ways really is like stepping out into the dark. We haven’t been there many times, so the way isn’t clear or especially intuitive. What is clear, easy, intuitive, are the ways we’ve done things in the past. As we evolved from lower states. The thing I love about this poem is that it clearly tells us how to go forward when we can’t see the path, when we’re trying to take a direction we haven’t traveled before. Read this one a few times and think about it carefully. And have a happy Lunar New Year!
with palms together,
Chong Go
Smooth the Rough Edges, Become a Free Person
When you are able to use your mind harmoniously and generously,
you’ll be able to use it freely,
manifesting according to needs of others.
This harmonious mind can become smaller than the smallest dot,
and larger than the vastest universe.
Returning things inwardly
makes your mind harmonious;
having harmonious thoughts
strengthens your ability to return things inwardly.
Returning things inwardly gives rise to compassion,
and if you truly have compassion
everything can be melted down,
anything can be achieved.
If you can return things inwardly
you can communicate with everything.
You can become one with Buddhas,
one with a bug or a blade of grass.
Everything is also yourself!
With equanimity, with an empty mind,
observe your inner foundation
without any thought of trying to see it:
This is what it means to return things inwardly and observe.
Seeing everything as one,
embracing everything
without leaning to one side or the other,
this is equanimity.
When everything has been put down
when there’s nothing left to hold onto,
not even the thought
that you have to put something down,
this is empty mind.
When you have such a complete and harmonious mind,
you can become one with all life,
one with the whole universe.
This mind can make even rough things
harmonious and generous,
and can find a use for them.
Not a single thing is rejected!
This mind becomes one with all life.
Not a single one is thrown away!
This is true compassion!
— Daehaeng Kun Sunim
Wake Up and Laugh! 
I love this poem! Read it many times, and every time some new understanding dawns. So profound. This beautiful Dharma, so open in a plain view but only a few can see it. I wish there would be HanMaum temple nearby with nice sunims to talk about Dharma, yet, if I would have that I probably wouldn’t “talk” to my Juingong as much. This poem appearing on a computer screen, the words in English, black on white, these words carry with them blessings of KunSunim, they carry compassion and wish for all beings to awake.