Author: Chong Go Sunim

Happy Buddha’s Birthday! I hope you are all having a great day. Here’s a Dharma talk given by Daehaeng Kun Sunim several years ago on Buddha’s Birthday. It’s fairly deep, so take your time and let it soak in. Just take one piece that clicks with you and work at diligently applying that. Seriously. Application of only one small part will lead to the other parts opening up, but understanding without application will only fade. So focus on just one thing and put that into practice!

Dharma talk on Buddha’s Birthday

The Buddha’s mind is so vast and vast, so deep and deep,
through its blossoming, through its fragrance,
it’s given us everything.

This flower of mind is unimaginably subtle and profound
And can cover the entire universe.
For this flower is the flower of your Buddha-nature.
Your Buddha-nature exists throughout the world, in every part of the world,
this foundation is your true nature, One Mind.
In this Dharma net, where everything is connected to each other thing,
if we firmly grip the light of our true nature, the one that’s doing everything,
then as we go through life, we give light to all the beings around us,
and can know the mind of all.

An entire country is just one family living under the same roof.
All people in the world are living together in the same barrel,
sharing the same fate.
In essence, all beings are sharing the same mind and the same body.
Don’t get caught up in thinking that some things are large and important,
and others small and trivial.
In front of your foundation, Juingong, they are exactly the same,
both are equally responsive to the thoughts we entrust to our foundation.

Thus, it’s possible to take care of any of the problems that are arising in the world,
they can all be controlled and managed.
This practice that allows us to change things for the better
is precisely what the Buddha taught.
Even in unseen realms, there is consciousness and life,
in seen realms as well, there is consciousness and life,
so thoroughly know both sides and spend each day brightly.
Through this eternal, ever-present brightness,
beings of this middle realm have to raise themselves to higher realms.
Do not allow yourself to slip into lower realms.
The lanterns we’re lighting here today don’t give light for just this one day.
If we can keep the light within us bright,
then today becomes not just celebration of the Buddha’s birthday,
today becomes eternal.

Likewise
aging and death
do not exist,
nor does the end of aging and death.

늙고 죽음도 없고 또한 늙고 죽음이 다함까지도 없느니라.

The photos this week are from this years memorial service for Daehaeng Kun Sunim. “Why,” some might ask, “would you hold memorial services if the verse below was true?” There are probably many, many good reasons, but one is just that it’s good for us to show our gratitude. Until we truly and fully awaken for ourselves, expressing gratitude, giving offerings, and helping others are all things that help us overcome eons of self-centered habits. In moving outside of my own desires for comfort and such, they help remind me of my greater connection with others and the whole.
Who wouldn’t be helped by this?

That which dies
that which doesn’t die
are also not separate
and so do not exist.

죽지 않는 것도 죽는 것도 또한 둘이 아닌 고로 없으며

Even the visible world and the realm of consciousness
are always changing.

보이는 세계와 의식세계까지도 따로 고정됨이 없느니라.

What does this mean? I’m certain it has layers beyond imagining, so if you think you understand, great, but don’t cling too tightly to that understanding! Even that too, needs to be put down so that you can move beyond it.

So too,
forms, sounds, smells, tastes, touch, and perception
are always changing.

형상·소리·냄새·맛·감촉·법도 따로 고정됨이 없으며

Eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body,
and intellect
are also always changing.

눈·귀·코·혀·몸·뜻도 따로 고정됨이 없으며

Today marks the 9th anniversary of Daehaeng Kun Sunim’s passing, or more properly, when she was finished with her physical body. When you can only perceive the material realm, someone dying looks like someone disappearing. Probably, much the same as a pet thinks their owner has disappeared forever once you go to work in the morning. Those that know better, understand that you’re just out of sight, not gone forever.

Sensation, perception, reactions,
and consciousness also do not exist separately.

감각·지각·의지적 행동·인식 작용도
따로 없느니라.

Thus,
all the material of these ceaselessly
changing realms
does not exist
because it is not something separate.

이런고로,
고정됨이 없는 차원의 물질도
둘이 아닌 까닭에 없나니

Sariputra,
ultimately every life and phenomena in the universe
has never come into existence,
nor have they ever disappeared.
Nor is there anything
to increase or decrease,
nor to be called pure or impure.

사리자여,
우주 생명과 모습은
본래 생겨났다 없어졌다 함도 없으며
더러운 것도 깨끗한 것도 없으며
늘지도 줄지도 않느니라

I’m slightly cautious interpreting this verse, as I should be!, because there are likely multiple levels of meaning all happening at the same time. But, for me, what this means is that everything is inherently complete as it is. All is connected and flowing as one whole, with nothing that could be cut out and held apart and labeled “this.”

This doesn’t mean there’s nothing for us to do, because we still have to do the work of helping eons of karmic states of consciousness move forward. We still have to make an effort to be positive. We still have to make an effort to behave in helpful and constructive ways. We still have to deepen our experience of this nonduality. To say that everything is nondual, while still stuck in duality and not making an effort, probably wouldn’t end well! And, nearly everything I’ve seen in live leads me to believe that our efforts are never wasted. Sooner or later, we’ll be grateful to ourselves for the efforts we’ve made.

Feelings, thoughts, and actions,
even consciousness
itself,
are also like this;
they, too, follow one mind.

느끼는 생각과 행하는 의식도
또한 둘이 아니어서
이와 같나니라.

So, this things too, will change if we entrust them to our one mind.