Author: Chong Go Sunim

(continued – Raising the Four Great Vows)

All unenlightened beings existing within me,
I vow to save.

마음속의 모든 중생 맹세코 건지리다.

“Wait,” I hear you saying, “didn’t we just cover the Four Great Vows?” Indeed we did. But in Daehaeng Kun Sunim’s translation of the Thousand Hands Sutra, she repeats these, adding an interior twist to them. Now, it’s not “I vow to save all beings,” but rather “I vow to save all beings existing with my mind.” This could be translated as “I vow to save all the unenlightened beings within me” (something that needs doing!), or it could be “All beings exist within my fundamental mind, I vow to save them there.” I suspect the second meaning is actually closer, but I can’t say for certain, and the first is also true and important as well.

(The main text is from Daehaeng Kun Sunim’s translation of “The Thousand Hands Sutra”)

(continued – Raising the Four Great Vows)

Incomparable enlightenment, I will attain.

위없는 불도를 다 이루오리다.

(This text is from Daehaeng Kun Sunim’s translation of “The Thousand Hands Sutra”)

(continued – Raising the Four Great Vows)

The infinite teachings of the Dharma, I will learn.

한량없는 법문을 다 배우오리다.

(This text is from Daehaeng Kun Sunim’s translation of “The Thousand Hands Sutra”)

(continued – Raising the Four Great Vows)

Continuously arising delusions and defilements, I will dissolve.

끝없는 번뇌를 다 녹이오리다.

(This text is from Daehaeng Kun Sunim’s translation of “The Thousand Hands Sutra”)

Raising the Four Great Vows
Unenlightened beings beyond number, I will save.

발사홍서원 發四弘誓願

가없는 중생을 다 건지오리다.

There’s not a lot to say about this one, really. It seems unrealistically ambitious on the surface, but, I think there are two things going on with this. At one level, just vowing to save *all* beings, takes us out of our ordinary, normal discriminations. I’m not vowing to save *some* beings, or just the ones I like, or just the ones I can get to, but all beings. There’s a spirit there that pushes and nudges us towards the unconditional.

Second, who’s to say, that at the fundamental level, that what we do doesn’t actually save all beings? That it doesn’t provide light and nourishment and a push on the path they need to take? The effects may take years or eons to be seen, not instantaneous, like we’d all like, but there’s no telling what we might be putting into motion. And again, even the word “motion” is likely a mistake when viewed from this all-encompassing, nondual place, where everything and time are already present.

(This text is from Daehaeng Kun Sunim’s translation of “The Thousand Hands Sutra”)

(continued – The Ten Vows made by all Tathagatas )

I vow to save all beings.

모든 중생 제도하길 원입니다.

One of the cool things about this image, is that it’s not one person saving all beings. There’s all kinds of “sages” wandering around, each helping out one or two people here and there.

(This text is from Daehaeng Kun Sunim’s translation of “The Thousand Hands Sutra”)

(continued – The Ten Vows made by all Tathagatas )

I vow to manifest throughout the entire world.

온 세상에 나투기를 원입니다.

(This text is from Daehaeng Kun Sunim’s translation of “The Thousand Hands Sutra”)

(continued – The Ten Vows made by all Tathagatas )

Amita Buddha existing within my mind,
I vow to hurry and meet.

마음 속의 아미타불 속히 뵙기 원입니다.

(This text is from Daehaeng Kun Sunim’s translation of “The Thousand Hands Sutra”)

(continued – The Ten Vows made by all Tathagatas )

Paradise is found within my mind,
I vow to attain it.

마음 속의 극락세계 태어나기 원입니다.

This verse proves a slightly annoyed, quiet voice that wants to reply, “Do you mean to say that some wonderful state of being or place, is only to be found within this boring, petty, messy, deficient, ‘me’?! I haven’t found anything that interesting here in all these years, so let’s look somewhere else.” Lol.

This pretty much sums up the way my thinking defaults to. “Whelp, I looked in this corner. Nothing exciting here, so let’s look somewhere else.”

And yet…. All the awakened beings who have gone on to teach have said the same thing. When the turbulent water calms down, the moon will be seen. It didn’t suddenly pop into existence; it was always there shining brightly.

(This text is from Daehaeng Kun Sunim’s translation of “The Thousand Hands Sutra”)

(continued – The Ten Vows made by all Tathagatas )

I will know the real and attain enlightenment –
I vow to always sustain and cultivate this determination.

마음에 보리심을 항상 내기 원입니다.

A corollary to this is “I vow to cease being a plaything to the random thoughts and feeling that arise.” Daehaeng Kun Sunim sometimes referred to enlightenment as “stepping outside of the barrel,” in that, until then, it’s as if we are trapped in a barrel, unable to see anything. And not truly knowing why we are being rolled about, which direction we’re going, or to understand what was moving us. We have all kinds of things we “think” we know, but those are nearly all just images projected on the inside wall of barrel.

(This text is from Daehaeng Kun Sunim’s translation of “The Thousand Hands Sutra”)