Author: Chong Go Sunim

This is kind of an interesting verse, and a bit unexpected here. How do all realms hear us? Not through our voices, but through our hearts, through the connections we make with our foundation. That, I suspect, it the sound that is heard throughout all realms.

The sounds of our reciting spread throughout all realms.

우리들의 염(念)하는 소리 온 누리에 퍼지나니 살피소서.

Well! This turned out to be quite an auspicious post for the first day of the new year!

I particularly like the photo, because it reminds us that a quietly flowing mind is not the same thing as a quiet body. We work at returning everything to our foundation, and (once we realize it) try to let go of the things we’re caught up in, but we do this while taking care of the things in our life.

With a quietly flowing mind,
I will become one with my foundation.

고요한 마음으로 이루오리다.

All things arising or disappearing, coming or going
are done through the foundation.

오고 감이 근본에 있어

If I ever got a tattoo, this would be it!

Like quietly flowing water,
may my heart always flow towards one mind.

고요한 물 흐름과 같이 제 마음을 한마음으로 이끌어 주옵소서.

I and my true self, together as one.
At this point, freely coming and going without a trace,
able to apply great unshakable wisdom,
using it without the least hindrance, as vast as an ocean.
Truly understand what this means.

이 소리는 나와 내가 같이
이 경지에 오고 감이 없이 부동지의 큰 지혜를 굴리어
걸림 없이 굴리어 큰 바다와 같으니 진정 그 뜻을 알라.

This is the start of the heart of The Thousand Hands Sutra, a text called The Great Compassion Dharani. The very first line is one that bugs me, because I’m still not happy with it’s expression in English. The last Korean word, Dae-wol-luk, has a lot of nuances to it.

The profound ability within me
is awakened not by words,
but by the determination to save all beings.

“The determination to save all beings” isn’t wrong, but it also means great ability, plus, desire to save all beings, plus … where does this ability, and desire, come from? It comes from awakening to our foundation and seeing our connection, our oneness with all other beings. If I clearly feel their suffering as my own, if their struggles and confusion are just as painful to me as to them, then how could I not want them to find a wiser, healthier way of living? So is Dae-wol-luk better expressed as awaking to the oneness of our foundation? Or, “realizing our inner connection with all the world”? I don’t know.

The Great Compassion Dharani

The profound ability within me
is awakened not by words,
but by the determination to save all beings.

신묘장구대다라니 神妙章句大陀羅尼
자신의 묘법은 글귀 아닌 대원력이니

For the new year, here’s a short Dharma talk from the last issue of Hanmaum Journal.

The Buddha’s teachings were never about sending
bad people to bad places,
and sending good people to good places.
Instead, take those people heading towards bad places,
and help them move away from those paths.
This is how bodhisattvas respond.

Take good people  
and help them to forever move in good directions.
This how Buddhas respond.

이 부처님 법은
“너는 나쁘니까 유치장으로 가거라
너는 좋으니까 좋은 데로 가거라”
이런 것이 아닙니다.
유치장으로 갈 사람도
유치장으로 안 가게 할 수 있는 게
보살의 응신이요,
지금 좋은 사람은 좋은 사람대로
끝끝내 좋은 사람이 되게끔 하는 것이
부처님의 응신입니다.

I take refuge in Buddha-nature,
my center, foundation, and teacher,
which transcends existence and nonexistence,
and through which enlightenment is attained.

유무 없는 중심 근본 스승하여 각(覺) 이루는 불성에 귀의하리다.

This section of the Thousand Hands Sutra has had a lot of descriptions of one mind. One of the reasons is because one mind, our foundation, is our connection with the workings of everything. It’s beyond our normal, dualistic capacity to fathom, and any attempt we make is, in a way, poisoned with duality. So the only way to approach it is unconditionally. Then, once we’ve stepped around our own (mostly) self-made hindrances and barriers, we can taste the whole.

To the extent that we are functioning as one with this, we bring this to bear when we face something. “How do bodhisattvas save beings?” was a question someone asked an awakened master. Their answer, “Like you adjust your pillow in the middle of the night.” There’s no “I’m doing,” “What I should do is…”, or, “I did …!” It’s just an awareness of what was needed, what could be given in those circumstances, and the response.

As if it needed to be said, there’s also the distinction between what we want, which isn’t necessarily what would be good for us! If you have a perfectly balanced wheel, it won’t roll anywhere on its own. It will just sit there. You have to take something away from one side – you have to unbalance it – then it will begin to roll.

I take refuge in one mind,
the all embracing treasure of compassion.

걸림 없이 일체 모든 크나크온 보배 자비 한마음에 귀의하리다.

How do we save others? How do we save ourselves? By becoming one with them. By becoming one with the lives within us. Daehaeng Kun Sunim sometimes referred to our inherent nature as a smelter. It’s a furnace that utterly melts down whatever is put into it. No matter how rusted or bent, whatever goes in there, is melted down and comes back out clean and shiny, and ready to be made into something new and useful.

Aside from the working at letting go, none of this is something “I” do. Rather, “my” work is trying to let go, and then, if this connection with the whole is made, the whole works together as one to make it happen.

Are you remembering to recite the verses below? 🙂 I find it takes at least three times before it begins to sink in.

I take refuge in one mind,
like the love of a Bodhisattva,
the thoughts it gives rise to
embrace everything throughout all realms.

(없는 고로 큰 시방에 두루두루 한생각을 내시어서) 보살행을 하심같이
한마음에 귀의하리다.