One of the simple pleasures of visiting temples is admiring the latticework of the doors and windows.
I’m always in awe of the detail that goes into every inch of the halls and shrines, and especially in these skillful carvings
Author: Ox Herder
Sunday Photo; temple tiles at Beomeosa
I’ll let this one speak for itself…
Sunday Photo; Buddhas in the snow
At Saturday Sangha yesterday, we discussed the beginning of chapter seven, in No River to Cross. It’s a part that really stood out the first time I read the book, and continues to drift a considerable distance above my understanding.
One term that really jumped out at me was, “manifesting nondually”. It reminded me of something Chong Go Sunim told us back when Saturday Sangha first began.
The Dalai Lama has a policy of meeting any Tibetan refugee who crosses the Himalayas into India. Apparently, upon greeting him, many people thank him for rescuing them at some point during their journey. If they’d fallen into a crevasse in the snow, for example, they say that he appeared there to help pull them out.
Manifesting nondually, what a wonderful to open yourself to the world!
Sunday Photo; Christmas tree lantern at Jogye Temple
This year, the head temple of the Jogye Order, in Seoul, put three Christmas tree lanterns by the street in front of the main gate into the temple.
It’s a nice display of the friendship maintained between Jogye and the Catholic Church in Korea.
Sunday Photo; Boxing Day Bodhisattva
I must say, my father was always very generous with gifts at Christmas… He just didn’t have the best talent at picking out anything any of us liked! By the time my sisters and I were all out of elementary school, it was an established tradition for my dad to buy us the tackiest school clothes he could find with the understanding that we would exchange them on Boxing Day and buy something we really liked. He was particularly good at picking out particularly bad clothes for my mom! I haven’t been home for Christmas in six years, so I should ask my mom if the tradition is still alive and well.
I’m not sure if it’s a traditon that will be carried through the generations. We’ll wait and see when my daughter is older how impressed she is with the gifts I choose for her!
Sunday Photo; JiJang Bosal gazing at Mudeung Mountain
I’ve always really liked JiJang Bosal. His green hair, his staff, his Great Vow.
This is a beautiful bronze JiJang Bosal, outside of a small temple at the foot of Mudeungsan.
One mind, many bodies…
Your fundamental mind, your true self is invisibly connected to all things in the world and through it all things communicate with each other and work together as one. In this way, the whole universe is functioning together as one through fundamental mind, so this working together is called One Mind (Hanmaum).
-Dae Haeng Kun Sunim
Sometimes, you just have to look up, and there’s a teaching waiting for you!
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Sunday Photo; the Golden Temple
We had our first big snowfall of the year earlier this week.
The first snow of the year is always exciting. But somewhere between the first and the last, something always seems to change. Novelty becomes normal, then the normal becomes monotonous.
May we all keep a fresh mind this winter! (^_^)
good dust, bad dust?
This Fundamental Mind can be compared to a mirror, and whether covered with dust or not, a mirror is a mirror. It remains unchanged no matter how long it is dirtied and covered with dust, and once the dust is removed, it gleams as brilliantly as ever.
Even golddust is only dust to a mirror and an obstruction to its function. In the same way, words of the sages are but dust on our Fundamental Mind and they merely darken it.
-Zen Master Song Cheol
The ignorance and dust of desires are enlightenment and the sufferings of birth and death are nirvana.
-the Maka Shikan
I suppose it depends on what teaching suits you at this moment…
Sunday Photo; Yakcheon Temple’s main shrine
There are few halls I’ve stepped into as impressive as this one, on the south coast of Jeju, Korea’s semi-tropical island. The hall itself is enormous, as are the Buddhas and the dragons that coil the beams supporting the massive roof.
The walls and ceilings of the three floors are covered in Zen paintings and as you circle the upper balconies, the dragons take turns eying you from different angles.
I’ve been to the island three times and have been sure to visit Yakcheonsa, the Medicine Stream Temple, each time. If you ever make down that way, you won’t be disappointed with a detour to the temple!
Wake Up and Laugh! 