Category: Uncategorized

“So what do the vows of Tathagatas have to do with me?” some people may wonder. Well, this is one of those parts that takes the perspective of “follow the example of the people who’ve already got there.”

If you want to be rich, then do the things rich people do, at your own scale. (Fwiw, these are things like not spending too large a portion of your income on things like vehicles, saving up money for emergencies, avoiding debt, etc.)

If you want to be healthy, then look at the habits of healthy people and/or athletes. What are they doing? You don’t have to exercise as much (who could?!), but you might notice that they get plenty of sleep, go to bed and get up at the same time every day, avoid sugary food, and so on. These are things that most anyone could follow along with, regardless of their current health.

Likewise the understanding and awareness of awakened people. You don’t have to already be there; the most important thing in the beginning is to raise the intention to get there! This vow also reminds us of where we can find the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. We don’t have to travel to far away lands or wait until after we die – they all can be found within us, right now. Just knowing this, just being familiar with this idea, is an incredible first step.

The Ten Vows made by all Tathagatas (Vow 3)

Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha
all live within my mind,
I vow to always listen to them.

This next section was translated slightly differently by Daehaeng Kun Sunim, in that she added the part “existing within my mind” to most of the verses. Perhaps practitioners of the past felt this was so obvious it didn’t need to be added!

But Kun Sunim wanted to make it clear where the issue was! In a real sense, what other people are doing isn’t *that* important to my own practice. What they are doing only lightly affects how I’m viewing things and the choices I make.

The Ten Vows made by all Tathagatas (continued)

Greed, anger, and ignorance
existing within my mind,
I vow to dissolve without delay.

The Ten Vows made by all Tathagatas

Using mind, through mind,
I vow to never again to be seduced
by the three evil states of consciousness.*

*These are the consciousnesses of hell beings, hungry ghosts, and animals.

The mantra for relying upon one mind (continued)

Sincerely entrusting everything to one mind,
determined to know the real and help all beings,
raising these great wishes:

May my samadhi wisdom swiftly brighten.

May I attain every kind of virtue.

May the blessings arising from my virtue guide and sustain all beings.

May all beings together attain Buddhahood.

Kun Sunim sometimes used the expression “stages that aren’t stages” when talking about spiritual practice. In general, she was talking about the fact that there is stuff to learn, there is progress, there are steps in spiritual practice. But. Don’t get caught up in those. Don’t try to imagine that as some separate stage that you want to achieve, but haven’t. Or that you have attained, while there are others that haven’t.

Best to stick with the idea that there is stuff to learn, there is stuff that you can do better, but do that, do your best, while immediately letting go of any idea of “I’ve attained.” “I’ve gained.” “She or he hasn’t gotten that far.” As Kun Sunim often said, just keep letting go of what you know, of what you don’t know, (and what you think you know!)

The mantra for relying upon one mind, Juingong, which is itself the mind of all Buddhas

Mind, with uncountable stages that are not fixed stages.
I will pass through these and truly turn the great jewel of mind.

Candlelight ceremony from the lunar new year’s, January 2020 B.M. (Before Masks, lol. Sigh. Stupid corona virus. The lady wearing a mask is probably wearing it because she has a cold and doesn’t want to spread it to others.)

How is evil dispelled? How do we heal ourselves? How do we deal with all the aches and pains we have? How do we deal with the mental aches and pains we have have? We entrust them to our foundation. We make the actual, conscious effort to remember that we have a foundation, we have this source that’s guided us and taken care of us for a billion years, and entrust what we’re facing to it.

Why has it take a billion years (or more)? Because we’ve been doing things the hard way, would be my guess. We’ve been trying to solve things with our bodies. We’ve been trying to solve things with our intellect. We’ve been trying to do it with power, or with gold and silver. We’ve been trying to get bigger powers to show up and take care of things, either gods or politicians or those stronger than us.

But not all that often with our own inner light. Not very often by trying to rely upon our own inner foundation. Now it’s time to learn to rely upon this. Now it’s time to fully open this path.

This doesn’t mean getting what I think I want, with is often just a reflection of my own fixed ideas, but trusting this inner light. Trusting it to take care of things such that they’ll turn out for the best. Such that I’ll be able to grow and develop as best I can, given my circumstances and ability.

(Remember to try to recite these three times out loud. And more if you like. That really helps get all the lives within you to wake up and pay attention!)

The mantra showing the profound and subtle functioning of one mind

Using mind, may I completely dispel all evil.

“If you find yourself facing a calamity,
a disaster of untold magnitude,
If you can firmly entrust the thought that,
‘Juingong can deal with all of this!’

“If you let yourself believe that Juingong can take care of it,
and then even if fear or worry arises time after time,
you remain calm and dignified,
your foundation will be relentless in taking care of things.
It will be relentless in turning up solutions
because all the lives in our body respond and function
according to the thoughts we give rise to.

“Thus, these lives can work as bodhisattvas.
They take the form necessary
according to the needs and circumstances,
and help everything return to functioning as one mind.”

— Daehaeng Kun Sunim

As the Thousand Hands Sutra winds down, there are several short sections like this one. Here too, this is the entire section. But it tells where we can find those who protect the Dharma and practitioners, and how we can get in touch with them.

Daehaeng Kun Sunim gave a poem that was later turned into a song, that literally means “Live greenly,” and compares people to trees. While we translate this as “Live vibrantly,” there is a nuance to the Korean that I really like: How does a tree live? It turns its leaves or needles green by drawing upon it’s root. It draws energy from it’s root, and sends back air and light (and water).

There’s a huge, massive hint there for how we can live.

How often do we find ourselves trying draw upon our knowledge, upon all kinds of similar things? Upon affection from others, upon help from all kinds of places. But the first place we need to learn to go to is our own root. We need to practice drawing up it’s energy, and returning back to it everything that comes in.

The Dharma protectors of mind take care of my body

Entrusting and letting go – the truly limitless path.

This is all there is of this mantra. That’s the entire section. If I had to guess, I’d say it’s guidance for avoiding things that will cause us physical and mental suffering.

The Mantra for Purifying Mind

I’ll be upright and sincere in my behavior.

I take refuge in one mind,
the mother of heaven and earth,
the giver of life to all things.