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“Huge, violent, killer waves of our own making are bearing down on us, ready to smash us against the rocks.” I know this to be absolutely true. I’ve experienced some of it for myself already, across the moments, days and decades of my life. Every unskillful action I’ve ever performed either has, or will eventually, return to me. So when I think of what’s to come, the outlook really isn’t very pretty.

But, Phra Bhasakorn Bhavilai continues in his wonderful book ‘Karma for Today’s Traveler’, “somehow, we see more clearly, we improve ourselves, we reject our past behaviour and we embrace the five precepts. By changing our mental state like that… the power of our bad deeds to effect us has been reduced… The waves will hit us, we can’t stop them; but they only take a limb or an eye or some teeth. We are left alive. The five precepts will reduce the negative effects from our past.”

This is very practical stuff. It’s not about achieving Buddhahood through the perfection of precepts, something I know I am incapable of completing by my own efforts. Rather, taking refuge in the precepts is about developing the skills and habits to live with more peace and confidence in this very life, of being happier and having better relationships with everything and everyone around me, as well as making progress on the path.

I see how this works and rejoice in it, it brings results. And, though central to my personal practice, it’s still not easy. The trickiest for me, just as in Joseph’s insightful post yesterday, is the precept concerning speech. Partly formulated, in words from Thich Nhat Hanh’s Fourth Mindfulness Training, as “Knowing that words can create happiness or suffering, I am determined to speak truthfully, with words that inspire self-confidence, joy, and hope.”

The trouble, I find, is remembering. Sitting with friends, it is so easy to slip back into negative speech patterns. So easy to swear, to complain, to gossip, to exaggerate, to condemn and criticise. So easy to speak rather than to listen, to dominate the conversation, and to talk with urgency and anger rather than with kindness and peace. How can such behaviour not build up disasterous karma? How can I remember my vows?

I recently heard about a church minister in America who suggested to his congregation that they wear a wristband and that every time they catch themselves complaining or gossiping or otherwise engaging in negative speech, they simply move the band from one wrist to the other. What a brilliant idea. It’s a simple act that would re-enforce one’s aspirations and help break the habits of negativity.

I decided to try this out using the wrist-mala I wear everyday, and was surprised at the results. Although I was concentrating on speech, the first effect was that I became much more aware of my thinking too. The second thing I noticed was how often I had to move the mala. And thirdly, I was pleased to see how often I didn’t have to. Which is important, not because I imagine I can ever reach perfection, but because it improves my life here and in the future, reducing the size of those killer waves.

I also remembered Kun Sunim’s advice about striking back at negative thoughts and changing them into something positive, and I worked on just that.  Of course the most positive thing you can do is to entrust everything to your own Buddha-nature, and this technique really helped me do that. I let go of the negativity, and found myself smiling instead. “When you entrust everything to the foundation” Kun Daehaeng Sunim writes, “with a single thought you can go a thousand miles.”

Mind is the forerunner of all things. Mind is chief; mind-made are they. If one speaks or acts with a wicked mind, suffering follows, as the wheel of a cart follows the hoof of the ox.

Mind is the forerunner of all things. Mind is chief; mind-made are they. If one speaks or acts with a pure mind, affection follows, as one’s shadow that never leaves.
—Gotama Buddha (Dhammapada)

In my determination to live skillfully, it doesn’t take much effort to realize catching myself about to act unskillfully usually happens during the thought process. It’s easy to see that the roots of our actions must pass a considerable length through our mind before reaching their tips.

Daehaeng Kun Sunim ends the third precept, “I vow to strive to keep my mind pure.”

Although it would be a proper finish to anyone of the precepts, it surely feels as though it’s in the right place. The third precept is the one I have the least concern with physically, but mentally is probably my biggest disaster. When I return to mindfulness from a rather unwholesome series of thoughts, I find myself asking, “Why bother planting these karmic seeds?”

This post continues the Venerable Ya-un’s Admonitions to Myself. Here he warns us about the limitations of desire, while encouraging us to pay attention to what lasts and what benefits us longterm.

Greed is the foremost cause of a suffering-filled rebirth.[1]  Giving is foremost among the six good practices.[2]  Stinginess and greed prevent you from attaining the true path, while compassion and giving help protect you from falling into evil ways. If a poor person comes to you begging for help, you should not be reluctant, even if you are in hard circumstances yourself. You came into this world with nothing and you will leave it with nothing. You should not cling to even your own possessions, so how can you think about other’s belongings? When this body dies, what will you take with you? 

The only thing that will follow you is the karma that you have made. If you cultivate your mind for three days, it can become a treasure that lasts for a thousand years. However, the accumulated possessions of a hundred years of desire will all be reduced to dust in the span of a few hours. 

            Where does the suffering of the three evil rebirths come from?
            From greed and desire accumulated over many lifetimes.
            Contenting myself with the Buddha’s robe and bowl,
            why should I accumulate ignorance?  

Just a few days after reading Chong Go Sunim’s fascinating post the other week about Korean temple food, and after having just finished a very fine Korean meal myself, I was asked if I’d like to attend a class in kimchi-making – part of a whole series of hands-on Korean cooking tutorials – right here in in Bangkok! 

The classes are organised by the Korea Tourism Organisation and are held in their Bangkok office on the ground floor of the Esplanade department store on Rachadapisek Road, a beautiful showcase for Korean tourism with lots of free information, a little movie theatre and even a rack of traditional Korean costumes to dress up in.

Best of all, the cooking course, consisting of four subsequent Sunday afternoon sessions, is entirely free of charge and is available for the next six months. In the first session participants learn to make bibimbap, in the second they tackle kimchi, this is followed in the third week with gimbap, and the final week consists of a class making japchae.

On the day I went along I was not an official participant, I hate cooking, but more of an interested observer – mostly interested, of course, in the end result! I arrived early and helped set things up. There were tables to move and bowls to put in place and then I watched as the chefs arranged the ingredients and the cooks donned their aprons.

The teachers were four lovely ladies from the Bangkok Hanmaum Seonwon, which explains where my lucky invite came from, all volunteering their services for free. And with just ten student chefs, everyone enjoyed a really intimate learning experience. Then again, when making kimchi, intimate is certainly the word!

As the chilli paste got mixed with the garlic, ginger and whatever all those other ingredients were – I’ll never be a real food correspondant! – I chatted to some of the students. Everyone was a fan of Korean culture and cooking, and one woman at my table had visited Korea more than nine times! 

Then I asked one of the ladies from the temple why she’d volunteered to give up her Sunday afternoons to help with this project and she said “well, first of all, I like the idea of helping to share Korean culture, plus I want to help the work of the Seonwon too.”

I later discovered that the funds raised by the Seonwon through this project are earmarked for the centre’s scholarship programme, which helps support a number of Thai students, who wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford it, study Korean at university.  I met some of these students, and one of their teachers, about a year ago, and was impressed by their dedication and skill.

But of course the real winner of the day was me! I went home that evening with a huge bag of kimchi which I left out overnight to ferment before putting in my fridge. I’ve almost finished it now and I can tell you that it’s gorgeous. Crunchy and fresh and just the right tangyness and heat. When’s the next class?

 In these fresh vegetables
I see a green sun.
All dharmas join together
to make life possible.
 – Thich Nhat Hanh

Link:
Chong Go Sunim: Korean Temple Food

At the Buddhist English Library of Seoul, we’ve been going over No River to Cross, by Seon Master Daehaeng.  Chapter 2 has a nice section about cause and effect, and how our mind functions.

Mind is tilted towards the things that arise often. So, if you do not manage your thoughts well, they will grow and eventually become actions.

Any thought once raised, is perfectly recorded. You might think that a thought is finished because you’re no longer aware of it, but that thought did not disappear:  it is perfectly recorded inside your mind. That thought is stored in your subconsciousness and causes a similar thought to arise next time. Further, the second thought is stronger than the first thought.

For example, if the first thought was bad, then the second thought is often a little worse. In this way, the thought keeps repeating time after time, and grows stronger and stronger. (page 17)

So, how do we manage thoughts? For one thing, we actually have a huge amount of choice in what we do once thoughts have arisen. It’s up to us if we want to continue to follow a thought, or to cease feeding it energy. But on a more fundamental level those can be dissolved, thus also dissolving the potential effects that would have resulted, had those thoughts continued unchecked.

If you record over a tape recording, the previous recording is erased and the new material is recorded. So it’s better to record good karma rather than bad karma. However, instead of just recording good karma, it’s even better to completely erase all of the recordings. The way to do this is by entrusting everything that confronts you, both good and bad, to your fundamental nature. It’s like cleaning a mirror. Even though the mirror has been covered by dust for a long time, once you wipe it off, it immediately becomes clean. (p 18)

We often naturally think that if we can understand the cause of something, we can control and cure it. But with karma, Daehaeng Kun Sunim explains that this is a futile exercise.

Karma is a tangle of uncountable causes and effects. Some people try to use their intellect to unravel their karma, but this is like trying to melt a frozen lake by pouring one bucket of hot water onto the ice. It seems to melt a little, but before long the water freezes, and you have only added more ice.

We’re stuck inside this barrel of “I,” and because what we do is contaminated with this smell of “I,” our efforts just makes things worse. The only way out of this mess is to completely jump over “I.”

So don’t get caught up in worldly things, just release them all to your fundamental mind, your Buddha-nature, and let them melt down automatically. When spring comes, the frozen lake will melt naturally and completely. Returning to your fundamental mind is like a warm spring coming after a cold winter. (p 18-19) 

There’s a great new blog about Korea, Robert Koehler Travel & Photography, started up by the editor of Seoul magazine. Robert’s also the editor/author of the city guide to Seoul I mentioned a few posts back. With incredible photos, and great info and details about places to visit, this blog looks set to become an incredible place to go for information about Korea. 

Aside from the historical places tourists may see, such as the Changdeokgung Palace (chang-duck-goong),

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 if you’re into Korean food, you’ll discover the great hole-in-the-wall restaurants.

 
 
 
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Robert’s other great passion is architecture, and he’s been known to travel half-way across the country to photograph an old building. 😉 
 
In one of his first posts, he examines the Catholic churches that were built just after the Korean War, many of them in cooperation between local members of the Catholic Church and Catholic members of the U.S. armed forces. They tend to have a very nice feeling of care and devotion. (I’m sure he’ll get around to some great temple posts!)

(All of the photos here are by Robert Koehler, and are from his blog.)

Start your study with experiences, with applying and experimenting with what you know. Don’t think that you can wait until after enlightenment before you have experiences. If you want to know your true self, experiences are the fastest way to go.  

When I first became a monk, the abbess at the main Hanmaum Seon Center in Anyang said to me, “Without the experiences (that come from trying to rely upon one’s inherent Buddha-nature), it’s really hard to live as a monk or nun for very long. You need the sustenance of these experiences.”   

Here is a bit more that she has said about spiritual experiences.  

The more effort you make, the more results and experiences you will get.  And the more effort you make, the harder your true nature will push you. The harder you study, the harder your true self, Juingong, pushes you.   

The first thing you have to pass through is learning to ignore the obstacles from other people.  To me, I’m focused on taking care of my practice, regardless of what other people are doing to me.  I have seen many people, including sunims and laypeople who drop out because of obstacles from laypeople and hardships from their teacher.  

There’s an odd thing I’ve discovered about spiritual experiences – they have a lot in common with fish: They’re alive and vibrant at first, but unless we release them, within a day or two, they really begin to stink.  

Unless we let go of them, nothing new comes, so it’s very hard to keep growing. In addition, if we don’t release them, they will become a foothold for “I” and the all the opinions and fixed views that go along with this sense of “me.” Without even being aware of it, a subtle thought begins to pervade our consciousness, “Look what I know.” From the moment this stink of I starts to pervade our outlook, things begin to fall apart.  I can’t claim to know all the details about why this is, but my feeling is that the dualistic thought, of what I know, begins to cut us off from the whole and our source of energy and wisdom.   

However, when we release what we’ve experienced and become one with it, even though we seem to lose sight of it, it’s still there, transforming us. And when we need it, it will return.  

Trusting our root, our true nature, means that we entrust it with not just the bad things, but also the good things. We release them all to this root, remembering that is what’s really taking care of our lives and everything we encounter.

But why” I asked, “does it have to manifest this way? What happened to the compassion of the Buddha?” 

“This is the Buddha’s compassion” the Sunim replied. “This is how you learn and grow. Everything comes from you, and serves to lead you to your True Self”.

Here’s the second part of the Venerable Ya-un’s Admonitions to Myself. While it seems pretty uncompromising, remember that this was written in the form of an address to himself and, as a text, it was aimed at monastics in around the year 1400.   While the details may not be realistic for us today, its underlying spirit is still relevant to our world.

It also gives a view of a world of poverty that most of us are unaware of, and which, unfortunately, still exists in places even today.

Refrain from fine clothes and food.

First, do not accept fine clothes or food. Beginning with plowing the fields until food is ready to eat and clothes are ready to wear, these things require an immense amount of effort from both people and cattle. Furthermore, huge numbers of insects are also hurt or killed during this process. It’s wrong to cause others to work for the sake of your own comfort, not to speak of killing other beings in order to maintain your life.

Farmers suffer from hunger and cold, while weaving women are barely able to cover their bodies properly. How can I then idle my time away complaining about being hungry or cold?

Fine clothes and delicious food are burdensome obligations that hinder cultivation of the way.* Wearing shabby clothes and eating vegetables with rice lighten the burden of the donors and are a secret kindness on your part. If you don’t brighten your mind in this life, then even a drop of water will be hard to swallow in the next one.

     Calm your stomach with roots and wild fruit,
     cover your body with clothes made from leaves and grasses.
     Take the wild cranes and the white clouds as your friends,
     and spend what’s left of your life
     among the high mountains and deep valleys.

 
 
 
*  In addition to karmic debts, this also refers to the increase in our desires as we become used to nicer things — trans.