A couple of neat things have come out in the last week. One is a documentary program about our translation group, and revolves around our work translating Daehaeng Kun Sunim’s Korean version of the Diamond Sutra. It’s a quick 30 minutes, with English subtitles.
The other event is a series of English discussions/lectures I’ll be having here in Anyang about Kun Sunim’s version of the Diamond Sutra. They will start next Wednesday, from 7:30-8:30pm in the 3rd floor Dharma Hall, and will run for seven weeks. We’ll stop for Buddha’s birthday, and then pick up again in the late summer or fall.
I’m going to try to find out about live streaming this, and for people outside of Korea, we might be able to record it and post it. (I’m still figuring that out.)
We’ve figured out how to ship this overseas! (It’s the English translation of Daehaeng Kun Sunim’s Korean version of the Diamond Sutra. Here’s a link to previews and book info.)
It turns out that the Kyobo bookstore offers the best deal for overseas shipping. They were also a good bit cheaper than even the Korean post office, so we’ll be using them to fulfill overseas orders.
Ordering process: email us at onemind@hanmaum.org, with your address and phone number (the shipper needs a phone number on the delivery end). We’ll send you an invoice from Paypal, and then have Kyobo send you the book. They are using FedEx, and the books seem to be arriving within 7 business days.
Costs: The costs are the book plus shipping. For most countries, the weak Korean Won is making this a great deal! (All prices are in USD. The Korean Won has been bouncing around quite a bit, so these prices might have to change later.)
Canada/USA/Mexico and Australia: $33 for one book, $56 for two
Germany/Western Europe: $35 for 1 book, $60 for two
Japan/Thailand: $30 for one book, $53 for two
For more copies or other destinations not listed here, email us and we’ll find out what the price will be. Most countries should be similar, but there are some weird things, like where the price for shipping one book to the Scandinavian countries is the same as Western Europe, but for two copies, it jumps a fair bit .
Ordering direct from Kyobo is a great option if you are in Korea, but the website is only in Korean, and can require some awkward security programs in order to buy anything. So just a bit of warning if you aren’t used to Korean websites.
Happy Lunar New Year!! I hope everyone’s been doing okay. Here in Korea we just finished the celebration of 98th anniversary of Daehaeng Kun Sunim’s birth, as well as, three nights of candlelight ceremonies to remind us to focus on brightening our hearts. She actually hated us greeting her on her birthday, saying that we should instead give our gratitude to her mother, who did all the work, lol. Still, she put up with us, and it was a nice excuse to see her and hear a Dharma talk! One point she sometimes made was that reshaping this world wasn’t the ultimate goal. In fact, she would say, this world’s role was that of a sieve, helping people move to higher realms, or lower realms(!!), as they so chose. The point I came away with, was that we first have to take care of our own spiritual development, while also not neglecting our responsibilities in the world. We have to respond wisely and kindly, and do what we can to help others live brightly, but without getting too caught up in what others are doing. Nor should we fall into hating or despising others, tempting though that may be. I came across a nice verse from chapter 6 of her translation of the Diamond Sutra that touches on this point. (The Korean is at the end of this post.)
“Pay attention! Inherently, every person has within them this eternal, fundamental root. So, too, does every life, every thing, and every buddha. All have this wonderful root, thus, there will be beings who, after hearing these teachings, will go forward becoming one with everything they encounter, responding to it all through their own root.
“Subhuti, Tathagata is the state where everything functions as one, and so perceives and understands all things. Thus, I can tell you that if people should realize that, ‘My presence creates the world that is unfolding in front of me,’ they will attain truly endless virtue and merit.
(We had a bit of snow for the lunar new year!)
마땅히 알라. 모든 사람 마음속에 영원한 근본 선근이 본래 심어졌을 뿐 아니라 이미 일체 부처님께 만물만생에게 뿌리, 즉 선근이 심어졌으므로 이 말씀과 글귀를 듣고 나아가 한생각에 진실한 믿음의 마음을 내느니라.
수보리야, 여래는 다 알고 다 보느니라. 일체 중생들이 나로 하여 세상이 있는 것을 안다면 무량 공덕을 얻느니라.
The English translation of Daehaeng Kun Sunim’s Diamond Sutra is out!! We’ve been working on it for several years, and it’s finally ready! And, we were lucky in that we got a great designer to do the layout. It’s 328 pages, hardcover, color printing, with a sewn binding. May its energy spread far and wide.
We tried this last year, but ran into a problem with the printing. While we waited for the imported paper we needed, we took another look at it and changed a few things that we thought could be just a little bit better.
From the Afterword:
Seon Master Daehaeng’s edition of the Diamond Sutra changes you. You won’t notice it at first, but it does. It’s a conversation between two people who have already tasted this nondual whole, and even when the conversation is beyond your perspective, it still soaks in.
When we sat down to translate this into English, we thought it might take us a year, maybe two at the outside. That was nine years and twenty-four drafts ago! Every time we finished a draft, we felt like we’d done a great job, that we had learned much as we reflected on the Korean text and discussed its implications and how best to express those in English. And we were changed. It was subtle, but our outlook and understanding of the world shifted. So that when we sat down for what we thought was the final review of our translation, we started finding more nuances and ideas that required extensive rewrites of the English. And in those discussions and inward reflections on the meaning, we were further changed. Again and again this happened, for twenty-four drafts.
Click on the pages below to get a good view of the interior.
Ordering:
If you live in Korea, you can buy this directly at Hanmaum Seon Centers or the Kyobo bookstore. The Anyang Hanmaum Center has them right now, and the branches will have them in the next two weeks. They’re W25,000, or US $25 for overseas orders, plus shipping.
The Kyobo Bookstore just got them in stock (last night!), and should be shipping to Korean addresses as soon as the Lunar New Year holiday is over.
For overseas orders, email us at onemind@hanmaum.org, and we’ll figure out what the shipping will be. For overseas orders, we’ll be using Paypal as our primary method for payments. If that doesn’t work, though, let us know and we’ll figure out another way.
I hope the new year has found everyone healthy and happy! That might seem like a lot to ask these days, but one thing I’ve noticed is that we need to choose what we give our attention to. There are always disasters and outrages of every kind, but in a way, those are like leaves swirling around our feet. Deal with them when necessary, but don’t let them steal too much attention or energy from what’s really important – our existence as part of the whole, and learning to recognize this, and to apply it to what’s going on with usand the people in our lives.
Here at the Anyang Hanmaum Seon Center, we’re getting ready for the Lunar New Year, and I should have some extra good news around then, but, in the meanwhile, here is an older Dharma talk Daehaeng Kun Sunim gave years ago at the candlelight service for the Lunar New Year.
Lunar New Year’s Dharma Talk
Having been born with a human body, you have to be born once more spiritually to become a true person. If you take all of the stuff that you go through in your life, and used it as the materials for spiritual practice, taking it and returning it to your foundation bit by bit, then your children’s outlook and mentality will transform and change, and the consciousnesses of the lives that make up your body will all become more gentle.
In brightening yourself like this, the spirits of your ancestors will all become brighter with you. Your practice will naturally become a Cheondo ceremony, helping them to move forward and grow. Being able to live and practice like this is so incredible!
Through returning everything to your fundamental mind, you can take care of your ancestors, helping them grow and transform through this ever present ability to use and rely upon the functioning of our fundamental mind. You can take care of the unseen lives that make up your body by taking the feelings and experiences that come out, and one by one as they arise, returning them back to this foundation they are part of. In doing so, those beings and your daily life will all improve, and all the people in the land while still upholding harmony and trust in the greater social setting, will be able live freely, unbound by circumstances, able to respond as needed to whatever arises.
Although these candles we hold are just small things, if we light them with deep sincerity, such that they touch upon this great circle of energy that connects us all, then these candles will become one with this, and able to melt down anything.
We can’t see or hold this vast candle of mind, yet each of you absolutely has it. When you can return everything inwardly like this, when you can return everything harmoniously and generously, without blaming others for what you experience, and in so doing, help your parents, your children, and all the lives within your body, then you will truly be a treasure of this world, a great being who is a blessing to all.
Homage to Shakyamuni Buddha Homage to our inherent Buddha Homage to the foundation within us that is our teacher and none other than Shakyamuni Buddha
새해맞이 촛불재에 받드는 대행선사 법어
자기 육신이 태어났으면 정신이 다시 태어나야 진짜 사람입니다. 생활을 재료로 삼아서 내 마음의 공부를 하신다면, 자손들은 마음이 화해서 바꿔지고 몸 안에 들어있는 모든 의식들이 착해지고 스스로 밝아짐으로써, 돌아가신 영령들도 자기와 더불어 밝아져서 스스로 천도가 되는 것입니다. 그렇게 되는 그 마음이 얼마나 크고 광대합니까.
사람은 이 마음의 공부를 함으로써 위로는 조상을 받들어서 평등공법으로 이끌어 놓을 수 있는 것이며, 아래로는 자기 몸뚱이 속의 자생중생들이 인과성과 업보성에 의해 차례차례로 나오는 것들을 되입력을 함으로써 모든 생활과 모든 마음을 발전시켜서 사회의 질서나 국민의 화목을 가져오고 자유스럽게 살 수 있습니다.
그래서 이 조그마한 촛불이지만 진심으로 켜든 그 촛불 하나가 삼천대천세계의 모든 것이 거기에 닿기만 하면 녹아 버린다는 것을 아셔야 합니다, 한 덩어리가 돼 버리기 때문입니다. 그 촛불 자체를 볼 수도 쥘 수도 없지만 역력하게 여러분들이 다 가지고 있지 않습니까?
여러분들의 마음이 그렇게 둥글고 자비하고 착한 마음으로써 부모를 위해서 자식을 위해서, 자기 몸뚱이 속의 모든 생명들을 위해서 그렇게 하실 수 있다면 그것은 진짜 이 세상의 보배로서 정말 광대한 물건 아닌 물건이 될 수 있을 것입니다.
In one sense, we have to be careful about the thoughts we give rise to, because those can end up having a huge effect on which direction things take. On the other, this means that we also have incredible power to change and to affect the direction our lives take. While not ignoring the “be careful” aspect of this text, I hope you will reflect upon the “this can change everything” implications that are also in this text.
Our lives become like an unknown package, where the contents have yet to be decided. We may not see results immediately, but things do begin to move in the direction that we raise, and entrust, thoughts. As we do this, we step out of the trajectory that blind cause and effect would have sent us along, and step onto a whole new path. One that we have the power to set before us.
Mind can be compared to a supercomputer. Any thought, once raised, is perfectly recorded. You might believe that a thought is finished because you are no longer aware of it, but that thought did not disappear. Rather, it is perfectly recorded inside of your mind. The thought is stored in the subconscious 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. Mind is tilted toward the thoughts that arise often. So, if you do not manage your thoughts well, they will grow and eventually become actions.
If mind moves and raises a thought once, that thought is perfectly recorded; the functioning of mind is not limited to just our conscious awareness.
Good karma is also karma. Once something is recorded, that record tends to push me around and control me. Bad karma gives birth to bad results, and good karma gives birth to good results. Karma is what leads beings through the cycle of birth and death, so there is no difference between good karma and bad karma. In one case, a slave suffers because he or she meets a bad master. In another case, a slave lives relatively comfortably because he or she meets a good master. However, both are the same, both are slaves.
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, it immediately becomes clean.
The law of causality is like a seed that never rots: once planted, it always sprouts. If you plant a good seed, good results will follow. If you plant a bad seed, bad results will occur. Cause and effect are like seeds that always sprout. Further, once planted they will sprout, go to seed, and then sprout again and again.
There are lots of people who live without any concern for others. They’re satisfied as long as they are happy and can do or get what they want. But you cannot obtain true peace by making yourself alone comfortable. Temporary enjoyment cannot solve the fundamental problem. You must know that our life does not end with this present life. Furthermore, you must know that everything, even the things that you have done secretly, comes back to you as karma.
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 in winter by pouring one bucket of hot water onto the ice. It seems to melt a little, but before long the water you poured freezes, and you have only added more ice. So don’t get caught up in worldly things, release them all to your fundamental mind, 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.
There is no such thing as fate or destiny. Everything depends upon your mind. Because you are not free from attachments, those attachments become karma and even affect your genes. Because everything is done by mind, the key to happiness or unhappiness is how you use your mind.
Here’s a short Dharma talk given by Daehaeng Kun Sunim. This was given many years ago, but it’s exactly as true today.
Three Things
Although we were each born as male or female, these are not fundamentally separate. Nor are Buddhas and unenlightened beings separate. You must absolutely learn this. Work hard and thoroughly experience this truth by remembering:
“Only my foundation, my true nature, can guide me.” “Only my foundation, my true nature, can take care of my body.” “Only my foundation, my true nature, can take care of the problems of my family.” And completely entrust every single thing to one place, to your foundation. If you are diligent and unconditional about this, it will help you in three ways. First, everything that’s caused by karma and cause and effect will dissolve. Second, habits will melt away. Third, you will discover yourself.
Happy Buddha’s Birthday! This year, it also overlapped with Teacher’s Day, which is probably as it should be! So after the morning service, at 5am, the sunims here all went to the hermitage just down the road where Daehaeng Kun Sunim’s pagoda is and did three bows, sung both the standard Korean “Teacher’s Song,” as well as a Dharma song (Live Magnificently) and then recited the Heart Sutra. (Some of these photos are from past years, because it was apparently decided that we needed more rain today! The weather was fine for the noon ceremony, but afterwards, it really started raining down.)
This is our main parade float for the Lantern Parade in Seoul. The Monkey God is about the size of a tall person, and every year the youth group comes up with a different float.
We had the unveiling of the lanterns for Buddha’s Birthday last Sunday, and they are magnificent!! It was a bit damp, but we figured that since it’s the year of the dragon, the dragon must have stopped by to check things out and brought some rain with it, lol. The Buddhist Television Network just ran a segment about it, and it’s up on YouTube, so check it out! The interviews and voice overs are in Korean, but you don’t really need to know Korean to appreciate the lanterns. The main lantern reflects the energy of the unseen interconnected whole working together as one with all the seen and unseen realms, manifesting into the work with an infinite variety of shapes.
Lotus lanterns at the Gwang Myeong branch of Hanmaum Seon Center
Here at the Anyang Hanmaum Seon Center, the next two weeks will be busy!
On Sunday the 5th, at 7pm (Seoul timezone), we’ll be having the big reveal for this year’s lanterns, parade floats, and the accompanying performances. You can see it in person at the Anyang Seon Center, or live on YouTube. I can’t guarantee they’ll be remain posted there afterwards, but they might be.
On Wednesday, the 8th, we’ll be having the 12-year memorial for Daehaeng Kun Sunim at 10:30 am, at Anyang. The overseas branches will be doing something as well, possibly on the weekend.
The 15th of this month (May) will be Buddha’s Birthday this year, with a 10:30am ceremony at Anyang, and a 7pm ceremony for lighting the lanterns on the 15th, 16th, and 17th. This may also be live on YouTube.
Here’s a short Dharma talk for the Buddha’s Birthday.
“If I want to be someone who grows and learns, I need to realize that every single thing is my teacher, and every single person is my benefactor. In light of all of the kindnesses and support I’ve received, I won’t take even a single step out of line. If it wasn’t for all things and lives, I wouldn’t be able to see, hear, and learn. If others weren’t here, I couldn’t learn, I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t live. Every person, every life, is someone who guides and supports me.”
If you keep all of this in mind, you’ll be able to repay the blessings you’ve been given, and you’ll be able to develop and progress in tune with the underlying truth of this world.
Wake Up and Laugh! 