Wake Up and Laugh!

I now deeply repent of having been ignorant and deluded.

어리석은 큰 죄 오늘 참회합니다.

Interestingly, the Korean here leans towards “having been stupid, and done stupid things,” lol. Usually when we see “ignorance,” it means more not understanding the non-duality of all things. Ultimately, that amounts to the same thing, though. But, sometimes taking a narrower view and being as specific as possible helps us see what we were doing and not get get caught by it the next time it arises. So if there is something specific, some specific circumstances where you stumble, try to be as specific as possible as you can about repenting of it. And also be as harmonious as you can in viewing how you want to respond to it in the future. Hating ourselves doesn’t clear away a path for us.

If we clearly sense our connection to all beings, even the ones behaving badly, we couldn’t hurt or despise them. Sometimes, when we’re having a real problem dealing with someone, reminding ourselves that, “That’s what I used to look like when I didn’t know any better,” will really help our anger and resentment melt away. “Sigh, yeah.”

I now deeply repent of having been angry.

성낸 큰 죄 오늘 참회합니다.

I now deeply repent of having been overcome with desire and attachments.

탐애한 큰 죄 오늘 참회합니다.

I wish I had some magical advice on how to sweep away desires and attachments! As near as I can tell, desires and attachments are the remnants of things that have allowed us to evolve this far. They may not have been perfect, and may have caused problems down the road, but at some point in our evolution, in that moment, they provided something that was helpful.

Because that worked at a certain point, we keep trying it to see if it still works. If it does, then we keep trying it again and again. But as we evolve, we need to move on and learn better ways of handling things, but those habits worked for so long, it’s easy to default to them. They aren’t “bad” in themselves, just limiting. They aren’t what we need to grow and move forward.

How do we move forward? As best as I know, by being present even when caught up in these, and once we become aware of them, by trying to entrust them to our foundation. Two things are useful here: One is to entrust the thought that, “When these arise, I want to remember to let go of them,” and two, “When I’m in the midst of these, provide the strength and willingness to actually let go of them.”

If you’re aware when in the midst of these, gradually you’ll sense the limitations and harm these cause you, making it easier to see them as they are, and let go of them, instead of being caught up in the sense-memory of the good they once did you, and desiring to experience that good again.

We have a new (35 page) ebook out! This is a nice book about the basics of, well, everything important! lol. Here are the links, as well as the table of contents. We’ve printed this book in Korea, so if you’re here, we can send you a print copy in English or Korean, but due to shipping problems arising from Covid, we currently can’t ship paper books overseas.

epub format Kindle (mobi) format (A basic “ereader” app for your phone or tablet will open and read these files, if you aren’t already using an ereader.)

Table of contents:
Your True Worth!
What is spiritual practice?
Why bother with it?
Some cautionary points about spiritual practice

Section 1: Common Buddhist ideas and their deeper meaning
1. Buddhism and Buddha
2. Mind, One Mind, and Juingong
3. My True Reality

Section 2: Basic principles that make spiritual growth possible
1. The Principle of Non-Duality
2. The Principle of Ever Flowing – Emptiness
3. The Principle of Cause and Effect
4. Samsara and Evolution

This is a tiny section of the morning bell chant. We do it everyday, but in the older, Chinese character version, so it’s nice for me, too, to read this again in English. Just this one piece, even without the rest of it, it so good. If we just truly did this, can you imagine how much we would grow, and how sweet our lives would be?!

In praise of our Buddha-nature
I vow to always follow one mind,
regardless of what others may do.
My heart will always be with one mind,
my thoughts will never leave one mind.

Deeply observing the Dharma realm,
I realize that there is an unseen thread
that connects absolutely everything.
This non-dual one mind exists in every single place.

In order to awaken and perceive this,
which has always been here,
I take refuge in one mind,
ever present, taking care of everything throughout all realms.
This is not something that can disappear or be caused to appear.
Namu Amitabul

Repenting is what allows us to move forward. Until we do this, we are often stuck trying not to admit to ourselves that we did something wrong. We can spend so much time and energy going over a thing, coming up with justifications and excuses (which may even be mostly right!) for what we did. But when we repent, we return that event to this completely empty place, allowing us to move forward.

(Repenting of the Ten Evil Actions)

I now deeply repent of having spoken harshly.

나쁜 말한 큰 죄 오늘 참회합니다.

(Repenting of the Ten Evil Actions)

I now deeply repent of having spoken ill of others and caused discord among people.

이간질한 큰 죄 오늘 참회합니다.

“It wasn’t my fault!” creates an opposite, something other than me, that I had nothing to do with, and no connection to. But this isn’t true. Everything is connected as one, even that thing or event I don’t want anything to do with. This is not to say we should beat ourselves up or be harsh towards ourselves, just to accept that there is a connection there and that our behavior may not have been the wisest. When you feel regret, entrust the thought, “Next time, as that’s arising, I want to remember to entrust it *before* I respond.” So not just entrusting the idea that you want to behave better, but also that you want to remember to entrust it to your foundation.

(Repenting of the Ten Evil Actions)

I now deeply repent of having spoken manipulating words.

삿된 말한 큰 죄 오늘 참회합니다.

(Repenting of the Ten Evil Actions)

I now deeply repent of having lied.

거짓말한 큰 죄 오늘 참회합니다.

When the Buddha was first asked about precepts, he told his first disciples (who were fairly advanced, grounded practitioners), “You all know what’s right and what’s wrong. Do what’s right and avoid what’s wrong.” This worked quite well with them, but later, when more uneducated and more out of touch(?) disciples came the Buddha had to get more specific to help them step outside of their own particular blind spots.

In general, the guideline that works quite well is this: If it makes your heart brighter, it’s probably okay. If it makes your heart darker, then avoid it. If you can’t tell, probably best to avoid it.

(Repenting of the Ten Evil Actions)

I now deeply repent of sexually improper thoughts and behavior.

사음한 큰 죄 오늘 참회합니다.