Wake Up and Laugh!

Are you remembering to recite these? (just the bolded text, not what I write!, lol) There sure are a lot of ideas here, aren’t there?! I didn’t realize just how many individual concepts and instructions for spiritual practice there are in The Thousand Hands Sutra. That said, I’m glad we’re giving each one it’s own space!

This verse, and the text accompanying the photo above serve to remind us of a critical point: our center, our inner awareness is the starting point that can dissolve and transform what we’re facing. It may not vanish in an instant (or it may!), but when we start relying upon this inner moment, this ship that is our life and body begins to change direction.

(Homage to the Twelve Buddhas who Dissolve All Karma)

Homage to the Supreme Buddha
who takes bright and bright mind as his center,
and so is never entangled by anything.

밝고 밝은 마음 중심 걸림 없는 주 불

Living here in the material realm, as I am, I don’t really have a sense of what it might mean to know (or to illuminate) all states of existence or nonexistence. I can only guess that it’s the ability to perceive realms and functioning that takes place in different states or even higher dimensions that ones we currently occupy. But even with that, this text serves to remind us of this potential, this level of awareness and functioning that wouldn’t normally occur to most people.

(Homage to the Twelve Buddhas who Dissolve All Karma)

Homage to the Buddha who thoroughly knows
all states of existence and nonexistence.

사무 사유에 밝으신 불

I was cleaning my office, and I found a printout of one of Daehaeng Kun Sunim’s poems that was used as a Dharma song. Just this part towards the end of the poem stands on it’s own, I felt, so I’m putting it here. (The poem began with essentially what I put in the title of this page.)

When everything has been put down
when there’s nothing left to hold onto,
not even the thought
that you have to put something down,
this is empty mind.

When you have such a complete and
harmonious mind,
you can become one with all life,
one with the whole universe.

This mind can make even rough things
harmonious and generous,
and can find a use for them.

Not a single thing is thrown away!
This mind becomes one with all life.
Not a single thing is thrown away!
This is true compassion!

일체를 다 내려놓고 더 이상 쥘 것도
내려놓을 것도 없는 마음이
텅 빈 마음.

이렇게 둥근 마음이라야 전 우주와 함께 하고
모든 생명과 하나가 될 수 있다.

둥근 마음은 모난 것도 둥글게 쓰게 되니
버릴 것이 하나 없다.
모든 생명과 하나가 될 수 있다.
둥근 마음은 모난 것도 둥글게 쓰게 되니
버릴 것이 하나 없다.
이런 마음을 가리켜 자비심이라 한다.

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a great Lunar New Year! Here at the center, we had a special candlelight ceremony for three days in a row, and as part of that, we showed a video of past ceremonies with narration from Daehaeng Kun Sunim explaining the deep meaning of lighting candles. We translated it, and have just uploaded a version with English subtitles. It’s only six minutes long, but each paragraph has something everyone should ponder closely.

Stay healthy and take care of each other!

https://youtu.be/86IXxAV-bkc

(Homage to the Twelve Buddhas who Dissolve All Karma)

Homage to the Buddha infused with the fragrance
of mind, limitless and omnipresent.

무변하고 두루한 마음의 향 갖추신 불

“Fragrance of mind” is an interesting phrase we see in Korean from time to time. Obviously, it isn’t literal (or is it? 🙂 ), but most of the time it refers to a sense about someone, an energy if you will, that comes from application of spiritual practice.

There’s a vast difference in feeling between someone who’s telling you their intellectual understanding, and someone who’s relating something they know from their very foundation. And the more someone has worked at practicing entrusting everything to their foundation, the stronger it is. It may be just that you feel them working as one with you and everything around the both of you. And as with all of this, there is the great possibility of things that are also happening at levels that we can’t perceive until will awaken further.

(Homage to the Twelve Buddhas who Dissolve All Karma)

Homage to the Buddha whose bright and joyful mind
touches every place.

밝고 기쁜 마음의 손길 닿지 않는 곳 없는 불

(Homage to the Twelve Buddhas who Dissolve All Karma)

Homage to the Buddha who venerates the Dharma,
transmitting the truth
of bright and wide one mind.

넓고 밝은 한마음의 묘법음 법존 불

This is another one with depths to it that, I fear, we’ve failed to catch in the translation. There’s likely a lot going on with this at a level that’s beyond the comprehension of unawakened beings. So, on the whole, it’s probably best to just recite these without spending a lot of time trying to puzzle out the meaning.

(Homage to the Twelve Buddhas who Dissolve All Karma)

Homage to the Buddha of great determination,
who subdues all obstacles,
and destroys mountains of karma.

마음을 굳혀 세워 일체 모두 항복받아 태산 같은 업장들을 멸하신 불

(Homage to the Twelve Buddhas who Dissolve All Karma)

Homage to the Buddha endowed with the virtue and merit
arising from a broad and harmonious mind.

두루두루 위대하온 마음의 공덕 불

One of the interesting things Kun Sunim occasionally emphasized was being humble and kind. She didn’t quite say, “If you can’t do anything else, be humble and kind,” but there was a sense of this. Of course, it’s hard to truly be humble and kind without knowing your foundation and feeling your connection with others, but, nonetheless, trying to be humble and kind will prevent so many problems in your life. It may not be perfect, but you’ll avoid so many potholes. And one of the things about being kind is that it’s fun! It makes you feel better, and you want more of that. As this becomes a part of you, other kind people are naturally drawn to you, and so life becomes more pleasant.

I suspect as well that it also creates opportunities for practice and to learn about practice. This isn’t the same as actually practicing relying upon your foundation, but still, how precious is that chance? How many lifetimes would someone have to wait just to hear about their foundation, and the practice of relying upon it?

(Homage to the Twelve Buddhas who Dissolve All Karma)

Homage to the Buddha who makes decisions
of vast and inconceivable importance.

광대무변 크신 뜻을 결정하온 불

I’ll be honest, I’m not sure what this means! Is it a world-wide or universal scale, or does it mean more huge things regarding the functioning of this nondual foundation we have? It might have a nuance of “The Buddha who determines where this great fundamental mind is applied to.”
Frankly, this is one of those things I have to put in the folder labeled, “I’ll understand later, when my practice has deepened.” 🙂