Wake Up and Laugh!

https://gum.co/NObam (Gumroad – an online storage site that sells ebooks and audiobooks for us)
https://books2read.com/u/mZaWRR (links to some of the major online bookstores, including the Apple store and Kobo.)

So, some fun news for 2021 — we’ve published the Vietnamese ebook edition of “No River to Cross”!

A wonderful translator did this Vietnamese edition of “No River to Cross,” and we’ve been eager to get this out. The paper edition is out in Korea, but due to a number of factors (see below) it’s not easy to get it to other countries. Also, some of the major online bookstores don’t currently support Vietnamese, but there are some major sites that do (Kobo, Apple, etc), and we’ve put the ebook on sale on a website we use called Gumroad. (They also sell other ebook versions of Kun Sunim’s books, as well as the audiobook edition of “My Heart is a Golden Buddha.”)

We have a nice paper edition (with this same cover) for sale in Korea, but it’s hard to get this to people outside of Korea. Covid has ended regular parcel mail and airmail leaving Korea, so books have to be sent by express, registered mail (EMS, FEDEX, DHL) with is quite expensive, or by sea, which is only an option for a few countries and can take 1-3 months.

Please guide me so that my mind becomes one with the mind of all Buddhas.

부처님의 마음과 내 마음이 둘 아니게 인도하여

Hearing the sounds of our reciting,
may the one mind of all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas look after us.

(우리들의 염(念)하는 소리 온 누리에 퍼지나니) 살피소서.

This is kind of an interesting verse, and a bit unexpected here. How do all realms hear us? Not through our voices, but through our hearts, through the connections we make with our foundation. That, I suspect, it the sound that is heard throughout all realms.

The sounds of our reciting spread throughout all realms.

우리들의 염(念)하는 소리 온 누리에 퍼지나니 살피소서.

Well! This turned out to be quite an auspicious post for the first day of the new year!

I particularly like the photo, because it reminds us that a quietly flowing mind is not the same thing as a quiet body. We work at returning everything to our foundation, and (once we realize it) try to let go of the things we’re caught up in, but we do this while taking care of the things in our life.

With a quietly flowing mind,
I will become one with my foundation.

고요한 마음으로 이루오리다.

All things arising or disappearing, coming or going
are done through the foundation.

오고 감이 근본에 있어

If I ever got a tattoo, this would be it!

Like quietly flowing water,
may my heart always flow towards one mind.

고요한 물 흐름과 같이 제 마음을 한마음으로 이끌어 주옵소서.

I and my true self, together as one.
At this point, freely coming and going without a trace,
able to apply great unshakable wisdom,
using it without the least hindrance, as vast as an ocean.
Truly understand what this means.

이 소리는 나와 내가 같이
이 경지에 오고 감이 없이 부동지의 큰 지혜를 굴리어
걸림 없이 굴리어 큰 바다와 같으니 진정 그 뜻을 알라.

This is the start of the heart of The Thousand Hands Sutra, a text called The Great Compassion Dharani. The very first line is one that bugs me, because I’m still not happy with it’s expression in English. The last Korean word, Dae-wol-luk, has a lot of nuances to it.

The profound ability within me
is awakened not by words,
but by the determination to save all beings.

“The determination to save all beings” isn’t wrong, but it also means great ability, plus, desire to save all beings, plus … where does this ability, and desire, come from? It comes from awakening to our foundation and seeing our connection, our oneness with all other beings. If I clearly feel their suffering as my own, if their struggles and confusion are just as painful to me as to them, then how could I not want them to find a wiser, healthier way of living? So is Dae-wol-luk better expressed as awaking to the oneness of our foundation? Or, “realizing our inner connection with all the world”? I don’t know.

The Great Compassion Dharani

The profound ability within me
is awakened not by words,
but by the determination to save all beings.

신묘장구대다라니 神妙章句大陀羅尼
자신의 묘법은 글귀 아닌 대원력이니

For the new year, here’s a short Dharma talk from the last issue of Hanmaum Journal.

The Buddha’s teachings were never about sending
bad people to bad places,
and sending good people to good places.
Instead, take those people heading towards bad places,
and help them move away from those paths.
This is how bodhisattvas respond.

Take good people  
and help them to forever move in good directions.
This how Buddhas respond.

이 부처님 법은
“너는 나쁘니까 유치장으로 가거라
너는 좋으니까 좋은 데로 가거라”
이런 것이 아닙니다.
유치장으로 갈 사람도
유치장으로 안 가게 할 수 있는 게
보살의 응신이요,
지금 좋은 사람은 좋은 사람대로
끝끝내 좋은 사람이 되게끔 하는 것이
부처님의 응신입니다.