Wake Up and Laugh!

I’ve been debating which direction to go with these posts, about whether I should post something new or repeat the daily posts from Daehaeng Kun Sunim’s translation of The Thousand Hands Sutra. Part of me was worried about boring people or that everyone would lose interest because there was nothing new, but this text just called to me. It’s so easy to understand; incredibly profound yet very straightforward. As I said when I first published this, I have no doubt that this will be considered a treasure of spiritual cultivation by future generations. To me, it also feels like just the medicine we need these days.
I’ll post a small section every day ~ see if you can recite it to yourself 2-3 times a day. Three times before bed is really good for people, and if you can combine it with 3 times just after you wake up in the morning, you will really feel it’s effects. Just recite it sincerely, not too fast, and just let it sink down within you.
It’s not long, but it doesn’t need to be. Just take that day’s section and let it percolate down through your body.

with palms together,
Chong Go

[This opening isn’t actually unique to The Thousand Hands Sutra, it’s included in the opening of many chanted sutras in Korea. It is how the sutra is opened however, and the text below is the English version of Daehaeng Kun Sunim’s Hangul translation.]

A mantra for realizing inherently bright nature, speaking truthfully,
and completely letting go of delusions such as good karma and bad karma,
like and dislike, defiled and pure:

Speak from the truth and each word becomes a mantra,
speak outside of the truth and each word becomes karma.

We call a temple a dor-lyang, which most people know from the Japanese pronunciation, a dojo. It doesn’t mean a place for fighting, but rather a place for learning, a place for finding one’s path, a place for applying one’s understanding.

This is the last verse of the Thousand Hands Sutra (Daehaeng Kun Sunim’s translation). I started putting these up daily, because with the corona virus and all the other things going on in the world, it seemed like we could all use some wisdom. But I didn’t realize how much these would touch me, or how much good just repeating a single line each day (several times) would do me. Or how powerful it would be.

Returning to and relying upon the Three Treasures of one mind (Vow 3)

I take refuge in the place for learning the truth.
Which is every place.

I’m just amazed again at how little needs to be said. Just these two short lines (below). Just these simple words, repeated to myself, sink down within me like an anchor.

Raise these intentions, and let them sink down within you, and make contact with your one mind. Then they will be communicated to all your deceased loved ones. For it is in this one mind that we are all connected.

Returning to and relying upon the Three Treasures of one mind (Vow 2)

I take refuge in the truth,
ever-present throughout every realm.

Daehaeng Kun Sunim also made an interesting translation here. This is a very “Seon” or “Zen” style (though she rarely used that sort of expression,) because while it’s common to refer to the Three Treasures of Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, I’ve never heard anyone call them the treasures of one mind. But, where else would you find them. She makes that point here.

Having given rise to these great vows,
I return to and rely upon the Three Treasures of one mind

I take refuge in Buddha,
who is one with all,
in every place and dimension.

Today’s verse illustrates what I love so much about Daehaeng Kun Sunim’s teachings – “Where is it?” “Inherent within me.” She’s pointing directly to where we have to do the work. We learn, travel, connect, and make our way in the world, but we don’t add something extra. All of that, to the extent that it helps, is helping us uncover and make use of what’s already right here before us.

Raising the Four Great Vows (Set 2)

Supreme enlightenment,
inherent within me,
I vow to attain.

“Dharma” means “truth,” “the reality of existence,” as well as what I need to find my path forward.

Raising the Four Great Vows (Set 2)

All teachings of the Dharma,
ever-present within me,
I vow to learn.

“Delusions and defilements” can mean exactly what they say, but there’s also a nuance here of “the things that cause suffering,” the mistaken perspectives and opinions, the stubbornness, the judgements, and the colored, limited perspectives that cause us to act and think without being aware of the larger perspective.

Raising the Four Great Vows (Set 2)

All delusions and defilements existing within me,
I vow to dissolve.

When Daehaeng Kun Sunim translated the Four Great Vows from the Sino-Korean characters, she did something unusual. She added a second set. These were almost copies of the first set, but this second set was directed inwardly.

It’s probably fair to say that both the inner and the outer descriptions were intended in the original text, but because the focus of most unenlightened people is on outer things, we tend to see the outer expression, without giving the inner possibility much thought. Here, with this second set of vows, Daehaeng Kun Sunim explicitly reminds us to include these as well.

Raising the Four Great Vows (set 2)

All unenlightened beings existing within me,
I vow to save.

Raising the Four Great Vows (continued)

Incomparable enlightenment, I will attain.

This week continues the Four Great Vows, although they continue with an interesting twist that you’ll see on Wednesday. That said, don’t underestimate this just because it’s one short line. It gets easy to pass over these shorter vows with a “Sure, okay,” on your way to the next sentence. Or to think that just because it’s short and easy to understand, that’s all there is to it. But try not to do that.

These vows help set your direction. They help set your direction now, and in the future, both short-term and inconceivably far-term. They orient us to the truth of how things function, and orient us towards learning how things truly function. And if we are discovering that all beings share the same life, the same mind, the same body, work together as one, and freely give and receive whatever is needed, then, how could our lives not be blessed? How could fear and anxiety not begin to fall away?

These are just one line each, but repeat them to yourself (outloud when possible) whenever you have a moment.

Raising the Four Great Vows (continued)

The infinite teachings of the Dharma, I will learn.