Wake Up and Laugh!

  Today was the 49th day ceremony for Park Jae Won, who passed away in January. It’s hard to describe how warm and impressive he was. I’m a bit disappointed that this mediocre photo is the best I could find, but perhaps that’s impermanence telling me not to cling to any particular shape of him!

This is an interview with him from 2006, and touches on modern Korean Buddhist history, as well as his experiences with different Buddhist teachers in Korea.

Sadly, his wife also passed away a few weeks afterwards. Sigh. He leaves behind his daughter and her family.

Senior Advisor Mr. Park, and the Early History of Hanmaum Seon Center

This  interview appeared in the May/June 2006 issue (#27) of Hanmaum Journal.

If you visit the Anyang Hanmaum Seon Center, there is a chance you’ll see Mr. Jae Won Park(박재원). He has known Kun Sunim for many decades, and been a member of the Seon Center from it’s early years. In addition to taking care of all kinds of large and small jobs for the Seon Center, he also used to have many important roles in the Buddhist community and larger society of Korea. Here is his story.

How did you come to meet Daehaeng Kun Sunim?

I first met her through my association with Tanho Sunim [Tanho Sunim was also a disciple of Hanam Sunim, and was considered one of the foremost scholars of modern Korea -translator]. I’d met Tanho Sunim in the mid-1960’s and later had formed a group to help support his teaching and vision. He and Kun Sunim were very good friends, so on one of his visits, I went along and met Kun Sunim. That’s how I first met her, and eventually, in April of 1976, I had been appointed as senior adviser to Hanmaum Seon Center.

For many years I’ve wondered about that karmic affinity that led me to meet Daehaeng Kun Sunim. Her path has been so different from that of a worldly person like me. In my heart she’s closer to me than my own parents were; what kind of connection must there be to cause this? How much strength and hope must I have gotten from her in my past lives that I would neglect everything else to help take care of the Seon Center? I’ve thought often about how meeting her gave me such strength and why it was such a turning point in my life. Continue reading “In memoriam – Park Jae Won” →

Here’s a nice, short Dharma talk about our connection with all things, and some of the implications. 

No Matter What Your Need Is

Your Juingong is one with everything.
Through it, you are connected to your ancestors,
the Buddhas, and unenlightened beings.
It connects you to the spirit of trees, and the spirits of the earth,
it connects you to dragon spirits
as well as everything else,
so whatever help you need,
whatever circumstances you find yourself in,
completely entrust the whole thing to your foundation,
with a quiet “thank you.”
Do it like this,
for a single thought handled unwisely
can multiply into a thousand evil seeds,
and plunge your family into chaos.
Yet the same thought, returned to this inherent foundation,
can become a thousand good seeds,
and create a comfortable, pleasant life.

— Daehaeng Kun Sunim

This connection doesn’t flow just in one direction. Physicists tell us that matter and energy are constantly switching places, and just like this, the energy of our intentions, when deeply input, becomes the matter of the world around us. Born as human beings, we now have the ability to affect the world around us through this connection and the intentions we input. This is a huge step up from being forced to either passively accept our conditions, hoping something else changes them, or else running away, trying to find a better place. Now we have the ability to change where we are, right now. Let’s all draw a better future, one where people live together wisely and harmoniously. 

I hope the new year has been finding everyone well! Things here are proceeding along; we’re still working on translating Daehaeng Kun Sunim’s edition of the Diamond Sutra, as well as a couple of great talks about health and healing. Kind of looking forward to seeing those in print!

I realized that I haven’t done anything with the blog for quite a while, so I’m changing the theme, as well as reposting some excellent posts from long ago. Please bear with me! There may be few hiccups as I get this sorted out. As we approach the lunar new year, may your families all be healthy and happy, and may all your worries about health and finances soften and turn out well!

with palms together,
Chong Go

In his post a while back, Joseph relayed the story of a monk who died in the Jiri Mountains (A glimpse). It highlighted two critical truths, namely, that we are not our bodies, and the importance of how we use our minds.

In Chapter 2 of No River to Cross, Daehaeng Kun Sunim also covers these points:

Even after your body falls away, your consciousness remains. It often happens

that people do not understand that their body does not exist anymore, and they do not realize that living people cannot see or hear them. So, sometimes, in their confusion and desire, they cause other people to suffer. If you sincerely cultivate mind while you have a body, then you can leave without having any attachments. However, if you don’t practice, then even though you’re dead, you’ll be caught up in all of your old relationships, and won’t be able to freely leave. Instead, you may just wander around, stuck in that state for a very long time. When people die, if they have never practiced spiritual cultivation, their consciousness cannot see and cannot hear. In the middle of the darkness, their consciousness cannot correctly perceive things, so those people may (accidently) enter the womb of a pig or a magpie. However, people who have cultivated mind give off a great light and thoroughly illuminate their surroundings. Even their families tend to live brightly, although individually they may not know anything about spiritual practice. (p 20-21)

Have you ever gotten caught up in a dream about walking through a building that no longer exists? Those steps you were walking up are now only empty sky a hundred feet off the ground. After we die, we no longer have physical senses, so with what are we seeing and hearing? If we haven’t practiced while alive, then we’re only experiencing the arising of karmic states of consciousness. However, we think those things are really happening, and so chase or flee them. In essence, we’re running outdoors at full speed, while blindfolded.

Thus, how we use our minds while alive is critically important to us.

In order to be born as a human being, it may have taken a thousand years of accumulated virtue and merit. It’s so hard to become a human being. Nevertheless, if you don’t let go of the habits you developed prior to becoming a human being, and if you think of only yourself, your suffering will be endless. If you live this way, you may live like this for many, many lives, stuck like a hamster on a wheel, unable to evolve. Or you may devolve and be reborn as an animal. Once you are reborn as an animal, you will suffer a lot, having to eat others or be eaten. There will be very little opportunity to reflect upon your state, and if you develop the habits of an animal, it will be even more difficult to free yourself from that state, even over billions of eons.(p 19)

We go where we look. Or in this case, where we think.

Once the level of mind changes, the body also changes accordingly. Evolution is the process of the mind becoming brighter, while creation is the outward manifestation of the minds design. Thus, while this process is evolution, it is also creation.

Mind is the basis of both evolution and devolution; they aren’t separate forces. Devolution is also done by mind. All of this is the manifestation of our fundamental mind (and how we use it.) (p 22)

Farmer’s band: one of the great things about the day are incredible traditional music groups

We’re working on translating Daehaeng Kun Sunim’s Korean version of the Diamond Sutra into English. This is from the last chapter.  There is still some work and review to go, but even so, this seemed like a nice way to start the new year!

Everything is arising and responding
in accord with you yourself.
Because you are here, it is here.
So in whatever situation you find yourself,
with whatever confronts you,
entrust all of this inwardly,
entrust everything you need inwardly,
and observe.

All sorts of flowers,
every kind of flower
blooms and fades,
blooms and fades,
blooms and fades,
fades and blooms,
bearing fruit.
You have to bring to ripeness
the fruit on your own tree,
without being too narrow
or too diffuse.

As fruit of your tree ripens
and becomes able to respond and manifest
to whatever arises,
it will feed every kind of unenlightened being,
feeding, giving, feeding.
When they too can go forward with wisdom,
with future enlightenment assured,
with the future ability to manifest
according to any need encountered,
then this world will become at peace,
the universe will become at peace,
everything will become at peace.

As every color of flower
blooms and fades,
fades and bears fruit,
that fruit has to ripen
on its own tree
for its true flavor to appear.

— Daehaeng Kun Sunim

The other floors were filled with people who couldn’t get into the main Dharma hall during the ceremony, which was projected onto large screens in the other floors.

A friend of mine posted this verse from Daehaeng Kun Sunim, and I thought it was so nice that I’d share it here. Particularly after the hard year it’s been around the world, I thought this was nice to read. 

Because of Others

Trees breathe in carbon dioxide, and give us oxygen,
we breathe in oxygen and give the trees carbon dioxide,
each one always helping the other to live.

The paper edition of “Sharing the Same Heart” is out! 
(available outside Korea at Amazon.com )

This is a nice collection of talks about issues relating to parents and children, and how spiritual practice plays into all of that. One of the talks has very specific questions and answers related to pregnancy, one is more general about raising children and taking care of parents, and one touches more on the health aspects.

The Laughter of One Mind (한마음의 읏음소리)

The heavens, Earth, and human beings,
every kind of thing in the universe,
unfolded in an instant.
In this vast land,
everything is constantly gathering together and then separating,
the flowers and trees,
all follow this rhythm,
spreading its cadence far and wide.
Singing along with this,
a sad sigh
arises from within me
and from every great peak in the universe,

“You have this life,
live it wisely,
generously,
broad-mindedly.”

Every life, every living being
just keeps unfolding together,
on and on, endlessly.

The laughter of my one mind shakes all realms of the universe,
causing every drop of water to give off a sweet fragrance,
and every blossom to transform into fruit,
ripening those who are utterly free of all traces of craving,
as well as those for whom some traces yet remain,
and so each and every life sings this song of endless unfolding,
each according to its level.

You have this life,
and you can choose to live in this way or in that,
but if you can awaken to this unfolding,
interconnected whole,
this unseen whole from which everything in the universe
arises and returns,
where each mind is connected to every other,
if you can keep returning everything here,
and thus awaken,
then forevermore,
you will be free.
Truly free.

— Daehaeng Kun Sunim, August 7, 1993

We’re working on translating a series of Dharma talks about health and healing, but it’ll be a while before those come out. But this part was so good, I felt like people should be able to read it right away. 

The cells that make up this body of ours have no idea what the body as a whole is doing or where it’s going. Therefore, if you let them know that they, you and all the other cells, are actually one whole body – if you become one with their consciousness through this foundation – then one part won’t end up hurting another part. They’ll understand that, “All of this is me!”

(I want to repeat that paragraph!! If people just understood this, problems of countries would also fade away.)

So, have unconditional faith in your own foundation – whether an illness improves, or doesn’t, whether things start going the way you want, or don’t, trust that in all of this, your foundation is leading you forward. It guided you through billions of years, helping you evolve into a human being while you’ve hunted and been hunted. And now that you’ve been born as a human, this process hasn’t stopped. Now you’re being pushed to evolve your mind.

No matter what kind of hardship you encounter, take it as something to practice with. Even if the world were to end right now, even though you’re nervous, have firm trust in your foundation. If you can watch it happen and laughingly say, “What, again?” everything will turn out fine. Faith in this essence that’s been guiding you is so important. To not have trust in it is like abandoning yourself.

You have to believe in this divine essence that exists within you. Could you really not trust this? It’s what is animating you right now. What else, where else would you rely upon? Is there anyone else who can take your place when you fall ill? Is there anything else who can stand in for you when death comes? No. No matter how much your children love you, no matter how much your wife or husband cares for you, no one can even stand in for you when you need to use the toilet. No one can take your place when you need sleep, or are sick, or are dying.

“Rely upon and trust your inherent essence, and in this way grow and develop so that you can live together with all beings brightly, as one family.” This is the essence of all the Buddha’s teachings.

— Daehaeng Kun Sunim, December 20, 1992