Bongeunsa and a thousand days of prayer

marcusp8 Comments

I first posted this on my now deleted personal website (‘Marcus’ Journal’) in September, 2009. Apologies to all those who have read this before.

Founded in 794, I first went to Bongeunsa temple in 2002 and was amazed at such beauty in the centre of Gangnam. At that time I was in Korea with Dao, from Thailand, and sometimes went with her, and once I went with my best friend Colin when he came to stay on a visa run from Bangkok. And I’d often go alone. I’d find a quiet place to sit and I’d listen to the chanting going on in the halls and look up at the trees and the temple roofs.

I started going more regularly, this time with Ikumi (from Japan), when I went back to Korea in 2007. We’d go whenever we were in the area and one time, while we were still finding our way around the order of chants in the evening services, a kind Korean woman came over to us who could speak Japanese and penciled in for us what and when to chant, when to sit, when to stand, and when to bow.

Later, I used to go every week with my Dharma friends after Saturday Sangha discussions at the Buddhist English Library. We’d travel across the city together, stopping for coffee before going into the temple, and almost always pick up some Buddhist nick-knacks in the temple shop. I can still remember the smell of the main hall, a smell of evening sunshine, warm wood and incense.

The temple drums would be sounded outside as everyone settled into quietness, with laypeople sitting towards the sides of the temple and the monks on cushions of a different colour in the middle. The deep sound of bells marked the start of the service and the first chant was the Heart Sutra. That was followed by the Thousand Hands Sutra and then came the Kwan Seum Bosal chant with 108 bows, a practice I always dedicated to my sons.

To make a full prostration, oh-che-tu-ji, in a Korean temple, you start from a standing position and, with your palms together in front of you and your back upright, kneel on the floor. Then place your hands on the floor and bend until your forehead rests between them. Next turn your palms upwards and lift them from your elbows to the level of your ears. Put your hands back down and lift your body back into a kneel. Then stand and repeat.

I remember the very first time Ikumi and I tried to do a full 108 bows during the Kwan Seum Bosal chanting. After just fifteen minutes I’d totally lost count of the number of prostrations and my admiration for the mainly elderly temple regulars had skyrocketed. My leg muscles were trembling and I was worried I’d be sick. The ajumas in front of me were making two perfect bows to every one of my sloppy ones, and I redoubled my efforts.

We made it, but only just. After some half-bows, ju-doo, to the people around us with the wish that they may become Buddhas and three final painful full prostrations to the Buddha, Ikumi and I clung to each other as we shakily approached the temple steps. The slope down to the gate was agony. We crossed the road and headed straight for the nearest coffee shop, glad to be able to sit for a while and take the whole experience in.

Over the following months I got better at it, and by the time I took formal refuge in May 2008, performing 108 bows was a lot less of a challenge. That’s not to say I could do it particularly skillfully, and I certainly couldn’t match the incredible bowing of the monk with the glasses who was always there at the back of the hall every time we ever went to a service at Bongeunsa.

I later learnt his name was Venerable Myeongjin and that he was the abbot of the temple. His bows were perfect. Every prostration identical to the one before and the one after, and all in perfect timing. He was like a metronome for the rest of the hall, the model that everyone aspired to copy. He also looked like a really nice person, with a ready smile and a calm manner.

What I didn’t know was that Ven. Myeongjin was carrying out a 1000-day prayer retreat confined to the temple and performing not 108, but a full 1000 prostrations each day. This incredible practice started on December 5, 2006, and ended on August 30, 2009. During that period he left only once, to attend the funeral of the former President on May 29, 2009.

“To keep this promise with Bongensa Temple members as well as Korean Buddhists,” Myeongjin said in an interview just before he completed his retreat “I would often set two alarm clocks on the days I went to bed late. There has not been a single day that has passed in leisure. There were times of distress, but with the faith and support of the faithful I will finish in good shape.”

The aim, he said, was to make the temple a place of genuine practice. And from what I saw and experienced there, he achieved his goals. The people I met in that temple, both the regulars and others, were not just welcoming, but also clearly committed to practice. The main hall was always full of people bowing, sitting, and quietly chanting, and there was never any noise and always a feeling of complete devotion.

Venerable Myeongjin’s period of practice also saw membership of the temple rise from 200,000 in 2006 to 250,000 members now. Likewise, temple income also rose and, under Myeongjin’s leadership, all financial records were made available to the public. Again it seems to confirm what has been my overall impression of Korean Buddhism, an impression of openness, strength and a seriousness about the Dharma and its future.

Ikumi used to wait for me on the bench outside the shop before going together to the main hall, and after the service we’d walk around the temple buildings, or sit together quietly.  Joseph met a woman there one week who later became his wife. Carl performed prostrations with a determination we all admired. And Joe knew the chants off by heart, and I’d follow his voice as I stumbled through them myself. There are very few places in this world I love more.

Photo: The amazing picture at the top of this post was taken by my friend Joseph and is used here with permission. For more of Joseph’s great pictures of Bongeunsa, and many other places too, follow the link below. Highly recommended.

Links:

Jogye Order: Bongeunsa Abbot’s 1000-day Prayer Retreat

Wikipedia: Bongeunsa

Bongeunsa Temple English site

Joseph Bengivenni’s incredible photos

Hanmaum Seonwon Choir Festival

marcusp4 Comments

The Hanmaum Seonwon Choir Festival was held a few years ago in support of a cancer charity. A CD of the concert, with English subtitles, was released and is available, I think, from the Hanmaum International Centre for anyone who would like to purchase a copy.

Tanya reminded me of this in yesterday’s discussion about music, and she kindly uploaded this You-tube video of two of the songs from the concert. The second is especially close to my heart as this is the song the Bangkok Zen Club sang (in Korean!) for Buddha’s Birthday this year. I still know the words off by heart!

Thank you Tanya for providing this, and thank you Chong Go Sunim for kicking off the discussion – and for your singing contribution in the Festival itself! Look closely, and you’ll see our very own Chong Go Sunim singing in the video!

While living this life of one brief season,
if you cultivate your mind and awaken,
your one thought manifests in the world,
and saves your country.
Ice melts and water flows down ten thousand valleys,
fish dance and play, flowers bloom and birds sing,
the fruit of practice ripens naturally
– let me know all ten thousand flavours.

While living this life
in which everything changes every instant,
if you cultivate your mind and awaken,
a single thought becomes wisdom,
and saves the village of our earth.
All over the world innumerable beings are opening their eyes,
rising above the sea of mind, spontaneously bright.
You yourself become the source of light
– awakened to your foundation.

(Translation is copyright 2010, the Hanmaum Seonwon Foundation)

Link: Buddha’s Birthday at Bangkok Hanmaum

to the bones

Chong Go Sunim15 Comments

Here’s a song that really touches me. It’s by Johnny Cash, near the end of his life.
It reminds me of the great love he had for his best friend, June, and how hard he was trying to hold to what’s true.

There’s a line or two in this song that I don’t really connect with, but overall this video has such a sense sincerity that after watching it, the usual background noise of whining and petty thoughts seems to fall away.

In saving others, we save ourselves

Chong Go Sunim10 Comments

This is one of my all-time favorite cartoons; in English it’s published in “Zen Speaks,” by Tsai Chih Chung.*  This is from the original Taiwanese edition.
 

“One day, the Buddha Shakyamuni was meditating when he heard the sounds of beings crying out in great pain. As he looked throughout all realms, he saw that the cries were coming from a hell realm.

There, one man in particular was begging him for help.o

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Using his sublime abilities, the Buddha looked into the man’s past:

He’d been an infamous brigand, for whom no deed was too evil.

“Alas,” thought the Buddha, “did he do no good?”

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ooo

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oThere had been one time, after robbing a village, that he made an effort to avoid stepping on a spider.

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“So,” thought the Buddha, “let the spider save him now.”

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With this the spider sent a single strand of silk down into the depths of hell.

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The man grabbed ahold and began climbing out. However, everyone else was also trying to climb up that single strand.

“Hey! This is mine! Get lost!” And he cut the thread below him, dropping all those other people back into hell.

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  However, in the next moment, the thread just above him broke, almost as if some hand, perhaps his hand, had reached down and cut it.

 

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There’s no saving myself alone.
Only by including others, can I be saved. 

 
* Tsai Chih Chung is a gifted artist, and an incredible interpreter of the Chinese classic texts of wisdom. If you were ever the least bit curious about the great philosophers of China, check out his books.

Behold, I am become Mara, destroyer of worlds*

Chong Go Sunim10 Comments

A few days ago Barry from Oxherding commented on a verse of the Dhammapada (at Without Bounds) about the influence of Mara, otherwise known as the King of demons:

The one who lives for sensation,
Indulgent in eating,
Lazy, and lacking in energy,
The tempter Mara, breaks,
Just as the wind breaks a frail tree.**

 
I read this as a warning, that if I live without any self-restraint, I’ll eventually succumb to some temptation or situation that will break me (physically or spiritually).

 However, to Barry, it felt like something was missing: 
“…none of these translations really gets to the key point for me. That point is: To indulge in the pleasurable *is* to be overcome by Mara. Even that doesn’t feel quite right. Perhaps it’s not so much that Mara overcomes, as that we *become* Mara, our inherent Mara-nature co-arises with indulgence.”

Becoming the destroyer of worlds

This is a great point, because it feels like once I succumb to temptation, I am Mara.  I’m the one occupying that unwise thought or action, though there may be some disquiet telling me something’s wrong. You’ve probably heard the joke, “it seemed like a good idea at the time”? Sometimes it’s not so funny.

To be overcome by delusion — to succumb to Mara — is to be doing or thinking something that seems good, right, and pleasureable, and yet is unhealthy for myself, society, and the planet. At that moment, I am Mara, destroyer of worlds. While thinking I’m doing something good, I’m destroying the enviornment, other’s lives, and my own life.

 To be lost in ignorance,
mistaking delusion for truth,
the unhealthy for the healthy,
how to take even one step forward?

 
So, for me, the key question is how do we step back from this Mara-nature when we’re in the middle of it?  What do we do when we can’t be sure about which way is up and which is down, about what is good and what isn’t?

The only reliable method for me, is to let go of everything:
To let go of the things I don’t know, as well as what I know (which is probably incomplete, or incorrect), and to entrust it all to this bright, inherent Buddha-nature that we all have.

Daehaeng Kun Sunim often compares this true nature to a smelting furnace: it burns away all impurities, and what comes out the other side is pure gold. All I can do is entrust it with what I know, and what I don’t know, and go forward with empty hands, trusting in this empty place that is the source of everything.

This is what works for me, (although I’m not always successful at implimentation.)
What works for you? How do you recover from an incarnation as Mara?

with palms together,
Chong Go

 
 

–A bit beside the point, but still important, is the question “what is this Mara-nature?”

Obviously, any good Buddhist is going to know there’s no such fixed entity out there. (right? ;-)) In Korean Buddhism, there is the concept of “karmic consciousnesses,” that is, karmic states of consciousness, or echos of states of mind. When these return to us, they come out through our brains, our awareness, and so we identify with that feeling. “I’m the one who feels that.” Instead, it helps a bit if we realize this is just a karmic echo occupying the same time and place as us, much like a fart in the room. “That’s not me, that’s just here at the same time, and if I wait a bit, it will pass.”

*The actual quote, paraphrased by Robert Oppenheimer as he witnessed the first  atomic bomb, is “Behold, I am become Shiva, Destroyer of worlds.”

**This is from my favorite translation of the Dhammapada, by Balangoda Ananda Maitreya

Buddhas and Bodhisattvas

napacabbage9 Comments

Namo Amitabul (Amitabha)

Namo Kwan Se Eum Bosal (Kuan Yin)

Namo Ji Jang Bosal (Ksitigarbha)

Namo Seokeomoni Bul! (Shakyamuni)

 

oooooooooooooooooooooooo

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The Buddhas and Bodhisattvas are projections of our minds — and so is everything else. The idea that they don’t really exist is also a projection based on our high valuation of scholars, the modern historical method, and scientific materialism, in which we’ve been steeped since day one of our lives. Which is a more skillful projection? I’d take the former any day, because it reminds me of what’s possible, who I want to become — afterall, I am becoming something, may as well make it pleasant and beneficial for others.

If we look at our lives we can see these Bodhisattvas and Buddhas manifesting in various ways. Throughout my life certain teachers would manifest suddenly: Thich Nhat Hanh, Joko Beck, the Dalai Lama, Daehaeng Sunim, etc. (If I were to name all my kind teachers it would make a long list!) Isn’t it possible we may actually meet Amitabha or Kuan Yin? I couldn’t have imagined such a bodhisattva the magnitude of Thich Nhat Hanh, but he reached down low into samsara and is delivering countless beings with his skillful teachings and great compassion.

All my gratitude and praise to these Buddhas and Bodhisattvas emanating immense kindness, non-discriminating compassion, and stainless wisdom to us suffering fools. May they continue to turn the wheel of dharma and be our kind teachers forevermore.

The Bangkok Seon Club

marcusp7 Comments

Gulukhan Bucheonimke Gwiuihamnida
Gulukhan Galeuchime Gwiuihamnida
Gulukhan Sunimdulke Gwiuihamnida
– The Three Refuges 
 

I am constantly struck by just how valuable an opportunity we have here in Bangkok to study the Dharma. In order to practice Therevadan Buddhism in English there is the wonderful Littlebang Sangha, and for those of us drawn towards Korean Zen, there is the Bangkok Seon Club. Not only is it amazing to be able to study Seon Buddhism at a Korean temple while living in Thailand, but the friendliness and support of the group is something not often encountered, and very precious. 

Hyaedan Sunim

We start each meeting by chanting the three refuges, though in the Korean tradition it’s more of a song than a chant, then we bow and take our places for a short meditation. The sit is led by Hyaedan Sunim, who marks the start and finish with three strikes of the seon stick, and then we always place our cushions onto benches, which we move into a square, to briefly read a few pages of Kun Daehaeng Sunim’s book ‘No River to Cross’, and start the discussion. 

Looking back through my notes from the past year of discussions, I see that we’ve covered a great deal of ground. One of the meetings that was most useful to me was from last August in which we talked about faith. I have a naturally devotional approach, and Kun Sunim’s teaching – to believe in, let go to, and observe the workings of Buddha-nature – has provided a better understanding of my faith, and a beautiful and adaptable practice I can go back to again and again. 

Many of the people in the group have been studying Zen for decades in various traditions, and although I admit the discussions sometimes become a little too complicated for me to follow, I always enjoy what I am able to understand and I am impressed at how people are able to share ideas and experiences regardless of language differences. Eun Young, our wonderful translator and an inspiring practitioner, deserves huge thanks for this. 

Bodhisattvas filling the sky around us

 But, of course, discussion has its limits. As Kun Daehaeng teaches in chapter two, “The eternal self cannot be described by words, and it cannot be revealed through discussion. Trying to know it conceptually is like trying to know the world while trapped inside of a barrel.” Hyaedan Sunim describes it as being like a bird which has flown into a room. Banging its head against the window won’t free it. 

Rather, the bird must stop its frantic activity, rest, and examine how it came to be in the room in the first place. Then the way out will be clear. This reminded me a lot of Phra Cittasamvaro Bhikkhu’s comments last year in his talks on ‘the way of wisdom’. He warned against too much conceptualisation and also suggested that simple resting, using time in practice to observe rather than engage, leads to peace and liberation. 

entrance to the Bangkok Hanmaum Seon Center

I’m glad I went back to look at this again. As well as that part of me that welcomes resting in faith, I also have a tendancy to try to work things out, to try to find the ‘right’ answer. Too often this ends up in pointless discussions, especially on the Internet. The beauty of our monthly Sangha meetings is that it is a place where real, meaningful discussion can happen, and where we can learn the practice of letting go. A practice I have had to return to again today, a practice I return to again and again. 

Our meetings are also a lot of fun. After the discussions, and sometimes they go on very late, many people continue talking and sharing in a nearby restaurant till well after the last train has stopped running. Thank you again to everyone who makes these evenings possible. And click on the link below for details of the next one on June the 26th. 

Links:
Littlebang: home page
Littlebang: details of next Seon Club

Just a sunny day

Chong Go Sunim15 Comments

It’s a sunny day here in Korea, and about 32 Celcius. Here are some photos of the main Hanmaum Seon Center, in Anyang City.

Sunrise, a little before 5am
The Gujeong Pagoda, which Marcus mentioned
courtyard wall
persimmons - all the detail is carved from clay bricks

hiking path behind the center
welcome home!

A True Human Being

Chong Go Sunim9 Comments

The following is the short Dharma talk by Daehaeng Kun Sunim that Marcus mentioned in the previous post.  
 
A True Human Being

Our true mind is a great brightness that can lead us all.
This one mind, this one point
is the foundation of the Earth,
the foundation of the sun,
and the foundation of the universe.
With perfect wisdom it accepts everything and responds accordingly.
It is brightness itself,
what could possibly hinder it? 

 

 
Although this brightness is in everything,
people create divisions and labels,
and then let those rule their lives.
How could they not be hindered
and oppressed in all the things they do?

 

A true person is the same as a Buddha.
However, let go of even the desire to become such a person,
as well as the fear of not achieving this,
instead, take everything that arises from this empty place,
your inherent foundation,
and return it to this empty place.
If you entrust it there with sincere faith,
and are relentless about this,
then from that place, your true mind will reveal itself.
 

In this true mind,
a Buddha’s mind and an unenlightened being’s mind
are not separate,
there’s no clean or dirty, high or low,
nor the least hint of “I did” or “I know.”
This true mind,
this completely empty bowl,
manifests every instant,
and brightly shines upon all,
with hands that aren’t hands, feet that aren’t feet,
on the path that isn’t a path.
This is the mind of a true human being.
 
–Daehaeng Kun Sunim 

 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 
copyright 2010, the Hanmaum Seonwon Foundation

Hanmaum Journal

marcusp2 Comments

Most temples in Korea publish newsletters, some just a few pages long, others big glossy things with a print-run of tens of thousands, and I think the fact that most include some English, and that the Jogye Order publishes a magazine entirely in English, is a real indication of the openness and forward-thinking of Korean Buddhism. The Hanmaum Journal, which is now in its 9th year and fifty-first edition in its current colourful format, is no exception. Through its fabulous photos and great articles and translations it provides a real connection to the Hanmaum Sangha, and is a delight to look through.

The current issue of the Journal has two main articles in English, the opening teaching by Seon Master Daehaeng Sunim, a regular feature of the magazine, and the second of a two-part article by Ki Sang Kim on the building of the Gujeong Pagoda at the Hanmaum Seon Centre in Anyang. I never realised just what a huge task building that pagoda was. Ki Sang describes in detail how he literally searched the globe, “led by unseen hands”, for just the right stone, finally finding marble of the right size, strength, quality, and whiteness in the Italian alps. Mr Kim will finish his account of how the stone was quarried and the pagoda built in the next edition of the journal.

The teachings from Kun Daehaeng Sunim toward the front of the journal are always something to look forward to. I’m told that they are not actually poems at all, but they always look like poems to me, and one day I’d love to see Hanmaum publish a small, good-quality, hardback edition of them. I’m sure that would be of great benefit to many people. This month’s teaching is called ‘A True Human Being’ and begins like this:

Our true mind is a great brightness that can lead us all.
This one mind, this one point
is the foundation of the Earth,
the foundation of the sun,
and the foundation of the universe.
With perfect wisdom it accepts everything and responds accordingly.
It is brightness itself, what could possibly hinder it?

A few weeks ago Chong Go Sunim posted another of these teachings from the Hanmaum Journal, called ‘Practicing through our Fundamental Mind’, on this blog, and so perhaps he’ll post this one too one day soon. In fact, that’s one of the things that’s so great about this blog – how it goes beyond being just a small group blog by a bunch of Dharma brothers and their teacher. Looking back over the past few months of posts I see that, right here, we have an Internet Hanmaum Journal, in English, which is updated almost every day!

So thank you to Chong Go Sunim and Joseph. Thank you to Carl and Joe, who helped set this blog up and who will soon be contributing articles, and thank you to everyone who has left comments and to everyone who reads. I hope that in the future we can bring in guest posts from across the entire Hanmaum Sangha and beyond. So if you feel inspired to write a post here that fits the theme of this blog, do get in touch, and help make ‘Wake Up and Laugh’ a journal for everyone.

Link:
Practicing through our Fundamental Mind