We keep on working. If we can continue in this manner for one to three weeks, suddenly our mind and truth will mesh; we will understand the cause and conditions of the big matter…
Korean Buddhism
Hearing Sounds Through the Eyes, by Jisu Sunim
Sometimes people feel afraid because they don’t know what the teacher is talking about! `How we can face our own reality?’ But the teacher also has difficulty in getting the student’s discursive mind to understand what he is talking about. The best policy for the teacher, then, is to let practitioners continue with their practice, giving them time for some perspective to slowly come into focus. The most chronic disease for people who find it difficult to face reality is, indeed, this discursive mind…
The Illusion of Attainment, by Kusan Sunim
In the course of one’s practice it is as though one has to take hold of the hua-t’ou [Koan] two or three times anew. At the stage of emptiness when nothing at all appears, one clings to the emptiness. Likewise, at the stage of vivid quiescence and the emergence of the brilliant spiritual light, one clings to this brilliant light…
Pensive Bodhisattva
The origin of Buddha statues of this style is the figure of Prince Siddhartha in contemplation pondering the four phases of life (birth, old age, sickness, and death). Established first in India, the Pensive Bodhisattva was made in countless numbers in China but not till it came to Korea…
Investigation of the Live Word, by Taego Pou
Do not do anything (good or bad) and do not even do this not-doing; then straightaway one reaches that place where there is no concern for external affairs, that vast and peaceful place where there are absolutely no obstructing thoughts…
False Thought, by Ch’an Master Lai-kuo
The strength of false thought is great, so you ought to be afraid of it. And it is necessary that you get away from it. You want to get away from your false thought, but how much strength do you have? Its strength is waterproof; your strength only amounts to a single drop…
Happiness in Solitude, by Beopjeong Sunim
Human existence is fundamentally about being alone. We’re born alone, live life as long as we can, and then eventually die alone. Although we may live our lives connected with others, we all maintain our own individual views and belief systems. Just as we each have different facial features, our individual karmic tendencies, which direct our lives, also differ…
Silent Promise, by Beopjeong Sunim
There’s probably nothing more beautiful in this world than people relying on and trusting one another…
