Spring in Korea

cherry blossoms in Jungang Park, Daegu

When I first started teaching in Korea, I would often find myself disagreeing my students about what season it was. I would start class exclaiming, “Today is the first day of summer!” (or which ever season it was…) They would give a puzzled look, or look at me like I was crazy, and say, “No teacher, summer started in May.” Although it made sense, May in Korea is hotter than July in Nova Scotia, it’s just not when summer begins!

I would try explaining the solstice or the equinox, but to no avail. A student finally said to me, “Teacher, that’s in Canada, here is Korea!” It was a while before I stopped being stubborn enough to actually consider the possiblity. Why not? I’ve spent enough time in Thailand to see they pretty much have only two different types of summer; rainy summer and dry summer… Why does Korea have to fit into my view of how things “are”??

With my sense of the world that much broader, this was the first year in Korea that I was aware of the changing season. Last Thursday was the first day of Spring. Fitting in well with my idea of spring, the weather has suddenly stopped being cold and it’s been drizzling rain for three days now. The mountains are misty, the ground is moist, ready to sprout another year. Soon the plum blossoms will be in bloom and next the cheery trees. Winter is always welcome after the long Korean summer, but I can’t help but feel excited for spring!

Sarnath ~ the Four Noble Truths

At times, in India, I thought to myself, “It’s difficult to believe a Buddha could have ever walked here.” Other times, I thought, “Of course this is where a Buddha appeared.”  The first thing I read, when I opened my India travel guide was that even experienced travelers can become overwhelmed at times. I mentally thanked them for the advice and forged on through the pages. There were so many places to read about; Varanasi, the Taj Mahal, Darjeeling… But there were four lesser known places that I read about over and over; Sarnath, Bodh Gaya, Kushinagar, and a side trip to Lumbini, in Nepal. I saved these four places for the end of my trip. After several weeks of mixing awe with meltdowns in India, they were all places that I could escape in for long enough to catch a deep breath before diving back into the muddle. Although these sights do get visited, they are mostly aside from the major tourist destinations and manage to hold their decency. In the places associated with the Buddha, you are more likely to put your palms together and exchange a short bow with a monk  than to hold your palm over your money belt to check that it’s still in place and have a long exchange of prices with a  peddler.

The first of the places that I visited was Sarnath, where Buddha taught his first sermon. From Varanasi it was a bumpy, dusty, but short auto rickshaw ride from Varanasi. I don’t know what direction, exactly, that the Buddha entered Sarnath from, but I imagine it being a somewhat different place; perhaps a few more trees and little less dust, a few more deer and perhaps none of the fences holding them in… As history relates, it was not long after he attained enlightenment in Bodh Gaya that the Buddha made his way there. He and his companies went their separate ways when they had disagreed with Sidhartha’s choice to start eating again. He was realizing the middle way, but to his peers he must have seemed like an imbecile. When they met again in the deer park, they immediately noticed a difference in him and were ready to listen. He spoke of the middle path, avoiding extremes. He taught the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eight Fold Path. My understanding of the Nobles Truths is not deep enough to say much about it, but a basic explanation of them is simple. In the first two truths he explains suffering, the different ways that we suffer and the origins of our suffering. It is our suffering, our craving, that keeps us in the cycle of birth and death, coming back again and again. Next, though, he tells us that suffering can be ceased, we can turn the wheel in the other direction. The way to do this is by following the Noble Eightfold Path. I was told that if you truly understand the Eightfold Path, not just intellectually, but with true understanding, then you are enlightened. I’m still somewhere between the first and second, to get a glance at the third!

Of the four pilgrimage sites I visited, Sarnath was, honesty, the least inspiring. Most of the place was destroyed about 800 years ago. The one, giant stupa that remains intact is impressive and the surrounding ruins are a pleasant spot to join the local for a picnic. The zoo that’s been built-in the back did little more for me than prove the first of the Nobles Truths, and the ”deer park” is a small island of earth sounded with concrete. An old woman was there to sell you a small bunch of carrots to toss down at the deer. A few small deer stood below, licking their chops. The others lay beneath a tree, away from the noon heat.

I sat on a spot in the grass and gazed at the 44m Dhamek Stupa. A few monks, nuns, and laymen did prostrations on the lawn beside me. Whatever energy that remained there from over two and a half millennia was subtle beyond my perception. I enjoyed that moment for what it was, though. I remember the warm wind as it eased the Indian sun that saturated my face. I remember the smells that it carried with it in occasional whiffs of curry and dust, along with the sounds of the swishing leaves of the Bodhi Tree. I saw a glint of what I’d come to India for. I’d finally stopped being a tourist and began my trip as a pilgrim. I gathered myself, headed back to Varanasi, and booked a seat on the bus to Nepal the next morning.

revisiting an old post (Mahayanic Quagmire)

I wrote this in December, 2008, as I struggled with to come to an understanding of my practice. Practice, like anything, has ups and downs. When I first learned that the Buddhas and Bodhisattva I had become so invested in were, for the most part, conceptual, I was frustrating for a while but my understanding has grown since then.  I realized that the different personifications that the Mahayana Buddhas and Bodhisattva represent can be invoked within myself, and that’s where they become real. The Theravada path has been a good one for me, but I’ve stopped comparing the two as much as I did just over a year ago. Actually, the differences are mostly superficial, anyway. Some elements are emphasized differently, but they both still come down to wisdom and compassion.

The reason I’m revisiting it now is that I’ve been asked permission to have it posted elsewhere, and I find my mind has exhibited greater impermanence than the post has! The biggest difference is that the things that I was bothered by a year ago don’t really matter now. I’m no longer invested, I no longer really have much of an opinion on the subject. Re-reading it reminds me that my words became bigger than my understanding. At the same time, I remember that I wrote it in an attempt to gain some understanding. If there’s one thing I’ve grow to understand since then, it’s that our opinions and beliefs are really of no consequence  to what actually is.

Mahayanic Quagmire, first posted in December, 2008

While learning about Buddhism in Korea, the strongest influence on my discoveries has been the Mahayana tradition. The sutras are beautiful, elegant, and imperceptibly romantic. There is an abundance of Buddhas and Bodhisattva present to cover all grounds and heavenly directions.

First, to touch on just a few, there is Kwan Sae Eum Bosal (Kwan Yin in China, Avalokiteśvara in Sanskrit, represented in the flesh by Tibetans in the form of the Dalai Lama.) She/He is a perfect personification of compassion; an archetype I feel the Dalai Lama fulfills well.  If your intentions are pure, she/he will be there when you are in need.

Next, there is Amita Buddha. He made a vow a few millennium ago to strive to awaken to full enlightenment, but refrain from Nirvana until all other sentient beings are rescued from their suffering. If you chant his name with pure intention you, will be reborn in his Pure Land, an appealing place for cultivation. Some people, while in their deathbed, tie a string from their finger to a statue of Amita Buddha, so that when they die he can pull them into the Pure Land.

There is also the Medicine Buddha, who has settled his Buddha Land just across from Amita’s. Reciting his sutra earnestly and with absolute faith will cure you of any physical or mental ailments.

Then there my favorite, the green haired monk, JiJang Bosal. He didn’t create his own land anywhere, he probably noticed the Dharma Realm was running out of real estate as it was. He made a vow to go straight to Hell and establish a Zen center there to help rescue sentient beings in the lowest realms. An important difference between a Buddhist idea of Hell and a Biblical one is that in Buddhism there is no eternity. Whether you end up in the lowest states of Hell or the highest levels of Heaven, unless it is the absolute of Nirvana, eventually, you will come out of it.

I have a hunch that your state of mind at the time of death has a great deal to do with where, how,or what shape you end up in, but since first hand memory of the experience eludes me, I can’t be certain of any of the possibilities. In the end, it doesn’t matter how much you study Buddhism. The only way to progress is practice. Once again, practicing a Mahayana way is as beautiful as its Bodhisattva. It starts with a few reluctant, self-conscious bows when you are with some Korean friends at a temple, allowing etiquette to trump pride. Out of curiosity, you stay in the hall one time when you happen to be there in time for the evening ceremony. Entranced by the monk chanting mysterious sutras and the room full of lay-people, mostly woman, echoing his chants you return in the following weeks. As you get more comfortable, you begin mimicking their bows, the feeling of oneness encourages you to continue, even when your spine stiffens and your thighs start to burn. You’ve already purchased a yeom-ju (malla) as a souvenir at the temple gift shop. Eventually, someone teaches you a mantra or two and it becomes more than just a tool for counting your bows. A friend, who is also foreign, tells you about a well known American monk living in Korea who has translated some influential writing. One book leads to another and the whole dimension of Mahayana is opened to you. That’s how it more or less happened for me, anyway.

For a time, I was meditating, chanting, bowing, and attending Ye-bul at BongEunSa regularly. I was able to chant the Heart Sutra easily, about a third by heart, and with a strong effort of concentration, once followed the entire way through Cheon Su Gyung, The Thousand Hands Sutra. My mind felt clear, I had little trouble in my personal life, and I felt very happy. I picked up a really good commentary on the Heart Sutra and decided to follow it up by reading the Medicine Buddha Sutra. I had carried home a gorgeous, hand carved, bronze statue of the Medicine Buddha that I picked up in Nepal and felt it would be nice to put it to actual use. I didn’t get very far into the sutra before I started losing interest. With just a few pages to  go, I closed the book for good. It was a cute story but it just didn’t jive with me. It was too much like a fantasy and not the sound actuality that I appreciate so much about Buddhism.

I had already figured out that JiJang was a myth, but I guess it was actually reading the Medicine Buddha Sutra made me realize how contrived all these Buddhas and Bodhisattva are. Even Amita Buddha was seized from my illusions of reality and flung into the categories of myth. Having already been through this with Santa Claus, I didn’t take it too badly, but I had become rather attached to the idea and truly hoped that Amita had some historical validity. At least there was still Kwan Sae Eum.  As a personification of pure compassion, Kwan Sae Eum Bosal is something I can conceptualize. Compassion is a key element of Buddhist practice and living. By cultivating compassion within myself, through her image, as far as I’m concerned, that is not only practical, effective, and real, it is also absolutely beautiful. Is it through this means that all of them find their grains of reality? But no longer could I imagine her watching over me, like an Arch Angel of Pure Land, ready to pick me up if I fall.

The problem for me is how the sutras are presented; “Just speak my name and I will save you. Hear my name being spoken and you will be reborn in a higher realm. Chant my mantra and everything in your life will be perfect.” They were written well over a thousand years ago for farmers and peasants who possibly had little education or intellectual cultivation. I’m certain the effects it had on society were profound, compassionate, and helped guide people in right livelihood, and perhaps some to enlightenment. For me today, in this place, in this body, with this mind, at this time (all of which are subject to impermanence), it amounts to little more than Buddhism packaged in a plethora of pagan deities. Perhaps that’s how it had to manifest itself to last through the centuries, and if it still invokes people today then it still has a purpose. For me, the thunder rolled away and faded and the momentum of my practice came to an abrupt halt.

In all fairness, the Seon (Korean Zen) books that I’ve read have little, if no mention at all of mythical Buddhas and Bodhisattva and are quite focused on mind and perception, clearing the dust from the mirror. The Heart Sutra, an exception to the typical Mahayana festival of Buddhas and Bodhisattva format, the truth it transmits is profound. For over a thousand-year history in Korea, Mahayana Seon monks have taught by example and with great writings to continue  guiding and inspiring us today. They are even more numerous and inspiring to me than the mythical beings they may have taken refuge in.

Most of the mythical Buddhas actually pertain to very little of what I’ve come into contact with, other than shrines in the temples. The little I did find was enough to cause doubt, though. The faith I have in Buddhism is a trust that Siddhattha Gotama knew what he was talking about. Recently, I have discovered Theravada texts and find them nothing less than grounded and perfectly reasoned. As dry as they come across compared to Mahayana sutras, the sobriety and directness of them resonate well within me.

I’ve been told that in the Pali Cannon, there are references to Bodhisattva, and even discussions between Buddha and Brahma and that it can only be speculated how much of the Pali Cannon came directly from the Buddha. I would like to find out more about these, though, and see how they compare to the Mahayana Sutras.

blog mind

 

Last night, before going to sleep, my wife and I watched Death Proof, Quentin Tarantino’s 2007 film. As I tried to go to sleep afterwards, images from the film kept flashing by. I felt rushes of adrenaline, tension in my limbs. After losing my mind a little in Canada, I’ve done my best to return to mindfulness over the last two months. I think that made the graphic detail Tarantino films are known for that much more piercing. I returned to my breath, focussed on the air sliding along the rim of nostrils, in out, in out. The movie began to fade and as the residue of adrenaline did the same, I was left with a few moments of clarity before falling to sleep. I thought about my progress, how I still have so far to go but in the three years since I’d first been introduced to the concept of mindfulness, I’m beginning to see progress. Of course, from that thought I had to immediately avoid the sense of pride that began to arise, but I was mostly left with a happy feeling. I wanted to tell everyone starting out, as I am, that it works! It all works! You can’t think about the months, the years. They will pass regardless. Just keep going, keep going. I thought about my blog, then a thought of Marcus arose, and I passed out.

Most anyone in the Buddhist Bloglands has probably read Marcus’ Journal a few times, at least. Many of us were probably a little (or very) disappointed to see it gone. I was fortunate enough to have spent time with Marcus while he was in Korea, and though it wasn’t a long time, he is one of my dearest friends. So, even though I’ll miss reading his journal, I’m absolutely pleased with Marcus for making that choice. Marcus was the one who first gave me the idea of starting a blog. Sometimes it’s easy and the thoughts flow relevantly. Other times it’s a struggle; is this appropriate? is this suitable? how will I blog about this? This last one is a big one (hence the bold text). In an email from Marcus, he expressed the same concern, how thinking about the blog began to consume his experience. I find myself often removing myself from the present, thinking about “how to blog” the moment until I no longer even see the moment I want to write about. I’m not going to stop blogging, it’s been a good flame to temper my thoughts with, but it’s good to be aware of the attachment that arrises from it. That was the last thing that went through my mind before I slept…

Mindfulness works! and Marcus, may we enjoy every moment, in the moment!

“good die”

One of my students passed me a small, folded up piece of paper on her way out of class. I opened it to find a note, written in pink highlighter, decorated with hearts, which read, “Good die, Teacher~”

“Good die?” I questioned, as she and her friends headed down the hall. She stopped with a gasp. “Oh, no teacher. Good Bye!” Her friends laughed, and she began apologizing, worried I might be upset. ”Don’t worry! No problem.”

I couldn’t think of a nicer thing someone could wish me than a good death!

Lotto Dhamma

In Wanting Enlightenment is a Big Mistake, one of the more memorable stories, for me, was about Zen Master Seung Sahn and a few of his American students driving across the States in a van.  Stopping in Las Vegas in the wee hours of the morning to rest, Zen Master Seung Sahn stepped out of the van and went for a walk. While taking in the lights and sights of the city, his students passed out in the van. Soon, the door flung open, waking everyone up and there stood Zen Master Seung Sang urging his students to follow him. He led them into a casino and they stood there absorbing the strange environment. Next thing they know, Zen Master Seung Sahn is coming towards them with two sacks of coins in his hands and starts handing out fists full of coins to his students. When his students protested that it was against the tenets of Zen, the Zen Master replied, “These people are all trapped in Hell – the hell of their own desires. All of you are practicing the Great Bodhisattva Way, which means always having a mind that does together-action with all beings. If you do not understand their kind of Hell, how will you ever save them?”

Last week, as we were leaving the house, I notice a long, multi-legged bug (something like a millipede) by the door. I was about to scoop it up and show it the way out when EunBong protested that I should leave it in the house. She said that in Korea, if you see that bug in your house, it means you’ll have a lot of money come to you. She’d told me the same thing last year when we had one in our toilet. I’m not too keen on most superstitions, and this one is no exception, but EunBong pointed out that I did get my severance pay the same week that we’d seen the insect before. Anyway, at least this superstition saves insects from being squished, and I thought the path of least resistance would be to leave it alone.

That night, the little critter was crawling all the walls of my dreams, and had grown about three times the size. It ever grew crab arms! When I told EunBong about the dream she said we had to go buy a lotto ticket! My mind went back to a few days earlier. I took the green bus home from work because it was 200 won (about 17 cents) cheaper, but dropped me off about a 25 minute walk from home. Walking through the cold, I looked up and did something I hoped I’d never do… I said, ” If Gwan Se Eum Bosal really is listening, can’t you help me win the lottery or something!” I always thought it was wrong to seek money through spirituality, but that day, I did it… My wife, a devout Gwan Se Eum Bosalist, must have rubbed off on me a little! I actually started to think that maybe she was answering me. Again, that night I had a dream that we won the lottery, 2.4 million dollars to be exact, and I really started being convinced. We even started talking as if we’d already won, making plans what we would do with the money; help my dad retire, buy a house for EunBong’s parents, help Haiti, build a temple, travel for a few years and settle where ever we like best!

Friday night came and I took a step back. I watched my mind, saw the suffering we were setting ourselves up for. I thought about Zen Master Seung Sahn with his students in Las Vegas, I hoped EunBong wouldn’t be too disappointed. She really believe me when I said I thought we would win. Before Fina was born, I was meditating everyday. I would tell her my thoughts about her and her friend’s lives and they would be true. But my mind hasn’t be very clear since, and I would actually be disappointed in myself if I used meditation for something like winning the lotto.

We waited in front of the TV, Korean Lotto 6/45 tickets in hand, until 7:50, when they showed the lotto results, wondering if our lives would be changed. The first number came and we had it. I thought, “Is this for real?” but the rest of the numbers came up one by one and we had none of them. I asked EunBong if she was okay and she told me that she was relived. Although she’d lost sleep that week, excited that we would win, she was also afraid of what might happen if we did. I took the remote and changed the channel, again with Zen Master Seung Sahn’s words in mind. At least, now I understand this level of suffering, I can help save others.

right speech

After spending last week writing about the precepts, and especially right speech, I got home Thursday evening to my wife upset about an argument  she’d had with her mom, which boiled over to her father, then I got thrown into it, guilty by association, I suppose. The cause of the fighting came down entirely to harmful speech; gossip, lies, and things said out of anger. On most other days, I probably would have thrown myself right into it, and added to the suffering, but I just happened to have been a little more mindful that day. Instead of saying anything, I listened to the story, why everyone was angry, then I told her about how I’d been thinking a lot about right speech and how everything that day could have been avoided by it. Not long after, she called her parents, and had a similar talk with them, and just like that, everything was okay again. The whole thing just reaffirmed to me how much more peaceful our lives could be if we maintained right speech.

So many times, I say I’m going to do something, and life seems to give me the perfect opportunity to fail. I said I would focus on right speech, one day at a time,  and I did pretty well. The next thing I should work on is the speech that goes through my mind when my baby won’t stop screeching. About 99% of it stays there but the 1% that gets out is bad enough!

postcepts

My thoughts have been really caught on precepts the last few days.

As I said before, and many would agree, Right Speech is the biggest challenge. It sometimes takes a lot of mindfulness to even realize when you are about to break it. Seemingly harmless gossip, simple comments, observations and criticism, even when truthful can still be harmful if not worded properly. So many of us are too fond of expressing our own opinions, not keeping silent. Even while writing this blog, it’s the only precept I have to practice, and sometimes catch myself, or not, breaking it. I’m tempted to say that I will focus for one week to uphold this precept, but once the week is over, it would be meaningless. Instead, I will focus one day at a time to practice right speech. The weeks and months will pass regardless.

I became a little sarcastic talking about precepts 6~10. I realize the value of them, but I also realized I wouldn’t follow them! Not eating after noon seems like the most difficult. When I don’t eat I lose focus, get shaky, dizzy and irritable very easily, and have a hard time having conversation. What I could do, though, is focus on eating more sustainable foods earlier in the day, and eating less at night. I can see how this plays into the not over sleeping precept. If I woke up a couple hours earlier, I could prepare a decent meal in the morning and still get to work on time. I also think about today’s diet compared to a diet 2500 years ago. So much of what people consume today I can barely consider as food.

Entertainment, dancing, music… Those would be very difficult for me to let go of, but I can easily see how peaceful life would be if I were to. They are all very distracting to mindfulness. Sitting meditation would replace entertainment, walking meditation or something like Thai Chi (a moving meditation) would become dance, and listening to the moment would be music.

thank you~ comments on precepts

 

I’d like to thank  Marcus, ChongGo Sunim, Joe, Barry, and Ashin Sopāka for their comments on my last couple of posts. It’s difficult to trust online searches for accurate information. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience, helping me along the way~

I’d like to post the responses for anyone else who may not have read them:

Hi Joseph,

Lovely post! Thank you!

But I think the next 3 precepts you mention are the Therevadan ones. In the Mahayanan tradition the next five precepts go something like this:

6. I vow not to talk about the faults of others.
7. I vow not to praise myself and disparage others.
8. I vow not to be covetous, but to be generous.
9. I vow not to give way to anger, but to be harmonious.
10. I vow not to slander the three jewels.

But yes, you know, I think they’re all there in the first five, especially the one about right speech, which is – for me too – by far the most difficult!

So yes, I’ll join you on the anniversary of our refuge by re-dedicating myself to those first five. Thank you so much for the inspiration Joseph!

With palms together,

Marcus

 

Hi Joseph,
The precepts 6-10 that you’re thinking of are the traditional precepts for renunciates, ie monks and nuns.
The only addition I would make to Marcus’ expression of the precepts would be number 8, which I think of as “I vow not to withhold material or spiritual aid”

To me, the original 6-10 are mostly for the daily life of monastics, where as the Mahayana 6-10 are more expressions of our fundamental nature and are good for everyone, monastics included!

with palms together,
Chong Go

 

Hi Joseph,
I’ve heard a number of times that if one can fully keep the spirit of the first five precepts, they’ll naturally uphold all of the rest of the precepts.
While these five look like they’re just addressing harmful behaviors, they’re also deep expressions of our interconnectedness. With, for me, 5 more specific reminders about the most common things people get hung up on. (These being the Mahayana precepts 6-10.)

 

HI Joseph,

Precepts 6-10 are for laypeople, usually taken on Uposatha Days (full, quarter, new moons) or other days of special significance – Vesak Day, funerals, etc. In Myanmar, there are also a lot of older, retired folks who take 8-10 precepts for the duration of their lives and adhere to them pretty strictly. Should a precept be broken, there is no worldly penalty.

That said, these precepts are also codified in the Vinaya for monastics and are much more detailed, e.g. specifying the height of the bed, the types of materials for sheets and blankets, etc, but in this case they become rules, the breaking of which entail some sort of “worldly” penalty, like expiation and forfeiture.

Ashin Sopāka

Love the photo.

The last three are traditionally taken by (serious) laypeople on new and full moons in SE Asia, as I’m sure Marcus knows. Once or twice a month it wouldn’t be a bad idea. The no-eating means no food after noon. I think it was meant to allow the monks a clearer mind for meditation. It’s difficult to concentrate after eating. It’s amazing to me these monks can live until their 90s, having eaten only two meals a day!

 

The precepts (6-10) provided by Marcus are nearly identical to those used by Zen Master Seung Sahn. In the Kwan Um School tradition, students can take 5, 10, 16, and 64 precepts, provided that they meet the related criteria.

In my own training, I work with the precepts as tools for the examination of my relationships with the world around me.

I take it for granted that I will make mistakes. The precepts help me gain awareness of the mistakes and troubles I create. Through this, I might shift a little closer to the fundamental precepts of “do no harm, try to help.” It’s ongoing work.

more or less on precepts

 

Thanks to Marcus and ChongGo Sunim, I’ve been further educated on the second set of precepts.

The ones that I found online are intended for someone wishing to become a monk or nun, rather than someone like myself. They are also the traditional precepts of the Theravada tradition. As Marcus pointed out, if I were to take the next five precepts in the Mahayana tradition, they would be more or less as follows:

6. I vow not to talk about the faults of others.
7. I vow not to praise myself and disparage others.
8. I vow not to be covetous, but to be generous with material or spiritual aid.
9. I vow not to give way to anger, but to be harmonious.
10. I vow not to slander the three jewels.

These precepts seem very reasonable to me, actually. I still feel like I need to focus on the first five, for now, however. When I feel as though I’ve done well by them, the next five would be a good step.