7.  The True Meaning of Nirvana

 

(Sŏnim Jinje showed his chujangja and opened his mouth, saying to the congregation,)

 

If you know the meaning of this chujangja,

Sakyamuni Buddha did not enter nirvana

Under the salavrksa tree;

Maitreya has not been waiting at Tusita-deva

To be born in this world after 250,000,000 years' passage.

 

Although for hundreds of millions of years the universe has undergone innumerable transformations--formations and destructions--and innumerable Buddhas have been born and delivered dharmas to  millions  of people, to the eyes of the enlightened, there is no Buddha who has been born in this world, nor has any Buddha entered nirvana.

 

二月寒食淸明後

綠樹枝上黃鶯啼

 

Hanshik and Chongmyong sit,

On the branches of green trees,

Yellow nightingales are singing.

 

>>> Return Home