16. The Right Lineage (正脈) of the Supreme Vehicle (向上)

 

[Ascending the Dharma seat and holding up his Seon stick to the assembly:]

 

How many people have known this Seon stick?

None of the sages of past, present or future recognize it.

This Seon stick transforms into a golden dragon,

Whose responses are limitless and occur entirely at will.

 

這箇拄杖幾人會

三世諸聖總不識

一條拄杖化金龍

應化無邊任自在

 

Dragons are spiritual beings; they can create a high mountain one moment or dissolve it the next; they can bring rain or drive it off. Likewise, if you attain the whole truth of this Seon stick, you will acquire total freedom in utilizing the profound truth of the Buddha when beginning or ending a teaching session of the Dharma; giving it to or taking it away from myriads people; or even giving or taking life.

This mountain monk broke through a hwadu (話頭) at the age of 27 and composed the above verse (gāthā). When my teacher Master Hyanggok Hyerim (香谷蕙林 1912-1978) read it, he didn't ask any questions about the first half of the verse, but inquired about the last two lines, "What would you do if a Garuda, which swallows dragons, suddenly appeared before you?"

I answered, "I would bow from my waist out of my perplexity and withdraw three steps."

To this, Master Hyanggok said, "That is so right!"

 

I would like to offer my sincere congratulations on this great day. This international academic conference on Ganhwa Seon (看話禪) is being held in the presence of many distinguished scholars and Seon practitioners from Korea and overseas. The venue of this significant conferenceis Dongguk University, which has dedicated itself to the development of Buddhist studies. Korea is especially known to have inherited the Buddha's penetrating wisdom in the form of Seon Buddhism.  

I have offered an attentive ear to the presentations given for the past two days. They clarified the thought and history of Seon practice, the method of practice of the treasury of the true Dharma eye (正法眼藏). Your achievements and dedication will be long cherished. I am glad to share this truly joyful moment with all of you.

 

Today I would like to say a few words about the practice of Ganhwa Seon. I respectfully ask you to listen carefully and keep these words as a precious treasure in your life. Further, I sincerely hope you will see the true nature of your mind and illuminate your own true self.

The practice of Ganhwa Seon begins with keeping single-mindedly a sincere doubt on the Buddhadharma. It means to have an earnest doubt about these truths, which were given by a virtuous teacher who attained complete enlightenment. Therefore, among other things you must receive a hwadu from a virtuous teacher.

The true Buddhadharma can be yours only when you find your true self. All sentient beings must dedicate their lives to finding their true self. The true self plays the role of "Master" (K. Juin’gong) from time immemorial. Thus, finding the true self is the best hwadu for all people.

If you already have a hwadu given by a virtuous master, please take it up. For those of you who don't have a hwadu, I will give you one today.

"What is my true self before I was born to my parents?"

Take up this hwadu and earnestly work with it whether you are awake or asleep. You should persevere in your efforts so that your hwadu may continue like flowing water in your daily lives, without any interruptions. If single-minded concentration does not present itself, there's no prospect of awakening. Through countless previous lives you have accumulated the karmic predispositions (vāsanā) that sentient beings create and are for this reason you are preoccupied all your life with the four kinds of daily necessities (viz., clothing, food, shelter, medicine) and upon arriving at the shore of birth and death, you cannot command perfect freedom.

In order to extinguish karmic predispositions and karmic consciousness, you should develop single-minded concentration on the hwadu (話頭一念) over many days, months and years. When your practice matures enough, you won't notice the time passing whether you are walking, standing, sitting, or lying down. In this way you will forget about everything and immerse yourself in your hwadu, and then suddenly you will penetrate your hwadu the moment you see a certain object or hear a certain sound. Then you will feel an indescribably great power burst out from within.

This power extinguishes all the karma from your past, present and future and gives you clear eyes. Then you will become a person of "The Way" and a Buddha. This path to enlightenment can only be found in the Buddhadharma. Compared to this path, other religions only provide a means of pacifying children's cries. Therefore I advise you not to be slack in your vigilance when you practice so that you may attain great enlightenment.

 

About 70 or 80 years ago some monks who had aroused the aspiration for enlightenment assembled at Mangweol Monastery in Yangju and organized a 30-year practice movement. Monks with aspiring minds flocked in from all over Korea. They had Master Yongseong (龍城震鍾 1864-1940) as their guiding teacher; Master Seogu (石友 1875-1958), who had been appointed the 1st Supreme Patriarch of Jogye Order, as the senior meditator and Master Unbong (雲峰性粹 1889-1946), the Dharma heir of Master Hyeweol (慧月 1862-1937), as the rector. As it was a time of extreme poverty, they lived on rice and kimchi alone throughout the winter while whole heartedly engaging in Seon practice.

One day, one and half months into the three-month winter retreat, the guiding teacher ascended the Dharma seat and began his Dharma talk. "Even the Buddha cannot see my true face, nor can all the generations of sages. Monks in this assembly! Where can you see my true face?"

Master Unbong stood and responded to this splendid question, "It hid itself inside the glass pot."

Seon Master Yongseong immediately descended from the Dharma seat in silence and went back to his room.

More than 40 years ago, my teacher, Master Hyanggok questioned me about this incident. "If you had been Master Yongseong at the time, what would you have said to Master Unbong when he responded, 'It hid itself inside the glass pot.'?" My teacher asked me this because if Master Yongseong had examined the answer before descending from the Dharma seat, it would have given an added grace.

So I said, "A lion gave its best roar."

With great joy my teacher said, "That's a wonderful examination."

 

Master Man’gong Weolmyeon (滿空月面 1871-1946) used to hold Dharma assemblies at Sudeok Monastery teaching many Seon practitioners. One day in early fall he was having a conversation with Seon practitioners when a bird flew over the tip of the eaves. He asked the assembly, "How far does that bird fly in a day?"

Nobody responded except Man’gong’s student, Master Boweol Seongin (寶月性印 1884-1924): "The bird didn't leave the eaves by even an inch."

Master Man’gong was overjoyed and praised it as a great answer.

Of course it isn't easy to give a correct answer suited to a situation in a spontaneous manner. Master Man’gong passed on the Dharma to his cherished student Boweol. However, as Master Boweol passed away too early, Master Man’gong transmitted the Dharma to Master Geumo (金烏 1896-1968) on behalf of Boweol so that the lineage could continue.

 

After Master Man’gong passed away, the post of the guiding teacher was vacant for some time. Finally Master Gobong (古峰 1890-1961) was given the post. When he was approaching the Dharma seat for the first time to give a Dharma talk, Master Geumo suddenly rose from his seat and held the lower edges of Gobong's robe and said, "Please say a word before you ascend to the Dharma seat!"

"Let go of my robe!" Master Gobong said.

Master Geumo asked again, "Please say a word before you ascend to the Dharma seat!"

Again Master Gobong only said, "Let go of my robe!"

In a nutshell this confirmed that he was not qualified to be a guiding teacher. If one is requested to say a word, one must readily give it without hesitation. However, if your eyes are not fully opened, this may happen. So rare is it to have the ability to give a spontaneous response that is correctly adapted to the circumstance that even stone men or iron men would sweat. Among the truths the Buddha taught, there is the truth of the Dharmakaya (法身), the truth of Tathāgata Seon (如來禪) and the supreme truth that leads upwards [toward enlightenment] (hyangsang 向上). The guiding teacher was not able to give a response because he didn't have the true eye that led upwards. Those who have penetrated through a single phrase of this vehicle will not lose their dignity even if they are confronted by 1,000 Buddhas and 10,000 patriarchs. This is seeing the nature of mind and the foundation on which the Buddhas and the patriarchs have carefully passed down the Dharma. Therefore, a teacher whose eyes are not awakened will blind the eyes of everyone else.

About 40 years ago Master Hyanggok also asked me about this incident. "If you had been Master Gobong at the time, what would you have said when Master Geumo held your robe and demanded that you say a word before you ascended the Dharma seat?"

I immediately gave a roar of thunder, "Aaak!"

"With this capacity as a Dharma vessel, you will blind the eyes of all residents of Busan."

Only clear-eyed masters of eminence can examine the advance of a practitioner in this way. So I said, "It's the fault of this young disciple."

Master Hyanggok said, "No, it's the fault of this old monk."

 

In its essence, the Seon of the Southern Tradition is a world apart from that of the Northern Tradition. The Buddha established the way for his followers by saying, "Those who claim they became enlightened on their own without any teachers are demons and heretics." Thus you shouldn't say you have seen all of the ten directions when you have only seen the east, and in reality exclude the vast, limitless world of truth. Only when you meet a clear-eyed teacher, can you complete this work in this life. Otherwise, you will have to idle away many more lifetimes. The absence of formal recognition from a clear-eyed teacher means that you are not yet capable of teaching the profound Buddhadharma. If you still teach in spite of having no formal recognition, you will end up blinding ten-thousand people.

 

Once I investigated the hwadu, "Xiangyan up a tree."

When I finally broke through this hwadu after grappling with it for two years and five months, I was able to respond immediately to any Dharma talk. After some time, though, I was stuck again when faced with the Dharma words of Master Mazu (馬祖道一 707-786), "Sun-faced Buddha, Moon-faced Buddha."

After working with this hwadu for more than five years, I had another breakthrough and recited the following verse.

 

One strike of this Seon stick knocks Vairocana over on his head,

One thunderous shout wipes away ten million cases

In this a small thatched hut, I stretch out my legs,

A fresh breeze over the ocean is eternally renewed.

                                     

一棒打倒毘盧頂

一喝抹却千萬則

二間茅庵伸脚臥

海上淸風萬古新

 

When I wrote down this verse and offered it to Master Hyanggok, he said, "This verse completely contains the legacy of Linji (臨済義玄 d. 866)," and passed his Dharma on to me.

 

Master Hyanggok established a Seon Hall at Myogwaneum Monastery near Korea's east coast and greatly enhanced the tradition of the "right lineage that leads upwards [toward enlightenment]."

At the end of the summer retreat of 1967 Master Hyanggok ascended to the Dharma seat to give a Dharma talk. I went forward, offered three prostrations and asked: "I'd like to ask a question to the honorable Seon Master. I don't want to ask about what all the Buddhas and the patriarchs knew. However, I humbly ask you to give a word of profound truth that all the Buddhas and the patriarchs did not know."

"Nine times nine equals eighty-one," he said.

"That is truth that the Buddhas and the patriarchs already knew," I said.

"Six times six equals thirty-six," he said.

Without either affirmation or denying his answer, I bowed and withdrew.

"Today's Dharma talk is already delivered," he said.

Then Master Hyanggok descended from the Dharma seat in silence and returned to his room.

The next day, I visited Master Hyanggok in his room and with appropriate respect asked, "I'm not going to ask about the Buddha eye (佛眼) and the wisdom eye (慧眼). However, what is the eye of this patched-robe monk?"

"An old Bhiksuni congenitally performs women’s work" (師姑元來女人做).

Then I said, "Today I saw you in person for the first time."

Master Hyanggok asked, "Where did you see me?"

I said, "Check! (關)."

Saying, "That’s right, that’s right!," Master Hyanggok bestowed on me a Dharma Transmission Verse (傳法偈); I was 33 years old at the time:

 

Entrustment to the Dharma Successor (Jangsil) Jinje Beobwon

 

The great live word of the buddhas and patriarchs,

Can be neither transmitted nor received.

Today I entrust this live word to you,

Whether you hold it or release it is entirely up to you.

 

付 眞際法遠 丈室

佛祖大活句

無傳亦無受

今付活句時    

收放任自在

 

This is the transmission that has been passed down from the Buddha.

 

Four days before he passed away, Master Hyanggok went around to many monasteries and asked questions about the "Alms Round Conversation" (臨濟托鉢話) from the Dharma talks of Master Linji. Linji was a great teacher from China who inherited the mind-seal of the Buddha.

One day Master Linji went out asking for alms and knocked on the gate of a house. An old woman opened the gate and asked, "What do you want?"

Master Linji said, "I've come to beg for alms."

The old woman said, "You are a shameless monk."

Master Linji said, "How can you say I am shameless when you offered no alms?"

Without a word the old woman slammed the gate on him and went inside the house. Master Linji returned in silence.

Master Hyanggok visited different guiding teachers all over the country and asked about this Dharma talk. "If you had been Master Linji at the time, what would you have said to the old woman when she slammed the gate on you?"

Not a single answer was good enough. One guiding teacher said, "Sages of the past never commented on or examined this Dharma talk."

Master Hyanggok pressed him by saying, "Although ancients never commented on this, you should be able to say something when asked." Only then did he say a few words.

I was walking in the yard of Haeunjeong Monastery in Busan when my teacher Master Hyanggok arrived. The moment he saw me he asked the same question. "If you had been Master Linji at the time, what would you have said to the old woman when she slammed the gate on you?"

Without waiting to be seated in a room and receiving my prostrations, he asked me this question standing in the yard. I could guess that he had not been satisfied with the attainments of those guiding teachers he had visited so far.  So I said the following:

 

For thirty years I jested at riding a horse,

Today I was gored by a donkey.

 

三十年來弄馬騎

今日却被驢子撲

 

Master Hyanggok held my hands in joy and said, "Indeed you are my disciple!" This was the conversation we had four days before he passed away. I was 46 years old at the time.

Master Hyanggok once said, "Jinje must have played a lot in this garden of Dharma in previous lives."

Answering readily when faced with these checkpoints of the Buddhas and the patriarchs is not an easy task. It is said that Dharma dialogues make even stone men and iron men sweat. When you truly attain the correct eye of clarity, an answer from the heart can be produced spontaneously, and you can be called an enlightened person who understands this matter. That's why all Buddhas and sages recognized only those who could readily give correct answers when given one phrase from a Dharma talk. They said "No" relentlessly to those who were stuck for an answer.

 

Participants in today's assembly! When you investigate a phrase from a true Dharma talk in your mind, your enormous karma from the past, present and future will melt away like spring snow. Then this Dharma talk you have investigated will be able to sprout and bear fruit. Therefore you should not waste your precious time driven by worldly matters. Over countless lifetimes, this Dharma of enlightenment is only rarely encountered. If you don't see the nature of mind in this lifetime, it will be truly impossible to meet this Law of Truth again. The Buddhadharma helps you find your true self without discriminating between men or women, old or young, and without being restricted by time and space. As long as you continue to concentrate on a hwadu, there is bound to be a moment of awakening. I urge all of you in this assembly not to waste time being distracted by worldly matters. Rather I earnestly pray that you investigate a hwadu and attain great enlightenment, becoming great men who rank with the 1,000 Buddhas and the 10,000 patriarchs.

What will be the single phrase of the ultimate?

 

A single bright pearl shines over heaven and earth.

The luster of true gold tempered a hundred times will never change.

 

一顆明珠輝乾坤

百鍊眞金色不變

 

[Hitting the Dharma seat once with his Seon stick, he descended.]

 

[the 13th of August, 2010]

 

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