6. The Teacher of Temperance

There are three things we must be disinterested in while studying.  We must be disinterested in sexual relations, money, and food.  If we are tempted by them, we will fall far away from the hwadu.  Only when one is disinterested in these thing can one wrestle with the hwadu, concentrating his mind in continuous effort.  If his mind is scattered with thought of this and that, there will be no progress in spite of ten or thirty years doubt concerning the hwadu.

An old nun in Haeinsa told me the following story.  In Haeinsa, there is a high stairway between the yard and the dharma hall. One day a very old monk was coming down the stairs from the dharma hall after offering worship to Buddha.  She supported him, for he seemed to have a hard time descending; he was trembling. As we can see here, the habituation of mind does not vary according to age, for it was developed   through thousands of rebirths in the six realms.

To one who knows that all phenomenal beings are groundless, and realizes the dharma which eradicates the karma of the three worlds, a beautiful woman is meaningless.  Her body is also composed of blood and pus.

Only one who has realized the transiency of this world can free himself from habit. If he is fettered by formalities without understanding the fundamental, and does not possess a determined mind, he will follow habit even if he lives until his hair turns white.

If the student does not stay away from these things, he will not be able to concentrate his mind on the hwadu.  If his mind is driven by something other than study, it cannot be pure.

One who is determined to be a real man must have the characteristics of one.  He must not be influenced by these trivial things.

Nowadays, life in the monastery is better than that of middle class society.  It wasn't like this in the past.  When I was twenty-nine, I stayed at Tonghwasa during the summer.  Zen master Wŏlsan, now Chief Monk of Puguksa, was the abbot of Tonghwasa at that time, and master Chŏn'gang, now departed, was the Chief Monk.  That summer around forty or fifty monks were there.  However, they sometimes had to live without a piece of tofu for two weeks.  Then one day, after a meal, the senior monks commented, "We would be satisfied if we could have one piece of tofu per week."  The head monk remained silent at this suggestion.  Although he wished to help them, there was no way he could do so.  Please compare this situation to modern life in a monastery.  Every day some tofu is served.  

When I was young, earning a living was extremely difficult due to famine. People had to draw their rations from the Japanese.  everyone experienced great misery, eating only soybean-meal rations.  Although life in a monastery was somewhat better than that in society, it was still barely adequate.  It is customary to have a banquet when someone receives the precept.  In those days, they merely celebrated with bowls of noodles.  However, nobody complained.  We were only concerned about becoming enlightened.  

Let's look at the state of things these days.  In spite of the fact that twenty or thirty monks live in this meditation hall, they ask for several types of digestive aids.  Think about why they need these aids.  They need them in order to digest, all the food they ate in a flurry.  In this way they destroy their bodies. If you gain too much weight, you will lose interest in tao and be addicted to sensual pleasures, and your mind will be incredibly disturbed by them. He who seeks the dharma must at first first be moderate in his everyday life.  If he wrestles with the hwadu from a purified life, the ardent will for dharma will accompany him, and all scattered thoughts will disappear.  Therefore, you must first reflect on your everyday life.

I used to discuss meditation every day with those who visited me to ask about their doubts, but many of them came again and spoke of impertinent matters.

I guess that is because they were attempting an unfamiliar task.  

If the meditator immerses himself in the hwadu with a true heart, he will not be exhausted.  If he practices without a true heart, he will become tired, twisted, and will faint away. If he is immersed in the hwadu with a true heart, his mind will not disperse or faint away, and he will not sense the passing of time.  At the very least, he will achieve an unscattered mind and cut off all the ordinary senses.  After continuing in this way for one week or one month or so, he will solve his hwadu all of a sudden, hearing the sound of a bell or wooden gong, and will forget even his own body. However, in my view, this place has become a useless Zen center, in which the monks consume food without producing any results.  If they spend time fainting and holding illusory thoughts, they should be shamed for consuming food.  If your hwadu is not continued consistently despite over ten hours daily sitting for three months, it is because you did not become immersed in the hwadu with a true heart. You must keep in mind that an unscattered mind is very helpful for this study.

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