6.  Transmission by Empathy

We saw the old year off and rang in the New Year. I wish you all happiness in the New Year. I am glad to say that the profound laws of Buddhas lie within ordinary people and humble things.

The great way, or the truth of Buddhas, lies in

The children of all the houses of the people,

Clad in their colorful hanbok,

Frolicking joyously;

And in the elderly people

Gathered at the sarangbang

Exchanging glasses of jŏngjong.

(*Hanbok is a traditional Korean costume; sarangpang means saloon; jŏngjong a light alcoholic beverage made from rice and enjoyed during the New Year Holidays)

These are the ordinary scenes which we may we observe among ordinary people during the course of their daily lives. Why do I say that the dharmas of Buddha lie within these things and in these people? The fact is that the truth,  the law of Buddha, does not exist outside of worldly affairs. To the eyes of the ignorant, preoccupied people, the 84,000 dharmas preached by Sakyamuni Buddha constitute the 84,000 kinds of human anguish; but to the eyes of the wise, knowledgeable believers, the roots of anguish constitute the roots of wisdom. Dancing, drinking, frolicking--all these occurrences in the everyday lives of the ordinary world are nothing but the law of Buddhas.

Sakyamuni Buddha, after becoming a Buddha, showed us the loftiest truth of all; but the people of the world, having eyes see not, having ears hear not the things he has told them. So he adopted the method of preaching the principle of hinayana. The doctrine of hinayana is the principle of sŏninsŏn'gwa aginakkwa (善因善果 惡因惡果), which propounds that good deeds bring good rewards, and bad deeds bring bad rewards. He preached the principle of hinayana for 12 years; after that he converted his teachings to the way of mahayana.

What is mahayana? Sakyamuni showed us that all appearances are void, and if seeing the truth that all  things are void, we realize that there void things are the dharma. Thereafter, on the lecture platform of Mount Grdhrakuta, Sakayamuni Buddha transmitted the supreme doctrine of Buddhist dharma to Mahakasyapa through isim chŏnsim (以心傳心), or empathic transmission, through the smile of understanding.

Thus, by the doctrine of inyŏn (因緣), or hetu pratyaya (cause=and=effect), Sakyamuni Buddha promulgated the supreme doctrine of Buddhism for 49 years, at which time he ended his worldly connection and entered the world of eternal truth. And when his form no longer existed in this world, Ananda asked Mahakasyapa,

"Do you have anything more than a golden silk kasaya, and patra (a rice bowl used by monks), inherited from Buddha?"

At this, Mahakasyapa said bluntly,

"Break the flag pole on the gate."

Ananda, enlightened by this utterance, succeeded him.

Do you understand?

一拳拳倒黃鶴樓

一踢踢翻鸚鵡洲

The Pavillion of Yellow Cranes will cave in

With a blow of my fist;

The Resort Town of Hao-pei will tumble down

With a strike of my foot.

[On the third of January,1987]

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