7. The Teacher in the Hwadu Exploration

Jinje : Today a biksuni called on me and spoke all kinds of nonsense trying to prove her enlightenment, saying, "I am enlightened." However, I discovered that all she had discovered was mere fantasy, and I told her that she was far from "knowing" something. I advised her to make another attempt.  She accepted what I had told her. But even a well-learned dharma teacher will be useless for one who does not accept his teaching. Students must accept it willingly when a well-learned person says, "No." If he has doubts or is obstinate, he will spend his time without producing anything.  As long as you are staying here, you must discard everything you have learned in the past, accept all the teachings with a pure mind, and inquire into them with a true heart.  In this way, you will obtain something without fail.  These days, people often say, "Empty your mind."  If you study with a genuine mind after letting your mind be empty, your study will be renewed day after day.

Now I would like to give you a chance to ask questions about your doubts concerning the hwadu.

Senior monk 1 : In my understanding up to now, meditation practice, no matter what the hwadu, continues up to the state of perfect enlightenment, as long as we have thoroughly realized the depth of the hwadu.  However, you said that although you solved the hwadu of hyangŏm sangsuhwa two years after you visited Hyanggok, you became stuck by the second hwadu and were not able to penetrate the truth for five years.  Doesn't this mean that you were not able to become enlightened with the first hwadu, since each hwadu differs in its depth? If so, don't you think that the true seeker must immerse himself not in the shallow but in the deepest hwadu from the beginning? Would you answer this clearly?

Jinje : There are Dharma-kaya hwadu and Tathagata hwadu; the ultimate hwadu and the second-best hwadu; the first hwadu and the last hwadu; one-phrase hwadu, two-phrase hwadu and three-phrase hwadu.  Thus, patriarchs always select the best hwadu for students and do not select Dharma-kaya hwadu.

If we examine the successive patriarchs, many of them were enlightened two or three times.  In some cases they became enlightened suddenly, without immersion in no-mind samadhi.  If the participant cannot solve the hwadu while immersed in no-mind samadhi for one month, two months, or one year, he may become enlightened in this way.  In this case, the power of the enlightenment is weak and he is not able to understand each individual dharma question, so he must become immersed in the hwadu again.  Because of this, some of patriarchs were enlightened two or three times.  Only when the participant receives the ultimate hwadu and solves while immersed in no-mind samadhi can he become enlightened without doubt and need no further enlightenment.  

Senior Monk 2 : You are talking about no-mind samadhi.  At that time are you in the state of samadhi of non-difference between asleep and awake?

Jinje : Both no-mind samadhi and the samadhi of non-difference between asleep and awake mean the continuity of unscattered mind.  When a sincere doubt suddenly arises and the unscattered mind of the hwadu appears before the participant's eyes, he immerses himself in samadhi and his mind is not dispersed, whether asleep or awake.

Senor Monk 3 : Is this the same state as that of the Buddha when he became enlightened after seeing the stars in the early morning?  If you lie in answering this, you shall fall into the hell of endless suffering.  

Jinje : Ha! ha! ha!  Sure, sure, you are right.  We used to say that we found our nature.  The Buddha became enlightened by finding his nature, and the successive toins also became enlightened by finding their own natures.  There is no difference in finding the nature.  Thus we are told that the man who insists on being enlightened is a devil or heretic.  The Buddha told us we needed to obtain approval from a Zen master who succeeded to the dharma.  Nobody can say, "I have become enlightened by myself."  Therefore, our tradition requires the master's approval in order to prevent false claims or lies.

Senior Monk 3 : I believe that if you are enlightened you must be a great man and thus be free from all restrictions.  You don't have to use the old monks' sayings, such as "Tŏksan t'akpalhwa," or "ilmyŏnbul wŏlmyŏnbul."  Why don't you invent new hwadu appropriate to these times and people's abilities, thus helping many smart monks to become enlightened?

Jinje :  Ha! ha!  Didn't I say that the hwadu is not anything else.  The realm that the Buddhas and patriarchs showed people is the koan.  How is there old and new in the realm of truth? Think about this.  How imperfect was the Buddha that he could not produce many good disciples like Kasyapa?  Ananda, the disciple who accompanied Buddha throughout his life, was so bright that he never forgot what he heard.  Then why could Buddha not make him an enlightened toin who had found his nature?  According to your argument, Kasyapa should be superior to the Buddha, for Ananda was not able to became enlightened by the Buddha but only became so after being beaten by Kasyapa.  

Then what do you think about the following?  While transmitting the dharma to Kasyapa after seeing that Kasyapa's mind's eye had opened, the Buddha said, "I transfer the esoteric mind of nirvana to see the truth."  We must think about why Kasyapa transmitted the dharma to Ananda from among so many other people.  It is because they understood each other. This is the dharma lineage which is transmitted from generation to generation.  The dharma is transmitted only to a select group of people.  

The fourth patriarch did not have an understanding disciple and thus was not able to transmit the dharma for a while.  When he finally found an old man in his eighties who understood him, he asked the old man to change his body to that of young person and then transmitted the dharma.  However, the fifth patriarch transmitted the dharma to the sixth, as soon as they understood each other, when the sixth was only a probationer.

Monk Taego Pou obtained the dharma from Sung China and transmitted it to the Korean Peninsula through several generations.  This dharma was discontinued for over one hundred years in the late Chosŏn Dynasty, until it was revived by Kyŏnghŏ.  After this, the dharma became the ultimate dharma through Hyanggok.  If the seeker receives this dharma, he will never fail.

Senior Monk 3 : Let me ask you about this very point.  You said that the dharma was developed one more time by Hyanggok, but isn't the Buddha's dharma that of sudden enlightenment and practice?  The dharma which was developed as ultimate by Hyanggok would also be the Buddha's dharma, that of sudden enlightenment and practice.  Does this then mean that the Buddha's dharma was not passed down correctly before Hyanggok?  How do you know that the ultimate dharma was completed by Hyanggok?

Jinje : Right.  With the ultimate dharma the meditator obtains sudden enlightenment and practice, but the Korean Zen monks only knew the realm of dharma body and the letter-hwadu, not the ultimate hwadu.  Several masters, including Taego Pou and Hwanam Hŏnsu, obtained the dharma directly from China; their insights into truth were highly intellectual.  However, their intellectual tradition was discontinued, and sudden enlightenment and practice became stagnated.  Not until Hyanggok and Sŏngch'ŏl became convinced of the ultimate truth did the Korean Zen tradition became transformed into sudden enlightenment and practice; in this way, the Buddha's fundamental truth was revived.

The learned man can recognize the hindrances of unenlightened men with a single word, but other people cannot see this by looking at them directly. Nowadays, many modern Zen monks' sermon collections are published, but I can find the ultimate hwadu in none of them.  None of them have proclaimed the great hwadu, such as the hwadu of "Tŏksan t'akpalhwa," or of "ilmyŏnbul wŏlmyŏnbul."  They have no knowledge of these.

Do you understand?  You must become immersed in the hwadu, just like a foolish idiot.  When other people become idiots once, you must do so ten times.  If you solve the hwadu in this way, you can then see the world clearly.

Senior Monk 3 : I read a book which related the following story.  When Sŏngch'ŏl asked Hyanggok about something, Hyanggok stayed with the question for three weeks until he solved it.  However, when he solved it, it turned out that Sŏngch'ŏl himself did not know the meaning of the question.  Would you explain this in detail?

Jinje : It is as you read.  One Buddhist epigram says, "When you kill the dead man, you see the living man; and, with all your effort, when you restore the dead man to life, you see the dead man."  Sŏngchŏl asked Hyanggok about this. Hyanggok was struck by this and devoted himself to practice night and day.

One day he stood by the handrail of a tower, leaning upon it; he was so immersed in the hwadu that he didn't realize that it was raining heavily.  Residing in samadhi and forgetting his own body for three weeks, like an idiot, he suddenly experienced a remarkable spiritual awakening after seeing his hands swinging while walking in the monastery. When he awakened, he recognized that Sŏngch'ŏl himself did not understand the question he had asked, and thus he struck him.  They helped each other become enlightened in this way.  With these two monks' enlightenment the essence of the Lin-chi tradition was revived in Korean Zen history.  

Senior Monk 4 : Let me ask you something.  The Buddha's sermons appear simple, and I assume that this is because he preached to everybody.  However, the koan is too difficult to understand.  It is like I am walking in the black night.  I cannot even have doubt.  I would like to say this, based on what the Buddha said:

  Enlightenment:

  If you have eyes, you see it,

  If you have ears, you hear it,

  If you have legs, you walk on it,

  Since people's eyes are blocked by desire, they do not see it.

The Buddha's sayings mean simply this.  However, your teachings are too difficult to be understood.  How can I thoroughly understand them and see the world of truth clearly?

Jinje : Not only mine, but also other Zen masters' sermons pierce your mind, just as arrows do.  The Buddha's sayings are pedagogical, based on his great compassion, to cajole people, like crying babies.  All his sermons of forty nine years are pedagogical and not dharmas.  On the other hand, Zen masters' sermons pierce listeners' minds very painfully, and the participants raise doubt from there.  With this, they may enter samadhi and extinguish their karma. Thus, the meditator must accept the Zen masters' sayings as gold.  He must trust, follow, practice, and receive them.  If he doubts them, even a 100 years of residence at the monastery is useless. When you meet a learned monk, you must follow his teaching sincerely and continue your study consistently, with an unmoving mind, like a mountain.

Ananda, who followed and served the Buddha throughout his life, was the most learned person among all the Buddha's disciples.  One day he asked Kasypa about something, since he could not understand the Buddha's real message. "Did Buddha transmit anything other than the golden surplice?"

"Take down the pole in front of the door," Kasyapa answered, and Ananda climbed up on a high rock and devoted himself to practice until he realized the meaning of Kasyapa's saying.

Zen masters' words are like this.  With this very phrase, Ananda solved the problem and succeeded Kasyapa.

The thousands of Buddhas' and Zen masters' teachings are all the same.  Thus has the dharma been transmitted up to now.  Since Ma-ch'ao had a unique spirituality not shared by other Zen masters, his teaching of Zen was more prosperous and many toins appeared after him.  

If a man of deep belief, great talent and ardor for seeking the dharma hears this message, his mind may be opened widely by a learned monk's single word. Although you are all practicing meditation now, my sermons are not being received.  For you have a doubting mind like a fox.  If you want to learn this truth, you must empty your mind and receive the teacher's entire instruction. His instruction must become the basis of your spirit.  You must abandon all your discursive knowledge.  If you remember this, you will obtain great benefits.

Senior Monk 5 : Here at Haun Chŏngsa, the statue of Avalokitesvara is placed as the main Buddha, and Samantabhadra, Manjusri, Amitabha and Bhaisajvaguru-vaidurya are at the left and right of the dharma hall.  Because of this placement, I heard that Haeun Chŏngsa gives a bad impression to people. Why do you take Avalokitesvara as the main Buddha statue?  And why do you not offer incense to the Arhats who attended the Buddha's sermon on Grdhrakuta mount?

Jinje : Although Avalokitesvara is the main Buddha statue, the statue of Sidharta Buddha is placed on top of Avalokitesvara.  The ten disciples and all the boddhisattavas are the incarnation of Sidharta Buddha in this pedagogical method for enlightenment.  Therefore, we serve all the incarnations of Buddha and adopt Sidharta Buddha as a pedagogical method, in order to teach people. Since you don't understand this, you think the way you do.

When the administrative monks compose offering essays for the Buddha, they mention Hinayana arhats before the Zen patriarchs.  This is wrong.  Since the order is wrong I have omitted it.  Hinayana should not belong to the monastery order.

Senior Monk 5 : I understand.

Senior Monk 6 : When I get up in the early morning, I use the time to check up on the hwadu.  However, while doubting it, I am constantly thinking of women. I make efforts to immerse myself in the  hwadu all the time and go to bed remembering the hwadu, but still the desire for women resides in my mind.  I believe that I could concentrate my mind on the hwadu if I could remove this desire..... How can I do that?

Jinje : When we are young, we waste much time with the desire for women.  All sentient beings, whether man or animal, have sexual desire, for they all have karma which has accumulated through their several previous lives.  As when we see something good we want it, desire arises naturally from your mind when you see a woman.  That is why I said that one determined for the truth must be disinterested in both money and women.  This is a strict rule.  You cannot become enlightened while desiring either money or women.

Our bodies are composed of blood and pus.  Even a woman of boundless beauty is no exception.  Nevertheless, we fell into this vain trap throughout our previous lives and did not have the chance to become enlightened until now. You should not spend your time in an illusory dream.  Try to make your mind determined, thinking, "I will be disinterested in that vain woman's body," and devote yourself to immersion in the hwadu.  If you add vigor to your effort, and the unscattered mind appears in front of your eyes, earthly thoughts will no longer arise.  If you still have these earthly thoughts, it's because you do not have the vigor which comes from being immersed in the hwadu, and thus the karma from your previous lives arises. I always say that if you remember the hwadu sincerely, scattered thinking will disappear.  Good luck!

Senior Monk 7 : Let me ask you something.  When we practice the hwadu, you said we should place it in front of the eyes.  What is wrong with putting it in the upper or lower abdomen?  

Jinje : If you put the hwadu in the head, it will become tense as the chi rises. Then  your head will feel extremely heavy and you will experience great difficulty in immersing yourself in the hwadu. However, if you put it below your eyes and immerse yourself in the hwadu, the chi will not go up, and you will feel comfortable.

Some teachers say to become immersed in the hwadu by putting it in the lower abdomen.  This is possible if you are sitting.  However, we are not sitting for twenty-four hours.  The continuity of an unscattered mind is possible only when the hwadu ripens in every moment of our lives, whether we are walking or staying still, sitting or lying.  Otherwise, we cannot experience enlightenment. Therefore, you must become immersed in the hwadu by putting it in front of your eyes at every moment of your life.  If you become familiar with this, you will feel comfortable. Practice hard as I taught you.  If you have any other questions, see me privately.  Let's finish here.

You'd rather feel attached, but the moment your mentor, guide, teacher, or whatever you call him, tells you that that's not it, you must renounce the knowledge which you have accumulated for long periods of time. However painful it might be, you must part with it. If you insist on your trivial knowledge and feel attached to it, you'll make no headway.

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