A long time ago in Korea, a famous Sutra Master named Dae Oh Sunim traveled to Hae In Sah Temple lecture on the Hua Yen Sutra. He concluded his week‘s teaching by stating, “For forty-nine years, the Buddha taught only one word: ‘All things are created by mind alone.'”
Imbalance is our world’s sickness: how can we cure it?
Human beings have too much understanding. Too much understanding, too much have problems. Little bit understanding, little problem. If you don’t know, no problem!
Zen is very simple… What are you?
Human life has no meaning, no reason, and no choice, but we have our practice to help us understand our true self.
I often talk about primary point. What is primary point?
If you keep a don’t know mind one hundred percent, then your demons cannot find you. Suffering cannot find you. Karma, problems, life, death, coming and going, good and bad; nothing can touch you when you only keep a don’t know mind.
In times past in Asia and during the spread of the dharma in the West, newly recognized Zen masters frequently went off on their own to practice and teach the dharma, often starting their own centers of teaching. One time I spoke with Zen Master Seung Sahn about this and asked him, “Why did you create teacher groups to oversee our school?” He said, “Top man cannot see his own karma.”
Great faith doesn’t mean faith in something, or faith that things will turn out your way. Faith needs no object. It’s living life in the way your foot meets the ground in walking. Your foot never wonders if the ground is there for it.
Many people are using an Ox to give us encouragement for the Year of Ox. On our first day of the lunar year, Zen Master Seong Hyang told us on Zoom about the Ox having a stomach with four compartments, and each compartment having a different function.