Chuseok at the Bangkok Seon Club
Chuseok, the Korean thanksgiving festival and probably most important holiday of the year, is celebrated on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month. Which just happened, last night, to coincide with the regular monthly meeting of the Bangkok Seon Club. And what a treat it turned out to be.
Chuseok is connected with the harvest, the harvest moon, and with certain types of traditional food, and as we entered the main hall not only was the moon and a beautiful display of autumn flowers present either side of the Buddha image, but there were also tables full of Chuseok food.
First was japchae, a mixture of noodles, vegetables and mushrooms, followed by songpyeon, gorgeous stuffed rice cakes that had been hand-made earlier in the day. Then there were plate loads of Korean fruit, huge pears and dark full grapes, and a sweet ice-cold rice drink to wash it all down.
It was a smaller group than usual for one reason and another, but that was made up for in a discussion every bit as varied and satisfying as the food had been, and I still can hardly believe the magnificent opportunity we have to be able to study each month with such a skilled Zen Master as Kun Hyaedan Sunim.
The first question that arose was about how samsara, or rebirth and suffering, is, for those that are aware that all things and lives are constantly connected and changing, simply a process of manifestation. "But why" I asked, "does it have to manifest this way? What happened to the compassion of the Buddha?"
"This is the Buddha's compassion" Kun Hyaedan Sunim said. "This is how you learn and grow. Everything comes from you, and serves to lead you to your True Self". And we looked at the next paragraph in Kun Daehaeng Sumim's book. "Samsara" she writes "is the power with which you can become a Buddha".
Someone asked about the actual practice involved in doing this and briefly looked ahead to chapter six: "First, sincerely believe in your inherent nature, Juingong, and know that it is taking care of everything. Second, go forward with courage."
Kun Daehaeng teaches people to experiment. Believe in Juingong and see what happens. Let go to it and observe. Apply what you experience and experiment again. "This isn't a new attachment", Hyaedan Sunim said last night during the discussion on this, "it's simply letting go".
I was reminded again of the Korean Seon master Gyeongbong Jeongseok Sunim, after twenty years of searching, dacing in joy under the full moon at the discovery of Juingong, his True Self. Later he'd write about "the immeasurably luminous realm of the Dharma nature... where the light of the moon is always transparent and the wind is always fresh."
Thank you again to everyone at the Bangkok Hanmaum Seonwon and the Bangkok Seon Club, not only for the opportunity to join a wonderful celebration of Chuseok, but for the marvellous glimpse of the transparency and freshness of this Dharma realm, achieved simply by letting go.
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