Congratulations to the Bangkok Seonwon on its tenth anniversary.
A few years ago I was lucky enough to be living in Korea, and one day I stumbled across a beautiful little book called "My Heart is a Golden Buddha". "What a lovely title" I thought, and I carried that book around with me for weeks.
Inside were many stories from Korea, stories of farmers and kings, animals and sages, wives and wisdom, and fabulous illustrations. A little later I saw that there was an American monk running a Dharma group on Saturday afternoons studying another book by the same writer.
That monk turned out to be, of course, Venerable Chong Go Sunim, and the writer of the book was Seon Master Daehaeng KunSunim. And my time in that little group, which we all came to know as Saturday Sangha, became one of the most significant periods of my life.
Over the weeks and months we met together Chong Go Sunim pointed to a teaching at once simple and profound. "Just trust in your foundation" he said, "Juingong, your Buddha-nature, is the only thing that can truly solve everything, so entrust everything that confronts you to your foundation and let go to that."
The name is not the most important thing, the faith and the entrusting is, and it's something that has become my practice. For me it points a way through all the various spiritual approaches, and places practice where it really belongs - in one's own heart, which is, we gradualy learn, the source and destination of all things.
And yet it is also the source of connection, something that has been very important to me personally over the last few years. Many, if not most, of us here are living away from our homes and families - in my case it was especially painful being separated from my baby son soon after he was born.
But "Just keep letting go to your foundation" Kun Daehaeng Sunim says. "Then you can communicate with each other. If you dial a telephone on your side, the phone will ring on the other side. When you do this, your sincerity can be transmitted. This is truly loving [your family] and is the expression of the Buddha-Dharma."
And now, thanks to the efforts of so many people who have taken these teachings and found in them comfort, energy and inspiration, not only is the Bangkok Seonwon celebrating its tenth anniversary, on the occasion of which the English-language Seon club offers our joyful congratulations...
...but it is also sharing the teachings of Seon Master Daehaeng Kunsunim with ever more people, and we would like to express our deep gratitude for all the kind and generous work undertaken by this centre this year in facilitating, leading, and building the English-language Seon club.
So congratulations to Hyaedan Sunim and everyone at the Hanmaum Seonwon and thank you. And may we all discover together that our hearts really are all a Golden Buddha.
Inside were many stories from Korea, stories of farmers and kings, animals and sages, wives and wisdom, and fabulous illustrations. A little later I saw that there was an American monk running a Dharma group on Saturday afternoons studying another book by the same writer.
That monk turned out to be, of course, Venerable Chong Go Sunim, and the writer of the book was Seon Master Daehaeng KunSunim. And my time in that little group, which we all came to know as Saturday Sangha, became one of the most significant periods of my life.
Over the weeks and months we met together Chong Go Sunim pointed to a teaching at once simple and profound. "Just trust in your foundation" he said, "Juingong, your Buddha-nature, is the only thing that can truly solve everything, so entrust everything that confronts you to your foundation and let go to that."
The name is not the most important thing, the faith and the entrusting is, and it's something that has become my practice. For me it points a way through all the various spiritual approaches, and places practice where it really belongs - in one's own heart, which is, we gradualy learn, the source and destination of all things.
And yet it is also the source of connection, something that has been very important to me personally over the last few years. Many, if not most, of us here are living away from our homes and families - in my case it was especially painful being separated from my baby son soon after he was born.
But "Just keep letting go to your foundation" Kun Daehaeng Sunim says. "Then you can communicate with each other. If you dial a telephone on your side, the phone will ring on the other side. When you do this, your sincerity can be transmitted. This is truly loving [your family] and is the expression of the Buddha-Dharma."
And now, thanks to the efforts of so many people who have taken these teachings and found in them comfort, energy and inspiration, not only is the Bangkok Seonwon celebrating its tenth anniversary, on the occasion of which the English-language Seon club offers our joyful congratulations...
...but it is also sharing the teachings of Seon Master Daehaeng Kunsunim with ever more people, and we would like to express our deep gratitude for all the kind and generous work undertaken by this centre this year in facilitating, leading, and building the English-language Seon club.
So congratulations to Hyaedan Sunim and everyone at the Hanmaum Seonwon and thank you. And may we all discover together that our hearts really are all a Golden Buddha.
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