Just Keep No-Mind
Ascending the high Dharma seat and raising his Seon staff over the assembly, Great Seon Master Jinje said:
WHEN YOU QUIET all discursive thoughts and rest in body and mind, just this is “samadhi,” the seat of peace where all buddhas and patriarchs of the three time-periods of past, present, and future abide tranquilly, without even a single thought of staying. This is the “no-mind samadhi.” It transcends all time and space.
One thought-moment is an infinite eon of time;
An infinite eon of time is one moment of thought.
Three-thousand years fly by in a moment. The past, present and future times, the myriads things and the whole universe, are present in a single thought. The samadhi in which this state is perceived as is the same for both buddhas and ordinary people alike, but people do not acknowledge it. Even a fragment of a mental activity can cloud your mind, and in this confusion, you will not be able to figure out how to break through it.
In modern Korea, there was a great man of no-mind named Hyewol Hyemyeong (1862-1937). Hyewol Seunim renounced the world at the age of twelve. He had never studied in a school. Because the master who sponsored his ordination into the order later disrobed, he eventually became connected with Seon Master Gyeongheo. It was through this auspicious karmic affinity that he arrived at the gate of Seon.
Seon Master Gyeongheo used to teach him, "Your body is temporarily composed of the four elements of earth, air, fire, and water, which can neither speak the Dharma nor hear the Dharma. Space can neither speak the Dharma nor hear the Dharma. Only that ‘one thing’ shining brightly right before you can speak the Dharma and hear the Dharma. What is that ‘one thing’ shining all by itself?"
Again and again, Gyeongheo Seunim pushed his young student for an answer: "What is it that speaks and hears the Dharma? Tell what is that ‘one thing’ that is formless but shining brightly on its own!"
The young monk was speechless. He was stuck in the single-minded samadhi of questioning the hwadu. Whether sitting or standing, working or even sleeping, he was never separated from this single question: "What is it?" Three years passed in this state of single-mindedness. One day, Hyewol Seunim was fashioning a straw sandal with a hammer. One moment, as he struck the hammer on the shoetree, the sharp sound completely opened his mind. Suddenly, the question of “what is this ‘one thing’?” was completely resolved.
He went straightaway to Seon Master Gyeongheo, who perceived the change in his mind. Gyeongheo Seunim immediately challenged his student, asking,
"What is that ‘one thing’ shining brightly right in front of you?"
Hyewol Seunim replied, "Neither I nor a thousand saints can know it."
Thereupon Gyeongheo Seunim shot back, "What is Hyewol?”
Hyewol Seunim walked several steps from east to west, suddenly stopped, then walked back from west to east, and stopped again. Seeing this, Gyeongheo Seunim exclaimed, “Ah, how right you are! Right! Right!"
With that, the teacher approved Hyewol Seunim’s attainment. In 1902, Seon Master Gyeongheo presented his student with a Transmission Gatha, and a written lineage record establishing him as the foremost disciple in this lineage of transmission.
Entrusted to Hyewol Hyemyeong
You realize that all dharmas,
Are unascertainable in their self-natures.
If in this wise you understand the Dharma-nature,
You see the Buddha Rocana.
Topsy-turvy, I propose from the standpoint of worldly truth,
To carve a formless seal on a blue hill,
Only thus are conventional concepts papered over.
After Seon Master Hyewol got enlightened at the age of twenty-four, he stayed on Dokseung Mountain for another twenty-seven years. When he was fifty, he moved south to examine the meditation progress of the patched-robed monks practicing there. His way of probing and examination was so characteristic that a word from “Hyewol’s straw-sandal-fixing hammer” dashed the monks of the southern regions into thin air. Back in those days, this phrase was often heard in the great Seon halls of Korea.
Master Hyewol liked to enjoy a calm and easy samadhi in the midst of even the simplest daily activities, such as working long days in the monastery’s rice fields. In summer months, his face was always deeply sunburned from days spent in the fields, or going to the marketplace, or weaving straw sandals. His whole life was a life of no-mind, a before-thinking existence in the midst of the flow and pace of monastic life. He was as innocent as a four-year-old boy who does not feel shame and does not attempt to figure out what others want. Like a child, he was free to do whatever he pleased.
When he lived at Seonam Monastery in Busan, the monks there decided to increase the monastery’s income by clearing some land for rice cultivation, and sold in advance five majigi (a farmland measure, about 2,500 sq. meters) of its best-quality rice paddy to cover the land-clearing costs. But after three months had passed, only three majigis of new land had been cleared. What happened?
The reason for this is because, when the hired workers felt lazy, they would insist that the Master give them a Dharma talk. Of course, the child-like Hyewol Seunim obliged them, happily chatting with them for hours on end about the Buddha’s teachings.
Some monks complained that this land-clearing project—which was designed to stabilize the monastery’s finances and to provide for the monks’ livelihoods—was now actually decreasing it: "Seunim, you already sold five majigis of top-quality rice paddy to pay for clearing new land, but we’ve only cleared three. The planting season is well-nigh upon us and we’re already in deficit. At this rate, how are we ever going to improve the monastery’s finances?"
The Master bellowed at them instead: "Hey, you stupid guys! Where have the five majigis gone? The five majigis are still there, just as they always were, regardless of who does the farming. And anyway, haven’t we seen a net increase of three majigis of new land that we never had before?"
In the light of an awakened one, there is no discrimination between “I” and “you,” and no selfish motive of “mine” or “yours.” The human race is but a single family.
Even in his old age, Hyewol Seunim often personally visited the noisy market, to procure supplies for the community of monks. One day, while on the road to the marketplace, followed closely by his attendant, Hyewol Seunim met a lady selling bean sprouts by the road.
"Seunim! Please buy my bean sprouts."
So he bought a bag of bean sprouts. Seeing this, another merchant next to her pleaded, "Seunim, I am also poor, and have a large family to support. Would you please buy some of my sprouts as well?"
So Hyewol Seunim bought another bag, and another, and another—in some instances, taking pity on the sellers’ poverty and desperation, he would buy four or five bags in a day. On days like this, several bags of bean sprouts would suddenly come into the monastery kitchen.
But his compassion did not extend only to food-vendors. When even common street-beggars asked him for something to wear, without hesitation he would take off his robes and hand them over to them. As the beggars exchanged their rags for his clothes, he stood naked and put on their rags. He then returned to the monastery dressed in these rags, to the consternation and worry of his fellow monks, who feared for his health. It may look easy to live like this, but it actually is not. Even the slightest bit of shame or self-consciousness would prevent most of us from engaging in such selfless acts of compassion. But to a seasoned meditator like Hyewol, this sort of behavior is merely the innocent activity of the no-mind.
One day, Hyewol Seunim went to the market to prepare a traditional Buddhist memorial service for a deceased layperson in his congregation. But on the way, by chance he saw a lady crying uncontrollably, cuddling her baby in her arms. He approached her and asked why she was crying. She told him that her house had burned down in a fire, and she had nowhere to live. Without a moment’s hesitation, Master Hyewol gave her all the money the monastery had given him to prepare for the memorial service.
"You can fix your house with this money."
When he returned, he found that the young monks had been waiting all day for him to return from shopping. But when they saw that he was not carrying any packages, they began to worry: "Old master, what happened to you? Nothing has been delivered yet, and now here you are, empty-handed."
Hyewol Seunim replied, "The memorial service has already been duly performed, and the deceased has gone straight to the Pure Land."
The next day, as guests crowded the monastery to attend the solemn service, they found that nothing had been prepared. There was no table heaped high with offerings to honor the ancestors, no fruits to decorate the altar. Everyone was confused.
So the congregant who paid for the memorial service went to Hyewol Seunim and asked, "Seunim, what is going on here? What has happened to the service?"
Without a moment’s hesitation, Hyewol Seunim smiled politely, and explained the story of the destitute woman by the side of the road. He explained that, in honor of the deceased, he gave away the payment for the memorial service for the benefit of this suffering woman and her unfortunate child. “Because the memorial service was respectfully discharged in this way, the deceased has straight gone in the Pure Land."
After hearing the master’s explanation, the host was not only relieved, but deeply pleased and honored. He then proceeded to donate more for another service, and made plentiful offerings of foods to the community of monks. Everyone was happy!Life in Hyewol Seunim’s monastery was very harsh: The countryside was very poor, and few people had anything to donate. The monks had to work every day in the fields, engaged in back-breaking work to provide even the simplest grains for their sustenance. The Korean winters can be very harsh, so the winter retreat season was particularly difficult. There was much work, and very little food to show for it. The monks spent many hours in exhausting work, but were then challenged to practice hours of meditation under Hyewol Seunim’s keen eye. Many times, there were grumblings from some of the monks about the conditions of life in this monastery.
Now, in those days, there was a peculiar monk in the community named Gobong Seunim (1890-1962). (Gobong would later become the teacher of Seung Sahn Seunim [Sungsan Haengwon, 1927-2004], the Korean Seon master who was most active in the West.) One day, while the master was absent from the monastery, Gobong Seunim sold the monastery’s only ox and used the proceeds to buy an abundance of good food and drink so the monks and he could feast to their hearts’ content. When the master returned to the monastery, he discovered that the ox was gone. The next day, after the meal was over, he scolded the monks and asked, “Where is my ox? Whoever sold it should come forward!”
Gobong Seunim immediately got down on all fours and crawled around the meditation hall, baying loudly, "Moo! Moo! Moo!” Hyewol Seunim spanked Gobong Seunim on the buttocks with his fan and said, "This is not our monastery ox. Bring me my monastery ox!” The matter was never mentioned again.
There is a depth of meaning here that most people would be hard-pressed to accept. Only such an Awakened Master as Hyewol could reveal the Buddha’s truth simply by laughing away an awkward situation such as this.
At that time, when Korea was under harsh Japanese occupation (1910-1945), the Japanese governor-general ruled the peninsula almost like a king. Once, Governor-General Minami Jirō (1874-1955) heard a rumor that there was an enlightened man in the southern region of Korea. He visited the monk with some subordinates. The Governor-General bowed and asked for a teaching.
"Seunim, what is the highest level of the supreme truth?"
"The supreme truth of Buddhism? Hair grows out of a ghost’s fart."
A ghost is already a nonsensical idea. But saying that a ghost farts is even crazier. And crazier still, how can a hair grow from a ghost’s fart? What sheer absurdity! What it meant was beyond the governor’s ken. So, greatly perplexed and surprised, the Governor-General left with his subordinates.
When the Japanese invaded Korea in 1592, Hideyoshi’s marauders sought to lay claim to all the treasures and lands of the Korean people. But a strong resistance was put up by an army of monks, led by the wisdom and fearlessness of two great monks who are now considered national heroes—Seosan Daesa (Hyujeong, (1520-1604) and Samyeong Daesa (Yujeong, 1544-1610). Such awakened ones have been a menace for the Japanese ever since. After the Japanese colonized Korea by force in the twentieth-century, the Japanese governors-general sometimes preemptively sought out Korean Seon masters of high renown. The story of Governor-General Minami’s humiliating interview with his colonial subject, Seon Master Hyewol, travelled far and wide. The story was even whispered in parts of Japan.
The story eventually fell upon the ears of an eager young samurai who considered himself a member of the governor-general’s clique. He was enraged with the news of the insolent words this Korean monk had spoken, and immediately set sail for Korea. He rode into Hyewol’s monastery and marched straight into the Seon Master’s room, not bothering to take off his military boots or wait for the master to get ready. Without so much as a knock, he strode right through the door. Unsheathing his sword, he pointed directly to Hyewol Seunim’s throat.
"You are Hyewol?"
"Yes, I am." The Master was unmoving.
Before the samurai could say another word, Hyewol Seunim immediately pointed over the samurai’s shoulder and grimaced, as if indicating there was an intruder behind him. Instinctively reacting to the potential threat, the samurai wheeled around ferociously. In a snap, Hyewol Seunim stood up and smacked the samurai between the shoulder blades, shouting, "Now taste my sword!"
The Master’s sharp wit struck through to the samurai’s heart. Lowering his sword, he said humbly, "So you are as great as they say you are."
And with that, the samurai bowed ceremoniously and left.
Without a sharp sword of wisdom how can you meet such a difficult situation as this, in a flash of lightning, without hesitation? Had Master Hyewol felt the slightest fear, he would have been beheaded immediately.
Yet how much more treacherous than the samurai’s gleaming sword are the swords in our minds? Pride, arrogance, envy, jealousy, greed, lust—all these states of mind become endlessly entwined around your thinking. After years and years of constant habituation, is it any wonder that you find yourself so deeply harassed?
The goal of Seon meditation is to dissolve the habitual karmic proclivities accumulated in our minds. So when we work diligently in Seon meditation, we come to live by no-mind: freed from confusing thoughts, even a hundred thousand Yamas—the King of Death—cannot haul you to hell with their hundred thousand swords slicing wildly.
Hyewol Seunim had a wonderful daily life in the monastery, which showed his pure, child-like qualities and compassionate meditation. Every day, he would climb the hill behind the monastery. He collected pine cones in large rice-bags, which he burned to heat the floor of the meditation room for all of the monks. This is the simple life he led for his final days.
There was a rest stop along the climbing path. One day, the master entered Nirvana while half-standing with a sack of pine cones slung over his back.
No other Buddha, no other awakened one, had ever entered Nirvana in this posture. If he had not attained the level of no-mind, he would not have been able to do this. It was only possible due to the power of a samadhi accumulated, day by day, keeping mind and body calm and peaceful even in the midst of daily activities. If you are full of spiritual power like Master Hyewol, when you are reborn with your old body exchanged, you will still know everything even without studying. This is only possible in the world of enlightenment. Past, present and future are empty. All three time-periods are completely interpenetrating one with another.
Seon Master Hyewol made such a miraculous final display after spending his life delivering patch-robed monks and truth seekers. He truly passed on the Dharma transmitted from Seon Master Gyeongheo.
Dear assembly gathered here today. Do you see Seon Master Hyewol, this man of no-mind?
A long time passed with no reply from the assembly, so Seon Master Jinje responded:
A beautiful maiden left for the heavens long ago,
A foolish young man shut himself up in his empty room.
Hitting his Seon staff on the Dharma seat, the Master descended.
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