Book Introduction

This book, compiled from tapes containing the sermons of Master Baekbong, explores his life and teachings. Through dialogue and text, it demonstrates that one can attain enlightenment in the world without shaving one's head, while remaining in the world. Modern people, despite living in the crucible of Buddha and Bodhisattva, are unable to find their Buddha, unable to understand themselves, and thus unable to find the Buddha. Master Baekbong, in his bold and eloquent way, addresses this issue by teaching that only by standing upright can one truly see life and all things in the world. The book is filled with teachings that, while neither ordinary nor saintly, we manifest this illusory form and engage in various human games. These sermons, filled with the passion of Master Baekbong, who devoted himself to guiding his disciples and edifying sentient beings until just before entering nirvana, offer an opportunity to reflect on our own obsessions and delusions.

▶ This book is a revised edition of "Let's Meet in Tusita Heaven" (Segyesa), published in 1996.

Biography of Baekbong Kim Ki-chu

He was born on February 2, 1908, in Yeongdo, Busan. With a bold and rebellious spirit, he had a turbulent youth, including serving a year in Busan Prison for participating in the anti-Japanese nationalist movement. After liberation, he worked in the educational field and began studying Buddhism late in life, in his fifties. While diligently practicing the "nothingness" koan, he suddenly attained great enlightenment in January 1964.

"Suddenly I hear the sound of a bell. Where did it come from?
The quiet, limitless and empty sky is my home.
With one sip, I swallowed the three thousand realms.
Water and water, mountain and mountain. They are bright by themselves."
─ A poem written by Master Baekbong at the moment of enlightenment.

Even after achieving great enlightenment, Master Baekbong remained in the secular world and greatly promoted the layman-style Buddhism. Many philosophy professors and artists sought him out, and he became friends with monks such as Cheongdam, Jeongang, Gusan, Gyeongbong, Tanheo, Hyedu, and Ganghye. His compassionate and passionate sermons moved countless disciples, opening their closed minds and letting go of their delusions, which greatly helped them achieve true freedom and peace. On the morning of August 2, 1985, he passed away after giving his last sermon. It is said that even after entering nirvana, the great master shed tears due to his utmost compassion for all living beings. His works include 『Lecture on Diamond Sutra』, 『A Commentary on the Vimalakirti Sutra』, 『Lecture on Seonmoonyeomsong』, and 『Absoluteness and Relativity』.

About the Author

Author Jang Sun-yong graduated from the Department of History and the Graduate School of Philosophy at Korea University. He completed the National Translation Training Institute of the National Culture Promotion Association and the Jigok Seodang program of the Taedong Classics Research Institute, and studied Buddhism and Zen under Master Baekbong. He received the Translation Award of the 17th Haengwon Cultural Award and is currently dedicated to planning and translating Buddhist and meditation books. His edited works include "Heunggong Beopmun," "Ten Ox-Do," and "Drinking the Same Water: Poison to Snakes and Milk to Cows." His translated works include "Vimalakirti Sutra(Xiang Xuanzang Edition)", "The Path of Zen Meditation," "The Tibetan Book of the Dead," "The Heart Sutra and Life Medicine," and "Avatamsaka Commentary."

Publisher's Review

The greatest collection of Buddhist sermons of this era
Panmidong has published a new edition of 'Let's Meet in Tusita Heaven,'' a representative collection of Buddhist sermons by Master Baekbong Kim Ki-chu, a lay Buddhist who rose to the ranks of Zen masters and left a reputation as a leader in Korean Buddhism. This revised and expanded edition includes some of the manuscripts added to the first edition published in 1996. Chapter 1 introduces the life of Master Baekbong from his entry into Buddhism at the age of over 50 until his enlightenment. Chapters 2, 3, and 4 are centered on sermons delivered by Master Baekbong from his books, "Absoluteness and Relativity," "A Commentary on the Vimalakirti Sutra," and "Lecture on Diamond Sutra" as well as key sermons delivered during all-night retreats and occasional sermons. Master Baekbong's sermons, which emphasize the "I as emptiness" and "true subjectivity"—the idea that the universe and Buddha exist only when I exist— are characterized by lively expression and confidence. Using familiar, everyday language, Master Baekbong conveys how to achieve Buddhahood while remaining secular. His passionate sermons, filled with the passion of a man who dedicated his life to guiding his disciples and edifying sentient beings until the very brink of nirvana, confront all vanity and force us to reflect on our obsessions and delusions as we live today.

Respected as a Zen Master, Transcending Boundaries

"Who sees through the organ called the eye? Who hears through the organ called the ear? That very place, void, without color or sound, is the true foundation and the Dharmakaya."

Master Baekbong was respected not only by the Buddhists in his sect but also by those in mainstream Buddhism. Monk Chunsung, famous for his abusive sermons, called him "the Korean Master Vimalkirti," comparing him to Master Vimalkirti, who achieved the Great Way without becoming a monk. Monk Tanheo also lavished praise on Master Baekbong, calling him "a light in the Dharma-ending Age (a chaotic era where the correct Dharma has collapsed and deception and cults run rampant)." Monk Cheongdam, who served as the head of the Jogye Order until the early 1970s, even suggested that Master Baekbong shave his head and become a monk and take charge of the Josil at the Jogye Order's headquarters. However, Baekbong flatly rejected the offer, saying that Buddhism, a religion that seeks to realize the absolute, was caught up in the game of ups and downs and relativity. Monk Muksan, who believed Baekbong to be a descendant of Dharma and the Sixth Patriarch, founded Borimsa Temple and continues the monastic faith of Baekbong. Baekbong left behind numerous works, including "Lecture on Diamond Sutra" "Vimalakirti Sutra Commentary," "Absoluteness and Relativity," and "Seonmun Yeomsong Yoron." His approximately 300 recorded sermons still provide a vivid sermon experience for his aspiring disciples. "Let's Meet in Tusita Heaven" captures these recordings and conveys Baekbong's unhindered, unhindered way of speaking.

The writings included in "Let's Meet in Tusita Heaven" are a selection of sermons delivered by Master Baekbong over the past twenty years. The hallmark of these sermons is the so-called "Gesapung" (居士風), upon which Master Baekbong established his teachings. In other words, the essence of the "Gesapung" is "first, wake practitioners up to the fact that the relativity, which is all dharma, is inherently the sole and noble forms of absoluteness through preaching, and then have ones grasp the fact that the formless dharmakaya governs the physical form body." Accordingly, the expedient methods employed by Master Baekbong are largely focused on enabling his students to discover the correct viewpoint. Readers, if they keep this in mind and listen intently with an open mind, will be able to hear the message that Master Baekbong has to impart.
─From the preface

Developed Samalgui

Only by knowing the "I as emptiness" can we see the world as it is. "Because there is an 'I,' there are Buddhas and sentient beings. The true 'I,' without color, sound, or smell, manifest everything."

The essence of teachings of Master Baekbong is a "Saemalgui(a new hwadu fit for this era)", for lay practitioners living their daily lives. Unlike monastic practitioners who constantly practice with a traditional hwadu, the Saemalgwi emphasizes the method of thoroughly understanding oneself and continuing one's practice in one's daily life—eating, working, and raising a family. Master Baekbong's teachings assert that the "self as emptiness"—without color, sound, or smell—remains within the emptiness of Dharmakaya no matter what one does in real life, creating both paradise and hell within it, and creating and clinging to pain and joy. The more people understand their true selves, the less turbid the world becomes, and individuals will be able to see their own lives and all things in the world clearly.

Going is not going, and comming is not coming, so you are not the one going or coming. Have you seen the void come and go? There must be something to go and come. But this body, this form, goes and comes. But this is fake. Therefore, we should sit in a place of truth and we should not call it "me" although we use this fake form. This body has no feelings, so doesn't it have subjectivity? The real "me" is subjectivity. This subjectivity without color, sound, or smell creates this body, a leather bag which has not its own identity. It can create a celestial being, a Buddha's body, or, depending on its will, an animal's body or other masks.
- From the text

Recommended reviews

● I have sought out and practiced with countless Zen masters, but I have never met a master with no-mind as Master Baekbong, who are absolutely free from discernment. I cannot forget his innocent appearance, always transparent in body and mind, and always clapping and laughing at any question.
─ Monk Kang Hye

● I met Master Baekbong, and this encounter changed my life in a completely different direction. I vividly remember him weeding the field, sharing a glass of makgeolli with each of us, and laughing heartily, saying, “Wow, there’s a universe in a glass of makgeolli!”
─ Seong Tae-yong (Professor of Philosophy, Kunkuk University)

Index

Preface

Chapter 1

Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva written on the prison wall
When I was an atheist
Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva written on the prison wall

Practice and boundaries
Started studying Buddhism at the age of fifty-six
Please teach me magic instead of things like seeing one’s nature
Raising the koan of nothingness
Vomiting out the illusions of the six patriarchs
After practicing diligently for fifteen days

Enlightenment
Radiating light
After realizing, all emptiness was ‘I’

Nirvana
What is the first phrase?
The last sermon

Chapter 2

The physical body
The problems of life cannot be solved by concepts
What am I?
News of the leak of secrets of the heavens

The void
A place that transcends existence and non-existence
The Earth floating in the void

The protagonist of the world
You are the protagonists of the entire universe
The only one in heaven and earth

The meaning Dharma came from India
Hinge
The void and the wisdom
Paradise and hell

Paradise and hell are together
Going to paradise

Sin and blessing
Sin and blessing do not cancel each other out
Even if you repent, sins do not disappear
If you go to hell, go alone! Why do you take others with you?
Goblin temple, goblin chapel

Good and evil
Do good and evil as you please
How to freely shake hands with the devil and have a drink with him

Buddhist prayer
Who do we worship?
If we chant without knowing the Way

Habits
When we die, what goes?
Where do we go when we die?

Turtle fur and rabbit horns
Everything is a dream
True subjectivity
True faith

Cause and effect
True truth
Infinite life

As if
True truth

Time and space
Non-bright and non-dark
Man of empty kalpa
Just name

Life, death and nirvana
Life and nirvana are one illusion
The problem of life and death should be dealt scientifically
The mind and boundaries
Knowing the truth of the universe as it is, becoming Buddha

The mindset based on the right concentration
The holy womb
The power of the Way
The samadhi

Following the Nature
Finding the mind
A person who seeks emptiness and a person who tries to escape emptiness
What does the place of the mind mean?
Everything is created by a single thought

Delusions and illusory thoughts arise from the dependence on causality
There is nothing that gets angry or laughs
At sometime
Phenomena
Letting go of boundaries at one time is the law of non-action.
A person who governs eternity
A true good
The Sentinent Buddha
Dream
Mirror
Chanting Buddhahood
Take one step further from the end of the 100-foot pole.
The five eyes
Letting go
Aspiration
Clouds, Who created it?
Without beginning or end
Scientist Shakyamuni Buddha
Salvation
Law
Shadowless tower
Wonder
Letting go all
The metaphor that the earth is empty
Workplace
Leaving home
My Buddha

Chapter 3

The place of Vajra
Existing in a speck of dust, containing the entire world
The place of Vajra
The six bodies like a leather pouch
The word “sutra”

Yeoshiamun (如是我聞)
This is what I heard
When I know the truth, tears come out
The meaning of Yeoshiamun
That which determines life and death is in the Diamond Sutra.

At sometime
The Buddha preaches from the place of Absoluteness
A place that transcends time and space
My Dharma body has no age
The law is one
The mind that seeks the mind is the mind
The place where even Shakyamuni Buddha cannot speak
News before heaven and earth were divided
The difference between the Buddha and sentient beings
A place where language is cut off
Humans are truly amazing beings
The void laughs
The true news of enlightenment
The name Buddha
Ego
The Taoist of the self enters the belly of a mule

The giving with attachment or without attachment
The one who knows what I am
The body is inanimate matter
Eternal giving
Giving kills greed
We are all sentinent Buddha
Dogs and pigs also have eternal life

The paradise
Am I going to paradise when I die?
Do not follow the path that Buddhas and Bodhisattvas take
I want to go to hell
Who makes me go to hell?
The small and spiritual place

The three bodies of Buddha
The Dharma body has no hesitation
The heart of the Sixth Patriarch, Huineng
Illegible things do not die. The true nature does not die
The cause and effect that is not wrong even for a single hair
The physical body is truly unfair
How to seek eternal life
Use the physical body well

The three treasures
The place of enlightment
If the Buddha did not come to this world

Questions and Answers (1))
Questions and Answers (2)
The Three Question to Borim(寶林三關)

Chapter 4

In the long sky of eternity, there is the wind and moon of a morning
The original wisdom
Not feeling is illness
Only the Buddha has mastered the void
Truly great Nature
Life and death are the way of wonderful use
Things Unrealistic
A place that transcends knowing and ignorance
News from Origin
Before the Buddha came to this world, the Dharma nature already existed

Great compassion
Feeling is better than knowing
If you are thorough in Dharma compassion
A true great man
The higher the Tao, the higher the demon

Where the true Buddha lives
There is meaning beyond words
The infinity of the divine flame
The place which rolls life and death
The reason there is no need to lift an eyebrow even when the end comes
News before the creation of the Earth
The true Buddha

The meaning of lifting a flower at the Yeongsan Assembly
The news that the three thousand great worlds fit into a mustard seed
The three thousand great thousand worlds as a single flower
The True Dharma Eye
The great use
A Buddha who does not know the Buddha
The reason for offering a cup of tea to the Buddha
The Tathagata land

For the sake of mother
The human aspect of the Buddha
If you put your heart into it, you can go anywhere
The entire sky knows my thoughts
Even if a single ant crawls, the three thousand great worlds shake
Time comes from form
Past, present, and future
The body is an illusion
Life and death in name only

The eating by eye
Nothing is full
In the world of the soul, they eat by seeing

daze; Great sages and ordinary man; Tusita heaven
The world's great sages and wise men came here in a daze
Whether it is sacred or ordinary, it is just a speck of dust
The reason why the Taoists make their every move clear
The Tusita heaven is a place to study
Let's meet at the Tusita heaven

Study

Baekbong Kim Ki-chu Biography