Geosapung and Saemalgwi

Establishing a method of practice called Saemalgui

After establishing the practice methodology called Saemalgwi in 1976, Baekbong emphasized Saemalgwi practice as the best practice to achieve enlightenment in this age of scientific advancement. His wisdom through enlightenment and the experience gained from guiding followerss for 20 years are integrated into Saemalgwi. The introduction to Saemalgwi is included in the book [Absoluteness and Relativity] and is presented in the following order;
1. Establishing the Layman Style
2. Saemalgwi
3. Life Declaration.
The order has been changed here to take into account the length of the text.


Declaration of Life


The Great Void has no domain.
However, it's Essence is empty and tranquil, yet vast.
And it establishes the three realms by establishing the upper and lower, and the four directions.

The Mind has no boundaries.
However, it's Function is clear and distinct.
And by setting up right and wrong, and sudden and gradual, it moves all dharmas.

Among these, there is a word called life.
This word consists of birth, aging, illness and death, and rolls the rich, the noble, the poor and the lowly.
The rich, the noble, the poor and the lowly roll joy, anger, sorrow and pleasure, and drive away grace, love, hate and kindness.

Is this principle? Or, is this action?
Is this truth? Or, is this falsehood?

Alas!
In the source of principle and action, there is no principle and action, so it is like holding a rabbit horn stick in the middle of the night.
In the source of truth and falsehood, there is no truth and falsehood, so it is like holding a tortoise-hair fly whisk in the wind.

Because this source is too difficult to realize, people do not know it and just run towards the burning house and cry. So, the spring breeze on the face of the Nosana Buddha has gone.

However, when I turn my head sharply, I see that there are Buddhists here. They are Buddhists who have the duty to deal with the three realms and organize all dharmas, and they also have the right to do differently.

We Buddhists declare to the world that we will follow the great path, taking Manjushri's drum as a signal and keeping pace with Samantabhadra's dance.

  1. In order to regain the original aspects of life, I reject the life that is full of affliction and agony.

  2. In order to regain the original wisdom of life, I reject the life that is all about birth, aging, illness, and death.

  3. In order to restore the original equality of life, I reject the life that is all about praying for blessings and seeking salvation.

 

Saemalgwi


A koan (公案) is also called a hwadu (話頭). This hwadu is a system that filters out afflictions and delusions, and a principle that sort out thoughts and discriminations.
The hwadu is a shield that blocks the invasion of the six thieves: color, sound, smell, taste, touch, and mental states, and it is also the tip of a spear that is an expedient means to defeat the chaos of the five aggregates: color, feeling, perception, formation, and consciousness.

For a student cultivating the Tao to deal with the issues of life and death, the hwadu is undoubtedly the most excellent means and expedient. This is because, although the 1,700 koans, the hwadu, each have different meanings, they all end with the question, "What is this?" and within that question lies the eternal secret.

Of course, it is not that a single blade of grass before one's eyes or a single sound that brushes one's ear does not evoke messages from the primordial time, however, the hwadu is a phrase that arouses doubt, removes delusion, and returns to resolve the source of the doubt that has already arisen. It is a sound that tears open the void.

Therefore, even if there is a person here who is equipped with much experience and knowledge and whose will is immediately filled with energy, if he cannot break through this koan, 'What is this?', then this is just dry wisdom that is not worth a penny, and he cannot decide on life's major matters.

Indeed, in building a practice to escape the burning house of the three realms, chanting the Buddha's name, reading sutras, praying, and reciting mantras are expedient means, but Zen, which uses the koan as a means, is the expedient of expedients.

However, this expedient method, Seon(Zen), holds the koan, the means, with a single thought, and is extremely solemn, extremely clear, extremely silent, and extremely self-righteous.
Because it is extremely solemn, a student serves the teacher,
because it is extremely clear, a student runs away from home,
because it is extremely silent, a student cuts off kindness, and
because it is extremely self-righteous, a student turns its back on worldly relationships.
This is the appearance of the Buddhist monastic style.

Because this is a monastic style that is detached from the secular world, some people criticize it as inhumane and antisocial. That is a highly inappropriate criticism. They do not know the purpose of cutting off affections is to attain the Bodhi first of all, and later lead them to the Nirvana. In order to hold the hwadu purely, there is no room to turn one's eyes toward blood relations, or to incline one's ears toward the world.

This is not the case with the geosa(laymans) who lives in secular world.
Because one follows human nature, one cultivates a family, and
because one follows social nature, one cultivates the world.
Because of those jobs, unlike the monk style, where everyone can practice 24 hours a day, the geosa style makes it so much difficult, or nearly impossible to maintain a pure hwadu.

In this case, would it be right for a geosa to give up on resolving the life-or-death issue just because time is not enough?

No!
To give up on resolving the question of life and death is to give up on life itself!

Even the best medicine in the world is poison if it is harmful to my body, and even the worst poison in the world is good medicine if it is beneficial to my body. Just like this, if the koan is in proper harmony with the blessings, beliefs, wisdom, courage, and doubts , it will become a good medicine that will lead to the joy of Nirvana. However, if it is not in proper harmony, it will only become a poison that will ruin your whole life. So, a geosa who lives in secular world and wants to practice zen, should have a different way. It is necessary to return the koans to ancient zen teachers who tongued them, and to boldly establish a replacement method.

With the advancement of society and civilization, every aspect of life is becoming increasingly hectic. Who should bear the responsibility for our inability to maintain a pure, undivided focus on hwadu amidst this entangled life?

Teachers must be responsible. If teachers cannot bear it, then who should bear it?
The Buddha must be responsible. If the Buddha cannot bear it, then who should bear it?
It must be responsible for myself.
Right!
Therefore I need a substitute, an alternative expedient badly. Here's what I propose.

When you roll the mental or physical action according to conditions, and also are rolled by the sense-objects, you deeply recognize the principle that 'my formless body grab the inanimate object, the physical body, and act upon it according to the state of mind.' and move forward with the motto 'Let's roll this form well.'

The hwadu is the words, and the substitute is also the words, then what is the difference? Yes, they are all words but different words. The coordinates of the means to move the words are different. And because the coordinates of the means are different, the focus of the expedient method is different.

Why?
For example, when you drive a car, you should do it smoothly and safely. While you take the phrase "let's drive well" in your mind, it might be effective, but if you try to concentrate on a hwadu while driving, it will certainly be dangerous. So when a student, as a geosa, practice Samalgui, jumps into the world in the morning with the thought of 'let's roll my form body well today'. During the day he fulfills his responsibilities with the thought of 'I am rolling my form body well'. In the evening he feel joy with the thought of 'I rolled my form body well today'. And when one find time to sit down, one immerse oneself in samadhi with the thought of 'Let's manifest the Essence that is neither bright nor dark'. If one realize 'the Essence that is neither bright nor dark', and able to be immersed oneself in samadhi with that, then this Samalgui practice would be also a good expedient to go further.

Of course, it's not easy to get a grip your mind in this way. However, if you have a belif in this after weighing this rationally, it's not difficult. Because there is a view that Dharma is easy, there is a view that it's difficult. And because there is a thought that it's difficult, there is a thought that it's easy. Therefore, if you seek to roll the Dharma, you return the easy to its easy state and the difficult to its difficult state, then ultimately, because it's not easy, it won't be difficult, and because it's not difficult, it won't be easy. Where can you find the difference between easy and difficult?

It is not easy before enlightenment, nor is it difficult after enlightenment, nor is it easy after enlightenment, nor is it difficult before enlightenment, so let's just do it with the phrases 'Let's roll well my form body' and 'Let's manifest the Essence'. It is the practice before enlightenment and also the practice after enlightenment.

Looking back, this method of substitution may be a means of achieving merit for oneself and others, but it may also be a means of controlling social trends, so how could it not be the icing on the cake?

This is not a hwadu but is a hwadu, and is a hwadu but is not a hwadu, but a Samalgui. It is the news of not missing the Essence while engaging in the household affairs, or of engaging in the household affairs but not missing the Essence.

Even though we are carrying out a mission toward goal, the means and methods change according to the time and place. Why is that?

In the Sangha style, it is customary to give a hwadu to a student based on one's wisdom, faith, and diligence. That is natural. However, in the layman style nowadays, the substitution is:

First, through the sermon, students are theoretically awakened to the fact that all dharmas, the relativity, is the rolling of the absoluteness that is standing lofty and supreme alone.

Second , students must have a substantial understanding of the fact that the formless dharmakaya governs the form body, and then enter into Samalgui practice.

The means and the expedients should naturally change according to movement or stillness, the monastic or the secular. However, since the source of movement and stillness is one, and the source of the monks and laymans is not two, then the monastic custom is a good monastic custom in its own way, and the layman's custom is a good layman's style in its own way. If only we review the time appropriately and observe the place appropriately, then consciousness is extinguished and emotion is annihilated, the true Buddha will appear. Why should we regard the means and expedient methods of the past as the fixed law, pitting expedient means against true insight, hesitate to seize the light of tomorrow?

Oh, laymans!
If you suddenly realize that you are a formless body through the one and only thought of 'Let's roll my form body well', you will achieve the store of merits and virtues of ten thousand eons. Wait for that time and suck in all the water of the Pacific Ocean with one gulp!


Establishing the Layman Style Buddhism


The Essence which is the news from the time immemorial, are majestic!
As colors appear and the wind blows, as fog spreads and rain falls, in the boundless sky,
boundless mountains and rivers emerge.
This is my work.

In the boundless nature, boundless emotions arise.
This is my play.

Because of this fuctional work,
we can catch a single cloud floating in the sky and traverse the empty space, and
because of this essencial play,
we can embrace a stream of thoughts in our minds and refine our character.

Indeed, the great law of the universe is
only to grasp a wisp of cloud and traverse the Void;
this is to deal with the Essence.

The public way of life is
only to embrace a stream of thoughts and follow the Essence;
this is to gather the news of the Void.

Oh!
Isn't this to prove that the Void and the Essence are not two,
but one world, one truth, and one breath?

How can the one breath and truth manifest countless worlds, each with its own unique form?
And utimately how can it makes unwanted birth, aging, illness, and death and run towards a place of comfort and a place of suffering?
Is this true? Or is this false?
It's beyond your discretion.

But here, there are people wise.
How do these wise people weave their lives?
They use every means at their disposal to eliminate the karma of life and death, and weave the lives based on the happiness of extinction.

This is why the patriarchs and Zen masters of all generations, including Shakyamuni Buddha, promoted the sangha style, and why the teachers and scholars of the East and the West, including Vimalakirti Bodhisattva, expounded the layman style. In particular, the emergence of figures like Yi Tong-hyeon, Bae Hyu, and Pang On from China, and Yun Pil and Jin Bu-seol from Korea, may be to demonstrate that there is no distinction between monks and laymen in the Tao.

The sangha style is to sever all worldly ties and leave home in search of a teacher. They are mere drifting clouds and flowing water, possessing only the heart to seek the Tao.

However, although the purpose of the layman style is the same as that of the sangha style, its means and expedients are different. One cares for blood relations and makes a living. Like a kite caught in a bush, like a caged cat, one is not different from ordinary people, but one's heart is filled with great ambitions.

The every aspect of sangha style is oriented toward spiritual practice. Clothing style of the sangha is simple to avoid corruption, and their eating habits also is limited so as not to arouse lustful thoughts, and the quietness of the stay do not disturb the self-nature. All are means and expedients for spiritual practice. Therefore, isn't daily life of them already the style of a well-organized Taoist?

That's not the case with the layman style. From the time and space spent cultivating the family, one must squeeze out time and space to devote to one's mind and body. From the knowledge and insights gained through business, one must squeeze out knowledge and insights that govern our speech and behavior. From the morality and beliefs one have kept in cultivating society, one must squeeze out morality and beliefs that govern breath and merit. From the ethics and emotions one have aquired in cultivating culture, one must squeeze out ethics and emotions that govern both the present and the future.

So as to calm our minds under the heavy karma and in the the chaotic world, and to uncover the Principles of life and the Essence of the world, we need extraordinary determination and effort in the means and methods according to our position and conditions.

Without the determination and effort that goes beyond the Sangha style, it is like a rice cake drawn on a wall. Therefore we should establish a grand ambition;
By taking pleasure from suffering, we can let go of suffering and eventually let pleasure also go away;
By taking good from evil, we can let go of evil and eventually let good also go away;
By taking right from wrong, we can let go of wrong and eventually let right go away;
and By taking nirvana from life and death, we can let go of life and death and eventually let nirvana also go away.

Therefore, by realizing that all kinds of discriminatory phenomena that roll and being rolled are in fact relativistic play as a rolling of the absoluteness, we observe them according to the law and use them as means and expedients.

Why? In other words, in maintaining the physical body, the Sangha style is not only free from any obstacles in eating, clothing, and lodging, but is also not subject to time and space. Therefore if one has a connection with a good teacher, the path to attaining the Tao will open.

The layman style has a different stance. In order to cultivate and weave life, one live today while thinking about tomorrow, and face east while searching west! One can ride a ox when there is no horse, and also can rides a horse when there is no ox. Indeed, the layman style who establish the five consciousnesses by moving the five senses, and who knows the pure original mind does not move at all, and who engaging all phenomena yet remaining unattached, is not comparable to the style of sentient beings that is swayed only by present events, and it also can not go well with the means and expedients of the sangha style that remains unattached, yet engaging all phenomena.

If we say that the style of sentient being is the movement in movement that embraces and hovers only in the relativistic realms, then the layman style is the stillness in movement that grabs the relativity and returns it to the place of absoluteness, and the sangha style is the movement in stillness that rolls the relativity from the place of absoluteness. How can they use the same means and expedients?

We are bound by the worldly scriptures, but because we strive to cultivate the Bodhicitta we strive to accumulate virtue and wisdom. Because we strive to accumulate virtue, we do not abide in non-doing, and because we strive to acquire wisdom, we do not fall into conditioned existence. Although we are not ordinary people, we do not destroy the laws of ordinary people, and although we are not saints, we do not neglect the laws of saints, and we are able to deal with ordinary as well as sacred matters.

Why? Because we are the source of heaven and earth, the source of light and darkness, the source of good and evil.

Therefore, we know that although we follow the conditions with the times and show the relativistic form body,
the birth is not birth but a false birth, and so death follows,
and death is not death but a false death, so it shows birth.

This birth and death are precisely the exercise of my sacred rights, and are absolutely not the creation according to some saints, or god's script. If this birth and death are not the cycle of life that I create and weave myself, but are created according to someone else's script, what on earth am I? I am not an active agent, but a passive one, not self-reliant, but dependent. This means I am nothing more than a puppet.

No!!

I am
the Dharmakaya as the form body,
the indestructible body as the Dharmakaya,
the boundless body as the indestructible body,
the empty body as the boundless body.

In other words,
Because it has abandoned existence and non-existence, it is the body of emptiness.
Because it has abandoned beginning and end, it is the body of no boundaries.
Because it has abandoned birth and death, it is the body of indestructibility.
Because it has abandoned delusion and enlightenment, it is the body of dharma nature(Dharmakaya).
Because it has abandoned purity and defilement, it is the body of form.

This form body is me. Based on the movement of the Dharmakaya, I make my distinctions and roll all dharmas. It is truly a lofty peak! This peak is undoubtedly a high point that is difficult to reach even in the Sangha style, let alone in the layman style!

However, no matter how entangled in the web of family and society, if you devise indefinite means and expedients appropriate to the times and places, and spare no effort until your last breath, you will be there. The challenge of my life should not be abandoned.

We should rejoice in having been born into this world, a land with which we are destined, and we should keenly feel our duty and right to use this opportunity to resolve life's question. Instead of looking back on the past and lamenting that it is too late, we must act upon our sacred original duty and right in the face of the fact that it is me who lives or dies.

The void is endless, it is not someone else's.
The mountains and rivers are endless, it is not someone else's.
The cause and condition are empty, it is not someone else's.
The task is empty, it is not someone else's.

My parents and siblings are precious to me, and
people in my nation and the world are precious to me, so
I embrace all dharma connections and establish the layman style Buddhism to move toward the absolute, great, round mirror wisdom.

In this way, I raise the the flag of the layman style high and welcome those with whom I have connections beyond the kalpa. If you have a connection, come; if not, go.
However, if you know that connections are just connections, but connections in name only, then return!

In this way, I raise the flag of the layman style high and welcome those who fear life and death. If you are afraid, come; if not, go.
However, if you know the truth that fear is fear, but fear in name only, then return!