27. 신통
27. Superpowers
After a meal one day, we went for a walk. As I always did, I took my sickle, tongs, and sack, clipping the bushes and collecting trash from along the side of the road. As we arrived at a vacant lot, I casually said to Ven. Chwasan, “I’ve never seen you use superpowers. Do you know how to but just don’t use them, or do you not use them because you can’t?”
“It happens by itself when you use your body and mind without selfishness.”
He spoke serenely and continued again on his way.
Once strewn with trash discarded by local residents and hikers traveling up and down Mireuksan Mountain, Guryong Village was unrecognizably clear over the years when Ven. Chwasan was there.
Like the scent emanating from the paper that encases incense, Ven. Chwasan’s qualities have swept over the villagers and hikers. Where the flaws of sentient beings are cleared away, the mind of the Buddha shines through.
A sage said, 'Superpowers are incidental things,' and 'superpowers that appear without a foundation in the Way and its power are nothing more than a magic tricks.' On the other hand, if one practices well the right path and keeps one's desires simple and one's behavior pure, then, in accordance with the radiance of the self-nature, mysterious traces will occasionally appear. But this is something that happens naturally, without seeking it. How can this be surmised from the perspective of sentient beings who retain false thoughts?”
—The Scripture of the Founding Master, Chapter 3:42