Shine the Light of Your Flower

51. 그대 꽃등에 불 밝히라

51. Shine the Light of Your Flower Lantern

A long white fog spread out around the hips of the mountain across from Kkoekkoribong Peak. The sun was bright, the sky was blue, and the pine trees cast their shade. A white bird—I don’t know what kind of bird it was—flew among the three summits as if it had become a model in a landscape painting on a Korean traditional folding screen. Banyabong Peak glimmered beyond the layers of mountains.

I unfolded tables underneath the canopies in the courtyard and placed chairs around them. I then picked out some well-dried logs from the firewood pile, loaded them onto a cart, and stacked them neatly beneath an awning not far from the stove so that they would not get rained on.

I checked the bedding in each of the rooms and lit a nice, warm fire. After plucking any odd weeds seen in the yard on the way, I made my way to the Great Enlightenment Hall. I placed a cushion on the floor, then walked carefully to the altar and used a rag to wipe away any dust that had settled on the Il-Won Sang Buddha. I set out an offering of clear water and lit some incense, the scent faintly filling the hall.

Draping well-ironed dharma garments over my cleanly scrubbed body, I began to greet the visitors. Those who had dropped off their belongings in the guest rooms donned matching white shirts and paid their respects before the altar of the Dharmakāya Buddha.

We then sat down on our mats and greeted one another. In the meantime, the center’s director Rev. Hyotawon boiled pieces of stewartia, hanging the cauldron in the stove and tending the fire herself. We received the stewartia tea in tumblers, sipping on them periodically and feeling the warmth spread through our bodies.

Under the instruction of Ven. Moksan, we sat comfortably and placed our thumbs and index fingers together, focusing our consciousnesses solely on the elixir field; as we did so, our breaths, varyingly short and long, became even, and clear and smooth saliva flowed continuously from our salivary glands.

In this kind of meditation, without any particular effort, a warm energy gathers and one’s shoulders naturally spread, like a wilted flower straightening itself out after taking in water. Various delusions and odd phenomena appear like flowers in the void as we focus solely on the elixir field like a cat eying a mouse.

In between 10-minute periods of focused Sŏn meditation, we did simple yoga exercises to loosen our stiff bodies and occasionally sipped brewed marigold tea. The instructors and practitioners freely shared their experiences through short question and response sessions. Bringing our minds together, we sang out the beautiful lyrics:

“Shine the light of your flower lantern.”

As the wooden bell was stuck for dinner, we proceeded to a meal of boiled potatoes and sweet potatoes, white kimchi, radish water kimchi, and an abundant array of Korean-style vegetable dishes.

The foods that grow in the center’s fields—bracken, angelica, thistle, goatsbeard, victory onion, wallflower, cow parsnip, cow parsley, and purple parsnip—are all healthy and good for the body.

The exertion continued from early morning until late at night. Such is the daily routine of a practitioner, bridging the sun to the moon. Without a sound, each one becomes a clear-eyed monk:

“What such people will see is the Buddha’s conduct, what they will hear are the Buddha’s words, what they will awaken to is the Buddha’s right dharma, and what they will become accustomed to are the Buddha’s habits.” Bit by bit, they become different from who they were yesterday.

The appointed three days and two nights passed. I always felt deeply gratified to know that all the things that the attendees enjoyed during their retreat had come to them because of the charitable acts of those who came before them. Those people had made offerings to the Buddha for the sake of those who would come after and out of gratitude toward those who had come before.

As giver becomes receiver and receiver becomes giver, the minds of the buddhas are connected into one. We shine the light of our flower lantern.