The Inner Path of Freedom: The Teachings of Seon Master Dae Haeng Sunim [Paperback]

Dae Haeng Sunim (Author), Hanmaum Translation Group (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 15, 1999

Covering a wide variety of topics, from Buddha-nature to family life, from suffering to Nirvana, this book has been compiled from over 15 years of Dae Haeng Sunim's Dharma talks. Throughout the book, she emphasizes that true freedom is found by relying on and entrusting everything to our own inherent nature, the true doer, our Buddha-nature. And when this is combined with applying and experimenting with the things we experience, our lives become more peaceful, happy, and harmonious. While living like this, the day will come when we suddenly awaken.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

A Korean Bhikkuni sunim (Buddhist nun), of the Seon (Zen) linage, Dae Haeng Sunim spent over 30 years practicing in the deep mountains of the Korean peninsula.

With only the clothes she was wearing, and sleeping under trees, Dae Haeng Sunim wandered around in the mountains. She was never concerned about eating or her circumstances. The only thing she cared about was trying to understand her true owner, the true doer. Later, after awakening, she was absorbed in the various questions that spontaneously arose from inside.

After practicing like this for 20 years, she stopped moving around and spent a further 10 years practicing in a small hut on a remote mountain. Many, many people were coming to see her, and in order to accommodate them, she moved to Anyang city, a suburb of Seoul, and founded the first HanMaUm Seon Center. There Dae Haeng Sunim continues to teach people about their own inherent, true nature and how to awaken it. In addition, she travels outside of Korea once or twice a year to give Dharma talks at the overseas branches of HanMaUm Seon Center.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Observe that your flesh is not eternal, but is fleeting, like clothes you change. Observe that your consciousness is also like this. While observing, you must clearly know that the being called "I" is an insubstantial being, which came out from one place in this world and will disappear at another place. You must also know that this "I" cannot be free from suffering, and that it will be destroyed while suffering. But is this everything? There is true self, the one in charge who takes off old clothes and puts on new clothes.

(from "Fundamental Questions") Truth is the flowing that never stops for even a moment. It flows and penetrates, and is alive. There is nothing in the world that is unmoving; there is only flowing. Without beginning or end, without coming and going, there is only flowing, just as it is. Like flowing water, it flows naturally, without any hindrance. Because it is flowing like water, there is no moment that it ever becomes stagnant. Therefore, stopping something from flowing is the same as killing it.

(from "Eternal Truth") From the very beginning, all matter and energy respond according to how human beings raise mind. Without knowing this principle, there is a limitation to material science. Thus we have to take a new approach to science by returning to mind. The basis of each individual field of science comes out from mind. So, although many scientists do research in every field, only by knowing mind can we continue to develop.

(from "The Realm of Mind") Keep watching. Keep watching your own steps. Keep watching who is talking, who is listening, and who is seeing. Keep observing the fact that all things have been done because you exist. If you are looking for truth outside of daily life, you will never find it. Carefully observe the sense of "me" that cries, laughs, suffers, and is happy. Right there, do the things that you cry and laugh about truly exist? Does the self who cries and laughs truly exist? Keep watching very carefully and closely.

(from "The Practice of Watching") If there is a prison that is worse than any other prison in the world, it is the prison of thought. If there is any wall in the world that is the most difficult to overcome, it is the wall of fixed ideas. From a certain perspective, practice means escaping from such walls of thought and differences of fixed ideas. Thus, if you think that you are only an unenlightened being, then because of that thought, you cannot play any role other than that of an unenlightened being. Therefore, you should deeply know that a single thought makes a great difference.

(from "Unceasing Practice) "My possessions, my thoughts, my fame, what I deserve," all of these imprison you inside of a barrel. Unfortunately, people usually think that these are defensive walls that can protect them when they face troubles and difficulties. Therefore, you try to make them higher and thicker as time goes on. However, as you do this, your mind will shrink and become cold. As a result, such a defensive wall is not a wall that protects you, it is a wall that hurts you, a wall that becomes a prison for you.

(from "Unceasing Practice") Flowers bloom automatically when the conditions are appropriate. Nevertheless, people wander around trying to find something, as if there was some unique and astonishing special method. Instead, they should learn the conditions that cause flowers to bloom, and then create those conditions. First center your mind, and then return those outward thoughts to the inside. Do not be dazzled by or chase after other people's enlightenment. Instead, try to cause the flower of enlightenment that is within you to bloom. Because you are already endowed with it, do not go looking for it, just help it bloom naturally.

(from "Unceasing Practice") If you truly love others, then treat them with compassion. Letting them go free is also love and compassion.

(from "Buddhism in Daily Life") When others seem worthless, ugly, or hateful, you should know that you also looked just like that when you were ignorant and didn't know any better. And you should be able to give love and compassion with generosity and wisdom. You have had numerous shapes as you have lived over millions of kalpas, so how can you throw away other beings, saying, "Not you," because they can't do things well or because they do bad things.

(from "Buddhism in Daily Life") If your spouse or children do bad things, never react to them with your mouth, body, or material things. Just entrust everything to mind and observe. Just let go of everything to mind. Then you can communicate with each other. If you dial the telephone from your side, the phone will ring on the other side. When you do this, your sincere mind will be transmitted. This is truly loving, and is the Buddha-dharma of this era.

(from "Buddhism in Daily Life") When problems occur, most people try to find solutions not from within themselves, but from someplace else. They rely on doctors and hospitals for problems with the physical body, and they try to solve their poverty by depending upon other's help. They ask about their own destiny from fortunetellers, and they rely upon schools for education. These kinds of things can be a temporary solution, but they cannot be the ultimate solution. Although a solution seems good, if you find it anywhere other than inside yourself, then it is not a true solution. Thus it is said that you must find yourself. Everything is within you. You must find a hospital, doctor, cure, and solution from within yourself. If you wander around outside, you cannot bring out the infinite solutions that are inside. Paradise is not the place we find after going through many difficulties. Instead, we must practice such that paradise comes and finds us.

(from "Putting Buddhism into Practice")

Product Details

• Paperback: 184 pages
• Publisher: HanMaUm Seon Center (November 15, 1999)
• ISBN-10: 8995085959
• ISBN-13: 978-8995085950
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,122,175 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.