Let us prepare for centennial celebration of founding of Won Buddhism by elevating ourselves to be holy and great.
　

How shall we celebrate the centennial year of founding of Won Buddhism?
What do I prepare for the next 10 years?
Me, an individual goal We, collective goal

How did we celebrate the centennial year of Master Sot'aesan's birth?
We created Master Sot'aesan's statue, built Master's memorial hall, and established pagoda at his birth place. Thus we confirmed and declared Ven. Sot'aesan as holy and great through external accomplishment. In contrast to external accomplishment more meaningful celebration seems to come from our inner accomplishment.

About eight years ago Yungsan kyomunim delivered Master Daesan's teaching on this topic. At that time I was excited while listening to his dharma talk. But eight years passed without much effort for actualizing it.

Now we have about 10 years left until the centennial celebration of founding Won Buddhism, 2016. If I wait ten years without any effort, I will be very ungrateful for the grace of Master Sot'aesan and all the teachers who have nurtured, supported, and guided me. Though I am still poor and incapable, I want to requite the graces of the teachers with what I am and have now.

I am determined to elevating myself to be holy and great . I believe the change of the world starts with the change of me. The holy external world starts with the holy inner self.

The theme of Master Daesan's teaching is to make ourselves holy and great by awakening and nurturing the awakened spirit.
ref: Sixth Patriarch Huineng's awakening and nurturing

What is holy? The term holy implies religious significance, e. g, holy land, holy book, holy person . . . In Catholicism there is a ritual to make a person a Saint, namely a holy person.
What am I reminded of being holy? Being holy seems to be well represented by a circle symbol, namely round eyes, ears, mouth, mind. Buddha's compassionate smile, bodhisattva's prayers for the sick, mother's loving care of a baby . . .

How can we make ourselves holy? By awakening and nurturing the awakened spirit I make myself holy. Though nurturing the awakened spirit and attaining Buddhahood are equally important, due to the limited time, I will focus on the task of awakening in my talk today.

What is awakening? Awakening is defined as giving birth to Truth. What do we mean "giving birth to Truth"? Master Daesan made an analogy between art work and birth of a baby. As a mother gave birth to a child, an artist gave birth to an art work. Similarly he asked the disciples to give birth to the Truth. How can we give birth to the Truth? How we give birth to the Truth of Il Won?

As you know the term philosophy means, a philosopher is a lover of truth. Love, passion wonder, or discipline seems to be related with searching for the truth. Severe self torture or hardship is often considered essential for searching and awakening.

However, We received a special warning from Master Sot'aesan regarding the search for the Truth. He urged us to remember the useless suffering he underwent and not to hurt our body for the purpose of awakening.

Do you feel Master's special warning? What does this special warning mean to you?

The way how to give birth to the Truth of Il Won is well described in Master Sot'aesan's sermon. One starts with great vow. Then, faith in and zeal for practice will fill in one's mind. Once mind is filled with faith and zeal, then questioning regarding to practice follows. Finally the awakening arises from the whole hearted dedication to the practice.
Master Sot'aesan was very concrete in terms of guiding his disciples. His teaching of Threefold Study and Timeless Zen is followed by concrete instruction, namely methods of fixed-term training and daily training. Especially Master Sot'aesan emphasizes the practice of daily training, saying that since human mind is subtle, we need to undergo the process of self-examination with the Items of Heedfulness in Daily Applications and Items of Heedfulness regarding Temple Visits. If we follow Master Sot'aesan's instruction, we will give birth to the Truth, the Il Won Truth without hurting our body. By awakening and nurturing the awakened spirit I make myself holy. You make yourself holy. We make ourselves holy. The change of me and you is the core change of the world.

Do you feel Master's compassion? Let's look at our heart. Ven. Chongsan's final word to Master Sot'aesan, just before sacrificing his life, reminded us how deeply Chongsan felt Master's compassion. He said to the Master that "we are going to sacrifice our lives with joy like this, however, we pray that you should not be trouble a bit by this matter of ours." Am I grateful to all teachers' compassion just as Ven Chongsan was to Master Sot'aesan?

Master Daesan declared awakening to the Truth as a basic human right. as well as a basic human responsibility and obligation In Declaration of Independence written by Thomas Jefferson there are three basic human rights: life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. To add one more human right, namely awakening to the Truth seems a most significant event in this era of human history. A famous historian Toynbee stated that the most crucial event in the 20th century is to introduce Buddhism to the West. Such declaration, like declaration of awakening as basic human right only comes from the enlightened mind, which Buddhism has taught us for 2500 years.

As a conclusion I would like to emphasize that the change of me starts here and now. Awakening and elevating myself to be holy and great starts here and now. I would like to read my determination together with you. Shall we read together two times?

I will prepare for the centennial celebration of founding of Won Buddhism by elevating myself to be holy and great just like our founder, Master Sot'aesan with great awakening and nurturing the awakened spirit.

http://www.wonbuddhism.org/