Contents Foreword by His Holiness the Dalai Lama · xiii

Author’s Preface · xv

Introduction The Enlightened Teacher, Master Baek Sung Wook · 1

Studying under the Master · 2

Following in the footsteps of the Master · 9

About the Master’s teaching · 12

One The World That Is Created By The Mind · 17

Sound of a bell · 18

The image in the mind · 19

A millionaire’s karmic retribution · 20

Surrendering your delusions · 22

Surrender even the sins · 24

Scolding taints the mind · 26

Two Surrendering the Mind to Buddha · 27

Joy at seeing your karmic hindrances · 28

Not holding on to delusions · 31

Surrendering while watching the mind · 33

Surrendering the mind to Buddha · 36

Analogy from the Avalokiteshvara Sutra · 40

Three poisons: greed, hatred, and arrogance · 42

Mind’s poison and body’s disease · 46

Six perfections · 48

Three Purifying the Mind, Enlightening the Mind · 49

Surrendering the hatred · 50

Holy teacher Tulle · 52

Purifying the mind, enlightening the mind · 54

The person who enlightens me is my Buddha · 56

Surrendering the attachment to the body · 57

Purify anger to achieve Buddhahood · 61

The burning fire · 63

Check the door lock at the third hour · 65

About the practice time · 66

Discriminating minds occur in units of three · 68

See your own face and surrender your faults · 69

Four Be True to the Present Present · 71

Be true to the present present · 72

Minding the store · 74

Not losing your mindfulness · 76

A positive mentality · 77

The mind that shelters no impossibilities · 79

Be free from preconceived notions · 80

Hell is when you have a strong ego · 82

Only my mother · 83

Everyone helps me · 84

Do not stop people from coming to you,

nor stop them from leaving you · 86

Five May You Accumulate Much Merit · 89

Don’t just hope to be well off,

plant the causes to be well off · 90

Great merit of no limit · 93

Surrender even your merit · 95

You cannot give your merit to someone else,

nor can you accept someone else’s merit · 96

How to sustain oneself in the future · 98

Purify your needy mind, cultivate your plentiful mind · 99

Not imprinting poverty on one’s mind · 100

Black puppy · 101

Palace grandmother · 103

Earning three times your wage · 106

Why money is necessary · 108

Offering a meal to a dharma seeker · 110

Offering and accepting devotion · 112

The mentality of not being indebted · 114

A bowl of rice · 116

Six Reverence, the Fragrance of Eternity · 117

Trees in front of the Buddha hall · 118

Nonduality based on utmost reverence · 119

Surrender with reverence · 121

King Ashoka · 124

Venerable Shariputra · 126

Snow and star · 127

Visiting the Master at daybreak · 129

When you give the Diamond Sutra · 135

Seven May We All Serve Buddha Well, Parwon! · 137

May we all serve Buddha well, parwon! · 138

Buddha work is based on won · 140

Every moment we fulfill our wishes,

yet every moment we complain · 141

The governor of Gyeongsang Province · 143

Sentient beings leave the world after fulfilling their wishes · 145

Eight Absolute Freedom Is Loneliness · 147

Absolute freedom is loneliness · 148

When you are freed from loneliness · 150

Keep a distance the length of a bull’s rein

when you get to know someone · 152

Warmth is within Buddha’s bosom · 154

An embroidered phoenix might be seen,

but the needle tip cannot be seen · 156

The Zelkova tree · 157

The virtue of water · 159

My mind tree · 160

Kashyapa, what is the mind? · 161

Nine Enlightened Masters · 167

Bodhidharma · 168

Two masters in Myohyang Mountain · 170

Master Hakuin · 174

Ten The Path That We All Tread Together · 177

Three vehicles · 178

When one pursues the path, nine generations benefit · 180

About giving · 182

Giving without seeking reward · 186

Compassion · 189

Master Wonhyo and the raccoon cubs · 191

Memorial day · 193

The mistake of teaching others · 195

Saving beings is Buddha’s job, our job is serving Buddha · 197

The enlightened being walks one step ahead of the ordinary being · 199

The children who practice surrendering · 200

Eleven Reading the Diamond Sutra, Surrendering the Mind · 203

The Diamond Sutra, Shakyamuni Buddha’s spiritual housekeeping · 204

Why one reads the Diamond Sutra · 207

How to read the Diamond Sutra · 209

Ten years of practice and Namo Amitabha Buddha · 210

Tathagata Maitreya, where Shakyamuni Buddha’s mind is · 212

Why we recite Mireukjon Yeoraebul · 214

Twelve Stories of Cause and Effect · 217

The master who was born as a water buffalo · 218

King Cheoljong and Pak Yeong-Ho · 221

When a wicked person is well off · 223

Karmic retribution for taking a life · 225

Killing should be avoided · 227

Why we cannot but surrender the mind · 229

About the repeated cycle of birth and death · 230

Life as a wayfarer · 234

The sound of laughter · 236

Thirteen At the Monastery · 239

When the rays of spring come · 240

The mud house · 244

Young spiritual seeker and early spring · 247

Fourteen Path of the Bodhisattva · 253

May you plant great merit in the New Year · 254

Kind intentions will return to you · 255

The root of suffering · 256

The Dharma lecture of the pointing finger · 257

My fault · 258

A boulder · 259

Practicing the bright mind · 260

Realization and practice · 261

After death that is not far away, what body will I receive? · 262

The weighing scale of our conscience · 263

Cleaning the monastery · 264

Modesty is the greatest virtue · 265

The practice of lowering oneself · 266

Ask the experts · 268

The fragrance of virtue · 269

Scholar Kim Jip · 270

A spiritual legacy for future generations · 273

Ego · 276

The mindset of practice · 278

People who truly love themselves · 280

Retributive karmic ties · 281

Towards the mind of Buddha · 283

Spotted sleeper fish · 285

Emptying is the practice · 286

The difference between a bodhisattva and a sentient being · 288

Housekeeping of the mind · 289

Fifteen To practitioners · 291

Look back on yourself · 292

Do not become indebted · 293

The honesty of a practitioner · 294

The essence of spiritual practice · 296

Strengths and weaknesses · 298

Overcome the mind of dislike · 299

Sacrifice your life to cultivate the mind · 300

Your fellow practitioners are your teachers · 302

Three poisonous minds · 303

Change at once · 305

Keep Buddha in your mind 307

Sin-eon-seo-pan: body, words, writing and decision · 309

As if this day were your last · 310

Practitioner · 311

The method of practice · 313

When you do monastery work · 315

The path of the bodhisattva · 316

Preparing the monasteries · 318

Sixteen Practice in Daily Life · 325

Teaching within everyday life · 326

I should do my own chores · 328

Putting others first · 330

Putting the monastery first · 332

Why we must be frugal · 333

Your everyday life must change · 337

What are your thoughts · 339

Meticulous care · 341

Safety comes first · 343

The sanctity of life · 345

Like the bamboo trees standing tall to the sky · 350

Practice that flows like water · 352

Learning from nature · 353

Master’s worries · 354

Glossary · 359