Description
 
Lectures on The Canon of Won Buddhism (Centers around Chŏngsan's explication of the canon）
 
 
Preface
 
This book is a collection of the online lecture-notes on the Canon delivered for Won Institute of Graduate Studies during the two semesters of fall 2010 and spring 2011. The Canon in the Scriptures of Won Buddhism is a redacted version (1962) of the Correct Canon of Buddhism (Pulgyo chŏngjŏn 1943). As the subtitle of the book indicates, every chapter contains Master Chŏngsan’s “expositions on the Correct Canon of Buddhism” (Pulgyo chŏngjŏn ŭihae). It is indispensable for a proper understanding the central doctrine of Won Buddhism as systematized by Sot’aesan (1891-1943) and Chŏngsan (1900-1962); for some of the central tenet was deleted or garbled during the redaction processes into the current Scriptures of Won Buddhism (Wŏnbulgyo kyŏjŏn 1962). I have restored the original writings by Sot’aesan and Chŏngsan in my translations (See Chung 2003 and 2012). Anyone who thinks my restoration hieratic should open his or her eyes to the fact that Sot’aesan ushered Chŏngsan as the chief codifier of the doctrine and that Chŏngsan codified the central doctrine in accord with his mentor Sot’aesan’s aspiration and plan to found a new religious order with Buddha-dharma as the central doctrine.
 
Sot’aesan’s aspiration upon his great spiritual awakening in 1916 was to deliver sentient beings suffering in the bitter seas of misery and to cure the world of moral ills. Sot’aesan planned to realize the dual goals by the two pillars of the doctrine: Correct Enlightenment and Right Practice and Awareness and Requital of Beneficence. The whole doctrine in the Canon is systematized in order to realize these two goals.
 
Sot’aesan made it clear that what should be learned, taught, and practiced was Buddha-dharma. Sot’aesan had Chŏngsan learn the Buddha-dharma under an eminent Zen master at a Buddhist temple for five years. When he was codifying the central doctrine, Chŏngsan took prajñā-pāramitā (perfection of wisdom) as the central tenet of the doctrine. As is well known, all bodhisattvas attain Nirvāṇa and all buddhas of the three time periods attain unexcelled supreme enlightenment (anutara-samyak-sambodhi) relying on prajñā-pāramitā as taught in the Heart Sūtra (Prajñā-pāramitā-hrdya-Sūtra) and in the Diamond Sūtra (Vajracchedikā prajñā-pāramitā sūtra). We learn that prajñā-pāramitā is the mother of all buddhas of the three time periods.
Thus, it goes without saying that prajñā-pāramitā takes the heart of all Mahāyāna Buddhism (Huayan, Tiantai, and Chan/Zen).
 
As a way of explaining the first pillar of the doctrine of Won Buddhism “Correct Enlightenment and Right Practice,” Chŏngsan wrote the first three sections of the chapter “Irwŏnsang” as Truth of, Faith in, and Practice of Irwŏnsang. And in the third section, Practice of Irwŏnsang, Chŏngsan wrote that the practice of Irwŏnsang lies in knowing, fostering, and using prajñā-jñāna. Here prajñā means prajñā-pāramitā and jñāna means omniscience (sarvajñāna) or the unexcelled supreme enlightenment (amutara-samyak-sambodhi). I have wondered until recently what could be meant by “knowing prajñā-jñāna.” It would not take many steps to show that Chŏngsan meant by it a thorough understanding of the teachings in the Diamond Sūtra and the Heart Sūtra, which are recited all the time in Won Buddhism.
 
Unfortunately, prajñā-jñāna was deleted from the section Practice of Irwŏnsang during the redaction processes in 1962. As a result, the practice of Irwŏnsang lies in knowing, fostering, and using one’s own mind that is as perfect, complete, utterly fair, and unselfish as Irwŏnsang (unitary-circular-form). This blocks one from knowing, fostering, and using prajñā-jñāna, severing the connection to the heart of the Buddha-dharma, which nullifies Sot’aesan’s original declaration on the Buddha-dharma. Master Chŏngsan said, “How could the mind of the Buddha be as round as a circle? Since the main characteristic of the Buddha’s mind is perfection and purity, Irwŏnsang is adopted to symbolize the perfection. Irwŏnsang is no more the Buddha’s mind than the finger is the moon when used to point to the moon.” It goes without saying that one should not take the finger for the moon.
 
Sot’aesan’s aspiration “to deliver the sentient beings suffering in the bitter sea of misery” cannot be realized without “the light of prajñā-jñāna” sparkling with enlightenment in every sentient being’s mind; for the suffering seas are created by the three poisons of greed, anger, and delusion in the mind of sentient beings. Thus, the most important tenet of Buddha-dharma Master Chŏngsan infused into the central doctrine of Won Buddhism is the Prajñā-pāramitā (perfection of wisdom) expressed by Prajñā-jñāna (panya-ji), which was deleted from the 1962 edition of the Canon.
 
 
Contents
 
Preface    ix
Abbreviations and Conventions     xiii
Doctrinal Chart    xv
Chapter One.    The Founding Motive      1
Chapter Two.    General Outlines and the Four Pillars      15
Chapter Three.    Reformation of Buddhism Expressed in Mottos      25
Chapter Four.    Irwŏnsang in place of the Buddha Statue      39
Chapter Five.    The Truth of Irwŏnsang      55
Chapter Six.    Faith in and Worship of Irwŏnsang      71
Chapter Seven.    The Practice of Irwŏnsang      87
Chapter Eight.    The Vow to Irwŏnsang      107
Chapter Nine.    Irwŏnsang Dharma Words      127
Chapter Ten.    The Gāthā      141
Chapter Eleven.    Fourfold Beneficence as the Object of Faith      157
Chapter Twelve.    Beneficence of Heaven and Earth; of Parents      167
Chapter Thirteen.    The Beneficence of Brethren and Laws      185
Chapter Fourteen.     Spiritual Cultivation; Sitting-in-Meditation      197
Chapter Fifteen.    Inquiry into Facts and Principles; the Nature      215
Chapter Seventeen.    The Essentials of Daily Practice      277
Chapter Eighteen.    Timeless Zen; Xiuxiuan on Zuochan      301
Chapter Nineteen.    The Heart Sutra      329
Chinese Character Glossary      341
Glossary of Terms      347
Works Cited      361
Index      365