World Travel 2

World Travel

Seeking after the light of Buddha(2)

Hwishim, Jeong

We moved to Sarnath. To meet Samdhong Rinpoche, we visited his office. He had a number of colleges and disciples and a strong influence on Tibetan people. Luckily he was in his office. He seemed to have heard of Master from one of the professors. He already knew about us. He welcomed us courteously and listened earnestly to what the Master said.

“Nobody has revealed the way to the supreme enlightenment in the world so far. I will talk to you about the way to the supreme enlightenment. Then please tell me that, if it is correct, it is correct and that, if it is wrong, it is wrong. How can a human being attain the supreme enlightenment? For the supreme enlightenment, first there must not be falsehood. Second, the person has to see what is. Third, owing to big conscience and courage, love must happen in the person. Is what I said correct or wrong?”

He said nothing. Master kept saying.

“This way I have been traveling to be helpful to the world. During all my travels until now, people haven’t understood me well and there has been nobody that offered a glass of water properly. Nonetheless, the reason why I have been traveling to India, UK, Thailand, USA, and African countries to look for people is that I believe that my enlightenment is helpful to their lives. If you can help me with what I am doing, I will help you back. Although to save you, a Rinpoche is much more difficult than normal people, I will help what you want occur to you. Certainly, I promise you. What I want you to do for me is to find those who have firm willpower and can help other people with great conscience and courage among your Tibetan acquaintances and to send them to me. If so, I will enlighten them and send them back to Tibet, who will save Tibetan people’s lives. Will you accept my proposal?”

Rinpoche said he would do so. On the next day, we went to Gorakhpur station to go to New Delhi. We knew that it’s not easy to get tickets without making reservations so we went directly to the stationmaster. Showing him messages with photographs, I emphasized that Master is a great man who had lectures in I.I.T. college, Neru University, etc. Saying that we had to go to New Delhi because of an important meeting, we created a disturbance in his office. At first, he looked very embarrassed but he ordered one of his subordinates to find our tickets. Even though he struggled with his computer for a while, there were no seats for New Delhi. We booked the tickets for the closest station near New Delhi and waited for a long time. After all, we changed the plan and rented a jeep.

‘Is there anybody waiting for us in New Delhi?’

Master said he would meet the yogi he met during his last visit to India. I checked in a hotel, threw my back away onto the bed and ran around to find the person. Finally, we could find him at a temple of zen Buddhism in South New Delhi. He introduced the leader of zen Buddhism to us and gave the address in Vikaner. Once again, we had to spend two days on a jeep during the seven hundred kilometer distance to Vikaner. During a long distance car trip in India, it’s hard to find a proper toilet. Almost all the gas stations didn’t have toilets. When I couldn’t find a toilet at one gas station, I visited a house and politely asked if I could use the toilet. The landlord smiled awkwardly and indicated the field.

“Yes, you can use it.”

As soon as we arrived in Bikaner, we had breakfast. I was a wreck because I couldn’t wash and the tiredness made my eyes keep closing. Master saw me walking weakly behind him and pressed me.

“Pinch your thigh and be alert.”

The first temple we visited wasn’t the place where the leader dwelt. When we arrived at the temple where he was, a public rally was being held. As we were waiting in the hall, people gathered around us. The leader told us to sit down and tried to start lecturing. Master said.

“I am not here to listen to what you say. I am a tathagata. I am the one who has come to convey truths to people here and teaches truths.”

One of the disciples of the leader said his teacher was also the enlightened being, after listening to what the Master said.

“What have you enlightened yourself about?”

The leader didn’t give an obvious answer. Master said.

“Being enlightened means seeing what is. If you can see what is, I will ask about what is. What is the answer to 5 plus 5?”

He said the answer could become either 10 or 15. Even elementary students can answer the question but the leader of a religion didn’t answer correctly. What on earth are the disciples learning from the teaching? They didn’t know about anything correctly. The leader didn’t try to make eye contact with the Master and was talking about what is irreleveant at a loss. Why can’t people answer Master’s questions properly? I expected that religious leaders could say something great. Their words and behavior made me disappointed. What kinds of things are religious leaders doing? My mind was heavy all the way to New Delhi.

We moved back to Thailand again. I had to face the heat of Bangkok in the state of catching a cold due to November rain. I visited famous universities and introduced my Master to them. A number of people showed interest in the message with the introduction about the Master and the lectures in many famous universities worldwide. We could arrange the Master’s lecture in Chulalongkorn university with the help of the chancellor. Thirty to forty people including professors, students, and the public were present at the lecture. They listened to the lecture attentively and silently. Most of them were interested in the enlightenment so Master mainly gave the explanations about the enlightenment.

“The perfect enlightenment comes from emancipation. That is, the enlightenment is from the complete loss of karma. If you continuously listen to the one who sees, you can accept truths and stay away from grudge after all. The state of being free of all attachment and grudges is called nirvana, which is also expressed as the state of attaining spiritual peace. When these kinds of people die, they can be born in Heaven. When all the karma is burnt down or disappears completely through love, asceticism, etc., emancipation can be reached. In the state of emancipation, anguish and delusion cease to exist, no hatred arise, and five desires can’t tie up the one who has reached emancipation.”

After the lecture, we went to the temple where the first teacher of the king. Although he has met Master before, he was too old to remember Master. When we entered his room, he told us to revere the statue courteously. We bowed down to the statute but the Master said hello to him. As he couldn’t speak English, an extra interpreter was needed from English to Thailand. When Master talked about the enlightenment, he said.

“The enlightenment can be attained through meditation.”

“It is definitely impossible to attain the supreme enlightenment through meditation.”

He didn’t say anything more due to Master’s dignified words and just told us to come back later, being self-conscious.

When we visited the second teacher of the king, there was a Buddhism event. He seemed to be a busy person. However, his attitude toward us was courteous and earnest. He felt sorry about not having a talk for a long time and said that he hoped to meet us again at our next visit to Thailand.

We came back to Korea from one month trip. Through trip, the Master helped me to experience what is happening in the world and to confirm it for myself and taught me to understand it. The reason why the travel with the Master is really important is that I have become aware that the good life people hope to get is possible only through the realization of ignorance. Remembering his hard time of trying to break people’s ignorance, I am reviewing the great feeling of this travel.