부처님의 가르침, 선사들의 깨침의 순간,
그리고 이어지는 법륜 스님의 깨달음의 이야기
The teachings of the Buddha, the moment of enlightenment of Seon masters, and the story Ven. Pomnyun Sunim’s enlightenment
법륜 스님의 A Taste of Enlightenment는 참자유, 참행복을 찾으려면 삶 속에서 스스로를 돌아 보고 깨쳐야 한다는 부처님의 근본 가르침을 선사들과 이웃들, 법륜 스님의 수행담을 통해 친근하게 전한다.
Ven. Pomnyun Sunim’s new book, A Taste of Enlightenment, conveys to Seon masters and lay people the original teachings of the Buddha – to find true freedom and happiness, we must self-reflect and awaken our daily lives – through Ven. Pomnyun Sunim’s stories of his practice.
<지금 여기, 깨어있기> 책 소개
즉문즉설로 수많은 사람들의 고민을 듣고 길을 제시한 법륜 스님,
A Taste of Enlightenment에서 살아있는 자신의 수행담을 들려준다!
Ven. Pomnyun Sunim has been providing insightful wisdom to a great number of people who have been asking questions about their problems at his Dharma Q&As.
In his book A Taste of Enlightenment, he shares the stories of his personal experiences attained in the course of his practice!
12년 국내 300회 강연뿐만 아니라 2014년 세계 100회 즉문즉설 강연을 통해 전 세계로 직접 찾아가 사람들의 인생 고민을 직접 만난 법륜 스님. 진리의 길, 깨달음의 길에 이르는 방법을 알려주는 A Taste of Enlightenment를 펴냈다. 특히, A Taste of Enlightenment에서는 법륜 스님 자신의 인생에 큰 전환점이 되었던 깨달음의 순간을 생생하게 들려준다. 부처님의 삶, 선사들의 깨침의 이야기는 이제 법륜 스님 자신의 수행담으로 이어졌다. 이제는 우리들 스스로가 깨달을 차례다.
In addition to holding 300 Dharma Q&As in Korea in 2012, in 2014, Ven. Pomnyun Sunim traveled around the world and held 115 Dharma Q&As to listen to the difficulties of people all over the world. He has published a new book A Taste of Enlightenment, which offers the way to the path of truth and enlightenment. Also, in the book, he offers vivid accounts of his moments of enlightenment, which became significant turning points in his life. The stories of the Buddha’s life and the enlightenment of Seon masters gave way to Ven. Pomnyun Sunim’s own stories of enlightenment. Now it’s our turn to attain enlightenment ourselves.
“네가 누구냐?”, “왜 네 것이냐?” 물으면 우리는 대답을 못한다.
지금 이대로도 우리는 행복한가?
When we are asked “Who are you?”, “Why are these yours?,” we cannot answer.
Are we happy as things are now?
지금까지 수도 없이 ‘나는!’ 하고 살았지만 정작 “네가 누구냐?” 라고 물으면 우리는 대답을 못한다. 지금까지 수도 없이 ‘내 거야!’ 하고 살았는데 “왜 네 것이냐?”라고 물으면 모른다. 우선 자기 인생을 다시 생각해보아야 한다. 내가 옳다는 생각을 다시 점검해볼 필요가 있다. 스스로 점검하면 좋지만 어려우면 주변의 도움을 받아서 자신을 객관화시켜 볼 수 있어야 한다. 그러면 고민거리가 대부분은 해결된다. 이제는 집중해서 마음공부를 해야 한다. 깨달음은 멀리 있는 것이 아니다. 지금 바로 우리 옆에 있어서 언제라도 그 혜택을 입을 수 있는 것이다. 내일 무슨 일이 일어날지 모르는 이 인생사에서 무슨 일이 일어나도 아무 문제가 없는 삶을 살아가는 것을 해탈, 열반이라고 한다. 비가 오면 비가 오는 대로 좋고 맑으면 맑은 대로 좋고 추우면 추운 대로 좋고 더우면 더운 대로 좋은, 자유롭고 행복한 삶을 살아야한다.
Until now, we have lived our lives talking about “I” countless times. However, the truth is, when we are asked, “Who are you?” we cannot answer. We have also been insisting, “It’s mine!” But when someone asks, “Why is it yours?,” we don’t know the answer. First of all, you have to rethink your life. You need to re-examine the idea that you are right. It’s good to check yourself, but if that’s difficult, you should try to see yourself in an objective light with the help of those around you. Then, most of your problems will be solved. Now, you need to practice diligently. Enlightenment is not far away. It’s close to us, so we can attain it at any time. Our lives are completely unpredictable, and being able to live with equanimity no matter what happens in life is called liberation and nirvana. We need to live a free and happy life in which it’s good regardless of whether it rains or shines and it’s hot or cold.
죽을 때까지 애써도 해결 못 하는 것이 아니라,
지금 깨닫고 나머지 인생은 행복하게 살아야 한다!
You shouldn’t struggle in vain all your life until you die.
You should attain enlightenment now and live happily for the rest of your life!
법륜 스님은 우리가 진정 행복해지고 자유로워지는 길은 ‘자기의 문제를 자기가 인식하는 것으로부터 시작한다.’라고 강조한다. A Taste of Enlightenment에서 법륜 스님은 자기가 단도직입으로 살핀다면 인생살이가 절대 복잡하지 않다고 말한다.
지금 행복해야 한다. 지금 살아있는 것만으로도 행복해야 한다. 죽을 때까지 수행해서 죽기 전에야 깨닫는 것을 목표로 하면 안 된다.
Ven. Pomnyun Sunim emphasizes that the way to become truly happy and free begins with becoming aware of your problems. In A Taste of Enlightenment, he explains that life is never complicated if you examine everything directly. You should be happy now. You should be happy for just being alive at this moment. You should not aim to practice all your life and attain enlightenment right before death.
“Young man, when a person sits on a ridge between rice paddies and keeps one’s mind pure, that person is a practitioner. And the place where that person sits is a temple. That is Buddhism.”
His words shocked me to the core. I had complained that Buddhism needed to be reformed. Everything that I had been doing was an exercise in futility. It was as if I’d been trying to pluck an illusory flower from the air. My efforts were doomed to fail because I was trying to reform something that was not Buddhism. In plain language, the monk told me that I was deluded and that my efforts were totally futile. An experience like this is an awakening.
법륜法輪 스님은 평화와 화해의 메시지를 전하는 평화 운동가이자 제3세계를 지원하는 활동가이며 인류의 문명 전환을 실현해 가는 사상가, 깨어있는 수행자이다. 1988년, 괴로움이 없고 자유로운 사람, 이웃과 세상에 보탬이 되는 보살의 삶을 서원으로 한 수행공동체 ‘정토회’를 설립했다.
법륜 스님의 법문은 쉽고 명쾌하다. 언제나 현대인의 눈높이에 맞추어 깨달음과 수행을 이야기 한다. 법륜 스님의 말과 글은 빙 돌려 말하지 않고 군더더기 없이 근본을 직시한다. 밖을 향해 있는 우리의 시선을 안으로 돌이킨다. 어렵고 난해한 경전 역시 법륜 스님을 만나면 스님의 지혜와 직관, 통찰의 힘으로 살아 숨 쉬는 가르침이 된다.
스님은 일반 대중들과 함께하는 ‘즉문즉설卽問卽說’과 ‘행복학교’를 통해 괴로움이 없는 삶(행복)을 안내하고 있다. 특히 즉문즉설은 한국에서 1,200회가 넘게 진행되었고, 유튜브 채널의 동영상 누적 조회 수는 17억 뷰에 달한다(2022년, 4월 기준). 2020년 코로나 팬데믹 이후에는 외국인 대상 즉문즉설을 포함해서 수십만 명의 대중과 온라인 즉문즉설로 만나고 있다.
한편, 개인의 수행과 사회 참여가 결코 둘이 아니라는 사상을 기초로, 한반도 평화통일과 난민 지원, 국제구호활동, 종교간 화해와 협력을 위한 다양한 평화운동을 전개하고 있다. 이러한 공로를 인정받아 2002년 ’아시아의 노벨상‘으로 불리는 라몬 막사이사이상을 수상했고, 2020년 제37회 니와노 평화상을 수상했다.
지은 책으로는 『지금 이대로 좋다』 『인간 붓다』 『법륜 스님의 금강경 강의』가 있다. 이외에도 젊은이들에게 꾸준히 사랑받고 있는 『스님의 주례사』 『법륜 스님의 행복』 『나는 괜찮은 사람입니다』, 현대인의 삶의 지침서 『인생수업』, 수행 지침서 『기도 : 내려놓기』, 교사들을 위한 『선생님의 마음공부』, 환경 문제의 대안을 제시하는 『생명의 강』, 한반도의 평화와 통일의 비전을 제시하는 『스님, 왜 통일을 해야 하나요』 『새로운 100년』 등 50여 권이 있다.
http://www.jungto.org
CONTENTS
PREFACE
Your Awakening Beyond the Awakening of Seon Masters
Part 01 Where Are You Right Now?
Someone Said So
Where Did You Come From and Where Are You Going?
Can You Attain Enlightenment Through Sitting Meditation?
“Chang-Cheong Chang-Cheong”
There Are No Blessings to Be Attained
Bring Forth Your Uneasy Mind
Grave Sin
What Is This Thing That Came?
How to Change Your Fate
Do You Know Yourself?
Part 02 Do You Know Yourself?
How Can There Be Relics from a Wooden Buddha?
Who Made God?
Making Rice with Sand
Is Cow Dung Sacred or Dirty?
When Caught Up in Our Own Thoughts 80 How a Teacher and a Disciple Became Sworn Enemies 86 Holding the Bucket Upside Down
Saying “Yes” When You Really Don’t Want To
Part 03 Reflect Upon Yourself
The Story of Lady Bodeok
In the End, It’s Your Decision
Husband Buddha, Wife Buddha
Go to Another Temple
Awakening in Everyday Life
You’ve Been Deceived but You Don’t Even Know It
Part 04 Develop Strength Through Practice You Don’t Have to Believe it
Does a Dog Have Buddha-Nature?
What Is This?
A Question That Comes Like a Bolt Out of the Blue 172 Beyond This World
Do You Know That You Don’t Know?
Part 05 Practice in Your Daily Life
Realizing That Dirtiness and Cleanliness Are Not Two Different Things
Turning Away from Sentient Beings
Who Are the Sentient Beings?
A Life Not Obstructed by Anything
Awakening Can Happen the Moment the Mind Arises 227 A Golden Opportunity
The Moment Love Turns into Hate
Part 06 Be Awake to the Here and Now
Be a Pine Tree in Front of the Pagoda 249 Holding onto Myself
Are You Awake?
United We Fall, Divided We Stand
Start by Accepting Reality
No Reason to Blame Others
Part 07 Turn Things That Have Already Happened into Something Useful in Your Life
The Pain of Death and Abstaining from Killing
True Understanding
The World as It Is
The Present Is the Sum of Past Causes and Conditions 298 Choice and Responsibility
The Principle of Acceptance
The Path to Loving Yourself as Well as Others
EPILOGUE
How to Live Happily and Freely
책 속으로
“If you live alone, it should feel good to live alone. If you live with someone, it should feel good to live with someone. If you have a child, it should be nice to have a child, and, if you don’t, that should feel nice as well. If you trip over a stone in the street, you need to get up, find a shovel, and remove it, preventing any more people from tripping over it. At that point, the fact that you tripped over a stone today becomes a wonderful thing. If you hadn’t tripped, you wouldn’t have noticed the obstacle. Tripping over the stone turned out to be a blessing in disguise.”
“If you fall into the water, instead of flailing helplessly and screaming for help, search for a pearl. If you’re married, have a child, go bankrupt, have cancer, or grow old, instead of suffering, look for opportunities to be awakened. There are things you can realize only when you are old, sick, divorced, or have been betrayed. Awakening is not far away. Awakening is wherever your mind arises. Depending on whether or not you realize this, you can attain nirvana in a single moment, or you can wander around in the six realms of existence life after life.”
“There isn’t much difference in the relationships between couples, parents and children, friends, North Korea and South Korea, North Korea and the U.S., and the majority and minority parties. All problems arise from a self-centered perspective. People argue, feel resentful, and suffer because they look at the world only from their own perspectives. If you stop insisting on your own perspective, there’s nothing in the world to fight about. You come to see that people are naturally different and that these differences can enrich the world in harmony.”
“We always forget our current role. Some try to teach when they are there to learn. Others neglect their duties when they are there to teach. And still others badmouth the people to whom they should be grateful for the help they received. We won’t have any regrets in our lives if we are awake to these three things: now, here, and why. We regret later because we are not awake now.”
