These were the questions that troubled a twelve-year-old boy named Siddhartha as he witnessed the suffering of people in the world. He left behind his royal life and set out into the world in search of answers.
The man who came to be known as the Buddha lived his entire life as a seeker of truth and a revolutionary in a world filled with discrimination and violence, working to create a world where everyone could be happy! In this book, Ven. Pomnyun Sunim traces the footsteps of the human Buddha, expressing his deep reverence for his teacher along the way.
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.
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Preface _ Meet the Revolutionary Buddha
Chapter 01_ In a Life of Abundance, Anguish Begins
The Birth of the Buddha
India’s Natural Environment and History
The Anguish of Young Siddhartha
Chapter 02_Siddhartha Realizes the True Nature of the World
Siddhartha’s Ascetic Practice
Attainment of Enlightenment
Chapter 03_The Buddha Begins to Spread the Dharma
to Liberate Sentient Beings
The First Turning of the Wheel of Dharma
Laying the Foundation for Spreading the Dharma
The Ordination of the Great Disciples
Chapter 04 _Equality, the Right of All Human Beings
Women Are Half of the World
Spreading the Dharma with Equality and Compassion
Steps Toward Peace
Not Wavering in the Face of Criticism and Slander
Chapter 05_When You Meet the Buddha, You Are the Buddha
Freedom from Old Age, Sickness, and Death: The Path to Nirvana
Formation of the Buddhist Order and the History of the Spread of the Dharma
If You Free Yourself from Anguish, You Are a Buddha
“A Human, Not a God: The Revolutionary Thinker Who Sparked a Quiet Rebellion”
In The Buddha-A True Revolutionary, Ven. Pomnyun Sunim, known for his Dharma Q&As invites us to reflect through the life of the Buddha: “Why have we stopped asking questions? Why have we ceased to think deeply?”
This book does not portray the Buddha merely as a mediator or a religious symbol. The Buddha confronted suffering head-on, attained enlightenment, challenged the social structures of his time, and brought changes through his actions. He allowed women to be ordained, built a community without class distinctions, and changed the world through critical thinking.
In this book, Ven. Pomnyun Sunim strips away the myths surrounding the Buddha and portrays him as a practitioner, a thinker, and an activist. Retelling the Buddha’s life in today’s language, the book ultimately asks us, living in the present, a profound question: “After enlightenment, what will you do?”
The Buddha said that anyone who attains enlightenment like he did can become a Buddha. We perceive only as much as we know and understand only as much as we perceive. Thus, before discussing abstract ideas beyond our grasp, we must first understand the Buddha as a human being and a practitioner within the three-dimensional world we live in.
From this perspective, Ven. Pomnyun Sunim reveals the Buddha as a revolutionary. It is easy to accept that the Buddha’s life was revolutionary, both personally and socially: Despite his position as a prince that guaranteed a comfortable life, he suffered from existential suffering. He eventually left home to live as an ascetic, subsisting on alms and sleeping under the open sky. He explored every path without hesitation to attain enlightenment, including six years of extreme asceticism. Ultimately, he attained enlightenment and became the Buddha.
The Buddha’s subsequent social revolution truly transcends his era. The society of the Buddha’s disciples and practitioners evokes the ideal democratic society we strive for today but have yet to perfect. His teachings to the people likewise embodied social engagement as a natural extension of enlightenment. Considering the rigid caste and monarchical systems of ancient India, the very existence of such a community was nothing short of a revolution. Perhaps it was only possible because of the Buddha.
Ven. Pomnyun Sunim says that it was his discovery of the “revolutionary Buddha” that caused him to turn back from abandoning his path as a monk. Disillusioned with the reality of institutional Buddhism, he almost walked away, but the Buddha’s revolutionary spirit reignited his commitment.
In The Buddha-A True Revolutionary, presents Ven. Pomnyun Sunim’s complete account of the Buddha’s life, from birth to parinirvana. Without relying on mythical elements, it sheds light on the Buddha as a human being and a practitioner who lived within the historical realities of India 2,600 years ago.
Anyone who reads this book will surely discover the revolutionary spirit in the Buddha’s life. Meeting him again in the context of our times, readers will be inspired to ask: What teachings would the Buddha offer to awaken and transform us in the face of today’s challenges of climate crisis, the threat of war, widening inequality, rampant materialism and consumerism, and rising collective selfishness?
