Korean Buddhism Its History & Cultural Heritage: Baekdamsa Monastery-3

[lomerica]

ugc.jpg (151.76 KiB) 1298 번째 조회

Baekdamsa monastery ​is located in Mt Inner Seorak valley which has more than ten kms long from Yongadaeri to the monastery. There are always fresh waters flow in four season in the valley. According to master Han Yong-un mentioned about the Baekdamsa valley in his articles. When he stayed at Baekdamsa monastery and Oseam hermitage he used be on and off along the narrow path near the stream. In his time there was no perfect road, he had to make a route by himself. However nowdays there is motor road. You can reach there by car with ease. But if you walk up to the monastery, you can see the real valley which has natural and pure ecology. Most of climbers who come to Mt Inner Seorak, they prefer to walk from the Baekdamsa enterance gate of Mt Seorak national park to under the nose of Baedamsa monastery. However most of buddhist devotees from antion wide go to the one pillar gate of Baekdamsa monastery by mini bus and stay one night at Baekdamsa dormitory. And then next early morning devotees go up to Bongjeongam(oriental phoenix forehead temple) hermitage where is located on the summit of Mt Inner Seorak. There is a Buddha relic's stupa from India via Central Asia and China by Vinaya master Jajang in the Unified Silla Kingdom.

As I mentioned that Baekdamsa monastery is one of the most important and meaningful monasteries in Korean Buddhism, Baekdamsa is keeping monastic Seon tradition which was introduced to the Korean peninsular from China in Tang and Song Dynasty. ​So to speak Buddhist meditation, there are three main tradition in modern day around the world. Three main buddhist meditaions are Theravadin, Tibetan and Seon(Mahayana) meditation. There are a couple of popular meditation centers in Myanmar and Thailand among Theravadin mediation tradition. You can have good chance to have ​Bhāvanā which literally means 'development' or 'cultivating' or 'producing' in the sense of 'calling into existence.' There are five Bhavanas; citta-bhāvanā, translated as 'development of mind' or 'development of consciousness.' kāya-bhāvanā, translated as 'development of body.' mettā-bhāvanā, translated as the 'cultivation' or 'development of benevolence.' pañña- bhāvanā, translated as 'development of wisdom' or 'development of understanding.' samādhi-bhāvanā, translated as 'development of concentration.'

​​​​​​​​​​In addition, in the Canon, the development (bhāvanā) of samatha-vipassana is lauded. Subsequently, Theravada teachers have made use of the following compounds:

samatha-bhāvanā, meaning the development of tranquility.

vipassanā-bhāvanā, meaning the development of insight.

The word bhavana is sometimes translated into English as 'meditation' so that, for example, metta-bhavana may be translated as 'the meditation on loving-kindness'. Meditation as a state of fixed or absorption concentration by which the mind becomes completely absorbed into and therefore unmove-ably fixed upon the meditation object is properly called dhyana (Sanskrit; Pali: jhāna) or samādhi.

​​Dhyāna​​(Sanskrit) or Jhāna (Pali) means meditation in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. In Buddhism, it is a series of cultivated states of mind, which lead to 'state of perfect equanimity and awareness (upekkhii-sati-piirisuddhl).' Dhyana may have been the core practice of pre-sectarian Buddhism, but became appended with other forms of meditation throughout its development. When Buddhism came to China via Central Asia, buddhist sutras were translated into Chinese. According to history of sutras' translation some central Asian monks came to China first and Indian monks as well. However Dhyana(meditation) was introduced to China later period. In Chinese Buddhism, Chan(Seon) Buddhism is said to be originated from Bodhidharma. Bodhidharma was a Buddhist monk who lived during the 5th or 6th century. He is traditionally credited as the transmitter of Chan Buddhism to China, and regarded as its first Chinese patriarch. According to Chinese legend, he also began the physical training of the monks of Shaolin Monastery that led to the creation of Shaolin Kung Fu.

3backdam04.jpg (52.01 KiB) 1298 번째 조회

​Yeondam Kim Myung-guk(연담 蓮潭 김명국 金明國) was a painter in 17th century Yi Dynasty

Bodhidarma.jpg (44.03 KiB) 1298 번째 조회

This Japanese scroll calligraphy of Bodhidharma reads, 'Zen points directly to the human heart, see into your nature and become Buddha.' It was created by Hakuin Ekaku (1685-1768).


Seon Master Musan Cho Oh-hyun's poem(무산 조오현 霧山 曺五鉉; Josil 조실 祖室 Spiritual Master of Baekdamsa Monastery Elementary Seon Hall of the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism)
------
​​Writer: Dr. Lee Chi-Ran