Cookies of Zen – Koan – Case No. 6 – Brighten Eye by Re-Examination

Brighten Eye by Re-Examination: In the year 2468 (1924), Master Hye-Am was in Winter Retreat under Venerable Master Song-Wol at Tongdo Temple's Main Hall of Son, called Pokwang, meaning Pervasive Luminousity. One day Hye-Am sunim entered the master's room and found ten or more students silently. Immeiately Hye-Am asked the master, "What kind of talk are we going to have today?"

The master said, "Hundreds of years ago when the Temple of Patriarch Paik-Chang (Pai Chan 720 - 814) held the Transforming Ceremony for the deceased, master Paik-Chang always recommended that the following Verse be recited for the deceased:

Divine light shines of itself far away from dust and its origin. Whole essence manifests by itself without depending upon any utterance. The true Self-Nature has no affection, it is originally complete and fulfilled in itself. Merely depart from delusory karmic context, this is the Buddha as-it-is.