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It is impossible, and ultimately foolish, to try to define Seon. Yet this must be addressed because many people mistakenly believe that all spiritual teachings are simply different expressions of the same truth.Although these traditions often stand upon the broad foundation of Buddhism, they are not saying the same thing. To the world, however, they gradually appear to sound alike, and in time people become convinced that they are one and the same.Seon is not about learning, admiring, or preserving the thoughts and opinions of any particular person. In fact, it is the very opposite.Ironically, even among those following other approaches, genuine awakening can and does occur. There is nothing strange about this. Every experience in life can become the very hint that awakens one from the dream. Just as a dreamer does not awaken only through one special event within the dream, but can awaken through any circumstance that appears in the dream, awakening may arise anywhere.The real issue begins after awakening.The experience of awakening is deeply personal, yet within oneself it is nothing less than a complete reversal of reality. Inside and outside exchange places. Subject and object collapse. Every boundary by which life was previously understood disappears.Then comes the danger.Unable to express what cannot be put into words, one may cover that realization with personal interpretations, dismiss it as merely an unusual experience, or allow those who have never awakened to explain it. When this happens, the truth becomes distorted, and one eventually comes to follow a person, an ideology, or a system of thought instead of the truth itself.Laozi said that because it cannot be named, it is called the Tao.Bodhidharma taught that everything is your own mind.An unnamed Seon master said, “If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him.”How much more directly could they have spoken?After hearing these words, can one still insist that all teachers who are admired as spiritual masters are saying essentially the same thing?To say they are merely "similar" is already to miss the point. Similarity belongs to appearances. Seon points beyond appearances altogether.This confusion is not unique to our time. The records of the Seon masters repeatedly warn that throughout history there have been intelligent people who mistook intellectual understanding for awakening, and even those who truly awakened sometimes became trapped by their own interpretations afterward.For this reason the masters advised:"If you have seen the truth, even for a single moment, seek out a clear eyed master."Not because the master possesses the truth for you, but because self deception after awakening is more subtle than self deception before awakening.Today I see people quoting sages, borrowing profound words, and convincing themselves that they stand alongside those who truly awakened. With eloquence they attract others, speaking of harmony, unity, and walking together. Yet if the foundation is mistaken, they lead not only themselves astray but also everyone who follows them.To remain silent while witnessing this would itself be a form of deception.That is why I write.

Throughout history, there have been individuals who were widely revered as living awakened masters. Many people think of Thich Nhat Hanh of Vietnam, Seungsahn of Korea, and the Dalai Lama of Tibet.Yet none of them became respected because awakened people gathered together and officially voted to declare them enlightened. Their reputation arose naturally through the respect of countless people and the circumstances of their time.Today, only the 14th Dalai Lama remains alive.Things that seem likely to happen in this world do, in fact, happen.The first time I came to know the Dalai Lama was not as a Buddhist leader, but as a Tibetan monk in exile who sought to make the world aware of the political oppression surrounding Tibet and to ask for international support.Over time, with the attention and support of many nations, the Tibetan issue became an international concern.But as the years have passed, what began as a political conflict between China and Tibet now appears to have become a struggle over the very identity and legitimacy of Buddhism itself.Watching China and Tibet each claim the authority to determine the next Dalai Lama, I cannot help but worry that future generations may come to mistake the Dharma for a matter of politics and power.Awakening belongs to no nation.It belongs to no religion.It is not granted by any institution or any individual.It is the birthright of every human being.Why search for the Buddha that others have chosen, while ignoring the Buddha within your own mind?What is the essence of Buddhism?Is it to follow someone who appears to be awakened?Or is it, as the Buddha taught, to awaken clearly for yourself?Seon leaves no room for ambiguity."If you meet the Buddha, kill the Buddha.If you meet the Patriarch, kill the Patriarch."This does not advocate violence.It points to something uncompromising.Do not cling to any authority, any image, or any concept in place of direct realization.Anyone who has not directly realized this truth, yet speaks carelessly as though they possess it, risks committing a grave wrong, not only against themselves, but against countless others.Belief in reincarnation is likewise a cultural tradition that developed within particular societies.If it were truly the one indispensable truth that every human being must accept, then the Buddha himself could simply have been reborn the next leader of China and ended every dispute once and for all.Yet for over 2,500 years, he has done neither.Not because he could not.But because there was never any need.The heart of his teaching was never to prove reincarnation.It was to point each of us toward the truth that must be realized directly.Nothing more.Nothing less.Neither coming nor going. (불래불거, 不來不去)The original nature that neither comes nor goes, here and now.In the end, that was the one thing the Buddha pointed to.https://time-magazine.visitlink.me/K9u9hH

​It begins with Richard Feynman’s famous anecdote of a flower.a blossom is beautiful to the eye,and even more beautiful to the mind that unfolds its hidden dance of atoms.​Yet, the truest beauty belongs neither to the petal nor the atom,but to That which looks upon them both.​For without the Seer, the seen is but a shadow.the dawn of all wonder begins within the One who notices.-Nim-

The initial awakening is only the beginning.Only when awakening continues naturally, as effortlessly as waking up every morning, does it become enlightenment.But if life still has the power to bind you,it cannot yet be called enlightenment.-Nim-

The writings in this blog follow the Seon principle of nondependence on words and letters.Yet, in keeping with the needs of the present age, they reluctantly use words for one purpose only: as the pointing finger of a Seon master. They are not intended for discussion, communication, or the exchange of opinions.Even if something in these writings seems to be understood, simply let it pass, like clouds drifting across a clear sky, Because understanding is only understanding, it is not the wisdom of awakening.-Nim-