The Unstruck Sound: A Buddhist Perspective

Ozmo Hyonjin Piedmont, Ph.D.

Prajna Institute for Buddhist Studies

March 1, 2012

1.  Introduction

            Several years ago, on a visit to the desert home of the renowned psychoanalyst Robert Johnson, a student of Carl Jung, I happened upon an extraordinary event, one that would leave a profound impression on me.  My friend Robert led me to the beginning of a pathway in the middle of the desert, both literally and figuratively, since this path would lead me to a strange experience that would open a doorway to new spiritual perceptions and understandings. He instructed me to follow this path alone and find where it would lead.  With some dread and trepidation, I set out on what I thought would be a pleasant, if not challenging, day of sightseeing and relaxation.  Instead, I found the doorway to a mystery that continues to reveal itself even today. 

The Mahayana Ideal: An Ancient Spirituality for Contemporary Concerns

Ozmo Hyonjin Piedmont, Ph.D.

January 29, 2012

The Mahayana path of Buddhism has made rich contributions to world spirituality in the in the form of the Bodhisattva ideal, which places a high valuation on compassion, tirelessly working for the salvation of all sentient beings, placing their welfare before one’s own.  The Bodhisattva ideal is well suited for a contemporary society concerned for its survival as a species and a planet.  Buddhism in general, and the Mahayana school in particular, provide the means and techniques to carry out a new and evolving spirituality based on reason, science, tolerance and direct experience, important ingrediants for a world religion that can serve as a psychology of healing, as well as, an ethical way of life. 

BATCHELOR’S AGNOSTIC BUDDHISM:

PRAGMATIC PRACTICE OR SECULAR SCIENTISM?

Rev. Ozmo Hyonjin Piedmont

Stephen Batchelor, a lay Buddhist teacher, scholar, and former Tibetan and Korean zen monk, puts forth several interesting themes for practice and contemplation.  His efforts are centered around re-discovering the essence and purity of Buddha’s original teachings, which has led him to move beyond a devotional certainty to a doubting uncertainty that renounces all ties to any one Buddhist tradition, while drawing from and incorporating all Buddhist traditions as various aspects of the Dharma. As a self proclaimed agnostic, he avoids all aspects of buddhism as a religion, and instead, tries to apply directly the teachings of Buddha into daily life, as a way to encounter head on the existetial dilemma of suffering and how to be at peace with this through application of Buddhist priciples. He avoids whatever teaching that cannot be directly proven or experienced in his own practice, including karma and rebirth.  He says that one can be a good practicing Buddhist without these terms. He applies his understanding into a present world orientation where action takes precedence over metaphysics.  He has a sensitivity and valuing of the lay perspective, the everyday man or woman that humbly maintains and sustains their practice day to day in acts of kindness and devotion and compassion to others.  In this way, Batchelor shows himself to be a humanist, valueing the qualities of the Buddha as a man in his search to make sense of the world around him, attempting to bring him down out of the sky as being a godlike icon of perfection, and rather sees him as a man in search of meaning, embedded in the culture and society of his time, grappling with certain givens of his world, but contributing a unique perspective of living a balanced and harmonious life without the need for a deity, nor adhering to any idea that deals with beginnings nor endings. 

THE PRECEPTS: BUDDHIST ETHICS IN ACTION

Ozmo Hyonjin Piedmont, Ph.D.

The Buddha once said: “As a bee gathering nectar does not harm or disturb the colour and fragrance of the flower; so do the wise move through the world.”              (Dhammapada: Flowers, verse 49)

As the above quote implies, Buddhist ethics are founded on actions that cause no harm to others. Action has to do with karma and one’s intentions which put those actions into play. When our intentions are good, there are good results, when our intentions are bad, there are negative consequences. The Buddhist precepts were designed by the Buddha to give practitioners guidelines of behavior to avoid misdeeds and wrongdoings. They are not forced on us, but rather are points of training that we voluntarily take to become more aware and to live harmoniously with others (Wu, 2001). How Buddhist define ethics, action, good and bad, and the guidelines, or precepts, for carrying out these ethical concerns, will be treated in the following paper.

SHUNYATA AND THE DIAMOND SUTRA

Ozmo Hyonjin Piedmont, Ph.D

A copy from block prints of The Diamond Sutra dating from 868 C.E. make it the oldest printed book in history, predating by 700 years the invention of the Gutengerg printing press in Europe. They were discovered in the Dunhuang caves of a thousand Buddhas by the British archeologist Marc Aurel Stein in 1907 in the desert of Gansu province in the central regions of China, a way station on the Silk Road offering shelter and protection from the heat, containing thousands of Buddhist manuscripts, scrolls and wall paintings. At that time, Stein smuggled out several cases of manuscripts and had them sent to the British Museum. A year later the same was done by the French explorer M. Pelliot for the Libraire National of Paris. Among their smugglings was a copy of the Diamond Sutra.  This discovery opened up a new awareness for Western researchers of Eastern Philosophy, revealing a long standing tradition of revered texts related to the Prajnaparamita literature, the earliest layer of teachings emerging from the early Mahayana tradition in India from the 1^st to 5^th Century BCE. The Diamond Sutra itself was first composed sometime between the 2^nd to the 4^th Century BCE.  The Diamond Sutra is an independent part of the Prajnaparamita Sutra series, dealing with the twin themes of emptiness and the Bodhisattva path, referred to as shunyata and Bodhisattvayana respectively. It is an effort to resolve the ongoing tension set up from the earlier Abhidharma formulation of anatman as a lack of a continuous self with the notions of Nirvana, karma, and rebirth.

HAN YONGUN’S SOCIALLY CONSCIOUS BUDDHISM

IN KOREA’S ERA OF REFORM

By

Ozmo Hyonjin Piedmont, Ph.D.

INTRODUCTION

Han Yongun (1879-1944) was a visionary leader during Korea’s transformation under late 19^th and early 20^th century Japanese colonial rule, a time of upheaval and challenge in both the political and social domains.  Han Yongun is seen as a national hero whose attempts to reform and modernize Korean Buddhism coincided with the national struggle for independence, freedom and self determination. Han Yongun is noted for his involvement and guidance during the March First Independence Movement of 1919; his rejection of the civil registry to the Japanese authorities with its correspondingly required change to Japanese names; and resistance to Japanese intervention in Buddhist affairs. His call for reform was grounded in his Buddhist philosophy of freedom, equality, and compassion, transcending Korean political agendas, and arriving at a universal vision of identity and social consciousness relevant to a contemporary modern world. 

EARLY KOREAN ZEN:

Foundations of the Chogye Order 

By 

Ozmo Hyonjin Piedmont, Ph.D.

The early teachers of Korean Zen developed a unique style of practice and philosophy drawing from many sources, including Chinese Buddhism, Hua-Yen, Pure Land, Taoism, and Confucianism. One finds certain major themes as special to these founding members of this Chogye lineage of Buddhism, including a One Vehicle eclecticism combining Meditation and scripture study along with integration of many schools of practice into one functioning whole, along with Sudden Enlightenment and Gradual Cultivation and One Mind (Consciousness only) teachings. These early teachers were reformers, free thinkers, and mavericks that worked toward integrating Buddhist teachings into daily life through the transcendence of duality, a profound understanding of causality and emptiness, and a turning back of awareness to the source of all life and spiritual being.  They had common techniques peculiar to Korean Zen, including hwadu practice based on koan case study and using the senses to turn back one’s attention to the source of awareness itself. The following essay will first show the cultural context in which Korean teachers emerged, often in environments of corruption, social unrest, competition for resources, and competing ideologies.  Out of this certain teachers appeared unifying the people, establishing Buddhist teachings as a stabilizing force, and democratizing its teachings for everyone, both aristocracy, monks, and the rural population. These early teachers had many common characteristics in teachings and practice, and yet each preserved his unique personality traits and idiosyncrasies which make both more human as well as quite interesting as models of emulation for the modern day practitioner.