How to Believe
Advancing Human Civilization, One Koan at a Time

oday, with the advance of material civilization, we are enjoying lives of unprecedented richness and convenience. However, many people are also worried that our mental growth is not keeping up with material development because, as we often see, material riches not only make an obstacle in mental growth and the pursuit of truth, but also lowers the quality of our lives ─ sometimes to the point of devastation where a proper balance between mental life and material life are not maintained. As the history of the world has shown thus far, material development that is not accompanied by mental growth cannot be said to be esirable; material development can be more harmful than beneficial for those not mentally mature enough to cope. It is widely known that a proper religious life can play a significant role in upgrading our mental levels and maintaining the balance of our lives. Religion plays a large role in elevating our mental level.
   Then, what of the countless religions in the world and how we should believe, are the questions. As someone who has been a Buddhist for a long time, I believe that Buddhism and Buddha's teachings are the best choice ─ it is the most scientific and logical religion that can lead us to happiness in this highly materialized, rapidly changing civilized age. How to believe is very important. No matter how good Buddhism itself may be, it is of no use if we believe in the wrong way. In this vein, how to believe, it can be said, is more important than what to believe.

Happiness Through Enlightenment

   We should lead a religious life, not for a religion itself, but for our happiness. People do not exist for religions, but rather, religions for people. We should know that a religion is not an end we should seek, but a means by which we can seek our happiness. And every religion has its unique way to lead people to happiness ─ Buddhism is not an exception. Buddhism, as in Buddha’s teaching, is a religion that leads people to happiness through enlightenment. To be a Buddhist means to be a person who tries to achieve happiness through enlightenment. And every Buddhist should not lead a blindly religious life for Buddhism itself, but rather, try to attain enlightenment.
   However, many people seem to have an inaccurate or fixed idea about enlight-enment. They think that enlightenment is difficult and takes a long time to attain ─ that it is almost impossible for them to attain in this world, no matter how hard they may practice. In the end, they may give up practicing to attain enlightenment and succumb to prayers for luck or fortune. In a word, they become blind believers. Because of those blind believers, uddhism, though being the most scientific and logical religion, can be mistaken for superstition or a religion that worships an idol.

The Practice of Koan

   Then, how may we attain enlightenment? Enlightenment can be attained through our experiencing, in person, what we believe and not through mere superficial or cursory knowledge. We cannot have the proper faith in our religion unless we truly experience what it says. It is practice that enables us to experience in person what Buddhism says. Zen meditation with koan, I think, is one of the most efficient ways of practice known to us. It is Zen meditation with koan that can defuse those wrong and stereo-typed impressions of religion. In fact, attaining enlightenment is neither difficult nor easy. Whether it is difficult or easy depends on whether you practice in the right way or not. If you feel enlightenment is difficult to attain, you should know that, not that it is difficult, but that you are practicing in the wrong way. Enlightenment is not as difficult as most people think, that it is beyond our approach, but it is easy enough for anybody to attain if one practices in the right way. And to practice Zen meditation with koan in the right way, you should know that practicing Zen meditation with koan without the right teacher is like sailing in the ocean without a compass. The right teacher will always be there to check your practice when you face new changes and phenomena. Enlightenment may be attained much more easily and sooner than you think.

   When we attain enlightenment, we, free from a discriminating mind and attachment, can live wise lives. In other words, in attaining enlightenment, we are not attached to material life any longer because we know everything, including material civilization, is impermanent. We never use our civilization to harm human beings because we know others' lives are a part of our lives, and harming others is harming ourselves. We use our civilization for nothing but our happiness because we know that civilization, however advanced it may be, is no more than a means to make people happy ─ and should not be more than this. In a word, in attaining enlightenment, we can have the wisdom to make good use of our civilization for the happiness of human beings. Therefore, practicing Zen meditation with koan, I believe, is the best way to upgrade the mental level of mankind and lead all human beings to happiness in this rapidly changing, highly advanced age of civilization.

Written by Master Subul Sunim of Anguk Zen Center
Translated by Boo Ahm (Song Soo-kyong)

*This article first appeared in the July 2007 issue of SEOUL.