Master Woo Myung Meditation Anthology – Memories
Long ago,
we would make a fire,
sit on straw mats,
and shoo the mosquitoes away.
We would get bitten on our legs,
and the itchiness would last late into the night.
We would go on
scratching the mosquito bites the next day,
to which our legs would become swollen
and end up sore at night.
Such were the ceaselessly agonizing nights
in the countryside.
There were nights when we went to bed
without putting up the mosquito nets;
those nights were so hot they made us shudder.
Such was the story of life then.
Such was my life back then.
Listen all of you!
We live as human beings,
but we are different from humans
because we – my wife and I –
live completely absent of our selves.
I hope that all of you will follow our example
and live absent of your selves too.
Though I may look like a human being just like you,
I am different from you
because I live absent of my mind,
because I live with no plans, no will, no yesterday, and
no tomorrow.
I am at my leisure singing a tune.
I hope that all of you will live
singing about life,
having nothing,
and doing.
What do I mean by “doing”?
This “doing” is none other than
the life you live absent of self.
My younger brother laying near
the newly constructed road
trying to avoid the mosquitoes and the heat,
the neighbor who was crying
because of some sad circumstance –
such memories are all in my heart.
But because I no longer exist,
such stories no longer exist.
I have long since forgotten them.
One has thoughts because one is human,
but those thoughts do not exist.
I simply exist as I am,
which is why I feel the meaninglessness of time.
In my non-existent mind,
I recall the days of then I was in dire poverty.
The thoughts of these recollections
bring me to contemplation.
After having found my original self,
such things I recall from time to time
are nothing more than life;
they are merely human life.
-Woo Myung-
