Ku San: Nine Mountains: Korean Meditation Dharma-lectures
Song Kwang Sa Monastery, Seoul, Korea, 1978 (original: 1976)
Cover of 3rd Edition (1978)
At the end of the Silla Dynasty (57 BC-935 AD) when Korean Buddhist monks first returned from China after
practicing meditation & realizing Enlightenment, they founded practice-centers at nine different mountain sites
scattered throughout the Korean peninsula. This was the beginning of Ch'an in Korea. Due to the significance
of "Nine Mountains" to Korean Buddhism, and as the Master himself has taken that appellation for his Dharma-
name, it was decided to use that term for the title of this book. On the cover is a calligraphy by the Master of
the hua-t'ou "What is it?"
Even if the world was pure gold,
It would not be precious to me.
All the holiness of the sages:
What does it do for me?
The bright moon shining on Chogye Mountain
Is the brightness of my mind.
(p. 34)
Those grave mounds in the green mountains:
Aren't they my Spring?
I ask, "White bones! Where is the Master?"
A hundred years of life may seem long,
But it is no more than three or four seconds.
(p. 41)
In front of a cliff a wooden woman
sings of the Unborn.
A stone man within the fire plays upon a flute.
The clouds have scattered, the wind is light,
This is a place of purity and quietude.
The whole mountain is filled with withered trees,
But the now is bright.
(p. 126)
Those mountains which tower above all others,
Are the abode of the lions.
In the clear mountain torrents,
The dragons dwell.
One who can grasp the eyebrows of a lion,
And the beard of a dragon,
Is a great man playing
A lute beneath the moon.
(p. 157)
Take a leap off the top of an 80,000-foot cliff,
And the Ancient Buddhas
Of the past thousand years will smile subtlely.
When one embraces all the mountains and rivers,
The jade plum in the snow
Will exhibit the face of Spring.
(p. 162)
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(5-18-2018)