6

ENLIGHTENED SLEEP

Before Wisdom's Eye is opened, one thinks only in terms of the finality of death. But once the Eye is opened, one sees in the eternal brightness that the changing of the body is merely like a living person changing clothes.

Before the Eye is opened, one suffers the consequences of one’s karma and has no freedom; but once the Eye is opened, one comes to enjoy eternal happiness through the great freedom and great wisdom.

Without this enlightenment, however, people in our reality, no matter how wise or brilliant they appear to be, in fact know nothing. They are asleep, their minds are dark, they are like the dead.

But those who are enlightened are constantly bright, and they know no darkness whether awake or asleep. So you can tell if one is enlightened by his sleep.

A person may think he is the most enlightened in the world and he may think that he understands the Dharma fully; but if his sleep is filled with darkness, he is not enlightened. And this is what the ancient sages were most careful about.

Ven.Tong Songchol (1912~1993), one of the great Zen masters of Korea in the last century, was also called the ‘Living Buddha’.