Book Excerpt: Teachings from Nature
Editor’s Note: This Zen photo book is a compilation of photos taken by Zen Master Dae Kwan herself and her teaching words accompanying those photos. Most of the photos were taken with her mobile phone during the 2019–2020 three-month winter retreat in Gak Su Temple on Lantau Island, Hong Kong. If you wish to obtain a copy, please contact Su Bong Zen Monastery at info@subong.org.hk. The book is being distributed free of charge. Donations for postage are welcomed.
Excerpt from the Introduction
Zen Master Dae Kwan
After meditating for some time in the kuti (wooden huts), I opened the door and continued my meditation on the balcony. The kuti and the balcony were built on a slope. When I was looking at the forest, most trees were below me. Looking at the trees in the forest, a gentle breeze was blowing. All of a sudden all the trees in the forest were welcoming me—it was like they were all my friends. As I was brought up in the busy city of Hong Kong, this was the first time in my life that I felt like I had arrived home. After I left, this joy remained with me for many weeks. This was the true beginning of my life—when I had a taste of how pure and selfless nature is. […]
When I came across Zen teaching, everything became clearer to me. During my first three-month winter in Korea, I was very touched to hear Zen Master Seung Sahn teaching: “What is Buddha? Buddha means wake up! With awakened eyes, one can see everything as it is. The sky is blue. The tree is green.” This teaching opened my heart and confirmed for me all that I had learned in Thailand. Our true nature and the universe’s nature are not separated. In fact, every day nature is teaching us very high-class dharma. Nature is always pure and clear. Nature never thinks for itself. Our true nature and the universe’s nature have the same substance. Everything in nature is pointing us to this substance.
From the Book’s Designer
One day a few years back, Sifu (Zen Master Dae Kwan) was swiping her phone as if she was looking for something, before showing me a picture she had taken. “Wow” was my immediate response and I couldn’t help saying: “Please take more! I hope someday we can turn your work into a photo book.”
Later when I received the finalized manuscript from the editorial team, I spent a long time mulling over it—treating it like a photo essay book with clearly defined sections would somehow impose a straitjacket on the layout design. Sifu’s photos are so full of life with yet no specific style, each accompanied by poems or words of truth that arise at that moment. After much deliberation, the editorial team accepted my suggestion that all photos be arranged according to the time they were taken, without being categorized into separate themes. By doing so, it is hoped that the reader can follow Sifu’s personal timeline to catch a better glimpse of her insights about nature. For either Zen practitioners or the general reader, this entry point is easy to grasp, simply because the book is a vehicle of the living dharma!
The design work lasted for more than six months. During that time, there were countless heart-touching moments and takeaways, as though I was enjoying one live jazz concert after another—spontaneous, exuberant and brimming with wisdom. This is perhaps the liveliness a Zen master radiates, and so even the simplest tool can capture vividly all the dharma lessons from Mother Nature. Before this photo book was put into print, I asked Sifu: “Why is nature so important to us?” “Because nature helps us to see clearly our true nature which has no ‘I’.” And that is how the book came about.