A very significant insight that Padyatri recently gained about Buddhism is the legendary anecdote in which the Buddha transmitted his enlightenment to Mahākāśyapa 마하가섭 by holding up a flower, and Mahākāśyapa smiled—a story that was actually a later invention in China. Furthermore, realizing that the Buddha’s original teachings and Chinese Buddhism, namely Seon (Zen) Buddhism 선불교 are not the same, Padyatri had to reconsider Buddhism from a new perspective and in a new way.
견성성불 見性成佛 expresses the core idea of Seon Buddhism: enlightenment is attained by seeing one’s own true nature and becoming a Buddha. However, it is also a statement that significantly distorts the original teachings of the Buddha. In fact, the Buddha realized anatta(non-self) and did not recognize any kind of inherent substance or existence.
As Buddhism was transmitted to China and became indigenized, it absorbed Daoist and Laozi thought, giving rise to Seon Buddhism. It was a process in which the logical and analytical Buddhism transformed into the intuitive and non-logical Seon Buddhism.
On the surface, it has been almost impossible to attain enlightenment through Seon Buddhism. This is proven by the fact that since Seon Buddhism was introduced to the Korean Peninsula around the 4th century, very few have truly attained enlightenment. Therefore, in modern times, since Korean monks cannot find answers within Seon Buddhism, they often travel to Theravada Buddhist countries such as Myanmar, Thailand, and Sri Lanka to seek the path.
A well-known Seon dialogue can be cited as an example of the limitations and problems of Seon Buddhism. Such lofty, abstract stories, heavily colored by Chinese Buddhist influence, are not the way the Buddha kindly taught the truth to his disciples.
A monk asked Zhaozhou 조주, “What is the meaning of the Patriarch’s coming from the West?”
Zhaozhou 조주 replied,
“The cypress tree in the front yard.”
The Buddha's enlightenment is based on the doctrine of dependent origination 연기법(pratītyasamutpāda), which is expressed through the Four Noble Truths 사성제, and the Noble Eightfold Path 팔정도. The precise map leading to that path is also Dependent Origination, the Four Noble Truths, and the Noble Eightfold Path.
Even if one has not yet attained enlightenment, the very fact that enlightenment exists and that the Buddha presented the path to it with utmost clarity shows that it is neither unrealistic nor fanciful. Therefore, by following that path, we can have confidence and hope that we will eventually attain enlightenment.
When classical Chinese texts written approximately 1,500 years ago were translated into other languages, translation errors could have occurred, and examples of this can be found in Korean translations. One reason is that Chinese characters, which originated as pictographs, have undergone semantic changes over time. Therefore, in translation, one must restore the original meaning; if one translates according to the later, modern meaning, the original intent can easily be distorted.
One of the translation errors found in Mahāyāna scriptures is 견성성불 見性成佛. Among these words, 견성 見性 is often rendered as “seeing one’s true nature,” but this implies a self that does the seeing. Yet the Buddha taught non-self(anattā) and never spoke of an inherent “nature.” Moreover, 견 見 means “to be seen,” a passive sense; the verb for actively seeing is 시 視. Thus, the phrase 견성성불 implies that realizing the absence of any fixed nature is what allows one to become a Buddha.
Accurately identifying the ancient meanings of Chinese characters and correctly interpreting the writings of the Seon masters is a tough task; however, it is a challenge and responsibility entrusted to people of the present day.
