The story of the monk Wonhyo vividly illustrates one of the most vital principles in East Asian Buddhism: the doctrine of “Everything is created by the mind alone” (Iche yusimjo, 一切唯心造).
The reality we perceive is not the actual, objective world, but a mental construct—an image filtered and built by our own consciousness.
Consider a simple object, like a slightly tall tree stump or a flat rock. Someone might look at it and label it a ‘chair,’ while another calls it a ‘tree stump.’ However, until a mind assigns a conceptual label such as ‘rock,’ ‘tree,’ or ‘chair,’ it is merely an object existing in its basic, unconceptualized form.
Since the world we experience is fundamentally a projection of our consciousness, the most crucial spiritual practice lies in how we discipline and govern our own mind.
However, as I am not deeply familiar with the doctrine myself, there may be errors in my explanation.
From my very poor knowledge of Chinese I can make out the word for "heart" in the phrase there. I just found it interesting how it's used in this context
Monk guy gets lost at night, finds a cave I think? And goes in to rest for the night. Feeling quote cozy, even finds a bowl of water to quench his thirst.
The next day, once it's actually bright enough to see, he finds that he actually crawled inside a grave, and that the 'bowl' he drank from was a skull, and throws up. Understandable really.
Then he thinks 'Wait, back when I didn't know this was a grave, I was comfortable and thought the water refreshing, but now that I know I'm in the grave and the bowl was a skull, I thought it was disgusting. Despite the fact that nothing has fundamentally changed since last night, my experience has changed vastly."
And then all the buddhism thing about the mind that I am not well versed enough to explain better.
"There are more things that I have to learn! I must study in Chang'An, capital of Tang!"
Of course, there must be difference between Euisang, a member of loyal family and Wonhyo, who is a noble, but cannot be promoted as high as loyal family...
Years later, Wonhyo discarded his priesthood and married princess(born from concubine). His son Seolchong(설총, 薛聰) was one of the great scholar in Silla, and he worked as kings advisor later.
Heres the context of what the Yogacara school or “mind only” or Cittamatra believe, I got this except from a book i’m reading called “Karma:What it is, What it isn’t and Why it matter” really interesting read and I recommend it as it clears a lot of misunderstanding up about Karma :)
“The meaning of the Yogacara “mind only” theory is not that everything is seen as mental. It points to the fact that everything is based on one’s own experience and that one is unable to have an extramental conception of reality. In other words, it states that the mind cannot be taken out of the equation when we speak of “reality.” We have no way of perceiving reality without the mind. Therefore, everything we can experience, even “reality itself,” can be experienced only by the mind. We cannot step outside of our mind and then proceed to look at reality. “Mind only” does not mean, as some seem to think, that we regard a physical object, a huge boulder for instance, as our own mind. If that great rock were to fall on our head, we would die, and we would not be able to utter “Oh, that is only mind.” No self-respecting philosopher would proffer such an absurd theory, and it is not the import of the “mind only” theory.””
Drunken Monks. A beloved trope, even seen in Korea. Very nice.
I think i mostly get it but context?
The story of the monk Wonhyo vividly illustrates one of the most vital principles in East Asian Buddhism: the doctrine of “Everything is created by the mind alone” (Iche yusimjo, 一切唯心造).
The reality we perceive is not the actual, objective world, but a mental construct—an image filtered and built by our own consciousness.
Consider a simple object, like a slightly tall tree stump or a flat rock. Someone might look at it and label it a ‘chair,’ while another calls it a ‘tree stump.’ However, until a mind assigns a conceptual label such as ‘rock,’ ‘tree,’ or ‘chair,’ it is merely an object existing in its basic, unconceptualized form.
Since the world we experience is fundamentally a projection of our consciousness, the most crucial spiritual practice lies in how we discipline and govern our own mind.
However, as I am not deeply familiar with the doctrine myself, there may be errors in my explanation.
Huh. Today I learned ancient Buddhists came up with social constructivism.
I mean it's more radical constructivism than just social constructivism.
From my very poor knowledge of Chinese I can make out the word for "heart" in the phrase there. I just found it interesting how it's used in this context
Monk guy gets lost at night, finds a cave I think? And goes in to rest for the night. Feeling quote cozy, even finds a bowl of water to quench his thirst.
The next day, once it's actually bright enough to see, he finds that he actually crawled inside a grave, and that the 'bowl' he drank from was a skull, and throws up. Understandable really.
Then he thinks 'Wait, back when I didn't know this was a grave, I was comfortable and thought the water refreshing, but now that I know I'm in the grave and the bowl was a skull, I thought it was disgusting. Despite the fact that nothing has fundamentally changed since last night, my experience has changed vastly."
And then all the buddhism thing about the mind that I am not well versed enough to explain better.
Oh wow, that is enlightening.
Meanwhile, his friend Euisang is...
"There are more things that I have to learn! I must study in Chang'An, capital of Tang!"
Of course, there must be difference between Euisang, a member of loyal family and Wonhyo, who is a noble, but cannot be promoted as high as loyal family...
Years later, Wonhyo discarded his priesthood and married princess(born from concubine). His son Seolchong(설총, 薛聰) was one of the great scholar in Silla, and he worked as kings advisor later.
This is the story of Wonhyo and his friend taking shelter in a cave and drinking water from a skull, isn't it?
Good for him for seeing the positive of the situation. I would have been quite terrified if the same happaned to me.
I feel this one is a bit harder to understand than the others without knowing the context.
Still thank you always for the nice drawings! Love them.
아 해골물 마셨다고 ㅋㅋㅋ
Monks being drunk behind the scene
Heres the context of what the Yogacara school or “mind only” or Cittamatra believe, I got this except from a book i’m reading called “Karma:What it is, What it isn’t and Why it matter” really interesting read and I recommend it as it clears a lot of misunderstanding up about Karma :)
“The meaning of the Yogacara “mind only” theory is not that everything is seen as mental. It points to the fact that everything is based on one’s own experience and that one is unable to have an extramental conception of reality. In other words, it states that the mind cannot be taken out of the equation when we speak of “reality.” We have no way of perceiving reality without the mind. Therefore, everything we can experience, even “reality itself,” can be experienced only by the mind. We cannot step outside of our mind and then proceed to look at reality. “Mind only” does not mean, as some seem to think, that we regard a physical object, a huge boulder for instance, as our own mind. If that great rock were to fall on our head, we would die, and we would not be able to utter “Oh, that is only mind.” No self-respecting philosopher would proffer such an absurd theory, and it is not the import of the “mind only” theory.””