How many people in this world have the wisdom to understand the truth of “the whole world is found in a single radiant gemstone bead.”?

Our Lord Buddha already attained such wisdom while he was still dwelling in Tusita Heaven, waiting for his time to manifest in this world. Then, he came down riding on a white elephant to be conceived in Lady Maya’s womb. As soon as he emerged from her right side after nine months, he took seven steps, pointed toward the heavens with one hand and the earth with the other. Then, he declared to the world,

“In the heavens above and the earth beneath, I alone am the honored one.”

All the human beings in this world!

Let’s all join our palms together and praised the Buddha!
However, upon close investigation, it is just three feet away from our legs.

Assembly, do you understand?

Only Buddhism has preserved this unique teaching and kept the Truth burning bright through the ages, life after life.

It is indeed a marvelous day to celebrate the coming of the Buddha to the three realms of samsara, driving the darkness away with the light of his Great Wisdom. His Great Compassion embraces all without exception in his endeavor to save all beings; the gates of hell disappear and both sentient and non-sentient beings glow with the bliss of Dharma. Only happiness reigns every hour.

The terrible pandemic has been haunting the world since last year, with the fear of death terrorizing humanity. The human race richly deserves it, as the plague is an inevitable consequence of plundering nature and destroying the ecosystem, which the ignorance fueled by human-centered arrogance has been justifying.

Humanity can exist only in the interconnected relationship with nature, which has come down to us with the wishes of our ancestors who prayed that it be preserved healthy and clean, and we have inherited it with the duty to pass it whole to the next generation.

COVID-19 should be a wake-up call for humanity, making us finally see the reality, where nature and human beings are inextricably intertwined.

I pray that on this auspicious day all of you receive the immeasurable blessing of the Buddha by offering lanterns to his alter and burn away all karma accumulated life after life.

Assembly, what do you think of the transcendental verse below?

一把柳條收不得 Ilpayujo subudeuk
和風搭在玉欄干 Hwapungtapje oknangan

Unable to grab a fistful of willow branches in one’s hands;
Leave them to sway along the jade banister in the spring breeze.

May 19, B.E. 2565

Jinje,
Jongjeong (Supreme Patriarch)
The Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism