Heoheodang’s Don’t Stay Inside the Wound

Books by Buddhist monks often leave me feeling a little lighter. Their spare writing gives the mind room in a life otherwise crowded with things to do.

I felt that as a child reading Beopjeong’s Non-Possession. The book let me see how he approached life and made me want to live more simply.

Heoheodang’s Don’t Stay Inside the Wound

I noticed this book in my fourth year at Sungkyunkwan University. I often went to the library after class and found it in the display for popular titles.

The display books could be borrowed for only seven days. That caught my attention, and I took it home.

Between Poetry and Essays

Heoheodang’s book can be read as a collection of poems or short essays. It gathers thoughts as they came to him, expressed with the brevity I often find in writing by monks.

Writing at length takes skill. A brief piece that leaves a reader thinking or brings an unexpected smile can take even more. I often thought about that while reading this book.

These are a few passages that stayed with me.

You Were Born into This World

• You were born so you could love the world freely.
• Your suffering asks you to love the world more deeply.
• You who are weary today, you who are lonely,
• the world has yet to turn away from your love.
• Let go of trying to possess it and leap into its arms.

True Understanding

• The mountain need never say it is a mountain.
• The river need never say it is a river.
• Anyone can feel the mountain and the river.
• Truth is like that too.

Thirst

• What pleasure is there if everything is already in your hands?
• There must be room for longing and for things we lack.
• Life is beautiful because we still thirst.

There are more poems and essays than I can share here. As the last passage suggests, there can be value in leaving something to be found.

Heoheodang’s own drawings appear between the pieces. A few strokes of the brush catch something distinctive about each subject.

The longer I read, the quieter I felt. It is a book that asks people tired from getting through the day to take a moment to rest.

Book Information

Don’t Stay Inside the Wound

Author

Heoheodang

Publication date

6 July 2012

ISBN13

9788959136902

View book on YES24

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