Kido

On Saturday I did a Kido retreat with the Mung Wol Zen Center. A kido is a chanting retreat. We chanted something called the Thousnand Hands and Eyes Sutra. Most of the actual chanting was just one line of the sutra over and over again. We sang, “Kwan Se Um Bosal” over and over again. I think we spent at least 8 hours only chanting. We rented a room in a recording studio because it gets very loud. Each participant (9 of us) got a percussion instrument to beat along with everyone else. It was important to keep the beats together. Merrie Fraser, the teacher would change the tempo - it would go from a moderate techno beat and speed up until it was unrecognizable as chanting - then, suddenly it would drop back to a slow beat. This went on and on. Sometimes we were sitting, sometimes standing, sometimes chasing each other around the room in a line.

Kwan Se Um Bosal is the Korean name for Avolokiteshvara, which is the sanskrit name for the Bodhisattva of Compassion. In Tibet Avolokiteshvara is known as Chenrezig. In China, Avolokitishvara is Kwan Yin. Avolokitishvara is usually shown with either 4 arms or 1000 arms, each with an eye in the palm - thus the name of the sutra we chanted - Thousand Hands and Eyes Sutra. The point of chanting this name all day in Zen Buddhism is to clear the mind. By involving one’s self in the fernetic chanting and having to pay close attention to the pace, ordinary discursive thought is driven from the mind and one gets a glimpse of operating before thought - of something more spontaneous. It isn’t so important, according to Merrie, what you chant - there isn’t something special in the sounds of the words or something like that (she says you could just chant, “coca-cola, coca-cola”. But I think that chanting the name of a being that is the embodyment of compassion has a great effect on the mind. The subconscious is simmering with thoughts of gentelness and saving all beings. These are the seeds of enlightenment. Of course, as I always say, Kwan Se Um Bosal is not some ‘other bieng’. She is not ‘out there’. She is your own compassionate aspect given name and form. We all have great compassion as a potential inside of us. By engaging in good mind training that seed is nourished and grown. But true attainment is before thinking - it is spontaneous and immediately appropriate to the situation. Therefore it is very beneficial to do this chanting as it is a very skillful means of coming to a clear state of mind that is not so polluted by gossip.

I’m very impressed with Merrie Frasier and her students. I’m fortunate to have been able to take part in this Kido.

Here is a Koan for anyone who would like to try. You can send me your answer on my contact page:

Avolokitishvara has one-thoushand hands and eyes
But which is the correct hand?