Master Woo Myung Words to Awaken – What does the phrase, “How can I be enlightened when dō(tao) does not originally exist?” mean?
Dō refers to a path to heaven. In other words, it is the path to discovering your true self. It is the path to the Universe. When it is said that dō does not exist, it means that life is dō and that there is no action that is not dō. People search for dō elsewhere but dō does not exist because life itself is dō. When one casts off all of one’s self, he becomes the state of nonexistence. This non-existence is one’s original real self.
This original real self is the Universe, and thus everything in the world, just as they are, are all one’s original real self. Such is the land of God and Buddha. Man lives in the land of God and Buddha, but because he lacks enlightenment he does not realize that he is living his life in the land of God and Buddha. Both sides of the hand are all dō.
-Woo Myung-
