Han Gyeong-hye: Prostration

The author has performed a thousand prostrations every day without missing a day for 42 years. Born prematurely at 1.6 kg, she developed cerebral palsy shortly after her first birthday. By around age seven, her condition had worsened until her limbs moved independently like a wooden doll’s, and she could not swallow even a sip of water, let alone food. The hospital told her she would die. In desperation, her mother took her to Venerable Seongcheol. To meet him, though he would not even receive a cabinet minister, her mother performed 3,000 prostrations. The author, despite her physical limitations, also completed 3,000 prostrations over three days. During an intense exchange that became a life-or-death Zen dialogue, they received a teaching on life. After their conversation, the monk assigned her the task of doing a thousand prostrations every day. As she kept it up, her crooked body gradually straightened, her intelligence improved, and her hands grew strong enough to hold a brush. She went on to overcome her disability in what she describes as a miracle, through three 100-day prayers involving 10,000 prostrations each. She feels she has completed enough prostrations to transform the karmic body of this life. Hating the wretched body that moved however it wanted, against her will, she had considered choosing death; instead, prostration became the turning point that changed her life. This book tells the story of an East Asian painter’s prostration practice, through which she was reborn with a sacred mind and a strong body. It is a calm reflection on the human experience through self-overcoming. The new material in this revised edition is Jeong Doryeong, which her mother—her helper and teacher—announced. Her mother and Venerable Seongcheol spoke in Zen language that ordinary people could not understand. As a child, what I felt at the time was that Zen language was truly a frightening kind of language, like silence.

Korean title: 오체투지

Korean author: 한경혜

Korean publisher: 작가의집

ISBN-13: 9788995736432