Description of Chinul’s Keeping an Eye on the Hwadu (Translation 3A) and Hyesim’s Diagnosing Illnesses (Supplementary Translation 3B)
Pojo Chinul’s (1158–1210) magnum opus, Excerpts, is dated 1209, a year before Chinul’s death. In the final portion of this text Chinul makes a sharp turn in his orientation: away from the doctrinal teachings of Hwaŏm and toward the huatou practice of Letters of Dahui. Chinul’s “full digestion” of Dahui-style huatou practice comes only with his posthumous Treatise on Resolving Uncertainty about Keeping an Eye on the Hwadu (Kanhwa kyŏrŭiron). However, one is probably on safer ground if one considers this little treatise as a work coauthored by Chinul and his chief disciple Chin’gak Hyesim (1178–1234), who inherited Chinul’s rough draft/notes and “finished” the project. Hyesim compiled another work entitled Diagnosing Illnesses, which focuses exclusively on the mu無 hwadu and Dahui’s ten illnesses associated with hwadu practice. This “Description” section is followed by a translation of both Keeping an Eye on the Hwadu and Diagnosing Illnesses.