See Half, Farm Half: The Eightfold Path on the Board
Master Cho Han-kyu, interpreted by Kim Chang, Founder of Korean Natural Farming (Janong)
Master Cho spoke Korean, with an interpreter. We translated every Korean line again and checked it, so you read what he said, not only what the room heard.
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The whole seminar, as it happened, with the checked English beside the video. Membership is $60 a year.
This part runs from 37:10 to 59:30 of the session video. Keep watching and the next part plays on.
Now playing the next part: What a Crop Can Do: 8,000 Tomatoes, 14-Brix Papaya
Cho writes the Eightfold Path on the flip chart: see rightly, think rightly, speak rightly, live rightly, first alone and then with others. The eye sees only half, and farming by the outward shape is what made the mangosteen rotten inside. Then religion, a plan to record his farm visits, his fee (a tenth of the extra profit) and one last IMO5 question.
What he taught
Why does Cho say the mangosteen failed because the farmer only saw half, and what does he ask of farmers next time?
Cho at the flip chart. Left column: 肉眼 (naked eye) 正見 正思 正言 正生; right column: 心眼 (heart's eye) 正觀 正念 正行 and one unreadable character; 八正道 (Eightfold Path) at the bottom. Clearest at 42:00–44:45. No slides. The page closes with admin (fee, royalty) and an audience question about IMO5.
- Where IMO5 goes — At the drip line: around the edge of the tree, as wide as its spread (the interpreter, checking with Cho in Korean at 59:05).
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See rightly, then think rightly, speak rightly and live rightly
Board: 正見 正思 正言 正生 under 肉眼 (naked eye); 正觀 正念 正行 under 心眼 (heart's eye); 八正道 at the bottom.
▶ 37:58 Written on the board
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Left column: the self alone, seen with the naked eye; right column: life with others, seen with the heart
Cho: before marriage and after marriage. Thinking alone versus thinking with the other person; speaking, then acting.
▶ 39:28 Written on the board
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In the mirror you see only half your body; saying you saw it all is a lie
'I saw it with my own two eyes, why call me a liar?' But they saw half.
▶ 42:03 As spoken
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Farming by the outward shape made the mangosteen rotten inside
You have to grasp the crop's physiology and ecology (생리생태). 'This is seeing only the tree, not seeing its life force.'
▶ 43:24 Shown in the room
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Cho says what to give when; you have to act on it and check the result
'Then next time I come, I'll drink delicious coffee.'
▶ 46:44 As spoken
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Keep the Eightfold Path and you farm properly
Cho credits the saying to Chinese Taoism. In Buddhism and Confucianism you reach the Way by effort; in Christianity God gives grace, and you only make the bowl to receive it.
▶ 47:57 As spoken
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The mangosteen problem holds for papaya, banana, paprika, ginger, onion and garlic
Same timing logic across crops.
▶ 50:57 As spoken
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Next visit: bring a recorder, write it up and send it to Cho to check
He'll mark what was misheard and send it back.
▶ 51:55 As spoken
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Cho's fee: a tenth of whatever extra you earn, paid afterwards, on your conscience
Not in advance. The money is to spread natural farming in Hawaiʻi. The room settled on calling it a donation.
▶ 54:11 As spoken
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IMO5 goes at the drip line
Around the edge of the tree, as wide as its spread.
▶ 58:57 As spoken
- Most of this page is philosophy and religion, not technique. The farming link is the mangosteen.
- The fourth character in the right column of the board can't be read from the frames.
- The fee and the China royalty are admin; the royalty number reached the room wrong (see corrections).
- Look at the whole crop, its physiology and life stage, not just its outward shape.
- When you get a prescription, act on it and check the result.
- Record farm visits and write them up; Cho offers to check the write-up.
- IMO5 goes at the drip line, as wide as the canopy.
What the room didn't hear
Where the English in the room left out or changed what Master Cho said in Korean.
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▶ 39:28
The room heard So, okay, this is like when you are single, this is after marriage.
Cho said This side is seeing with the naked eye, and this side is seeing with the heart. What you see with the eyes: do you see the whole, or only half?
The naked-eye versus heart-eye split, the point of the mangosteen story, was dropped.
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▶ 41:46
The room heard So this is the right way to live, eight of the right ways to live.
Cho said This is called the Eightfold Path (八正道).
The name, written on the board, was never given.
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▶ 44:07
The room heard So, if you look at the mangosteen's life cycle truly, then you could see the correct way.
Cho said You have to grasp its physiology and ecology properly to see its heart.
Cho names physiology and ecology (생리생태), the core of the nutritive cycle.
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▶ 49:27
The room heard So in Buddhism or Taoism, the people work hard and that's how they receive.
Cho said In Buddhism and Confucianism, a person gains it by their own effort; it's attaining the Way.
Confucianism became Taoism.
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▶ 53:41
The room heard So, if you have enough money, then it's much easier to work.
Cho said Only when some material resources build up can natural farming spread easily here in Hawaiʻi.
The purpose of the fee was dropped.
Next to Master Cho's books
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Agrees
See rightly, think rightly, speak rightly Cho uses the same see-think-speak chain for farming in his DVD lectures.
Cho - DVD rips/NAT_FARM_15 @ 0:03:28 (translated)
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Agrees
Two kinds of seeing: with the eye and with the heart In Hawaiʻi in 2018 he again splits the physical eye from the spiritual eye and says farmers must use both.
2018/Cho - advanced hawaii/cho advanced 2018 3-1 @ 1:13:02 (translated)
“You have to see rightly to think rightly, think rightly to speak rightly, and speak rightly to find your way to a right life.”
▶ 37:58
“You see only half and say you saw it all.”
▶ 42:10
“Because you farmed by looking only at the outside, this mangosteen, rotten inside, was made.”
▶ 43:44
“This is seeing only the tree, not seeing its life force.”
▶ 44:26
“A person only has to make the bowl that receives grace.”
▶ 50:01
In this part
Transcript
English translation, checked against the Korean as spoken.
37:39 Master Cho: You have to see rightly to speak rightly... where did she go?
바로 봐야 바른 말을 할 수 있고... 어디 갔어?
37:47 Kim Chang (interpreter): He was looking for me. When you look right, then you speak right words.
37:58 Master Cho: You have to see rightly to think rightly, and think rightly to speak rightly, and speak rightly to find your way to a right life.
바로 봐야 바른 생각을 할 수 있고, 바른 생각을 해야 바른 말을 할 수 있고, 바른 말을 해야 바른 생을 살아갈 수가 있다고.
38:10 Kim Chang (interpreter): When you are able to look correctly, then you can see things correctly, then you can talk correctly, then you can have a correct life. Do you understand that?
38:26 Master Cho: But this one is alone. Simple.
그런데 이것은 혼자야. 단순하고.
38:27 Kim Chang (interpreter): But this is only your self. Just one.
38:35 Master Cho: It's self-centered. But this one is telling us how to live [with others]. This is the same: seeing. It's looking. And this is thinking. This is thinking too. This is action. This one is the proof that we live together with others. If this side was before marriage, when you were single, then this side is after marriage.
자기중심이야. 그런데 이것은 우리는 [법으로/더불어] 살아가라는 것이기 때문에. 이건 같은 [봄]이야. 보는 거야. 그리고 이것은 생각이야. 생각이야 이것도. 이거는 행동이야. 이건 같이 더불어 살아가기 때문에 [증거]야. 이게 결혼하기 전에 싱글이었다고 하면 이거는 결혼 후예요.
39:23 So when you marry, you have to understand each other. What it means is: this side is seeing with the naked eye (肉眼), and this side is seeing with the heart (心眼). Seeing the heart... what you see with the eyes: do you see the whole, or only half?
그래서 결혼하면 상대방을 서로 이해를 해야 되는 거죠. 뭐냐면, 육안으로, 눈으로 본 거고 이건 마음으로 본 거예요. 마음을 본 거. 눈으로 본 거는 전체를 다 봐? 반만 봐?
39:49 Kim Chang (interpreter): So, okay, this is like when you are single, this is after marriage. When you live with other people, when you live alone, when you are looking at the world, or when you live alone, how do you look at the world?
40:09 Master Cho: And this is thinking, but it's my thinking alone.
그리고 생각을 하는 건데 이건 나 혼자만의 생각이야.
That's the first few minutes. Members read all 216 lines, with the Korean as spoken, and watch along.
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