Mar 11, 2025 – Day 23 of the 100-Day Dharma Talk, Introduction to Buddhism I, First Class
Hello. Today is the 23rd day of Venerable Pomnyun Sunim’s 100-Day Dharma Talk and the first class of Introduction to Buddhism I.
After completing his morning practice and meditation, Sunim headed to the Jungto Social and Cultural Center to give a lecture for Introduction to Buddhism I. Two sessions of the course have been established—a morning session and an evening session. The morning session began at 10:15 AM.
About 220 new students were seated in the basement auditorium of the Jungto Social and Cultural Center, approximately 170 were connected to the online live broadcast, and 25 were attending from the Haeundae Jungto Dharma Center, making a total of about 400 students enrolled in the morning session of Introduction to Buddhism I. They recited the Three Refuges and Words for Practice together, then performed three full bows to request Dharma teachings from Sunim.
Sunim began by distinguishing Buddhism as a religion, Buddhism as a philosophy, and Buddhism as a practice, emphasizing that Introduction to Buddhism I is a place to learn and experience Buddhism as a practice, and then started the first class.
“The classical approach to studying Buddhism has been to read scriptures, interpret their meaning, and then explain how they can be applied to our lives. That is, we would read a line from Buddhist scripture, provide a detailed explanation to help understand its meaning, and then teach how to apply it to our daily lives. However, this approach is based on the premise that ‘the Buddha is great.’ It’s similar to how Christianity views God as omnipotent. Why is it necessary to premise that God is omnipotent? Because only then can He fulfill all our wishes when we pray.
However, in Introduction to Buddhism I, we want to start with the problems in our lives without any premises. As you work through your own problems, you’ll discover that the Buddha’s teachings are still very useful today. The Buddha doesn’t exist for his own sake, but for ours. The Buddha gave his teachings to liberate all sentient beings. That’s why we first examine our own problems. We first check ourselves in our current reality, and if the Buddha’s teachings are needed to solve our problems, we seek help from them. Of course, if you can solve your problems on your own without the Buddha’s help, you can just do that.
How Am I Living?
So the first question I want to ask you is “How am I living?” How are you living right now? Do you have nothing that causes you suffering, nothing that makes you angry, nothing that makes you anxious, nothing that makes you afraid, and nothing that you desire? If you have no particular problems, you don’t need to study at the Jungto Dharma School. In other words, you don’t need to practice. This is because the goal of practice is to reach a state of freedom where there is no suffering. But if you examine yourself and find that you are agitated, anxious, worried, suspicious that your husband might be having an affair, concerned about your business failing, worried about your health because many people around you are getting cancer, or feeling hatred toward someone, then there are some problems in your life. If you check yourself and find that there are issues causing you stress, we generally call this “suffering.”
In Buddhism, happiness means “a state without suffering.” So first, you need to examine yourself to see if you have suffering. When you go home today, open a notebook and write down your worries. If you’re worried about money, write that your worry is because of money, and why this money problem arose. You might write that you’re worried about your child. Try writing down your worries like this.
So what is the opposite of suffering? It’s pleasure. In Chinese characters, suffering is called “go (苦)” and pleasure is called “rak (樂).” A place without suffering and only pleasure is “geungnak (極樂)” or “ultimate bliss.” It’s called ultimate bliss because pleasure is at its peak there. Heaven is also a place without suffering and only pleasure. Conversely, a place with no pleasure and only suffering is “hell (地獄).” However, we typically experience cycles of suffering followed by relief, then suffering again. Just as no one is constantly suffering, no one is constantly happy either. Our lives oscillate between suffering and pleasure.
Pleasure Is Also Suffering
When single, marriage is a wish, but once married, marriage becomes a source of suffering. What about having children? The joy of childbirth is momentary, and in the process of raising children, they become bundles of suffering. The same applies when opening a store after much hardship. You receive congratulatory flowers and celebrations at the opening. But soon, the store becomes another source of suffering.
First, we suffer because what we want is not fulfilled. Second, the pleasure we gain from fulfilling our desires becomes a cause for suffering again. Because suffering has this nature, the pleasure we enjoy is not sustainable. Although we call it pleasure, we never know when it will turn into suffering.
For example, let’s say you’ve arranged to meet someone you like and happily head to the meeting place. But when you check your watch, you see that the meeting time has passed, yet the person hasn’t shown up. You start feeling anxious and restless, wondering when they’ll arrive. As more time passes, your mood deteriorates significantly. Your anxious and restless feelings transform into resentment. Wait a bit longer, and you start cursing. In this way, suffering is contained within pleasure.
Let’s consider another example. If you lose one million won that you had, you feel extremely distressed. But if you find that money again, you become happy. If you had never lost the money in the first place, you wouldn’t have experienced this joy. Thus, suffering can become the cause of pleasure. When we examine our lives closely, we see that suffering and pleasure revolve in cycles. This is called “samsara (輪廻).” It’s the cycle of suffering and pleasure.
If pleasure becomes the cause of greater suffering later, can we truly call it pleasure? Isn’t even this pleasure actually a form of suffering? For example, suppose you met someone who was handsome and eloquent, so you started dating them. But then you were defrauded by this person. Is meeting this person pleasure and being defrauded suffering? Or is meeting this person itself suffering? Which perspective do you hold?
In life, there are pleasures and sufferings, but we think they exist separately. We want to eliminate suffering and keep only pleasure. This is like trying to keep only the south pole of a magnet while discarding the north pole by cutting it in half. You might think you’ll be left with just the south pole, but a new north pole will appear on the remaining piece. If you say, “Oh, I didn’t cut it completely,” and cut it in half again, another north pole will emerge. Similarly, we may wish for pleasure without suffering, but in reality, suffering is inherent within pleasure. That’s why no matter how much you try to cut away suffering, it will emerge again from the remaining pleasure. Once you truly understand this, you can see that even pleasure itself is a form of suffering.
Let’s say I promised to give the person sitting in front of me one million won every month. They would feel happy and say, “Oh, thank you so much.” When they receive one million won the next month, and again the month after that, will they feel increasingly happy? Will they feel the same? Or will they gradually feel less happy?”
“They will feel less happy.”
“This is precisely the problem. This is reality. Receiving money becomes a natural thing as time passes. Eventually, they might even think, ‘Doesn’t he consider inflation?’ and feel dissatisfied while receiving the money. Pleasure has the quality of diminishing as frequency increases. Therefore, to maintain the initial pleasure, if you receive one million won this month, you would need to receive two million won next month. If you receive three million won the month after that, will the pleasure continue? The human brain becomes desensitized to predictable events. In predictable situations, after a year or two, receiving a large sum of money feels ordinary. By then, you might start thinking, ‘Couldn’t the amount increase exponentially?’
We must understand that the pleasure we feel now can never be sustained. This is what the Buddha taught in his first sermon as the First Noble Truth among the Four Noble Truths: ‘All existence is suffering.’ Because people don’t understand the proposition that ‘everything is suffering,’ they question, ‘There’s both suffering and pleasure, so why say everything is suffering?’ Once you deeply realize that even pleasure is a form of suffering, attachment to pleasure doesn’t arise. Right now, you’re wandering through life because you haven’t realized this.”
Sunim continued his explanation of the Four Noble Truths. He discussed why we live in suffering, what causes our suffering, and provided a detailed explanation of the Second Noble Truth (the cause of suffering), concluding the first lesson.
After the Dharma talk, the facilitator informed students about their practice assignments. Since direct experience is essential in the Jungto Dharma School, practice assignments are given after each class.
“I hope you’ll have a week of careful self-observation as you work on these practice exercises.”
After reciting the Four Great Vows, students gathered in groups to share their thoughts and feelings.
Sunim had lunch with a guest in the dining hall on the first basement level, then spent the afternoon working in his office.
As the sun set, at 7:30 PM, Sunim began teaching the first lesson of the evening Jungto Dharma School. About 220 students who had come after work gathered in the main hall in the basement, while approximately 340 people connected to the online live broadcast, and about 10 people attended at the Haeundae Jungto Dharma Center, making a total of around 570 students enrolled in the evening Jungto Dharma School program. They recited the Three Refuges and Words for Practice together, then performed three bows to request the Dharma talk from Sunim.
Sunim explained the distinctive features of the Jungto Dharma School curriculum and then discussed the Four Noble Truths, which are the core teachings of Buddhism.
“In this session, we’ll examine the causes of negative emotions. When we carefully investigate why negative emotions arise, we find three main causes. First, suffering arises when things don’t go as we wish. Second, anger and irritation arise when things don’t conform to our temperament. This is also a kind of desire, but with slight differences. When we talk about desire, we’re wanting something external, while temperament refers to patterns that arise from within ourselves. Third, suffering arises from not knowing, which we call ‘ignorance.’ If we were to summarize the cause of suffering in one word, it would be ‘ignorance.’ When we break down ignorance further, it divides into these three aspects.
What Caused Our Suffering?
First, the mind that arises when things don’t go as we wish is called ‘desire’ or ‘greed’ (貪). In value-neutral terms, we can call this ‘want.’ Wants can be divided into basic wants, relative wants, and excessive wants. Basic wants are necessary for survival and should be fulfilled. Relative wants are what we call ‘desires,’ and we need to exercise self-restraint with these. Excessive wants are called ‘greed,’ which we should guard against and abandon. Particularly with relative wants or desires, there’s no end if we don’t control them ourselves. If you have no money, you might think having 100 million won would fulfill all your wishes. When you have no money, 100 million seems significant, but once you have 100 million, you start comparing yourself to someone with 1 billion. If by chance you acquire 1 billion, you’ll then envy those with 10 billion. Thus, desire has no end. Suffering arises because we pursue something that has no limit.
Second, the mind that arises when things don’t go according to our habitual ways is called “anger” or “hatred” (瞋). Everyone has different habits. We have different tastes in food, different ways of using toilet paper, and different methods of doing laundry. Each person has slightly different habits, values, and judgments about right and wrong. Conflicts arise because we insist on doing things our own way. This is similar to the law of inertia, where moving objects tend to keep moving and stationary objects tend to remain at rest. We unconsciously maintain the habit of always wanting to do things our way. So when we clash with others, we get irritated, and in severe cases, we become angry.
Third, the mind that arises from not knowing is called “delusion” or “ignorance” (痴). For example, like eating rat poison without knowing what it is or swallowing fishing bait unknowingly, there are cases where we think something is good but it ultimately leads to bad results. This happens because we didn’t know the truth. Also, when we’re angry, we can’t see anything clearly, and when blinded by greed, we often make poor judgments. Ultimately, both greed and anger stem fundamentally from ignorance. The cause of all negative states of mind is “ignorance.” When divided into three categories, ignorance manifests as greed, anger, and delusion (貪瞋痴). These three are the causes that give rise to our negative mental states. Just as clear water becomes poisoned when toxins are added, when these three poisons seep into our clear mind, we live with anger, irritation, hatred, and anxiety. These three poisons are the cause of suffering.
Can we escape from this suffering? In fact, the suffering mind is not our original mind. It’s like pure water that has been poisoned, so removing the poison solves the problem. When we let go of the three poisons of the mind, suffering disappears. So how can we let go of these three poisons? By examining their causes carefully, we can find solutions.
First, let’s examine the cause of desire, the first of the three poisons: desire, anger, and ignorance. Typically, we feel good when things go our way and bad when they don’t, with our minds constantly fluctuating. But the reality is that the world cannot always conform to our wishes. Some things work out, some don’t—that’s just how it is. If something works out, that’s fortunate; if not, we can try again. If it works out on the second try, that’s good; if not, we can let it go without suffering over it.
Furthermore, getting what we want doesn’t guarantee a positive outcome. For example, is becoming president necessarily good for an individual? Looking at the fates of past presidents, that’s not always the case. Sometimes, not getting what we want can actually be better for us. In fact, getting our way can sometimes create many problems. Let’s say you like a man and want to marry him. Fortunately, you marry him, but after marriage, you discover he already has several other women in his life. Why? Because they all desperately wanted to marry him too. So, is getting everything you want really a good thing? Yet people become fixated on their desires. Therefore, desire is problematic because, first, not everything we want can be achieved, and second, even if achieved, it’s not guaranteed to be beneficial. Do your best, but don’t be overly concerned with success or failure. Sometimes, failure might be better for you. If something doesn’t work out but you still want it, you can try again. So there’s no need to suffer just because things don’t go as desired.
Second, let’s examine the cause of ‘anger.’ Everyone has different habits and temperaments. If we accept this fact, there is no reason to suffer. Between cotton and steel, which can we say is better? Cotton is soft but weak, while steel is strong but not soft. They are simply different, not good or bad. Between charcoal and diamond, which is better? Do you naturally think diamond is better? If you were in the Arctic, facing death from freezing and unable to make a fire, would a diamond be useful? In that situation, charcoal would be better because you could use it to make a fire and survive. Similarly, we must accept the fact that everyone has different temperaments.
How to Live Without Suffering
So when we control our desires and temperament and awaken from ignorance, there is actually nothing to suffer about. However, when we face reality in the moment, ignorance arises instantly, and it becomes difficult. That’s why we need to be mindful in each moment. The most important thing in Buddhism is ‘mindfulness.’ We must always be mindful of what we see, hear, smell, taste, touch, and think. If we lose mindfulness even for a moment, we revert to our habitual patterns.
Third, when we awaken from ignorance and gain wisdom, suffering does not arise at all.
Therefore, we must move forward by consistently practicing ‘awareness,’ starting again whenever we lose it. This is called cultivating the threefold training of precept(戒), meditation(定), and wisdom(慧). Among these three, precept(戒) means controlling negative emotions when they arise. However, when strong negative emotions arise and we suppress them, some stress is created. We don’t harm others, but we experience some internal stress. That’s why we need to cultivate meditation to maintain mental equanimity. This is called meditation(定). The awareness in meditation is being aware of feelings, while the awareness in keeping precepts is being aware of craving(渴愛). We control craving by being aware of it, and maintain equanimity by being aware of feelings. By cultivating this threefold training, it becomes possible to live without suffering. The Buddha discovered these principles and taught them to others.
In terms of Buddhist doctrine, this is organized as the Four Noble Truths (Sacca), which are suffering, the cause of suffering, the cessation of suffering, and the path to the cessation of suffering. The first is the “Truth of Suffering.” It means recognizing the phenomenon that has arisen and knowing that your current state involves suffering. Not only are anxiety and distress forms of suffering, but pleasure is also suffering. Not only is divorce suffering, but marriage is also suffering. Not only is failing an exam suffering, but passing an exam is also suffering. When you understand this, you won’t get carried away with joy even when you pass. If you become elated upon passing, you’ll suffer when you fail. When you pass, you simply acknowledge, “I passed,” and when you fail, you acknowledge, “I failed.” This way, you can always maintain equanimity.
The second Noble Truth is the “Truth of the Origin of Suffering.” The cause of suffering lies in ignorance, in “not knowing.” By awakening from your ignorance, you can be freed from suffering. You cannot be freed from suffering by begging others. Ignorance can be further categorized into three poisons: greed (wanting things your way), anger (acting according to your temperament), and delusion (not understanding principles). Both greed and anger are rooted in delusion. Therefore, by overcoming ignorance and eliminating these three poisons, we can live without suffering. This is the “Truth of the Cessation of Suffering.”
So how can we escape this “ignorance”? To prevent the mind from momentarily falling into ignorance, we must maintain constant awareness. This is the “Truth of the Path.” In Buddhism, the method for maintaining awareness is discussed as the Noble Eightfold Path. Right View, Right Thought, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration—these constitute the Eightfold Path.
The Buddha’s first sermon covered the Middle Way, the Four Noble Truths, and the Eightfold Path. This is the entirety of Buddhism. So with today’s lesson, your studies are complete, and you may graduate. (Laughter)
However, Buddhist study shouldn’t stop at understanding; you must directly experience it in your life. If you approach Buddhism philosophically, you need to study the doctrines. But the essence of Buddhism is finding how to free ourselves from suffering in our daily lives. The goal of studying Buddhism isn’t to go to a good place after death or to receive blessings through prayer. The goal is to reach a state of freedom without suffering or bondage.”
After the facilitator explained the practice assignments to the students, the first class concluded with the Four Great Vows.
The students gathered in groups to introduce themselves and share their thoughts. Sunim returned to the Seoul Jungto Center to conclude his day.
Tomorrow will be the 24th day of the 100-Day Dharma Talk. In the morning, Sunim will lead the daytime Weekly Dharma Assembly at the Dharma Hall on the third floor of the Jungto Social and Cultural Center. At lunch, he will meet with guests visiting The Peace Foundation for a meal and tea, and in the evening, he will conduct the evening Weekly Dharma Assembly.
