September 25, 2025. Meeting with North Korea Experts and Foreign Policy and Security Experts, Departure for the United States
Hello. Today, Sunim had conversations with North Korea experts and foreign policy and security experts about peace on the Korean Peninsula and departed for the United States.
After completing morning practice and meditation, Sunim headed to the Peace Foundation. He started his day with a breakfast meeting with North Korea experts at 7 AM.
After reviewing North Korea’s price trends, they had extensive discussions about the possibility of improving relations between North Korea and the United States before concluding the meeting.
Subsequently, at 10 AM, Sunim had a meeting with foreign policy and security experts. In-depth discussions continued on how to resolve North Korea-US relations as a solution for peace on the Korean Peninsula, and how the Korean government should respond to President Trump’s trade pressure. After two hours of discussion, they scheduled their next meeting and concluded.
After lunch, at 1 PM, Sunim had a meeting with the JTS Secretary General. They discussed how to prepare for the study tour program that will be conducted when civil servants participating in Bhutan’s sustainable development project are invited to Korea next spring.
In the afternoon, Sunim packed for his overseas trip. After packing gift books and clothes for volunteers in his suitcase, he departed from Jungto Center at 5:20 PM and headed to Incheon Airport. Staff members bid farewell to Sunim as he departed overseas.
“Sunim, please have a safe trip and stay healthy.”
“Thank you. I’ll have a good trip.”
Due to traffic congestion, it took two hours to arrive at Incheon Airport. After completing departure procedures, Sunim edited manuscripts and attended to work at the boarding gate.
When boarding time arrived, Sunim boarded the plane and departed for New York at 9:05 PM.
Tomorrow, after a 15-hour flight, he is scheduled to arrive at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York at 10 PM local time.
Since there was no Dharma talk today, I’ll conclude by sharing a dialogue between Sunim and a questioner from a Dharma Q&A held in Vancouver, Canada on August 24th.
Why Does Passion Decrease and Obsession with Views Increase the More I Do YouTube?
“There is no such method. It’s normal for our mental processes to cool down over time. If passion were maintained continuously, it wouldn’t even align with the laws of energy. If someone were to donate 1 million won to me every month, I would feel good. When I receive the first 1 million won, I say ‘Thank you.’ When they give me another 1 million won the next month, I say ‘Thank you,’ and when they give me another 1 million won the following month, I say ‘Thank you’ again. But after a year of receiving 1 million won, would that gratitude be the same as when I first received it, or would it be different?”
“It would be different.”
“The feeling of gratitude would decrease. What about after 3 years? Not only would gratitude decrease, but even while receiving the money, slight dissatisfaction would arise. You’d think, ‘Still only 1 million won?’ This is life. Even between spouses, at first they’re grateful for even small help, but when it’s repeated two or three times, the brain becomes numb. It becomes taken for granted. That’s why we only realize the importance of health after losing it, and only realize the importance of money after losing it. When we have something, we take it for granted and don’t recognize it, but when we lose it, we feel regret and then appreciate it.”
“So to never lose that initial gratitude, passion, and beginner’s mind, you need to continuously experience difficulties and suffering. Then you’ll be grateful just to be alive, and grateful even if just one subscriber watches your content. How busy are people in this world – why would they watch your YouTube videos? When politicians lose elections just five times, they truly feel how precious each voter is. That’s why when politicians visit Jungto Society, you can tell whether they’ve truly become politicians or not by the angle of their bow. If they’re from high-ranking government positions, are popular, or got elected by being in the right line, their heads don’t bow easily. They don’t know the value of votes. You have to experience hunger to know the value of food. As time passes, we become increasingly desensitized, so most people inevitably lose their beginner’s mind. So if you want to maintain your beginner’s mind, what should you continue to do?”
“Should I experience severe suffering?”
“When you experience discrimination and contempt, or face economic difficulties, you come to know the value of even 10 won, and the value of one subscriber. Otherwise, you’ll expect to have millions of subscribers and become disappointed and frustrated when that doesn’t happen.”
“There was a famous baseball player that you all would know by name who was in the major leagues in America but then got demoted to the minor leagues. In the major leagues, he flew business class and was driven in limousines, but when he fell to the minor leagues, he had to fly economy and travel with teammates on a large bus, which he said was unbearably difficult. Unable to bear it, he threw tantrums and threatened to retire, until someone introduced him to me for counseling. So I asked him a few questions. When I asked when he started playing baseball, he said since middle school. When I asked if he played because it was fun or to make money, he said because it was fun. I also asked when he joined the professional team, how much salary he received, and if he was happy then – he said he was incredibly happy. When I asked if he makes less or more money now than then, he said he makes 100 times more now. So I told him:”
“‘In middle school, just playing baseball made you happy, and when you first joined the professional team, you were happy even with a small salary. But now, even though you’re making 100 times more money, why are you complaining about how hard it is? Play like when you first started baseball – for fun. How wonderful that you’re having fun and getting paid for it too.'”
“After that, the player played baseball for 10 more years and was able to retire with applause and support from many fans.”
“I also met a golfer who was once at the top but was suffering because their ranking had dropped. We have to pay money to play golf, but players get paid to play golf even if they don’t come in first place. That’s pretty good. But they suffer because they think in terms of being number one. So to not lose your beginner’s mind, you must always think of difficult situations.”
“Even I get a stiff neck because you all say ‘Sunim, Sunim.’ But when I go to third world countries or remote areas, nobody there knows who I am. Even when I’m traveling by train in India and there’s no seat, so I spread newspaper on the floor and lie down, not a single person offers their seat to me. There, I’m nothing.”
“You say it’s hard to ride in the back of a small truck in remote mountainous areas, but thinking back to my childhood, when we had to walk long distances and a passing truck let us ride in the back, it was incredibly wonderful. From the perspective of someone walking, how great it is to even ride in the back of a truck. But nowadays, some people complain even when riding inside the car, not in the truck bed. And riding in an airplane is much better than riding in trucks on unpaved rural roads. They even serve meals on airplanes. Even if you have to spend a day at the airport, there are bathrooms, air conditioning, heating, and both hot and cold water – what’s there to complain about? When you face difficulties, you can naturally maintain your beginner’s mind.”
“While Sunim might seem arrogant to you, among monks, I’m actually one of the less prideful ones. I spend nearly a third of the year in remote areas. I always visit places where people in difficult circumstances live, help them, and use it as an opportunity to realize how comfortable my current life is. Last winter too, I visited the poorest villages throughout Bhutan. This is not only a method of practice but also a way to protect myself. Enjoying delicious food, comfortable sleeping quarters, and comfortable conveniences and pleasures makes you lose yourself, like becoming addicted to drugs.”
If you find this place boring, you can just go back to Korea. When you return, go back to your old company and tell them you’ll work for half the salary – they’ll probably hire you back. However, even if you do return, you shouldn’t think, ‘If I had stayed in Korea, I would be higher up than you, and you would have been my junior…’ If you were a company president until yesterday and retired, today you need to be able to work as a security guard.
You’re concerned about view counts because you’re doing YouTube to make money. You should approach it with the mindset that this journey is too precious to keep to yourself, so you want to share it with others, whether one person watches or two. Do you think Sunim’s lectures are uploaded to YouTube hoping that even one person will watch and become happy? Or are they uploaded expecting high view counts to make money? If you want to maintain your original intention, you need to have this perspective.
Whether it’s feelings of love or resolutions to work hard, everything diminishes over time. This is called the ‘law of diminishing desire.’ If taking 1 gram of drugs gives you 100 units of pleasure, taking the same 1 gram the next day and the day after will give you progressively less pleasure. As the pleasure decreases, you need to increase the amount to feel the same level of pleasure. That’s how drug addiction works. All of you may not be addicted to drugs, but you’re addicted to all kinds of pleasures.
If you want to maintain your original intention, carry your cross. In suffering, you will hear the voice of God.” (Laughter)
“Thank you. I understand well.”
