Nov 25, 2025. Departure from Korea, Arrival in Osaka, Japan
Hello. Today is the day Sunim departs for Osaka to conduct a lecture tour in Japan.
Sunim left Dubuk Jungto Retreat Center at 3 a.m. and headed to Seoul. After a 3.5-hour drive, he arrived at Seoul Jungto Center at 6:30 a.m. and had breakfast.
In the morning, Sunim packed for the Japan lecture tour. After preparing gifts for the senior members he would meet in Japan, he attended to various tasks indoors.
After lunch, Sunim left Seoul Jungto Center at 1:30 p.m. and headed to Incheon Airport.
Sunim arrived at Incheon Airport at 3 p.m., checked in his luggage, completed departure procedures, and departed from Incheon Airport at 4:55 p.m. After a 1 hour and 45 minute flight, he arrived at Osaka Airport in Japan at 6:40 p.m.
After collecting his luggage and completing immigration procedures, Sunim exited the airport to find members of Japan Jungto Society waiting to give him a warm welcome.
After exchanging warm greetings and taking a commemorative photo together, they headed to the accommodation.
Sunim arrived at the accommodation at 8:50 p.m., unpacked, and then had a conversation with Japan Jungto Society members in the hotel’s first-floor lounge.
Several members from Tokyo and Osaka, including Jo Jung-eun, the Asia-Pacific Branch President of Jungto Society, came to welcome Sunim. After introducing themselves and exchanging greetings, they concluded today’s schedule.
Tomorrow morning, Sunim will conduct a live broadcast of the Weekly Dharma Assembly from the accommodation. At lunch, he will have a meal with a Korean expatriate at a Korean restaurant in the Tennoji district. In the evening, he will give a Dharma Q&A lecture with Japanese interpretation for Japanese people at the Osaka City Higashinari Ward Community Center.
Since there was no Dharma talk today, I will conclude this post by sharing a dialogue between Sunim and a questioner from the Happy Dialogue Dharma Q&A held in Busan on the 24th.
Are There Really People Who Are Blessed and Those Who Are Cursed?
“I don’t know if cursed people actually exist. However, there are certainly people who feel they are cursed. For example, when someone gets married and then divorced, they say they have ‘no luck with men’ or ‘no luck with women.’ If they remarry and divorce again, they say ‘I really have no luck with men.’ But I tell them, ‘You’re really lucky with women! I’ve never been married even once in my life, but you’ve been married twice!’ (laughter)
While getting married multiple times might seem unfortunate, from another perspective, it means you’ve met multiple connections. Ultimately, what matters is how you perceive it. Some people prefer the stability of working at one company their entire life and favor permanent positions, while others, like me, prefer having various experiences. When standards differ, the same experience can have completely different meanings.
Listening to your story, I think you’re someone who has lived through truly diverse life experiences. Those diverse experiences themselves could be a kind of blessing. Even novels and movies are more interesting with ups and downs rather than smooth stories. It’s hard to fill two hours with just ‘they met and lived happily ever after.’ Rather, having many stories makes for a narrative, and such a life can become a great asset when you look back later.
Think about climbing Mount Seorak. You have to cross streams, climb steep ridges, and face dangerous moments to reach the summit. If you view all that process as hardship, it becomes misfortune, but from the perspective of mountain climbing, all those processes are the joy of hiking. Would taking a cable car straight to the top really be more meaningful?
It’s the same for you. You’ve experienced marriage, business, house fires, and violence, but despite all that, you’re alive here today. That in itself is remarkable. That’s why I see your life as successful. Because you’ve accumulated so many experiences, when someone says life is hard, you can respond, ‘Is that really difficult? At least your house didn’t burn down. At least you weren’t beaten by your husband.’ 
Ultimately, what matters is how you set the standards for your own life. If you say you’re ‘unfortunate,’ you’ll have an unfortunate life. If you see it as ‘I’ve had many ups and downs, but I’ve come this far well,’ then you have a blessed life. So you need to set your own standards. If you’ve come this far through many experiences and twists and turns, that in itself is a blessed life. Within the bad times, there were good things and good people, and thanks to them, you’re living well. So are you living a blessed life or an unfortunate one?”
“I’m a Catholic, so I’m living well by God’s grace.”
“If you think you’re living by God’s grace, you should be even more grateful. But saying you’re unfortunate is like denying God. Asking ‘Why do you make my life so difficult?’ shows a lack of faith in God. If you have faith, even if your house burns down, you should be able to accept it saying, ‘If it’s the Lord’s will, I’ll gladly accept it.’ When there are great trials, ordinary people despair, but a person of faith should be able to accept it, believing that God has a purpose for it.”
“I’ll accept it, Sunim.”
“Then you can think, ‘I am a person blessed by God.'”
“Yes, I understand.”
