February 14, 2026 India – JTS Staff Outing
Hello. Today is the day for an outing with the India JTS staff. Once a year, Sunim visits nearby historical sites or places of interest with the India JTS staff to broaden their horizons. This year, they decided to visit the safari zoo and Glass Skywalk in Rajgir. These were places the staff had wanted to visit for several years. Understandably, the young Indian staff preferred amusement parks over Buddhist historical sites.
After morning practice, meditation, and manuscript editing, Sunim prepared early for the outing with the staff. While Rajgir is only an hour and a half from the school, they needed to arrive early and queue to secure entrance tickets for the safari zoo and Glass Skywalk they planned to visit today.
To arrive at the zoo by 8 AM, Sunim departed with the staff at 6:30 AM. Including the Korean volunteers residing in India, there were about 40 people in total. Without a single person being late, the bus departed on time.
As the bus traveled, the sun rose outside the window, revealing villagers just starting their day and the magnificent rocky mountain landscape.
At 8:10 AM, they arrived at the safari zoo in Rajgir.
Inside the zoo, there was an art gallery displaying sculptures and a theater showing an animated film about the short journey of baby lions and tigers.
At 11 AM, they traveled by car to the Glass Skywalk. As it’s a popular tourist destination among locals, getting tickets wasn’t easy.
They had to wait about 2 hours in the waiting room at the base of the mountain, and after going up, they had to wait another 30 minutes in the waiting room at the top. Despite the long wait, the staff’s faces remained bright.
After finishing the Glass Skywalk tour, it was lunchtime, so they went to a nearby flat area with ample shade. The staff unloaded cooking gear from the bus to prepare ramen.
They spread out a large mat, set up gas burners, and poured water to boil for ramen. Meanwhile, some people washed and prepared the vegetables they had brought – onions, spinach, peppers, and tomatoes.
When the water boiled, they added ramen and vegetables. The smell of ramen spread in all directions.
When the ramen was ready, the staff first served a bowl to Sunim, then everyone ate together.
They finished all the ramen they had prepared without leaving any behind.
After finishing the meal, all the staff worked together to clean up neatly. They folded the mat, washed the large pot and dishes, organized the gas burners, and loaded all the items onto the bus.
At 4 PM, they departed for Sujata Academy. As they approached Silao market, Sunim said:
“Did you all rest well today? I wanted to send you home early before dark, but with all the waiting time, you’ll probably get home around the same time anyway. We originally planned to have dinner together, but since lunch was late, it would be difficult to eat dinner again. It would be better if you go home and have dinner with your families. Instead, we had a good time playing outside, didn’t we? Since your families are waiting at home, let’s take a moment to buy some gifts. I’ll give you some pocket money, so please buy khaja from the market as gifts for your families.”
Khaja is a traditional pastry famous in the Indian states of Bihar and Odisha. Silao’s khaja, in particular, is renowned throughout India. Sunim stopped the bus at Silao market and gave the staff pocket money and free time. This was meant to express gratitude to the families who had supported their volunteer work throughout the year. The staff’s faces were bright as they returned with their hands full of khaja.
They boarded the bus again and left Silao market for Sujata Academy. The sun set outside the window.
After traveling for 1 hour and 50 minutes, they arrived at Sujata Academy at 7 PM. Sunim said to the staff:
“Tomorrow is Sunday, so rest well at home. It’s gotten dark, so hurry home. Your families must be waiting. I’m leaving for Delhi on Monday. When you come to work on Monday, we’ll say goodbye then.”
Sunim saw off the staff, edited manuscripts in his quarters, and went to bed.
Tomorrow, he will go to Bodh Gaya to greet several monks and acquaintances and meet with Priyapal Sunim, the chairman of India JTS, for a conversation.
Since there was no Dharma talk today, this post concludes with a dialogue between Sunim and a questioner from the Friday Dharma Q&A live broadcast held online in Delhi, India on the 6th.
I Feel Burdened by My Parents Paying My College Tuition. Should I Return to School?
“If you’re comfortable not studying and just playing around while receiving your parents’ help, can that be called proper conduct? If you don’t like being in debt, you should be motivated to study hard, graduate quickly, and pay back the debt. From my perspective, wanting to live comfortably while accumulating debt is not a desirable attitude.
If you don’t have money for tuition and living expenses right now, you can quit school and become independent. Or if you need to attend school but can’t work part-time, you can ask your parents for support for 1 to 4 years with a plan to pay them back after graduating and getting a job. It’s not bad to owe your parents money with a plan to repay it, just like getting a loan from a bank. Anyone can take out a loan when in difficulty and pay it back after earning money. It would be best if you could become independent by getting a school scholarship. But if you can’t be independent right now, it’s fine to receive your parents’ help, but don’t take it for granted. Study hard this year so you can get a scholarship starting next year. If you can’t get a scholarship for all four years, calculate the support you received from your parents over four years, and after graduating and getting a job, pay it back steadily over 5 or 10 years. Just thinking ‘I can’t live in debt’ has no meaning.”
“But while I understand this intellectually, sometimes I feel a surge of anger. I took a leave of absence last year due to mental illness. When these feelings arise, would it be good to do prostrations?”
“You have anxiety right now. You should go to a psychiatrist for treatment. Mental issues like anxiety, depression, or bipolar disorder with mood swings require diagnosis from a psychiatrist and medication treatment, or you need to receive counseling from a mental health professional.
At the same time, you need to be physically healthy for mental illness to improve. Since ancient times, it’s been said that mental illness occurs when energy rises to the head and overheats, so you need to bring the energy down below the navel. When your hands and feet are warm and your head is cool, your mind becomes clear. When your hands and feet are cold and your head is hot, you see hallucinations. In such cases, it is good to work out your lower body. It’s best to walk about 15,000 steps, roughly 10km daily, but you should walk at least 10,000 steps, about 7km. To walk 7km, you need to set aside at least 1 hour and 30 minutes.
If you can only spare about an hour, doing 300 prostrations is good. When you do 300 prostrations, you bow your head, bend your waist, kneel and stand up, so it becomes a full-body workout. If you do 300 prostrations for about an hour every day, your whole body gets exercise, and it’s good for mental health. Prostrations are especially good because they help you lower your mind and let go. If you absolutely can’t do 300, even 108 prostrations daily would be good.
I can’t say prostrations will definitely make things better, but I can say they help somewhat. The reason is not because Buddha helps you, but first, because it’s lower body exercise. That is, it helps because the energy moves from up to down. Second, you become humble and experience less stress. When you think you’re great, you hold your head high, and when you feel sorry, you bow your head, right? But if you keep bowing your body, you become humble. When you become humble, you experience less stress, and when you have less stress, even with mental weakness, symptoms occur less. So prostrations are good, and walking a lot is good. Farming or simple physical labor that doesn’t require thinking can also be helpful.”
“Thank you.”
“By the way, what year are you returning to?”
“I completed up to second year, so I’m returning as a third year.”
“It would be best if you could do 300 prostrations daily while attending school. If that’s difficult, even 108 prostrations would be good while repeatedly imprinting these words in your mind:
‘I am at peace. I have no problems. I am living well.’
If you keep cultivating this reassuring mindset, it helps with psychological stability. Follow the psychiatrist’s diagnosis and continue treatment, whether through counseling or medication. And while doing walking exercise or prostrations, repeating ‘I am at peace’ to bring mental stability will be much more helpful.
Also, the fact that you’re sensitive about not receiving scholarships and depending on your parents can be seen positively as a sign of independence in a young person. However, from my perspective, your condition seems to involve excessive sensitivity about receiving help due to psychological anxiety. So, as your parents suggest, you should borrow from them now and pay them back once you graduate and start working. Since you’re borrowing the money, you should study more actively. Thinking ‘Is it okay to be in debt?’ doesn’t help practically. I think it’s better to finish your studies quickly with your parents’ help.”
“Thank you. I’ll study hard.”
“You don’t need to study too hard—just don’t slack off and be consistent. Since health is important, you should exercise and do prostrations to take care of your body first before studying. With your tendency to worry constantly, if you don’t move your body or study, you might just keep worrying, thinking ‘I should study, I should study.’ That would make things worse. Don’t try to work too hard; what you need is consistency.”
