Is Understanding Others Just Creating Another Prejudice?

Hello. Today is the day of the Leading Members’ Dharma Assembly (전법회원 법회), where leading members of Jungto Society can resolve difficulties they face in their daily activities and establish a practice-oriented perspective.

After completing morning practice and meditation, Sunim attended the Seattle Jungto Society board meeting online at 7:30 AM. He reviewed and approved the 2025 business report and settlement, as well as the 2026 business plan and budget. Subsequently, at 8:30 AM, he attended the Columbus Jungto Society board meeting online to review and approve their 2025 business report and settlement, along with their 2026 business plan and budget. It was a pleasant opportunity to exchange warm greetings with Jungto Society volunteers overseas through video conference.

After the board meetings, Sunim headed to the broadcasting room for the Leading Members’ Dharma Assembly. With all leading members having entered the video conference room, the assembly began at 10 AM with the recitation of the Three Refuges (삼귀의) and the Heart Sutra (반야 심경).

Dharma Teacher Beopjeong (법정 법사님), chairperson of the 1000-Day Preparation Committee, presented the survey results regarding leading members’ burden of meeting participation and proposed improvements for meetings during the next 1000-day period.

After the presentation, all leading members requested a Dharma talk with three prostrations. Based on the survey results, Sunim provided guidance on additional research needed to develop specific meeting improvement plans. He then discussed the perspective members should have regarding democratic decision-making processes.

For the next hour, three people pressed the hand-raising button to ask questions and engage in dialogue with Sunim. One of them reflected on whether trying to understand others had created another prejudice, and asked how to practice seeing others as they truly are.

Is Understanding Others Just Creating Another Prejudice?

“I’ve learned that understanding others brings peace to my mind, so I’ve been making efforts to understand others at work and everywhere else. Thanks to this, conflicts have decreased and I’ve been able to get along without major problems. However, one day at work, I repeatedly observed a colleague cleaning with a sopping wet mop, unable to finish cleanly. At that time, I thought, ‘Ah, this person has different hygiene standards than me. Being from a refugee background, their environment might be different, so it’s understandable.’ I tried to understand them this way. Then suddenly I wondered, ‘Isn’t this just creating another concept ( 상: 相)to understand them?’ Looking back, I realized I had been creating my own reasons like ‘They’re elderly, so it’s understandable’ or ‘They’ve been through hardships, so it’s understandable,’ and using these interpretations to put my mind at ease. But these assumptions might or might not be true. So when such thoughts arise, I try to pause and focus only on ‘Should I clean it up or not?’ rather than trying to understand them according to my own thinking. I’m wondering if this approach is appropriate. What does it mean to understand others without creating concepts? How can we practice seeing things as they truly are in daily life?”

“There’s a Korean proverb that says, ‘Trying to fly before you can even crawl.’ Whether you create concepts or not, understanding others is primarily beneficial for yourself. Thinking ‘Let me try to understand others unconditionally’ helps you let go of self-centered thinking. Of course, if this becomes excessive later and you become attached to understanding others, problems arise. If you try to force yourself to understand even what’s truly incomprehensible, you’ll actually experience stress. When that happens, you need to recognize, ‘Ah, I’ve become too attached to the idea that I must understand,’ and let go of even that. But right now, you’re sitting alone thinking, ‘Is this a concept or not?’ creating thoughts upon thoughts. That’s just something you’ve created in your own mind. Let go of such complicated thinking. When you simply think, ‘From their perspective, it could be that way,’ and understand them, you don’t get angry and feel comfortable. That’s enough. Don’t overthink things like ‘Is this real understanding? Am I seeing things as they truly are?’ However, understanding others for your own comfort and correcting inappropriate behavior are separate matters. If someone causes inconvenience by mopping with a soaking wet mop, that behavior needs to be improved. If you only understand internally and let it pass, that’s no different from turning a blind eye. You should call the person over and explain, ‘You need to wring out the mop after washing it before cleaning.’

While I was in India recently attending a meeting, it happened to be morning cleaning time. In India, children clean the school themselves. Since the school provides meals and clothes, the children learn through the labor of cleaning. The purpose isn’t just to make them clean, but because cleaning itself is a form of learning. However, since it’s currently the dry season in India, there’s a lot of dust. When children come in with their shoes covered in sand and then clean in that state, dust flies everywhere. But if I were to lose my temper and yell at them, that would show a complete lack of understanding of the children. They’re children, so this can happen. Growing up in their neighborhood, they’ve never learned the concept that “you shouldn’t create dust while cleaning.” In India, dust is just part of daily life. If you understand that they can’t help but act this way because of how they were born and raised, you won’t get angry. However, since they are indeed cleaning incorrectly, improvement is needed. To achieve this, instead of speaking with anger or irritation, you need to call the children over and teach them. ‘Children, come here. This is how you use a broom. You don’t swing the broom up and down forcefully. You need to keep the broom low against the floor and sweep like this to prevent dust from flying up.’ Of course, you could also sprinkle water. But that’s effective when cleaning dirt roads or yards. However, if you sprinkle water to clean cement or tiled surfaces, the dust just sticks to the water, and while you can remove the trash on top, the dust itself doesn’t get cleaned. So when sweeping dust, you should either keep the broom low and pressed against the ground, or in the case of rooms, dip the broom in water once, shake off the excess water, and sweep with it slightly damp. Then the dust sticks to the broom, and you can rinse it off in water. This is how you need to teach them the proper cleaning method.

Understanding and acknowledging another person’s situation is to prevent myself from being swept away by afflictions. However, this doesn’t mean that everything that person does is right or desirable. If their behavior is undesirable from my perspective, I can express my opinion. Rather than forcing them by saying ‘You must do it this way,’ I should help them improve by saying ‘It would be better to do it this way.’ If I just leave them be, they might later get scolded elsewhere or even lose their job. It’s necessary to inform them, ‘You’ve lived that way until now, but here we do things this way, so it would be good to adapt.’ If I speak irritably while feeling stressed at that time, it’s because I haven’t truly acknowledged or understood the other person. So don’t worry too much about whether you’re creating attachments or not. Even if you do create attachments, if it’s good for you right now, just do it. Later, if attachment arises and causes side effects, you can become aware at that time, thinking ‘Ah! I’ve become attached again.'”

“Thank you. I understand well.”

Questions continued to follow.

Overseas branches face the reality that it’s difficult for all members to participate in elections simultaneously due to time differences. Could overseas branches be allowed to autonomously choose various voting methods?

I’m excited about being dispatched to the Special Headquarters for Happiness Movement (행복운동특별본부) starting in March, but I’m also disappointed about not being able to participate in existing branch activities or in supporting graduates. Would dual membership be possible to maintain my existing affiliation?

As the conversation continued, Sunim’s voice became very hoarse.

“My throat is so swollen right now that it’s difficult even to swallow. Yet somehow, I’m still able to speak when I force myself. At first, my throat hurt so much that I thought it would be impossible, so I didn’t even moderate today’s board meeting. So let’s stop here for today, and I won’t take any more questions. Instead, please have deeper group discussions among yourselves.”

Although he wanted to take more questions, Sunim concluded the conversation due to his continuing throat pain and promised to meet again next time.

After leaving the broadcasting room, Sunim immediately went to the hospital for an ENT consultation. After finishing the examination and resting briefly, he headed to the Peace Foundation for his scheduled meeting.

Dr. Ashish Babe, Director of the India International Cultural Research Institute, and his delegation were waiting for Sunim at the Peace Foundation.

After exchanging warm greetings, Sunim expressed his respect for the doctor’s research activities and discussed exchanges between India and Korea. Sunim shared stories from his recent visits to Indonesia and India, and expressed gratitude for the interest shown in ensuring the smooth operation of JTS India projects.

“Going forward, we plan to build houses for the homeless in Dungeshwari and improve the village environment by renovating the sewage system.”

Dr. Ashish Babe deeply empathized with Sunim’s plans.

After seeing off Dr. Ashish Babe and his delegation, Sunim immediately met with Kim Jin-wook (김 진욱) and Yoon Kyung-sook (윤 경숙), a couple from Jamaica. They reported on the current status of JTS’s emergency relief activities (긴급구호 활동) in Jamaica and discussed future plans.

Jamaica recently suffered from Hurricane Melissa, which destroyed most of its major infrastructure and housing, leaving electricity, water, communications, roads, and accommodation facilities almost paralyzed. JTS dispatched an investigation team and, after completing the survey, is preparing relief supplies. They discussed the scale and method of support. The couple will soon return to Korea, and they also talked about how to continue their volunteer activities afterward.

At 3:30 PM, Dr. Yoon Deok-hyun (윤덕현), who works as a fisheries and aquaculture expert at FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations), visited for a meeting. Sunim had extensive discussions with Dr. Yoon about increasing fishery resources and the aquaculture sector in general. They particularly spent time discussing whether consulting on fishery resource enhancement and aquaculture technology could be possible for North Korea.

After taking a commemorative photo together and seeing off Dr. Yoon, Sunim headed back to the Seoul Jungto Center broadcasting room for the leading members’ Dharma assembly.

As the sun set, the evening session of the leading members’ Dharma assembly began at 7:30 PM with all evening participants present. Like the morning session, there was a presentation on the survey results regarding the burden of meeting participation for leading members and improvement plans for meetings during the next thousand days. Then they requested a Dharma talk from Sunim with three prostrations.

Before taking questions, Sunim explained how to understand the survey results and what follow-up measures should be taken to develop improvement plans. He also talked about the rapidly changing society and emphasized what values we should uphold in an era where predictions are becoming increasingly difficult.

“Last weekend, elections were held to select Jungto Society executives. Did everyone participate well in the elections? I sincerely congratulate those who were elected as executives and those who were appointed. I also ask for your efforts over the next three years.

In an Era Where Predictions Don’t Work, What Should We Hold Onto?

Today’s world is difficult to understand with the concepts we held in the past. Various situations, including international affairs, cannot easily be understood using old methods.

Our country’s current economic policy aims to solve problems by regulating real estate and boosting stocks. While this approach worked in the past, we need to wait and see if it will succeed now. The key issue isn’t whether it’s real estate or stocks, but rather the money supply. The money supply released during the COVID pandemic hasn’t been properly recovered, leaving a lot of money in circulation. When that money goes to real estate, real estate prices rise; when it goes to stocks, stock prices rise. They’re not rising because the economy is doing well. The economy itself hasn’t changed much, but bubbles are forming as money flows into real estate and stocks. With such an increased money supply, exchange rates inevitably fall. While there may seem to be short-term results, I’m concerned about what side effects might occur in the long run. In the past, we might have thought this approach would solve things, but now nothing flows according to past predictions. Since the Noh Moo-hyun (노 무현) and Moon Jae-in (문 재인) administrations failed in their real estate policies, the current Lee Jae-myung administration (이 재명 정부) seems to be taking the stance of ‘let’s see if the market that opposes government policy succeeds.’ This might be correct in the short term. However, we don’t know what side effects might appear in the long term. While this may be bringing popularity to the current administration, it could also become the decisive factor in the administration’s downfall before long. I’m not saying this to criticize government policy. I’m saying this to illustrate how unpredictable the world we live in has become. U.S. President Trump has been implementing tough trade policies with significant tariff increases, but recently the U.S. Federal Court ruled that the president’s tariff imposition based on IEEPA (International Emergency Economic Powers Act : 국제비상경제권한법 ) was illegal. The ruling stated that the law doesn’t grant the president authority to impose tariffs. As a result, the Trump administration is continuing its tariff policy based on the 150-day temporary authority under Section 122 of the Trade Act. South Korea achieved a reduction in tariff rates from 25% to 15% by promising $350 billion in investments to the U.S., but in the meantime, the president’s tariff authority itself has been challenged in the U.S. This isn’t about who did right or wrong, but rather shows how rapidly the world situation is changing.

Just ten years ago, things weren’t this unpredictable. Political leaders spoke with a certain degree of dignity. But now, they display completely undignified, reckless words and actions. In this world, how can we overcome the climate crisis, preserve peace, reduce the wealth gap, save those in extreme poverty, overcome discrimination, and move forward while pursuing equality? Perhaps even these conversations we’re having might be dismissed as old stories in the future. The values we consider important might be evaluated as ‘tales from when tigers smoked pipes’ or ‘stories from old fogeys.’ However, even taking all this into account, peace remains important, and the climate crisis is indeed becoming increasingly serious day by day. When examining natural disasters such as droughts, typhoons, and heavy rains that have occurred over the past 100 years, 70 percent of the disasters ranking in the top 10 by damage scale were concentrated after the year 2000. This shows how the frequency of natural disasters has increased in recent years, and the scale of damage has grown larger. Meanwhile, U.S. President Trump has taken a skeptical stance on the climate crisis, withdrawing from or revoking over 80 international climate-related agreements. The fact that perspectives on climate issues differ so greatly from country to country and leader to leader is today’s reality. We are living in such a world right now.”

Next, leading members who had submitted questions in advance asked Sunim their questions. For one hour, two people asked questions and had conversations with Sunim.

During the India pilgrimage, I heard that the Shakya clan recognized the Buddha as their ancestor and converted to Buddhism, but there are still no Buddhist teaching materials available. What do you think about conducting a Jungto Dharma School for the Shakya clan?

The 5-month Jungto Buddhism Course and Jungto Sutra Course are too short to properly cultivate students as practitioners, and for facilitators, the repeated cycle of entrance and graduation ceremonies creates fatigue. What about extending the duration of the course?

After answering all the questions, it was time to conclude the assembly. Since Sunim’s throat was still sore, he asked for understanding and did not take additional questions. The assembly ended at 9 PM.

Tomorrow, starting with the Canada Jungto Society board meeting, Sunim will participate online in board meetings all day long with JTS USA, LA Jungto Society, JTS Philippines, Philippines Jungto Society, and Sydney Jungto Society to review last year’s project reports and this year’s project plans.