After the Dharma Q&A, the participants were divided into small groups and had a sharing session.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"Dharma Q&A for the Students of the English Jungto Dharma School","post_excerpt":"Jungto International Division organized a live online Dharma Q&A with Ven. Pomnuyn Sunim for the students enrolled in the course","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"dharma-qa-for-the-students-of-the-english-jungto-dharma-school","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-05-07 02:11:36","post_modified_gmt":"2024-05-07 07:11:36","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=12752","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":false,"total_page":1},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"jnews_block_37"};

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<\/p>\n","post_title":"How to Live Life More Freely","post_excerpt":"The Korean Seon (Zen) master Venerable Pomnyun Sunim (\ubc95\ub95c\uc2a4\ub2d8) wears many hats: Buddhist monk, teacher, author, environmentalist, and social activist, to name a few. As a widely respected Dharma teacher and a tireless socially engaged activist in his native South Korea, Ven. Pomnyun Sunim has founded numerous Dharma-based organizations, initiatives, and projects that are active across the world. Among them, Jungto Society, a volunteer-based community founded on the Buddhist teachings and expressing equality, simple living, and sustainability, is dedicated to addressing modern social issues that lead to suffering, including environmental degradation, poverty, and conflict.\n\nThis column, shared by Jungto Society, presents a series of highlights from Ven. Pomnyun Sunim\u2019s writings, teachings, public talks, and regular live-streamed Dharma Q+A sessions, which are accessible across the globe.\n","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"how-to-live-life-more-freely","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2023-09-08 14:08:05","post_modified_gmt":"2023-09-08 19:08:05","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=16636","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14531,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2023-02-23 15:50:53","post_date_gmt":"2023-02-23 20:50:53","post_content":"\n

Q. I feel a little frustrated, maybe a little angry and impatient about the need for significant political change. I worry a lot about injustice, climate change, corruption, and democracy. I just wonder what is, in your opinion, the best sort of Buddhist way to seek political change, but quickly. I mean, how do you feel about civil disobedience? Do you recommend that we do that? Do you feel that we are experiencing a serious existential threat over the political issues that we have? I\u2019m just wondering, what is your take?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ven. Pomnyun Sunim:<\/strong> The essence of the Buddhist teaching is the Middle Way. This actually means doing your best under the situations and conditions in which you live. So the middle way is not talking of some fixed way; instead, it means that you are flexible and able to change strategy and direction according to the situation and environment in which you find yourself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you take an individual for example: it is much easier to change an individual\u2019s thoughts than their emotions. This is because thoughts reside in our consciousness while emotions reside in the subconscious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Karma refers to emotional-cognitive habits, and it takes time for you to change that. So if you try to affect change quickly, it won\u2019t work. If you feel disappointed over the fact that your habits do not change quickly, then you might start blaming yourself and suffer as a result. If another person\u2019s habits do not change quickly, then you might start blaming them and become angry at them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it is very natural not to be able to change quickly. Change needs a lot of failures, trial and error; it needs time. So it is this unrealistic sense of urgency that is making us angry, hateful, and disappointed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As such, we must have insight into and awareness of that principle before we begin. And that is why we study history. There are many singular events throughout history that have failed. But from a historical perspective, many of them actually succeeded, because that change was something that could not happen just as a result of one single event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So if you try to accomplish something at once, you will likely fail. Because change and improvement happen over time and through repeated failures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s take the environmental issue as an example. Our environment is in a very critical state. But if you look at the reality we are facing today, it is very difficult to affect change because consumption is deeply embedded in our everyday lives. And the values and criteria for success in our societies are closely tied with one\u2019s capacity to consume more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So although we might consciously recognize the dangers of environmental destruction, our habits force us to go on living the way we always have. Therefore, I think that no matter how much we try, there\u2019s a strong possibility that we will be unable to change our way of living.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then is that despair? Not so . . .<\/p>\n","post_title":"How Do You See Current Political Issues from a Buddhist Perspective?","post_excerpt":"The essence of the Buddhist teaching is the Middle Way.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"how-do-you-see-current-political-issues-from-a-buddhist-perspective","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14531","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14332,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2023-01-03 14:12:34","post_date_gmt":"2023-01-03 19:12:34","post_content":"\n

Q. Lately, whenever we hear about what will happen in the future, it is often bad news. For example, we hear about global warming, rising sea levels, a growing income gap between the rich and the poor, war, starvation, and diseases.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I feel that any news we hear about future trends is always negative, so I cannot help but feel pessimistic in my outlook about the future. This is not stopping me from trying to live a happy life, but I cannot help feeling bad for future generations. I am not talking about only the next generation, but those down the line as well. I feel like we are leaving them a world that is no better than the one that we inherited. So,\u00a0 my question for you is how do you keep a positive outlook toward the future?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

VPS:<\/strong>\u00a0Yes, what you say is true. There are a lot of negative predictions about the future. So is this a singular phenomenon that is happening only in the present? I am sure it was the same way in the past. The people of the current generation always worry about the future of their children. When those children grow up, they will be pessimistic about the future and worry about the future of their own children. This has always been true throughout history, from generation to generation, but humankind has continued to survive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The history of human civilization is about 10,000 years old. Throughout history, various civilizations held power at different points of time. Thousands of years ago, the Egyptian civilization, the Aegean civilization, the Greek civilization, and the Roman civilization all rose and fell. It is the same with our modern civilization. It will eventually fall.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is why you see a lot of negativity about the future. The biggest problems we see are environmental issues. As you mentioned, there are a lot of problems, such as nuclear arms, diseases, viruses, and food shortages. Any civilization will ultimately fall, but then we also see the start of a new civilization. Therefore, when human beings become extinct, a new species will arise.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you look back in history, even among human beings there have been many different types of humans over the millennia. We are\u00a0Homo sapiens<\/em>.\u00a0Homo sapiens<\/em>\u00a0are only about 150,000 years old. We have been the main drivers of civilization for about 40,000 years. If you look at it from the Earth\u2019s point of view, it\u2019s a very short time. So you should not look at the world with a short-term view.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, if you want this world, this civilization in which we live, to last a little longer, we do have to change our lifestyles\u2014the way we live. First, we need to re-examine our concept of a \u201cgood\u201d life as defined by mass production and consumption. Unless we overcome this consumption-driven paradigm, we will soon run out of resources. Then there will be competition for those diminishing resources, and nations will end up going to war. Also, if we keep consuming at this rate, the resulting trash and waste will cause more environmental problems and change the climate. That\u2019s why we need to overcome this consumption-driven paradigm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A \u201cgood\u201d life is defined by increased consumption in advanced economies, and people in less-developed countries will follow this lead. Currently, there are about 1.2 billion people whose per-capita GDP US$20,000 or more. Note that our environment is already in dire straits even with this relatively small number of people with high consumption. About 5.8 billion of the world\u2019s population are below this level of income and consumption, and are following behind.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

China is coming in fast on our heels: that accounts for 1.4 billion people. China has a larger population than all of the OECD countries combined. Then, you have India; that\u2019s 1.2 billion people. India is following fast on our heels as well. You don\u2019t have to be an expert to see this. If we go on the way we are going now, the Earth\u2019s environment cannot be sustained.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We can already see the end of the current civilization, but we can\u2019t stop this. We are all worried about where this train is heading, but we don\u2019t change the way we live. So we have a choice: we can keep on living as we do now and destroy ourselves in the process, or we can change direction. It\u2019s not somebody else\u2019s problem; it\u2019s our problem.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead of being pessimistic, we need to start changing the values that drive our lives. We must be fully confident in believing that simply earning more and spending more is not a good life. For example, smokers look for better cigarettes. Drinkers look for better spirits. But no matter how good the quality of the cigarette you smoke or the spirit you drink, it\u2019s better not to smoke or drink at all. You have to firmly believe that, so no matter how much Mr. Jones or Mrs. Smith consume, if it\u2019s not a good thing, you shouldn\u2019t follow suit.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first question to ask yourself is: can you exercise such self-discipline? Try it for yourself. If you are able to do so, your neighbour might be able to do so as well. Then you can start expanding this movement. You have to take action because just worrying doesn\u2019t change anything. Instead of wasting your time worrying, use that time to make the effort to change the way you live, and then share your positive experiences with others.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then, perhaps, you may be able to help transform this civilization a little bit and extend its life, albeit by a little. All we can do is try our best. That\u2019s life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n