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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cI am not good at meditation. How can I make progress?\u201d","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-i-am-not-good-at-meditation-how-can-i-make-progress","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-07-04 17:13:18","post_modified_gmt":"2024-07-04 22:13:18","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=19744","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":18488,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-05-03 00:51:00","post_date_gmt":"2024-05-03 05:51:00","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cIn meditation, is curiousity helpful or is it an obstacle?\u201d","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-do-we-have-to-give-up-pleasure-to-live-without-suffering-duplicate-18475","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-05-07 11:55:14","post_modified_gmt":"2024-05-07 16:55:14","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=18488","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":18034,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-03-08 07:00:00","post_date_gmt":"2024-03-08 12:00:00","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cHow can I incorporate mindfulness into my work where I\u2019m challenged…. ?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-the-feeling-of-solitude-increases-and-the-motivation-in-life-decreases","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-02-27 18:46:27","post_modified_gmt":"2024-02-27 23:46:27","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=18034","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":18039,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-03-01 07:00:00","post_date_gmt":"2024-03-01 12:00:00","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cThe feeling of solitude increases and the motivation in life decreases\u2026. ?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-the-feeling-of-solitude-increases-and-the-motivation-in-life-decreases-2","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-02-27 18:51:13","post_modified_gmt":"2024-02-27 23:51:13","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=18039","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":18030,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-02-27 18:17:13","post_date_gmt":"2024-02-27 23:17:13","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cDuring meditation, I count from 1 to 100. Is this an improper tactic?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-during-meditation-i-count-from-1-to-100-is-this-an-improper-tactic","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-02-27 18:17:16","post_modified_gmt":"2024-02-27 23:17:16","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=18030","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":17831,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-02-16 07:00:00","post_date_gmt":"2024-02-16 12:00:00","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cIf I can be mindful of my life, does it mean I don\u2019t need meditation anymore?\u201d","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-if-i-can-be-mindful-of-my-life-does-it-mean-i-dont-need-meditation-anymore","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-01-06 21:29:41","post_modified_gmt":"2024-01-07 02:29:41","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=17831","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"};

Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not. It is not because it is impossible to be free and happy, but because they are going in the wrong direction. As they are going in the wrong direction, they can\u2019t reach their destination no matter how steadfastly they walk.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why am I saying that people are going in the wrong direction? People in the world consider the good feelings they have when things go their way to be happiness. They consider the bad feeling they have when things don\u2019t go their way to be unhappiness. And they think that doing whatever they want is freedom and not doing what they want is bondage. These are ordinary people\u2019s concepts of happiness and freedom. However, in real life, these values can\u2019t be realized.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy briefly. But, when your desires are not fulfilled, you suffer. As there is no end to desire, you experience joy and suffering repeatedly. The Buddha said that this never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is the inevitable contradiction and limit of human life. Joy and suffering can\u2019t be divided. Yesterday\u2019s suffering can turn into today\u2019s joy and today\u2019s joy can turn into tomorrow\u2019s suffering. Since people don\u2019t know this principle, they want to live in a world filled with joy and devoid of suffering, thinking that it is possible to live in such a world. However, this is not possible in real life, so they wish to be born in such a world after they die. Therefore, every religion has an ideal world called heaven or paradise.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Society\u2019s current level consumption is even higher than that which is supposedly provided by the ideal world, the heaven that people dreamed of in the past. But we have greater desires now, so we consider our condition no better than hell. We can\u2019t see this contradiction because we only see what we want to achieve. Thinking that they are unhappy because their abilities or efforts are not sufficient, people try to get what they want by asking a powerful third party. As a result, religions that contain elements of asking help from almighty gods came to exist.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Religions already existed 5,000 years ago. The contemporaries of the Buddha, who lived 2,600 years ago, also tried to solve the contradictions of the world with religion. Religious teachings could comfort people temporarily, like drugs, but couldn\u2019t solve the problems fundamentally.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The way of neither following nor suppressing desires<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

The Buddha investigated how to solve this problem in-depth. He discovered that the root of the never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is desire. When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy and when your desires are not fulfilled, you suffer. But once you are free from desire, joy and suffering also disappear. The cycle of joy and suffering ends. But people can\u2019t even imagine becoming free from desire. People can think of only two ways to respond to desire: surrendering or resisting. In the West, these two ways were expressed as Epicureanism and Stoicism. And in India, they were expressed as hedonism and asceticism. The Buddha experienced ultimate pleasure and ultimate self-mortification, and found that neither are the right way toward liberation and nirvana. He discovered a third path, the Middle Way. He followed the Middle Way and attained liberation and nirvana.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Middle Way is just recognizing desire instead of following or suppressing. When you follow desire, consequences follow, and when you suppress desire, you become stressed. People suppress desire because following it will result in loss, but suppressing it leads to frustration and eventually to an explosion. Explosions result in loss again, so they suppress it, and then explode again, this cycle is repeated constantly. However, simply recognizing desire is not to respond to it at all; neither following nor suppressing.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

True freedom is to be free from desire by recognizing it. Then, from where does desire arise? The root of desire is karma. When your karma comes into contact with an external situation, a feeling arises, and based on that feeling, a desire arises. Each person has different karma, so each person has different desires.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some people have a strong desire for money, whereas others have no desire for money. Some people have a strong desire for food, whereas others don\u2019t care much about food and they can eat anything offered, like an ascetic. Different people have different desires. This gives us hope even though it seems impossible for humans to be free from desire. Because even ordinary people are free from some desires. Therefore, we can see that becoming free from desires is not impossible and anyone can do it.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We seem to live our life but in fact our life is the automatic reactions of our karma. Based on each reaction, a desire arises within us and then we act on the desire. In other words, our life is a perpetual repetition of karma and desire. People think that they are unhappy because of some external circumstances, but it is only a secondary and partial reason. When we are free from desire, we seldom suffer or feel fettered.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Observing the precepts is essential to becoming free from desire and karma<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Then how can we be free from our desires and karma? We are meditating now to achieve this freedom. However, wanting to be free from desire while eating whatever you want to eat, lying down when you want to lie down, and doing whatever you want to do is contradictory. In addition to the desires for food and sleep, we have other serious karma. Even if we are free from the desires for food and sleep, attaining liberation will be hard. As such, wishing for liberation without even achieving this much is contradictory.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For example, let\u2019s say I have a habit of smoking. I am not saying that smoking is bad but not being able to quit smoking while pursuing liberation and nirvana is contradictory. How can I be free from karma that has been formed through infinity if I can\u2019t even quit smoking, a habit that is only several years or decades old? That is why anyone who wishes to move toward liberation and nirvana needs to observe the precepts. We need to value and observe the precepts. Practicing to attain liberation and nirvana while not observing the precepts is contradictory.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A slave is forced to do something and a master takes the lead<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Yesterday, I recommended that you voluntarily follow the rules to control desires, instead of worrying about what others might think of you if you don\u2019t follow them. If you observe the precepts voluntarily, they are not restraints. Jesus said: \u201cIf anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles,\u201d \u201cIf someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them,\u201d and \u201cIf someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also.\u201d Have a willing mind like this. If you are forced to do something, you are a slave but if you take the lead, you are a master.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if there is no restriction on food, I recommend you to decide: \u201cI will eat a little because I won\u2019t need much energy while meditating,\u201d and even if there is no restriction on lying down, I recommend you to decide: \u201cI will lie down only during the designated hours while I am participating in the practice to be free from desire.\u201d If you decide like this voluntarily, you won\u2019t feel restricted.<\/strong><\/p>\n","post_title":"The Reason Why People Are Unhappy No Matter How Hard They Try To Be Happy","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"the-reason-why-people-are-unhappy-no-matter-how-hard-they-try-to-be-happy-2","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-07-14 14:40:41","post_modified_gmt":"2024-07-14 19:40:41","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=19801","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":20393,"post_author":"46","post_date":"2024-08-04 03:55:37","post_date_gmt":"2024-08-04 08:55:37","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"(\ud55c SUB) [Meditation Q&A] \u201cIs it wrong to take a deep breath during meditation?\u201d","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"%ed%95%9c-sub-meditation-qa-is-it-wrong-to-take-a-deep-breath-during-meditation","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-08-04 03:57:39","post_modified_gmt":"2024-08-04 08:57:39","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=20393","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":19744,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-07-12 17:07:50","post_date_gmt":"2024-07-12 22:07:50","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cI am not good at meditation. How can I make progress?\u201d","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-i-am-not-good-at-meditation-how-can-i-make-progress","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-07-04 17:13:18","post_modified_gmt":"2024-07-04 22:13:18","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=19744","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":18488,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-05-03 00:51:00","post_date_gmt":"2024-05-03 05:51:00","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cIn meditation, is curiousity helpful or is it an obstacle?\u201d","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-do-we-have-to-give-up-pleasure-to-live-without-suffering-duplicate-18475","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-05-07 11:55:14","post_modified_gmt":"2024-05-07 16:55:14","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=18488","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":18034,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-03-08 07:00:00","post_date_gmt":"2024-03-08 12:00:00","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cHow can I incorporate mindfulness into my work where I\u2019m challenged…. ?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-the-feeling-of-solitude-increases-and-the-motivation-in-life-decreases","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-02-27 18:46:27","post_modified_gmt":"2024-02-27 23:46:27","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=18034","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":18039,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-03-01 07:00:00","post_date_gmt":"2024-03-01 12:00:00","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cThe feeling of solitude increases and the motivation in life decreases\u2026. ?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-the-feeling-of-solitude-increases-and-the-motivation-in-life-decreases-2","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-02-27 18:51:13","post_modified_gmt":"2024-02-27 23:51:13","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=18039","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":18030,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-02-27 18:17:13","post_date_gmt":"2024-02-27 23:17:13","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cDuring meditation, I count from 1 to 100. Is this an improper tactic?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-during-meditation-i-count-from-1-to-100-is-this-an-improper-tactic","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-02-27 18:17:16","post_modified_gmt":"2024-02-27 23:17:16","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=18030","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":17831,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-02-16 07:00:00","post_date_gmt":"2024-02-16 12:00:00","post_content":"\n

<\/a><\/gwmw><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cIf I can be mindful of my life, does it mean I don\u2019t need meditation anymore?\u201d","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-if-i-can-be-mindful-of-my-life-does-it-mean-i-dont-need-meditation-anymore","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-01-06 21:29:41","post_modified_gmt":"2024-01-07 02:29:41","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=17831","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"};

Page 1 of 2 1 2 Next

\n

The reason why people are unhappy no matter how hard they try to be happy<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not. It is not because it is impossible to be free and happy, but because they are going in the wrong direction. As they are going in the wrong direction, they can\u2019t reach their destination no matter how steadfastly they walk.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why am I saying that people are going in the wrong direction? People in the world consider the good feelings they have when things go their way to be happiness. They consider the bad feeling they have when things don\u2019t go their way to be unhappiness. And they think that doing whatever they want is freedom and not doing what they want is bondage. These are ordinary people\u2019s concepts of happiness and freedom. However, in real life, these values can\u2019t be realized.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy briefly. But, when your desires are not fulfilled, you suffer. As there is no end to desire, you experience joy and suffering repeatedly. The Buddha said that this never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is the inevitable contradiction and limit of human life. Joy and suffering can\u2019t be divided. Yesterday\u2019s suffering can turn into today\u2019s joy and today\u2019s joy can turn into tomorrow\u2019s suffering. Since people don\u2019t know this principle, they want to live in a world filled with joy and devoid of suffering, thinking that it is possible to live in such a world. However, this is not possible in real life, so they wish to be born in such a world after they die. Therefore, every religion has an ideal world called heaven or paradise.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Society\u2019s current level consumption is even higher than that which is supposedly provided by the ideal world, the heaven that people dreamed of in the past. But we have greater desires now, so we consider our condition no better than hell. We can\u2019t see this contradiction because we only see what we want to achieve. Thinking that they are unhappy because their abilities or efforts are not sufficient, people try to get what they want by asking a powerful third party. As a result, religions that contain elements of asking help from almighty gods came to exist.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Religions already existed 5,000 years ago. The contemporaries of the Buddha, who lived 2,600 years ago, also tried to solve the contradictions of the world with religion. Religious teachings could comfort people temporarily, like drugs, but couldn\u2019t solve the problems fundamentally.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The way of neither following nor suppressing desires<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

The Buddha investigated how to solve this problem in-depth. He discovered that the root of the never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is desire. When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy and when your desires are not fulfilled, you suffer. But once you are free from desire, joy and suffering also disappear. The cycle of joy and suffering ends. But people can\u2019t even imagine becoming free from desire. People can think of only two ways to respond to desire: surrendering or resisting. In the West, these two ways were expressed as Epicureanism and Stoicism. And in India, they were expressed as hedonism and asceticism. The Buddha experienced ultimate pleasure and ultimate self-mortification, and found that neither are the right way toward liberation and nirvana. He discovered a third path, the Middle Way. He followed the Middle Way and attained liberation and nirvana.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Middle Way is just recognizing desire instead of following or suppressing. When you follow desire, consequences follow, and when you suppress desire, you become stressed. People suppress desire because following it will result in loss, but suppressing it leads to frustration and eventually to an explosion. Explosions result in loss again, so they suppress it, and then explode again, this cycle is repeated constantly. However, simply recognizing desire is not to respond to it at all; neither following nor suppressing.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

True freedom is to be free from desire by recognizing it. Then, from where does desire arise? The root of desire is karma. When your karma comes into contact with an external situation, a feeling arises, and based on that feeling, a desire arises. Each person has different karma, so each person has different desires.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some people have a strong desire for money, whereas others have no desire for money. Some people have a strong desire for food, whereas others don\u2019t care much about food and they can eat anything offered, like an ascetic. Different people have different desires. This gives us hope even though it seems impossible for humans to be free from desire. Because even ordinary people are free from some desires. Therefore, we can see that becoming free from desires is not impossible and anyone can do it.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We seem to live our life but in fact our life is the automatic reactions of our karma. Based on each reaction, a desire arises within us and then we act on the desire. In other words, our life is a perpetual repetition of karma and desire. People think that they are unhappy because of some external circumstances, but it is only a secondary and partial reason. When we are free from desire, we seldom suffer or feel fettered.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Observing the precepts is essential to becoming free from desire and karma<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Then how can we be free from our desires and karma? We are meditating now to achieve this freedom. However, wanting to be free from desire while eating whatever you want to eat, lying down when you want to lie down, and doing whatever you want to do is contradictory. In addition to the desires for food and sleep, we have other serious karma. Even if we are free from the desires for food and sleep, attaining liberation will be hard. As such, wishing for liberation without even achieving this much is contradictory.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For example, let\u2019s say I have a habit of smoking. I am not saying that smoking is bad but not being able to quit smoking while pursuing liberation and nirvana is contradictory. How can I be free from karma that has been formed through infinity if I can\u2019t even quit smoking, a habit that is only several years or decades old? That is why anyone who wishes to move toward liberation and nirvana needs to observe the precepts. We need to value and observe the precepts. Practicing to attain liberation and nirvana while not observing the precepts is contradictory.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A slave is forced to do something and a master takes the lead<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Yesterday, I recommended that you voluntarily follow the rules to control desires, instead of worrying about what others might think of you if you don\u2019t follow them. If you observe the precepts voluntarily, they are not restraints. Jesus said: \u201cIf anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles,\u201d \u201cIf someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them,\u201d and \u201cIf someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also.\u201d Have a willing mind like this. If you are forced to do something, you are a slave but if you take the lead, you are a master.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if there is no restriction on food, I recommend you to decide: \u201cI will eat a little because I won\u2019t need much energy while meditating,\u201d and even if there is no restriction on lying down, I recommend you to decide: \u201cI will lie down only during the designated hours while I am participating in the practice to be free from desire.\u201d If you decide like this voluntarily, you won\u2019t feel restricted.<\/strong><\/p>\n","post_title":"The Reason Why People Are Unhappy No Matter How Hard They Try To Be Happy","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"the-reason-why-people-are-unhappy-no-matter-how-hard-they-try-to-be-happy-2","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-07-14 14:40:41","post_modified_gmt":"2024-07-14 19:40:41","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=19801","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":20393,"post_author":"46","post_date":"2024-08-04 03:55:37","post_date_gmt":"2024-08-04 08:55:37","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"(\ud55c SUB) [Meditation Q&A] \u201cIs it wrong to take a deep breath during meditation?\u201d","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"%ed%95%9c-sub-meditation-qa-is-it-wrong-to-take-a-deep-breath-during-meditation","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-08-04 03:57:39","post_modified_gmt":"2024-08-04 08:57:39","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=20393","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":19744,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-07-12 17:07:50","post_date_gmt":"2024-07-12 22:07:50","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cI am not good at meditation. How can I make progress?\u201d","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-i-am-not-good-at-meditation-how-can-i-make-progress","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-07-04 17:13:18","post_modified_gmt":"2024-07-04 22:13:18","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=19744","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":18488,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-05-03 00:51:00","post_date_gmt":"2024-05-03 05:51:00","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cIn meditation, is curiousity helpful or is it an obstacle?\u201d","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-do-we-have-to-give-up-pleasure-to-live-without-suffering-duplicate-18475","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-05-07 11:55:14","post_modified_gmt":"2024-05-07 16:55:14","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=18488","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":18034,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-03-08 07:00:00","post_date_gmt":"2024-03-08 12:00:00","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cHow can I incorporate mindfulness into my work where I\u2019m challenged…. ?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-the-feeling-of-solitude-increases-and-the-motivation-in-life-decreases","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-02-27 18:46:27","post_modified_gmt":"2024-02-27 23:46:27","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=18034","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":18039,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-03-01 07:00:00","post_date_gmt":"2024-03-01 12:00:00","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cThe feeling of solitude increases and the motivation in life decreases\u2026. ?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-the-feeling-of-solitude-increases-and-the-motivation-in-life-decreases-2","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-02-27 18:51:13","post_modified_gmt":"2024-02-27 23:51:13","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=18039","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":18030,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-02-27 18:17:13","post_date_gmt":"2024-02-27 23:17:13","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cDuring meditation, I count from 1 to 100. Is this an improper tactic?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-during-meditation-i-count-from-1-to-100-is-this-an-improper-tactic","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-02-27 18:17:16","post_modified_gmt":"2024-02-27 23:17:16","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=18030","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":17831,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-02-16 07:00:00","post_date_gmt":"2024-02-16 12:00:00","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cIf I can be mindful of my life, does it mean I don\u2019t need meditation anymore?\u201d","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-if-i-can-be-mindful-of-my-life-does-it-mean-i-dont-need-meditation-anymore","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-01-06 21:29:41","post_modified_gmt":"2024-01-07 02:29:41","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=17831","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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<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The reason why people are unhappy no matter how hard they try to be happy<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not. It is not because it is impossible to be free and happy, but because they are going in the wrong direction. As they are going in the wrong direction, they can\u2019t reach their destination no matter how steadfastly they walk.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why am I saying that people are going in the wrong direction? People in the world consider the good feelings they have when things go their way to be happiness. They consider the bad feeling they have when things don\u2019t go their way to be unhappiness. And they think that doing whatever they want is freedom and not doing what they want is bondage. These are ordinary people\u2019s concepts of happiness and freedom. However, in real life, these values can\u2019t be realized.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy briefly. But, when your desires are not fulfilled, you suffer. As there is no end to desire, you experience joy and suffering repeatedly. The Buddha said that this never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is the inevitable contradiction and limit of human life. Joy and suffering can\u2019t be divided. Yesterday\u2019s suffering can turn into today\u2019s joy and today\u2019s joy can turn into tomorrow\u2019s suffering. Since people don\u2019t know this principle, they want to live in a world filled with joy and devoid of suffering, thinking that it is possible to live in such a world. However, this is not possible in real life, so they wish to be born in such a world after they die. Therefore, every religion has an ideal world called heaven or paradise.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Society\u2019s current level consumption is even higher than that which is supposedly provided by the ideal world, the heaven that people dreamed of in the past. But we have greater desires now, so we consider our condition no better than hell. We can\u2019t see this contradiction because we only see what we want to achieve. Thinking that they are unhappy because their abilities or efforts are not sufficient, people try to get what they want by asking a powerful third party. As a result, religions that contain elements of asking help from almighty gods came to exist.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Religions already existed 5,000 years ago. The contemporaries of the Buddha, who lived 2,600 years ago, also tried to solve the contradictions of the world with religion. Religious teachings could comfort people temporarily, like drugs, but couldn\u2019t solve the problems fundamentally.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The way of neither following nor suppressing desires<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

The Buddha investigated how to solve this problem in-depth. He discovered that the root of the never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is desire. When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy and when your desires are not fulfilled, you suffer. But once you are free from desire, joy and suffering also disappear. The cycle of joy and suffering ends. But people can\u2019t even imagine becoming free from desire. People can think of only two ways to respond to desire: surrendering or resisting. In the West, these two ways were expressed as Epicureanism and Stoicism. And in India, they were expressed as hedonism and asceticism. The Buddha experienced ultimate pleasure and ultimate self-mortification, and found that neither are the right way toward liberation and nirvana. He discovered a third path, the Middle Way. He followed the Middle Way and attained liberation and nirvana.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Middle Way is just recognizing desire instead of following or suppressing. When you follow desire, consequences follow, and when you suppress desire, you become stressed. People suppress desire because following it will result in loss, but suppressing it leads to frustration and eventually to an explosion. Explosions result in loss again, so they suppress it, and then explode again, this cycle is repeated constantly. However, simply recognizing desire is not to respond to it at all; neither following nor suppressing.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

True freedom is to be free from desire by recognizing it. Then, from where does desire arise? The root of desire is karma. When your karma comes into contact with an external situation, a feeling arises, and based on that feeling, a desire arises. Each person has different karma, so each person has different desires.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some people have a strong desire for money, whereas others have no desire for money. Some people have a strong desire for food, whereas others don\u2019t care much about food and they can eat anything offered, like an ascetic. Different people have different desires. This gives us hope even though it seems impossible for humans to be free from desire. Because even ordinary people are free from some desires. Therefore, we can see that becoming free from desires is not impossible and anyone can do it.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We seem to live our life but in fact our life is the automatic reactions of our karma. Based on each reaction, a desire arises within us and then we act on the desire. In other words, our life is a perpetual repetition of karma and desire. People think that they are unhappy because of some external circumstances, but it is only a secondary and partial reason. When we are free from desire, we seldom suffer or feel fettered.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Observing the precepts is essential to becoming free from desire and karma<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Then how can we be free from our desires and karma? We are meditating now to achieve this freedom. However, wanting to be free from desire while eating whatever you want to eat, lying down when you want to lie down, and doing whatever you want to do is contradictory. In addition to the desires for food and sleep, we have other serious karma. Even if we are free from the desires for food and sleep, attaining liberation will be hard. As such, wishing for liberation without even achieving this much is contradictory.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For example, let\u2019s say I have a habit of smoking. I am not saying that smoking is bad but not being able to quit smoking while pursuing liberation and nirvana is contradictory. How can I be free from karma that has been formed through infinity if I can\u2019t even quit smoking, a habit that is only several years or decades old? That is why anyone who wishes to move toward liberation and nirvana needs to observe the precepts. We need to value and observe the precepts. Practicing to attain liberation and nirvana while not observing the precepts is contradictory.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A slave is forced to do something and a master takes the lead<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Yesterday, I recommended that you voluntarily follow the rules to control desires, instead of worrying about what others might think of you if you don\u2019t follow them. If you observe the precepts voluntarily, they are not restraints. Jesus said: \u201cIf anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles,\u201d \u201cIf someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them,\u201d and \u201cIf someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also.\u201d Have a willing mind like this. If you are forced to do something, you are a slave but if you take the lead, you are a master.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if there is no restriction on food, I recommend you to decide: \u201cI will eat a little because I won\u2019t need much energy while meditating,\u201d and even if there is no restriction on lying down, I recommend you to decide: \u201cI will lie down only during the designated hours while I am participating in the practice to be free from desire.\u201d If you decide like this voluntarily, you won\u2019t feel restricted.<\/strong><\/p>\n","post_title":"The Reason Why People Are Unhappy No Matter How Hard They Try To Be Happy","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"the-reason-why-people-are-unhappy-no-matter-how-hard-they-try-to-be-happy-2","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-07-14 14:40:41","post_modified_gmt":"2024-07-14 19:40:41","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=19801","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":20393,"post_author":"46","post_date":"2024-08-04 03:55:37","post_date_gmt":"2024-08-04 08:55:37","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"(\ud55c SUB) [Meditation Q&A] \u201cIs it wrong to take a deep breath during meditation?\u201d","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"%ed%95%9c-sub-meditation-qa-is-it-wrong-to-take-a-deep-breath-during-meditation","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-08-04 03:57:39","post_modified_gmt":"2024-08-04 08:57:39","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=20393","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":19744,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-07-12 17:07:50","post_date_gmt":"2024-07-12 22:07:50","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cI am not good at meditation. How can I make progress?\u201d","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-i-am-not-good-at-meditation-how-can-i-make-progress","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-07-04 17:13:18","post_modified_gmt":"2024-07-04 22:13:18","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=19744","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":18488,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-05-03 00:51:00","post_date_gmt":"2024-05-03 05:51:00","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cIn meditation, is curiousity helpful or is it an obstacle?\u201d","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-do-we-have-to-give-up-pleasure-to-live-without-suffering-duplicate-18475","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-05-07 11:55:14","post_modified_gmt":"2024-05-07 16:55:14","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=18488","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":18034,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-03-08 07:00:00","post_date_gmt":"2024-03-08 12:00:00","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cHow can I incorporate mindfulness into my work where I\u2019m challenged…. ?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-the-feeling-of-solitude-increases-and-the-motivation-in-life-decreases","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-02-27 18:46:27","post_modified_gmt":"2024-02-27 23:46:27","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=18034","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":18039,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-03-01 07:00:00","post_date_gmt":"2024-03-01 12:00:00","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cThe feeling of solitude increases and the motivation in life decreases\u2026. ?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-the-feeling-of-solitude-increases-and-the-motivation-in-life-decreases-2","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-02-27 18:51:13","post_modified_gmt":"2024-02-27 23:51:13","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=18039","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":18030,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-02-27 18:17:13","post_date_gmt":"2024-02-27 23:17:13","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cDuring meditation, I count from 1 to 100. Is this an improper tactic?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-during-meditation-i-count-from-1-to-100-is-this-an-improper-tactic","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-02-27 18:17:16","post_modified_gmt":"2024-02-27 23:17:16","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=18030","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":17831,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-02-16 07:00:00","post_date_gmt":"2024-02-16 12:00:00","post_content":"\n

<\/a><\/gwmw><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cIf I can be mindful of my life, does it mean I don\u2019t need meditation anymore?\u201d","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-if-i-can-be-mindful-of-my-life-does-it-mean-i-dont-need-meditation-anymore","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-01-06 21:29:41","post_modified_gmt":"2024-01-07 02:29:41","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=17831","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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\n

Meditation is not about training in techniques, such as how to sit or how to breathe. The most important goal of meditation is to move toward liberation and nirvana. Liberation means freedom from all fetters. Nirvana means happiness without suffering. In other words, liberation and nirvana is a state of sustainable freedom and happiness in which the endless cycle of joy and suffering is ended.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The reason why people are unhappy no matter how hard they try to be happy<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not. It is not because it is impossible to be free and happy, but because they are going in the wrong direction. As they are going in the wrong direction, they can\u2019t reach their destination no matter how steadfastly they walk.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why am I saying that people are going in the wrong direction? People in the world consider the good feelings they have when things go their way to be happiness. They consider the bad feeling they have when things don\u2019t go their way to be unhappiness. And they think that doing whatever they want is freedom and not doing what they want is bondage. These are ordinary people\u2019s concepts of happiness and freedom. However, in real life, these values can\u2019t be realized.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy briefly. But, when your desires are not fulfilled, you suffer. As there is no end to desire, you experience joy and suffering repeatedly. The Buddha said that this never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is the inevitable contradiction and limit of human life. Joy and suffering can\u2019t be divided. Yesterday\u2019s suffering can turn into today\u2019s joy and today\u2019s joy can turn into tomorrow\u2019s suffering. Since people don\u2019t know this principle, they want to live in a world filled with joy and devoid of suffering, thinking that it is possible to live in such a world. However, this is not possible in real life, so they wish to be born in such a world after they die. Therefore, every religion has an ideal world called heaven or paradise.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Society\u2019s current level consumption is even higher than that which is supposedly provided by the ideal world, the heaven that people dreamed of in the past. But we have greater desires now, so we consider our condition no better than hell. We can\u2019t see this contradiction because we only see what we want to achieve. Thinking that they are unhappy because their abilities or efforts are not sufficient, people try to get what they want by asking a powerful third party. As a result, religions that contain elements of asking help from almighty gods came to exist.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Religions already existed 5,000 years ago. The contemporaries of the Buddha, who lived 2,600 years ago, also tried to solve the contradictions of the world with religion. Religious teachings could comfort people temporarily, like drugs, but couldn\u2019t solve the problems fundamentally.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The way of neither following nor suppressing desires<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

The Buddha investigated how to solve this problem in-depth. He discovered that the root of the never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is desire. When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy and when your desires are not fulfilled, you suffer. But once you are free from desire, joy and suffering also disappear. The cycle of joy and suffering ends. But people can\u2019t even imagine becoming free from desire. People can think of only two ways to respond to desire: surrendering or resisting. In the West, these two ways were expressed as Epicureanism and Stoicism. And in India, they were expressed as hedonism and asceticism. The Buddha experienced ultimate pleasure and ultimate self-mortification, and found that neither are the right way toward liberation and nirvana. He discovered a third path, the Middle Way. He followed the Middle Way and attained liberation and nirvana.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Middle Way is just recognizing desire instead of following or suppressing. When you follow desire, consequences follow, and when you suppress desire, you become stressed. People suppress desire because following it will result in loss, but suppressing it leads to frustration and eventually to an explosion. Explosions result in loss again, so they suppress it, and then explode again, this cycle is repeated constantly. However, simply recognizing desire is not to respond to it at all; neither following nor suppressing.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

True freedom is to be free from desire by recognizing it. Then, from where does desire arise? The root of desire is karma. When your karma comes into contact with an external situation, a feeling arises, and based on that feeling, a desire arises. Each person has different karma, so each person has different desires.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some people have a strong desire for money, whereas others have no desire for money. Some people have a strong desire for food, whereas others don\u2019t care much about food and they can eat anything offered, like an ascetic. Different people have different desires. This gives us hope even though it seems impossible for humans to be free from desire. Because even ordinary people are free from some desires. Therefore, we can see that becoming free from desires is not impossible and anyone can do it.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We seem to live our life but in fact our life is the automatic reactions of our karma. Based on each reaction, a desire arises within us and then we act on the desire. In other words, our life is a perpetual repetition of karma and desire. People think that they are unhappy because of some external circumstances, but it is only a secondary and partial reason. When we are free from desire, we seldom suffer or feel fettered.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Observing the precepts is essential to becoming free from desire and karma<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Then how can we be free from our desires and karma? We are meditating now to achieve this freedom. However, wanting to be free from desire while eating whatever you want to eat, lying down when you want to lie down, and doing whatever you want to do is contradictory. In addition to the desires for food and sleep, we have other serious karma. Even if we are free from the desires for food and sleep, attaining liberation will be hard. As such, wishing for liberation without even achieving this much is contradictory.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For example, let\u2019s say I have a habit of smoking. I am not saying that smoking is bad but not being able to quit smoking while pursuing liberation and nirvana is contradictory. How can I be free from karma that has been formed through infinity if I can\u2019t even quit smoking, a habit that is only several years or decades old? That is why anyone who wishes to move toward liberation and nirvana needs to observe the precepts. We need to value and observe the precepts. Practicing to attain liberation and nirvana while not observing the precepts is contradictory.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A slave is forced to do something and a master takes the lead<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Yesterday, I recommended that you voluntarily follow the rules to control desires, instead of worrying about what others might think of you if you don\u2019t follow them. If you observe the precepts voluntarily, they are not restraints. Jesus said: \u201cIf anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles,\u201d \u201cIf someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them,\u201d and \u201cIf someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also.\u201d Have a willing mind like this. If you are forced to do something, you are a slave but if you take the lead, you are a master.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if there is no restriction on food, I recommend you to decide: \u201cI will eat a little because I won\u2019t need much energy while meditating,\u201d and even if there is no restriction on lying down, I recommend you to decide: \u201cI will lie down only during the designated hours while I am participating in the practice to be free from desire.\u201d If you decide like this voluntarily, you won\u2019t feel restricted.<\/strong><\/p>\n","post_title":"The Reason Why People Are Unhappy No Matter How Hard They Try To Be Happy","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"the-reason-why-people-are-unhappy-no-matter-how-hard-they-try-to-be-happy-2","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-07-14 14:40:41","post_modified_gmt":"2024-07-14 19:40:41","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=19801","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":20393,"post_author":"46","post_date":"2024-08-04 03:55:37","post_date_gmt":"2024-08-04 08:55:37","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"(\ud55c SUB) [Meditation Q&A] \u201cIs it wrong to take a deep breath during meditation?\u201d","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"%ed%95%9c-sub-meditation-qa-is-it-wrong-to-take-a-deep-breath-during-meditation","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-08-04 03:57:39","post_modified_gmt":"2024-08-04 08:57:39","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=20393","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":19744,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-07-12 17:07:50","post_date_gmt":"2024-07-12 22:07:50","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cI am not good at meditation. How can I make progress?\u201d","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-i-am-not-good-at-meditation-how-can-i-make-progress","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-07-04 17:13:18","post_modified_gmt":"2024-07-04 22:13:18","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=19744","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":18488,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-05-03 00:51:00","post_date_gmt":"2024-05-03 05:51:00","post_content":"\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cIn meditation, is curiousity helpful or is it an obstacle?\u201d","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-do-we-have-to-give-up-pleasure-to-live-without-suffering-duplicate-18475","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-05-07 11:55:14","post_modified_gmt":"2024-05-07 16:55:14","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=18488","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":18034,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-03-08 07:00:00","post_date_gmt":"2024-03-08 12:00:00","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cHow can I incorporate mindfulness into my work where I\u2019m challenged…. ?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-the-feeling-of-solitude-increases-and-the-motivation-in-life-decreases","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-02-27 18:46:27","post_modified_gmt":"2024-02-27 23:46:27","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=18034","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":18039,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-03-01 07:00:00","post_date_gmt":"2024-03-01 12:00:00","post_content":"\n

<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/a><\/gwmw><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cThe feeling of solitude increases and the motivation in life decreases\u2026. ?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-the-feeling-of-solitude-increases-and-the-motivation-in-life-decreases-2","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-02-27 18:51:13","post_modified_gmt":"2024-02-27 23:51:13","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=18039","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":18030,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-02-27 18:17:13","post_date_gmt":"2024-02-27 23:17:13","post_content":"\n

<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/gwmw><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cDuring meditation, I count from 1 to 100. Is this an improper tactic?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-during-meditation-i-count-from-1-to-100-is-this-an-improper-tactic","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-02-27 18:17:16","post_modified_gmt":"2024-02-27 23:17:16","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=18030","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":17831,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-02-16 07:00:00","post_date_gmt":"2024-02-16 12:00:00","post_content":"\n

<\/a><\/gwmw><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cIf I can be mindful of my life, does it mean I don\u2019t need meditation anymore?\u201d","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-if-i-can-be-mindful-of-my-life-does-it-mean-i-dont-need-meditation-anymore","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-01-06 21:29:41","post_modified_gmt":"2024-01-07 02:29:41","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=17831","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"};

Page 1 of 2 1 2 Next

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] How can I relax when meditating?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-how-can-i-relax-when-meditating","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-05-11 08:24:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-05-11 13:24:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=28435","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":19801,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-08-27 14:25:45","post_date_gmt":"2024-08-27 19:25:45","post_content":"\n

Meditation is not about training in techniques, such as how to sit or how to breathe. The most important goal of meditation is to move toward liberation and nirvana. Liberation means freedom from all fetters. Nirvana means happiness without suffering. In other words, liberation and nirvana is a state of sustainable freedom and happiness in which the endless cycle of joy and suffering is ended.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The reason why people are unhappy no matter how hard they try to be happy<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not. It is not because it is impossible to be free and happy, but because they are going in the wrong direction. As they are going in the wrong direction, they can\u2019t reach their destination no matter how steadfastly they walk.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why am I saying that people are going in the wrong direction? People in the world consider the good feelings they have when things go their way to be happiness. They consider the bad feeling they have when things don\u2019t go their way to be unhappiness. And they think that doing whatever they want is freedom and not doing what they want is bondage. These are ordinary people\u2019s concepts of happiness and freedom. However, in real life, these values can\u2019t be realized.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy briefly. But, when your desires are not fulfilled, you suffer. As there is no end to desire, you experience joy and suffering repeatedly. The Buddha said that this never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is the inevitable contradiction and limit of human life. Joy and suffering can\u2019t be divided. Yesterday\u2019s suffering can turn into today\u2019s joy and today\u2019s joy can turn into tomorrow\u2019s suffering. Since people don\u2019t know this principle, they want to live in a world filled with joy and devoid of suffering, thinking that it is possible to live in such a world. However, this is not possible in real life, so they wish to be born in such a world after they die. Therefore, every religion has an ideal world called heaven or paradise.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Society\u2019s current level consumption is even higher than that which is supposedly provided by the ideal world, the heaven that people dreamed of in the past. But we have greater desires now, so we consider our condition no better than hell. We can\u2019t see this contradiction because we only see what we want to achieve. Thinking that they are unhappy because their abilities or efforts are not sufficient, people try to get what they want by asking a powerful third party. As a result, religions that contain elements of asking help from almighty gods came to exist.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Religions already existed 5,000 years ago. The contemporaries of the Buddha, who lived 2,600 years ago, also tried to solve the contradictions of the world with religion. Religious teachings could comfort people temporarily, like drugs, but couldn\u2019t solve the problems fundamentally.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The way of neither following nor suppressing desires<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

The Buddha investigated how to solve this problem in-depth. He discovered that the root of the never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is desire. When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy and when your desires are not fulfilled, you suffer. But once you are free from desire, joy and suffering also disappear. The cycle of joy and suffering ends. But people can\u2019t even imagine becoming free from desire. People can think of only two ways to respond to desire: surrendering or resisting. In the West, these two ways were expressed as Epicureanism and Stoicism. And in India, they were expressed as hedonism and asceticism. The Buddha experienced ultimate pleasure and ultimate self-mortification, and found that neither are the right way toward liberation and nirvana. He discovered a third path, the Middle Way. He followed the Middle Way and attained liberation and nirvana.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Middle Way is just recognizing desire instead of following or suppressing. When you follow desire, consequences follow, and when you suppress desire, you become stressed. People suppress desire because following it will result in loss, but suppressing it leads to frustration and eventually to an explosion. Explosions result in loss again, so they suppress it, and then explode again, this cycle is repeated constantly. However, simply recognizing desire is not to respond to it at all; neither following nor suppressing.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

True freedom is to be free from desire by recognizing it. Then, from where does desire arise? The root of desire is karma. When your karma comes into contact with an external situation, a feeling arises, and based on that feeling, a desire arises. Each person has different karma, so each person has different desires.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some people have a strong desire for money, whereas others have no desire for money. Some people have a strong desire for food, whereas others don\u2019t care much about food and they can eat anything offered, like an ascetic. Different people have different desires. This gives us hope even though it seems impossible for humans to be free from desire. Because even ordinary people are free from some desires. Therefore, we can see that becoming free from desires is not impossible and anyone can do it.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We seem to live our life but in fact our life is the automatic reactions of our karma. Based on each reaction, a desire arises within us and then we act on the desire. In other words, our life is a perpetual repetition of karma and desire. People think that they are unhappy because of some external circumstances, but it is only a secondary and partial reason. When we are free from desire, we seldom suffer or feel fettered.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Observing the precepts is essential to becoming free from desire and karma<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Then how can we be free from our desires and karma? We are meditating now to achieve this freedom. However, wanting to be free from desire while eating whatever you want to eat, lying down when you want to lie down, and doing whatever you want to do is contradictory. In addition to the desires for food and sleep, we have other serious karma. Even if we are free from the desires for food and sleep, attaining liberation will be hard. As such, wishing for liberation without even achieving this much is contradictory.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For example, let\u2019s say I have a habit of smoking. I am not saying that smoking is bad but not being able to quit smoking while pursuing liberation and nirvana is contradictory. How can I be free from karma that has been formed through infinity if I can\u2019t even quit smoking, a habit that is only several years or decades old? That is why anyone who wishes to move toward liberation and nirvana needs to observe the precepts. We need to value and observe the precepts. Practicing to attain liberation and nirvana while not observing the precepts is contradictory.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A slave is forced to do something and a master takes the lead<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Yesterday, I recommended that you voluntarily follow the rules to control desires, instead of worrying about what others might think of you if you don\u2019t follow them. If you observe the precepts voluntarily, they are not restraints. Jesus said: \u201cIf anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles,\u201d \u201cIf someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them,\u201d and \u201cIf someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also.\u201d Have a willing mind like this. If you are forced to do something, you are a slave but if you take the lead, you are a master.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if there is no restriction on food, I recommend you to decide: \u201cI will eat a little because I won\u2019t need much energy while meditating,\u201d and even if there is no restriction on lying down, I recommend you to decide: \u201cI will lie down only during the designated hours while I am participating in the practice to be free from desire.\u201d If you decide like this voluntarily, you won\u2019t feel restricted.<\/strong><\/p>\n","post_title":"The Reason Why People Are Unhappy No Matter How Hard They Try To Be Happy","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"the-reason-why-people-are-unhappy-no-matter-how-hard-they-try-to-be-happy-2","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-07-14 14:40:41","post_modified_gmt":"2024-07-14 19:40:41","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=19801","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":20393,"post_author":"46","post_date":"2024-08-04 03:55:37","post_date_gmt":"2024-08-04 08:55:37","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"(\ud55c SUB) [Meditation Q&A] \u201cIs it wrong to take a deep breath during meditation?\u201d","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"%ed%95%9c-sub-meditation-qa-is-it-wrong-to-take-a-deep-breath-during-meditation","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-08-04 03:57:39","post_modified_gmt":"2024-08-04 08:57:39","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=20393","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":19744,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-07-12 17:07:50","post_date_gmt":"2024-07-12 22:07:50","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cI am not good at meditation. How can I make progress?\u201d","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-i-am-not-good-at-meditation-how-can-i-make-progress","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-07-04 17:13:18","post_modified_gmt":"2024-07-04 22:13:18","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=19744","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":18488,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-05-03 00:51:00","post_date_gmt":"2024-05-03 05:51:00","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cIn meditation, is curiousity helpful or is it an obstacle?\u201d","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-do-we-have-to-give-up-pleasure-to-live-without-suffering-duplicate-18475","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-05-07 11:55:14","post_modified_gmt":"2024-05-07 16:55:14","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=18488","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":18034,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-03-08 07:00:00","post_date_gmt":"2024-03-08 12:00:00","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cHow can I incorporate mindfulness into my work where I\u2019m challenged…. ?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-the-feeling-of-solitude-increases-and-the-motivation-in-life-decreases","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-02-27 18:46:27","post_modified_gmt":"2024-02-27 23:46:27","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=18034","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":18039,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-03-01 07:00:00","post_date_gmt":"2024-03-01 12:00:00","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cThe feeling of solitude increases and the motivation in life decreases\u2026. ?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-the-feeling-of-solitude-increases-and-the-motivation-in-life-decreases-2","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-02-27 18:51:13","post_modified_gmt":"2024-02-27 23:51:13","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=18039","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":18030,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-02-27 18:17:13","post_date_gmt":"2024-02-27 23:17:13","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cDuring meditation, I count from 1 to 100. Is this an improper tactic?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-during-meditation-i-count-from-1-to-100-is-this-an-improper-tactic","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-02-27 18:17:16","post_modified_gmt":"2024-02-27 23:17:16","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=18030","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":17831,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-02-16 07:00:00","post_date_gmt":"2024-02-16 12:00:00","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cIf I can be mindful of my life, does it mean I don\u2019t need meditation anymore?\u201d","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-if-i-can-be-mindful-of-my-life-does-it-mean-i-dont-need-meditation-anymore","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-01-06 21:29:41","post_modified_gmt":"2024-01-07 02:29:41","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=17831","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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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] How can I relax when meditating?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-how-can-i-relax-when-meditating","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-05-11 08:24:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-05-11 13:24:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=28435","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":19801,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-08-27 14:25:45","post_date_gmt":"2024-08-27 19:25:45","post_content":"\n

Meditation is not about training in techniques, such as how to sit or how to breathe. The most important goal of meditation is to move toward liberation and nirvana. Liberation means freedom from all fetters. Nirvana means happiness without suffering. In other words, liberation and nirvana is a state of sustainable freedom and happiness in which the endless cycle of joy and suffering is ended.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The reason why people are unhappy no matter how hard they try to be happy<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not. It is not because it is impossible to be free and happy, but because they are going in the wrong direction. As they are going in the wrong direction, they can\u2019t reach their destination no matter how steadfastly they walk.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why am I saying that people are going in the wrong direction? People in the world consider the good feelings they have when things go their way to be happiness. They consider the bad feeling they have when things don\u2019t go their way to be unhappiness. And they think that doing whatever they want is freedom and not doing what they want is bondage. These are ordinary people\u2019s concepts of happiness and freedom. However, in real life, these values can\u2019t be realized.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy briefly. But, when your desires are not fulfilled, you suffer. As there is no end to desire, you experience joy and suffering repeatedly. The Buddha said that this never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is the inevitable contradiction and limit of human life. Joy and suffering can\u2019t be divided. Yesterday\u2019s suffering can turn into today\u2019s joy and today\u2019s joy can turn into tomorrow\u2019s suffering. Since people don\u2019t know this principle, they want to live in a world filled with joy and devoid of suffering, thinking that it is possible to live in such a world. However, this is not possible in real life, so they wish to be born in such a world after they die. Therefore, every religion has an ideal world called heaven or paradise.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Society\u2019s current level consumption is even higher than that which is supposedly provided by the ideal world, the heaven that people dreamed of in the past. But we have greater desires now, so we consider our condition no better than hell. We can\u2019t see this contradiction because we only see what we want to achieve. Thinking that they are unhappy because their abilities or efforts are not sufficient, people try to get what they want by asking a powerful third party. As a result, religions that contain elements of asking help from almighty gods came to exist.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Religions already existed 5,000 years ago. The contemporaries of the Buddha, who lived 2,600 years ago, also tried to solve the contradictions of the world with religion. Religious teachings could comfort people temporarily, like drugs, but couldn\u2019t solve the problems fundamentally.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The way of neither following nor suppressing desires<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

The Buddha investigated how to solve this problem in-depth. He discovered that the root of the never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is desire. When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy and when your desires are not fulfilled, you suffer. But once you are free from desire, joy and suffering also disappear. The cycle of joy and suffering ends. But people can\u2019t even imagine becoming free from desire. People can think of only two ways to respond to desire: surrendering or resisting. In the West, these two ways were expressed as Epicureanism and Stoicism. And in India, they were expressed as hedonism and asceticism. The Buddha experienced ultimate pleasure and ultimate self-mortification, and found that neither are the right way toward liberation and nirvana. He discovered a third path, the Middle Way. He followed the Middle Way and attained liberation and nirvana.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Middle Way is just recognizing desire instead of following or suppressing. When you follow desire, consequences follow, and when you suppress desire, you become stressed. People suppress desire because following it will result in loss, but suppressing it leads to frustration and eventually to an explosion. Explosions result in loss again, so they suppress it, and then explode again, this cycle is repeated constantly. However, simply recognizing desire is not to respond to it at all; neither following nor suppressing.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

True freedom is to be free from desire by recognizing it. Then, from where does desire arise? The root of desire is karma. When your karma comes into contact with an external situation, a feeling arises, and based on that feeling, a desire arises. Each person has different karma, so each person has different desires.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some people have a strong desire for money, whereas others have no desire for money. Some people have a strong desire for food, whereas others don\u2019t care much about food and they can eat anything offered, like an ascetic. Different people have different desires. This gives us hope even though it seems impossible for humans to be free from desire. Because even ordinary people are free from some desires. Therefore, we can see that becoming free from desires is not impossible and anyone can do it.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We seem to live our life but in fact our life is the automatic reactions of our karma. Based on each reaction, a desire arises within us and then we act on the desire. In other words, our life is a perpetual repetition of karma and desire. People think that they are unhappy because of some external circumstances, but it is only a secondary and partial reason. When we are free from desire, we seldom suffer or feel fettered.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Observing the precepts is essential to becoming free from desire and karma<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Then how can we be free from our desires and karma? We are meditating now to achieve this freedom. However, wanting to be free from desire while eating whatever you want to eat, lying down when you want to lie down, and doing whatever you want to do is contradictory. In addition to the desires for food and sleep, we have other serious karma. Even if we are free from the desires for food and sleep, attaining liberation will be hard. As such, wishing for liberation without even achieving this much is contradictory.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For example, let\u2019s say I have a habit of smoking. I am not saying that smoking is bad but not being able to quit smoking while pursuing liberation and nirvana is contradictory. How can I be free from karma that has been formed through infinity if I can\u2019t even quit smoking, a habit that is only several years or decades old? That is why anyone who wishes to move toward liberation and nirvana needs to observe the precepts. We need to value and observe the precepts. Practicing to attain liberation and nirvana while not observing the precepts is contradictory.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A slave is forced to do something and a master takes the lead<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Yesterday, I recommended that you voluntarily follow the rules to control desires, instead of worrying about what others might think of you if you don\u2019t follow them. If you observe the precepts voluntarily, they are not restraints. Jesus said: \u201cIf anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles,\u201d \u201cIf someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them,\u201d and \u201cIf someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also.\u201d Have a willing mind like this. If you are forced to do something, you are a slave but if you take the lead, you are a master.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if there is no restriction on food, I recommend you to decide: \u201cI will eat a little because I won\u2019t need much energy while meditating,\u201d and even if there is no restriction on lying down, I recommend you to decide: \u201cI will lie down only during the designated hours while I am participating in the practice to be free from desire.\u201d If you decide like this voluntarily, you won\u2019t feel restricted.<\/strong><\/p>\n","post_title":"The Reason Why People Are Unhappy No Matter How Hard They Try To Be Happy","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"the-reason-why-people-are-unhappy-no-matter-how-hard-they-try-to-be-happy-2","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-07-14 14:40:41","post_modified_gmt":"2024-07-14 19:40:41","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=19801","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":20393,"post_author":"46","post_date":"2024-08-04 03:55:37","post_date_gmt":"2024-08-04 08:55:37","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cI am not good at meditation. How can I make progress?\u201d","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-i-am-not-good-at-meditation-how-can-i-make-progress","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-07-04 17:13:18","post_modified_gmt":"2024-07-04 22:13:18","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=19744","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":18488,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-05-03 00:51:00","post_date_gmt":"2024-05-03 05:51:00","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cIn meditation, is curiousity helpful or is it an obstacle?\u201d","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-do-we-have-to-give-up-pleasure-to-live-without-suffering-duplicate-18475","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-05-07 11:55:14","post_modified_gmt":"2024-05-07 16:55:14","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=18488","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":18034,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-03-08 07:00:00","post_date_gmt":"2024-03-08 12:00:00","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cHow can I incorporate mindfulness into my work where I\u2019m challenged…. ?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-the-feeling-of-solitude-increases-and-the-motivation-in-life-decreases","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-02-27 18:46:27","post_modified_gmt":"2024-02-27 23:46:27","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=18034","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":18039,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-03-01 07:00:00","post_date_gmt":"2024-03-01 12:00:00","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cThe feeling of solitude increases and the motivation in life decreases\u2026. ?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-the-feeling-of-solitude-increases-and-the-motivation-in-life-decreases-2","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-02-27 18:51:13","post_modified_gmt":"2024-02-27 23:51:13","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=18039","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":18030,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-02-27 18:17:13","post_date_gmt":"2024-02-27 23:17:13","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cDuring meditation, I count from 1 to 100. Is this an improper tactic?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-during-meditation-i-count-from-1-to-100-is-this-an-improper-tactic","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-02-27 18:17:16","post_modified_gmt":"2024-02-27 23:17:16","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=18030","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":17831,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-02-16 07:00:00","post_date_gmt":"2024-02-16 12:00:00","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cIf I can be mindful of my life, does it mean I don\u2019t need meditation anymore?\u201d","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-if-i-can-be-mindful-of-my-life-does-it-mean-i-dont-need-meditation-anymore","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-01-06 21:29:41","post_modified_gmt":"2024-01-07 02:29:41","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=17831","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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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] How can I relax when meditating?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-how-can-i-relax-when-meditating","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-05-11 08:24:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-05-11 13:24:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=28435","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":19801,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-08-27 14:25:45","post_date_gmt":"2024-08-27 19:25:45","post_content":"\n

Meditation is not about training in techniques, such as how to sit or how to breathe. The most important goal of meditation is to move toward liberation and nirvana. Liberation means freedom from all fetters. Nirvana means happiness without suffering. In other words, liberation and nirvana is a state of sustainable freedom and happiness in which the endless cycle of joy and suffering is ended.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The reason why people are unhappy no matter how hard they try to be happy<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not. It is not because it is impossible to be free and happy, but because they are going in the wrong direction. As they are going in the wrong direction, they can\u2019t reach their destination no matter how steadfastly they walk.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why am I saying that people are going in the wrong direction? People in the world consider the good feelings they have when things go their way to be happiness. They consider the bad feeling they have when things don\u2019t go their way to be unhappiness. And they think that doing whatever they want is freedom and not doing what they want is bondage. These are ordinary people\u2019s concepts of happiness and freedom. However, in real life, these values can\u2019t be realized.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy briefly. But, when your desires are not fulfilled, you suffer. As there is no end to desire, you experience joy and suffering repeatedly. The Buddha said that this never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is the inevitable contradiction and limit of human life. Joy and suffering can\u2019t be divided. Yesterday\u2019s suffering can turn into today\u2019s joy and today\u2019s joy can turn into tomorrow\u2019s suffering. Since people don\u2019t know this principle, they want to live in a world filled with joy and devoid of suffering, thinking that it is possible to live in such a world. However, this is not possible in real life, so they wish to be born in such a world after they die. Therefore, every religion has an ideal world called heaven or paradise.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Society\u2019s current level consumption is even higher than that which is supposedly provided by the ideal world, the heaven that people dreamed of in the past. But we have greater desires now, so we consider our condition no better than hell. We can\u2019t see this contradiction because we only see what we want to achieve. Thinking that they are unhappy because their abilities or efforts are not sufficient, people try to get what they want by asking a powerful third party. As a result, religions that contain elements of asking help from almighty gods came to exist.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Religions already existed 5,000 years ago. The contemporaries of the Buddha, who lived 2,600 years ago, also tried to solve the contradictions of the world with religion. Religious teachings could comfort people temporarily, like drugs, but couldn\u2019t solve the problems fundamentally.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The way of neither following nor suppressing desires<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

The Buddha investigated how to solve this problem in-depth. He discovered that the root of the never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is desire. When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy and when your desires are not fulfilled, you suffer. But once you are free from desire, joy and suffering also disappear. The cycle of joy and suffering ends. But people can\u2019t even imagine becoming free from desire. People can think of only two ways to respond to desire: surrendering or resisting. In the West, these two ways were expressed as Epicureanism and Stoicism. And in India, they were expressed as hedonism and asceticism. The Buddha experienced ultimate pleasure and ultimate self-mortification, and found that neither are the right way toward liberation and nirvana. He discovered a third path, the Middle Way. He followed the Middle Way and attained liberation and nirvana.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Middle Way is just recognizing desire instead of following or suppressing. When you follow desire, consequences follow, and when you suppress desire, you become stressed. People suppress desire because following it will result in loss, but suppressing it leads to frustration and eventually to an explosion. Explosions result in loss again, so they suppress it, and then explode again, this cycle is repeated constantly. However, simply recognizing desire is not to respond to it at all; neither following nor suppressing.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

True freedom is to be free from desire by recognizing it. Then, from where does desire arise? The root of desire is karma. When your karma comes into contact with an external situation, a feeling arises, and based on that feeling, a desire arises. Each person has different karma, so each person has different desires.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some people have a strong desire for money, whereas others have no desire for money. Some people have a strong desire for food, whereas others don\u2019t care much about food and they can eat anything offered, like an ascetic. Different people have different desires. This gives us hope even though it seems impossible for humans to be free from desire. Because even ordinary people are free from some desires. Therefore, we can see that becoming free from desires is not impossible and anyone can do it.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We seem to live our life but in fact our life is the automatic reactions of our karma. Based on each reaction, a desire arises within us and then we act on the desire. In other words, our life is a perpetual repetition of karma and desire. People think that they are unhappy because of some external circumstances, but it is only a secondary and partial reason. When we are free from desire, we seldom suffer or feel fettered.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Observing the precepts is essential to becoming free from desire and karma<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Then how can we be free from our desires and karma? We are meditating now to achieve this freedom. However, wanting to be free from desire while eating whatever you want to eat, lying down when you want to lie down, and doing whatever you want to do is contradictory. In addition to the desires for food and sleep, we have other serious karma. Even if we are free from the desires for food and sleep, attaining liberation will be hard. As such, wishing for liberation without even achieving this much is contradictory.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For example, let\u2019s say I have a habit of smoking. I am not saying that smoking is bad but not being able to quit smoking while pursuing liberation and nirvana is contradictory. How can I be free from karma that has been formed through infinity if I can\u2019t even quit smoking, a habit that is only several years or decades old? That is why anyone who wishes to move toward liberation and nirvana needs to observe the precepts. We need to value and observe the precepts. Practicing to attain liberation and nirvana while not observing the precepts is contradictory.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A slave is forced to do something and a master takes the lead<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Yesterday, I recommended that you voluntarily follow the rules to control desires, instead of worrying about what others might think of you if you don\u2019t follow them. If you observe the precepts voluntarily, they are not restraints. Jesus said: \u201cIf anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles,\u201d \u201cIf someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them,\u201d and \u201cIf someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also.\u201d Have a willing mind like this. If you are forced to do something, you are a slave but if you take the lead, you are a master.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if there is no restriction on food, I recommend you to decide: \u201cI will eat a little because I won\u2019t need much energy while meditating,\u201d and even if there is no restriction on lying down, I recommend you to decide: \u201cI will lie down only during the designated hours while I am participating in the practice to be free from desire.\u201d If you decide like this voluntarily, you won\u2019t feel restricted.<\/strong><\/p>\n","post_title":"The Reason Why People Are Unhappy No Matter How Hard They Try To Be Happy","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"the-reason-why-people-are-unhappy-no-matter-how-hard-they-try-to-be-happy-2","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-07-14 14:40:41","post_modified_gmt":"2024-07-14 19:40:41","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=19801","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":20393,"post_author":"46","post_date":"2024-08-04 03:55:37","post_date_gmt":"2024-08-04 08:55:37","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"(\ud55c SUB) [Meditation Q&A] \u201cIs it wrong to take a deep breath during meditation?\u201d","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"%ed%95%9c-sub-meditation-qa-is-it-wrong-to-take-a-deep-breath-during-meditation","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-08-04 03:57:39","post_modified_gmt":"2024-08-04 08:57:39","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=20393","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":19744,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-07-12 17:07:50","post_date_gmt":"2024-07-12 22:07:50","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cI am not good at meditation. How can I make progress?\u201d","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-i-am-not-good-at-meditation-how-can-i-make-progress","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-07-04 17:13:18","post_modified_gmt":"2024-07-04 22:13:18","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=19744","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":18488,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-05-03 00:51:00","post_date_gmt":"2024-05-03 05:51:00","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cIn meditation, is curiousity helpful or is it an obstacle?\u201d","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-do-we-have-to-give-up-pleasure-to-live-without-suffering-duplicate-18475","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-05-07 11:55:14","post_modified_gmt":"2024-05-07 16:55:14","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=18488","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":18034,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-03-08 07:00:00","post_date_gmt":"2024-03-08 12:00:00","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cHow can I incorporate mindfulness into my work where I\u2019m challenged…. ?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-the-feeling-of-solitude-increases-and-the-motivation-in-life-decreases","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-02-27 18:46:27","post_modified_gmt":"2024-02-27 23:46:27","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=18034","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":18039,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-03-01 07:00:00","post_date_gmt":"2024-03-01 12:00:00","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cThe feeling of solitude increases and the motivation in life decreases\u2026. ?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-the-feeling-of-solitude-increases-and-the-motivation-in-life-decreases-2","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-02-27 18:51:13","post_modified_gmt":"2024-02-27 23:51:13","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=18039","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":18030,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-02-27 18:17:13","post_date_gmt":"2024-02-27 23:17:13","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cDuring meditation, I count from 1 to 100. Is this an improper tactic?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-during-meditation-i-count-from-1-to-100-is-this-an-improper-tactic","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-02-27 18:17:16","post_modified_gmt":"2024-02-27 23:17:16","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=18030","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":17831,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-02-16 07:00:00","post_date_gmt":"2024-02-16 12:00:00","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cIf I can be mindful of my life, does it mean I don\u2019t need meditation anymore?\u201d","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-if-i-can-be-mindful-of-my-life-does-it-mean-i-dont-need-meditation-anymore","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-01-06 21:29:41","post_modified_gmt":"2024-01-07 02:29:41","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=17831","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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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] How can I relax when meditating?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-how-can-i-relax-when-meditating","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-05-11 08:24:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-05-11 13:24:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=28435","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":19801,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-08-27 14:25:45","post_date_gmt":"2024-08-27 19:25:45","post_content":"\n

Meditation is not about training in techniques, such as how to sit or how to breathe. The most important goal of meditation is to move toward liberation and nirvana. Liberation means freedom from all fetters. Nirvana means happiness without suffering. In other words, liberation and nirvana is a state of sustainable freedom and happiness in which the endless cycle of joy and suffering is ended.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The reason why people are unhappy no matter how hard they try to be happy<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not. It is not because it is impossible to be free and happy, but because they are going in the wrong direction. As they are going in the wrong direction, they can\u2019t reach their destination no matter how steadfastly they walk.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why am I saying that people are going in the wrong direction? People in the world consider the good feelings they have when things go their way to be happiness. They consider the bad feeling they have when things don\u2019t go their way to be unhappiness. And they think that doing whatever they want is freedom and not doing what they want is bondage. These are ordinary people\u2019s concepts of happiness and freedom. However, in real life, these values can\u2019t be realized.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy briefly. But, when your desires are not fulfilled, you suffer. As there is no end to desire, you experience joy and suffering repeatedly. The Buddha said that this never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is the inevitable contradiction and limit of human life. Joy and suffering can\u2019t be divided. Yesterday\u2019s suffering can turn into today\u2019s joy and today\u2019s joy can turn into tomorrow\u2019s suffering. Since people don\u2019t know this principle, they want to live in a world filled with joy and devoid of suffering, thinking that it is possible to live in such a world. However, this is not possible in real life, so they wish to be born in such a world after they die. Therefore, every religion has an ideal world called heaven or paradise.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Society\u2019s current level consumption is even higher than that which is supposedly provided by the ideal world, the heaven that people dreamed of in the past. But we have greater desires now, so we consider our condition no better than hell. We can\u2019t see this contradiction because we only see what we want to achieve. Thinking that they are unhappy because their abilities or efforts are not sufficient, people try to get what they want by asking a powerful third party. As a result, religions that contain elements of asking help from almighty gods came to exist.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Religions already existed 5,000 years ago. The contemporaries of the Buddha, who lived 2,600 years ago, also tried to solve the contradictions of the world with religion. Religious teachings could comfort people temporarily, like drugs, but couldn\u2019t solve the problems fundamentally.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The way of neither following nor suppressing desires<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

The Buddha investigated how to solve this problem in-depth. He discovered that the root of the never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is desire. When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy and when your desires are not fulfilled, you suffer. But once you are free from desire, joy and suffering also disappear. The cycle of joy and suffering ends. But people can\u2019t even imagine becoming free from desire. People can think of only two ways to respond to desire: surrendering or resisting. In the West, these two ways were expressed as Epicureanism and Stoicism. And in India, they were expressed as hedonism and asceticism. The Buddha experienced ultimate pleasure and ultimate self-mortification, and found that neither are the right way toward liberation and nirvana. He discovered a third path, the Middle Way. He followed the Middle Way and attained liberation and nirvana.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Middle Way is just recognizing desire instead of following or suppressing. When you follow desire, consequences follow, and when you suppress desire, you become stressed. People suppress desire because following it will result in loss, but suppressing it leads to frustration and eventually to an explosion. Explosions result in loss again, so they suppress it, and then explode again, this cycle is repeated constantly. However, simply recognizing desire is not to respond to it at all; neither following nor suppressing.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

True freedom is to be free from desire by recognizing it. Then, from where does desire arise? The root of desire is karma. When your karma comes into contact with an external situation, a feeling arises, and based on that feeling, a desire arises. Each person has different karma, so each person has different desires.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some people have a strong desire for money, whereas others have no desire for money. Some people have a strong desire for food, whereas others don\u2019t care much about food and they can eat anything offered, like an ascetic. Different people have different desires. This gives us hope even though it seems impossible for humans to be free from desire. Because even ordinary people are free from some desires. Therefore, we can see that becoming free from desires is not impossible and anyone can do it.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We seem to live our life but in fact our life is the automatic reactions of our karma. Based on each reaction, a desire arises within us and then we act on the desire. In other words, our life is a perpetual repetition of karma and desire. People think that they are unhappy because of some external circumstances, but it is only a secondary and partial reason. When we are free from desire, we seldom suffer or feel fettered.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Observing the precepts is essential to becoming free from desire and karma<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Then how can we be free from our desires and karma? We are meditating now to achieve this freedom. However, wanting to be free from desire while eating whatever you want to eat, lying down when you want to lie down, and doing whatever you want to do is contradictory. In addition to the desires for food and sleep, we have other serious karma. Even if we are free from the desires for food and sleep, attaining liberation will be hard. As such, wishing for liberation without even achieving this much is contradictory.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For example, let\u2019s say I have a habit of smoking. I am not saying that smoking is bad but not being able to quit smoking while pursuing liberation and nirvana is contradictory. How can I be free from karma that has been formed through infinity if I can\u2019t even quit smoking, a habit that is only several years or decades old? That is why anyone who wishes to move toward liberation and nirvana needs to observe the precepts. We need to value and observe the precepts. Practicing to attain liberation and nirvana while not observing the precepts is contradictory.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A slave is forced to do something and a master takes the lead<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Yesterday, I recommended that you voluntarily follow the rules to control desires, instead of worrying about what others might think of you if you don\u2019t follow them. If you observe the precepts voluntarily, they are not restraints. Jesus said: \u201cIf anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles,\u201d \u201cIf someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them,\u201d and \u201cIf someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also.\u201d Have a willing mind like this. If you are forced to do something, you are a slave but if you take the lead, you are a master.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if there is no restriction on food, I recommend you to decide: \u201cI will eat a little because I won\u2019t need much energy while meditating,\u201d and even if there is no restriction on lying down, I recommend you to decide: \u201cI will lie down only during the designated hours while I am participating in the practice to be free from desire.\u201d If you decide like this voluntarily, you won\u2019t feel restricted.<\/strong><\/p>\n","post_title":"The Reason Why People Are Unhappy No Matter How Hard They Try To Be Happy","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"the-reason-why-people-are-unhappy-no-matter-how-hard-they-try-to-be-happy-2","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-07-14 14:40:41","post_modified_gmt":"2024-07-14 19:40:41","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=19801","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":20393,"post_author":"46","post_date":"2024-08-04 03:55:37","post_date_gmt":"2024-08-04 08:55:37","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"(\ud55c SUB) [Meditation Q&A] \u201cIs it wrong to take a deep breath during meditation?\u201d","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"%ed%95%9c-sub-meditation-qa-is-it-wrong-to-take-a-deep-breath-during-meditation","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-08-04 03:57:39","post_modified_gmt":"2024-08-04 08:57:39","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=20393","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":19744,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-07-12 17:07:50","post_date_gmt":"2024-07-12 22:07:50","post_content":"\n

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Meditation is not about training in techniques, such as how to sit or how to breathe. The most important goal of meditation is to move toward liberation and nirvana. Liberation means freedom from all fetters. Nirvana means happiness without suffering. In other words, liberation and nirvana is a state of sustainable freedom and happiness in which the endless cycle of joy and suffering is ended.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The reason why people are unhappy no matter how hard they try to be happy<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not. It is not because it is impossible to be free and happy, but because they are going in the wrong direction. As they are going in the wrong direction, they can\u2019t reach their destination no matter how steadfastly they walk.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why am I saying that people are going in the wrong direction? People in the world consider the good feelings they have when things go their way to be happiness. They consider the bad feeling they have when things don\u2019t go their way to be unhappiness. And they think that doing whatever they want is freedom and not doing what they want is bondage. These are ordinary people\u2019s concepts of happiness and freedom. However, in real life, these values can\u2019t be realized.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy briefly. But, when your desires are not fulfilled, you suffer. As there is no end to desire, you experience joy and suffering repeatedly. The Buddha said that this never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is the inevitable contradiction and limit of human life. Joy and suffering can\u2019t be divided. Yesterday\u2019s suffering can turn into today\u2019s joy and today\u2019s joy can turn into tomorrow\u2019s suffering. Since people don\u2019t know this principle, they want to live in a world filled with joy and devoid of suffering, thinking that it is possible to live in such a world. However, this is not possible in real life, so they wish to be born in such a world after they die. Therefore, every religion has an ideal world called heaven or paradise.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Society\u2019s current level consumption is even higher than that which is supposedly provided by the ideal world, the heaven that people dreamed of in the past. But we have greater desires now, so we consider our condition no better than hell. We can\u2019t see this contradiction because we only see what we want to achieve. Thinking that they are unhappy because their abilities or efforts are not sufficient, people try to get what they want by asking a powerful third party. As a result, religions that contain elements of asking help from almighty gods came to exist.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Religions already existed 5,000 years ago. The contemporaries of the Buddha, who lived 2,600 years ago, also tried to solve the contradictions of the world with religion. Religious teachings could comfort people temporarily, like drugs, but couldn\u2019t solve the problems fundamentally.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The way of neither following nor suppressing desires<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

The Buddha investigated how to solve this problem in-depth. He discovered that the root of the never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is desire. When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy and when your desires are not fulfilled, you suffer. But once you are free from desire, joy and suffering also disappear. The cycle of joy and suffering ends. But people can\u2019t even imagine becoming free from desire. People can think of only two ways to respond to desire: surrendering or resisting. In the West, these two ways were expressed as Epicureanism and Stoicism. And in India, they were expressed as hedonism and asceticism. The Buddha experienced ultimate pleasure and ultimate self-mortification, and found that neither are the right way toward liberation and nirvana. He discovered a third path, the Middle Way. He followed the Middle Way and attained liberation and nirvana.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Middle Way is just recognizing desire instead of following or suppressing. When you follow desire, consequences follow, and when you suppress desire, you become stressed. People suppress desire because following it will result in loss, but suppressing it leads to frustration and eventually to an explosion. Explosions result in loss again, so they suppress it, and then explode again, this cycle is repeated constantly. However, simply recognizing desire is not to respond to it at all; neither following nor suppressing.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

True freedom is to be free from desire by recognizing it. Then, from where does desire arise? The root of desire is karma. When your karma comes into contact with an external situation, a feeling arises, and based on that feeling, a desire arises. Each person has different karma, so each person has different desires.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some people have a strong desire for money, whereas others have no desire for money. Some people have a strong desire for food, whereas others don\u2019t care much about food and they can eat anything offered, like an ascetic. Different people have different desires. This gives us hope even though it seems impossible for humans to be free from desire. Because even ordinary people are free from some desires. Therefore, we can see that becoming free from desires is not impossible and anyone can do it.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We seem to live our life but in fact our life is the automatic reactions of our karma. Based on each reaction, a desire arises within us and then we act on the desire. In other words, our life is a perpetual repetition of karma and desire. People think that they are unhappy because of some external circumstances, but it is only a secondary and partial reason. When we are free from desire, we seldom suffer or feel fettered.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Observing the precepts is essential to becoming free from desire and karma<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Then how can we be free from our desires and karma? We are meditating now to achieve this freedom. However, wanting to be free from desire while eating whatever you want to eat, lying down when you want to lie down, and doing whatever you want to do is contradictory. In addition to the desires for food and sleep, we have other serious karma. Even if we are free from the desires for food and sleep, attaining liberation will be hard. As such, wishing for liberation without even achieving this much is contradictory.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For example, let\u2019s say I have a habit of smoking. I am not saying that smoking is bad but not being able to quit smoking while pursuing liberation and nirvana is contradictory. How can I be free from karma that has been formed through infinity if I can\u2019t even quit smoking, a habit that is only several years or decades old? That is why anyone who wishes to move toward liberation and nirvana needs to observe the precepts. We need to value and observe the precepts. Practicing to attain liberation and nirvana while not observing the precepts is contradictory.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A slave is forced to do something and a master takes the lead<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Yesterday, I recommended that you voluntarily follow the rules to control desires, instead of worrying about what others might think of you if you don\u2019t follow them. If you observe the precepts voluntarily, they are not restraints. Jesus said: \u201cIf anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles,\u201d \u201cIf someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them,\u201d and \u201cIf someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also.\u201d Have a willing mind like this. If you are forced to do something, you are a slave but if you take the lead, you are a master.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if there is no restriction on food, I recommend you to decide: \u201cI will eat a little because I won\u2019t need much energy while meditating,\u201d and even if there is no restriction on lying down, I recommend you to decide: \u201cI will lie down only during the designated hours while I am participating in the practice to be free from desire.\u201d If you decide like this voluntarily, you won\u2019t feel restricted.<\/strong><\/p>\n","post_title":"The Reason Why People Are Unhappy No Matter How Hard They Try To Be Happy","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"the-reason-why-people-are-unhappy-no-matter-how-hard-they-try-to-be-happy-2","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-07-14 14:40:41","post_modified_gmt":"2024-07-14 19:40:41","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=19801","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":20393,"post_author":"46","post_date":"2024-08-04 03:55:37","post_date_gmt":"2024-08-04 08:55:37","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] How can I relax when meditating?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-how-can-i-relax-when-meditating","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-05-11 08:24:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-05-11 13:24:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=28435","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":19801,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-08-27 14:25:45","post_date_gmt":"2024-08-27 19:25:45","post_content":"\n

Meditation is not about training in techniques, such as how to sit or how to breathe. The most important goal of meditation is to move toward liberation and nirvana. Liberation means freedom from all fetters. Nirvana means happiness without suffering. In other words, liberation and nirvana is a state of sustainable freedom and happiness in which the endless cycle of joy and suffering is ended.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The reason why people are unhappy no matter how hard they try to be happy<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not. It is not because it is impossible to be free and happy, but because they are going in the wrong direction. As they are going in the wrong direction, they can\u2019t reach their destination no matter how steadfastly they walk.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why am I saying that people are going in the wrong direction? People in the world consider the good feelings they have when things go their way to be happiness. They consider the bad feeling they have when things don\u2019t go their way to be unhappiness. And they think that doing whatever they want is freedom and not doing what they want is bondage. These are ordinary people\u2019s concepts of happiness and freedom. However, in real life, these values can\u2019t be realized.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy briefly. But, when your desires are not fulfilled, you suffer. As there is no end to desire, you experience joy and suffering repeatedly. The Buddha said that this never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is the inevitable contradiction and limit of human life. Joy and suffering can\u2019t be divided. Yesterday\u2019s suffering can turn into today\u2019s joy and today\u2019s joy can turn into tomorrow\u2019s suffering. Since people don\u2019t know this principle, they want to live in a world filled with joy and devoid of suffering, thinking that it is possible to live in such a world. However, this is not possible in real life, so they wish to be born in such a world after they die. Therefore, every religion has an ideal world called heaven or paradise.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Society\u2019s current level consumption is even higher than that which is supposedly provided by the ideal world, the heaven that people dreamed of in the past. But we have greater desires now, so we consider our condition no better than hell. We can\u2019t see this contradiction because we only see what we want to achieve. Thinking that they are unhappy because their abilities or efforts are not sufficient, people try to get what they want by asking a powerful third party. As a result, religions that contain elements of asking help from almighty gods came to exist.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Religions already existed 5,000 years ago. The contemporaries of the Buddha, who lived 2,600 years ago, also tried to solve the contradictions of the world with religion. Religious teachings could comfort people temporarily, like drugs, but couldn\u2019t solve the problems fundamentally.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The way of neither following nor suppressing desires<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

The Buddha investigated how to solve this problem in-depth. He discovered that the root of the never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is desire. When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy and when your desires are not fulfilled, you suffer. But once you are free from desire, joy and suffering also disappear. The cycle of joy and suffering ends. But people can\u2019t even imagine becoming free from desire. People can think of only two ways to respond to desire: surrendering or resisting. In the West, these two ways were expressed as Epicureanism and Stoicism. And in India, they were expressed as hedonism and asceticism. The Buddha experienced ultimate pleasure and ultimate self-mortification, and found that neither are the right way toward liberation and nirvana. He discovered a third path, the Middle Way. He followed the Middle Way and attained liberation and nirvana.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Middle Way is just recognizing desire instead of following or suppressing. When you follow desire, consequences follow, and when you suppress desire, you become stressed. People suppress desire because following it will result in loss, but suppressing it leads to frustration and eventually to an explosion. Explosions result in loss again, so they suppress it, and then explode again, this cycle is repeated constantly. However, simply recognizing desire is not to respond to it at all; neither following nor suppressing.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

True freedom is to be free from desire by recognizing it. Then, from where does desire arise? The root of desire is karma. When your karma comes into contact with an external situation, a feeling arises, and based on that feeling, a desire arises. Each person has different karma, so each person has different desires.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some people have a strong desire for money, whereas others have no desire for money. Some people have a strong desire for food, whereas others don\u2019t care much about food and they can eat anything offered, like an ascetic. Different people have different desires. This gives us hope even though it seems impossible for humans to be free from desire. Because even ordinary people are free from some desires. Therefore, we can see that becoming free from desires is not impossible and anyone can do it.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We seem to live our life but in fact our life is the automatic reactions of our karma. Based on each reaction, a desire arises within us and then we act on the desire. In other words, our life is a perpetual repetition of karma and desire. People think that they are unhappy because of some external circumstances, but it is only a secondary and partial reason. When we are free from desire, we seldom suffer or feel fettered.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Observing the precepts is essential to becoming free from desire and karma<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Then how can we be free from our desires and karma? We are meditating now to achieve this freedom. However, wanting to be free from desire while eating whatever you want to eat, lying down when you want to lie down, and doing whatever you want to do is contradictory. In addition to the desires for food and sleep, we have other serious karma. Even if we are free from the desires for food and sleep, attaining liberation will be hard. As such, wishing for liberation without even achieving this much is contradictory.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For example, let\u2019s say I have a habit of smoking. I am not saying that smoking is bad but not being able to quit smoking while pursuing liberation and nirvana is contradictory. How can I be free from karma that has been formed through infinity if I can\u2019t even quit smoking, a habit that is only several years or decades old? That is why anyone who wishes to move toward liberation and nirvana needs to observe the precepts. We need to value and observe the precepts. Practicing to attain liberation and nirvana while not observing the precepts is contradictory.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A slave is forced to do something and a master takes the lead<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Yesterday, I recommended that you voluntarily follow the rules to control desires, instead of worrying about what others might think of you if you don\u2019t follow them. If you observe the precepts voluntarily, they are not restraints. Jesus said: \u201cIf anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles,\u201d \u201cIf someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them,\u201d and \u201cIf someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also.\u201d Have a willing mind like this. If you are forced to do something, you are a slave but if you take the lead, you are a master.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if there is no restriction on food, I recommend you to decide: \u201cI will eat a little because I won\u2019t need much energy while meditating,\u201d and even if there is no restriction on lying down, I recommend you to decide: \u201cI will lie down only during the designated hours while I am participating in the practice to be free from desire.\u201d If you decide like this voluntarily, you won\u2019t feel restricted.<\/strong><\/p>\n","post_title":"The Reason Why People Are Unhappy No Matter How Hard They Try To Be Happy","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"the-reason-why-people-are-unhappy-no-matter-how-hard-they-try-to-be-happy-2","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-07-14 14:40:41","post_modified_gmt":"2024-07-14 19:40:41","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=19801","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":20393,"post_author":"46","post_date":"2024-08-04 03:55:37","post_date_gmt":"2024-08-04 08:55:37","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"(\ud55c SUB) [Meditation Q&A] \u201cIs it wrong to take a deep breath during meditation?\u201d","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"%ed%95%9c-sub-meditation-qa-is-it-wrong-to-take-a-deep-breath-during-meditation","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-08-04 03:57:39","post_modified_gmt":"2024-08-04 08:57:39","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=20393","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":19744,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-07-12 17:07:50","post_date_gmt":"2024-07-12 22:07:50","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cI am not good at meditation. How can I make progress?\u201d","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-i-am-not-good-at-meditation-how-can-i-make-progress","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-07-04 17:13:18","post_modified_gmt":"2024-07-04 22:13:18","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=19744","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":18488,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-05-03 00:51:00","post_date_gmt":"2024-05-03 05:51:00","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cIn meditation, is curiousity helpful or is it an obstacle?\u201d","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-do-we-have-to-give-up-pleasure-to-live-without-suffering-duplicate-18475","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-05-07 11:55:14","post_modified_gmt":"2024-05-07 16:55:14","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=18488","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":18034,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-03-08 07:00:00","post_date_gmt":"2024-03-08 12:00:00","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cHow can I incorporate mindfulness into my work where I\u2019m challenged…. ?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-the-feeling-of-solitude-increases-and-the-motivation-in-life-decreases","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-02-27 18:46:27","post_modified_gmt":"2024-02-27 23:46:27","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=18034","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":18039,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-03-01 07:00:00","post_date_gmt":"2024-03-01 12:00:00","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cThe feeling of solitude increases and the motivation in life decreases\u2026. ?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-the-feeling-of-solitude-increases-and-the-motivation-in-life-decreases-2","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-02-27 18:51:13","post_modified_gmt":"2024-02-27 23:51:13","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=18039","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":18030,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-02-27 18:17:13","post_date_gmt":"2024-02-27 23:17:13","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cDuring meditation, I count from 1 to 100. Is this an improper tactic?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-during-meditation-i-count-from-1-to-100-is-this-an-improper-tactic","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-02-27 18:17:16","post_modified_gmt":"2024-02-27 23:17:16","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=18030","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":17831,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-02-16 07:00:00","post_date_gmt":"2024-02-16 12:00:00","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cIf I can be mindful of my life, does it mean I don\u2019t need meditation anymore?\u201d","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-if-i-can-be-mindful-of-my-life-does-it-mean-i-dont-need-meditation-anymore","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-01-06 21:29:41","post_modified_gmt":"2024-01-07 02:29:41","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=17831","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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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] How can I relax when meditating?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-how-can-i-relax-when-meditating","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-05-11 08:24:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-05-11 13:24:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=28435","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":19801,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-08-27 14:25:45","post_date_gmt":"2024-08-27 19:25:45","post_content":"\n

Meditation is not about training in techniques, such as how to sit or how to breathe. The most important goal of meditation is to move toward liberation and nirvana. Liberation means freedom from all fetters. Nirvana means happiness without suffering. In other words, liberation and nirvana is a state of sustainable freedom and happiness in which the endless cycle of joy and suffering is ended.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The reason why people are unhappy no matter how hard they try to be happy<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not. It is not because it is impossible to be free and happy, but because they are going in the wrong direction. As they are going in the wrong direction, they can\u2019t reach their destination no matter how steadfastly they walk.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why am I saying that people are going in the wrong direction? People in the world consider the good feelings they have when things go their way to be happiness. They consider the bad feeling they have when things don\u2019t go their way to be unhappiness. And they think that doing whatever they want is freedom and not doing what they want is bondage. These are ordinary people\u2019s concepts of happiness and freedom. However, in real life, these values can\u2019t be realized.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy briefly. But, when your desires are not fulfilled, you suffer. As there is no end to desire, you experience joy and suffering repeatedly. The Buddha said that this never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is the inevitable contradiction and limit of human life. Joy and suffering can\u2019t be divided. Yesterday\u2019s suffering can turn into today\u2019s joy and today\u2019s joy can turn into tomorrow\u2019s suffering. Since people don\u2019t know this principle, they want to live in a world filled with joy and devoid of suffering, thinking that it is possible to live in such a world. However, this is not possible in real life, so they wish to be born in such a world after they die. Therefore, every religion has an ideal world called heaven or paradise.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Society\u2019s current level consumption is even higher than that which is supposedly provided by the ideal world, the heaven that people dreamed of in the past. But we have greater desires now, so we consider our condition no better than hell. We can\u2019t see this contradiction because we only see what we want to achieve. Thinking that they are unhappy because their abilities or efforts are not sufficient, people try to get what they want by asking a powerful third party. As a result, religions that contain elements of asking help from almighty gods came to exist.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Religions already existed 5,000 years ago. The contemporaries of the Buddha, who lived 2,600 years ago, also tried to solve the contradictions of the world with religion. Religious teachings could comfort people temporarily, like drugs, but couldn\u2019t solve the problems fundamentally.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The way of neither following nor suppressing desires<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

The Buddha investigated how to solve this problem in-depth. He discovered that the root of the never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is desire. When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy and when your desires are not fulfilled, you suffer. But once you are free from desire, joy and suffering also disappear. The cycle of joy and suffering ends. But people can\u2019t even imagine becoming free from desire. People can think of only two ways to respond to desire: surrendering or resisting. In the West, these two ways were expressed as Epicureanism and Stoicism. And in India, they were expressed as hedonism and asceticism. The Buddha experienced ultimate pleasure and ultimate self-mortification, and found that neither are the right way toward liberation and nirvana. He discovered a third path, the Middle Way. He followed the Middle Way and attained liberation and nirvana.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Middle Way is just recognizing desire instead of following or suppressing. When you follow desire, consequences follow, and when you suppress desire, you become stressed. People suppress desire because following it will result in loss, but suppressing it leads to frustration and eventually to an explosion. Explosions result in loss again, so they suppress it, and then explode again, this cycle is repeated constantly. However, simply recognizing desire is not to respond to it at all; neither following nor suppressing.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

True freedom is to be free from desire by recognizing it. Then, from where does desire arise? The root of desire is karma. When your karma comes into contact with an external situation, a feeling arises, and based on that feeling, a desire arises. Each person has different karma, so each person has different desires.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some people have a strong desire for money, whereas others have no desire for money. Some people have a strong desire for food, whereas others don\u2019t care much about food and they can eat anything offered, like an ascetic. Different people have different desires. This gives us hope even though it seems impossible for humans to be free from desire. Because even ordinary people are free from some desires. Therefore, we can see that becoming free from desires is not impossible and anyone can do it.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We seem to live our life but in fact our life is the automatic reactions of our karma. Based on each reaction, a desire arises within us and then we act on the desire. In other words, our life is a perpetual repetition of karma and desire. People think that they are unhappy because of some external circumstances, but it is only a secondary and partial reason. When we are free from desire, we seldom suffer or feel fettered.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Observing the precepts is essential to becoming free from desire and karma<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Then how can we be free from our desires and karma? We are meditating now to achieve this freedom. However, wanting to be free from desire while eating whatever you want to eat, lying down when you want to lie down, and doing whatever you want to do is contradictory. In addition to the desires for food and sleep, we have other serious karma. Even if we are free from the desires for food and sleep, attaining liberation will be hard. As such, wishing for liberation without even achieving this much is contradictory.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For example, let\u2019s say I have a habit of smoking. I am not saying that smoking is bad but not being able to quit smoking while pursuing liberation and nirvana is contradictory. How can I be free from karma that has been formed through infinity if I can\u2019t even quit smoking, a habit that is only several years or decades old? That is why anyone who wishes to move toward liberation and nirvana needs to observe the precepts. We need to value and observe the precepts. Practicing to attain liberation and nirvana while not observing the precepts is contradictory.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A slave is forced to do something and a master takes the lead<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Yesterday, I recommended that you voluntarily follow the rules to control desires, instead of worrying about what others might think of you if you don\u2019t follow them. If you observe the precepts voluntarily, they are not restraints. Jesus said: \u201cIf anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles,\u201d \u201cIf someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them,\u201d and \u201cIf someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also.\u201d Have a willing mind like this. If you are forced to do something, you are a slave but if you take the lead, you are a master.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if there is no restriction on food, I recommend you to decide: \u201cI will eat a little because I won\u2019t need much energy while meditating,\u201d and even if there is no restriction on lying down, I recommend you to decide: \u201cI will lie down only during the designated hours while I am participating in the practice to be free from desire.\u201d If you decide like this voluntarily, you won\u2019t feel restricted.<\/strong><\/p>\n","post_title":"The Reason Why People Are Unhappy No Matter How Hard They Try To Be Happy","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"the-reason-why-people-are-unhappy-no-matter-how-hard-they-try-to-be-happy-2","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-07-14 14:40:41","post_modified_gmt":"2024-07-14 19:40:41","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=19801","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":20393,"post_author":"46","post_date":"2024-08-04 03:55:37","post_date_gmt":"2024-08-04 08:55:37","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"(\ud55c SUB) [Meditation Q&A] \u201cIs it wrong to take a deep breath during meditation?\u201d","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"%ed%95%9c-sub-meditation-qa-is-it-wrong-to-take-a-deep-breath-during-meditation","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-08-04 03:57:39","post_modified_gmt":"2024-08-04 08:57:39","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=20393","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":19744,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-07-12 17:07:50","post_date_gmt":"2024-07-12 22:07:50","post_content":"\n

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Meditation is not about training in techniques, such as how to sit or how to breathe. The most important goal of meditation is to move toward liberation and nirvana. Liberation means freedom from all fetters. Nirvana means happiness without suffering. In other words, liberation and nirvana is a state of sustainable freedom and happiness in which the endless cycle of joy and suffering is ended.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The reason why people are unhappy no matter how hard they try to be happy<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not. It is not because it is impossible to be free and happy, but because they are going in the wrong direction. As they are going in the wrong direction, they can\u2019t reach their destination no matter how steadfastly they walk.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why am I saying that people are going in the wrong direction? People in the world consider the good feelings they have when things go their way to be happiness. They consider the bad feeling they have when things don\u2019t go their way to be unhappiness. And they think that doing whatever they want is freedom and not doing what they want is bondage. These are ordinary people\u2019s concepts of happiness and freedom. However, in real life, these values can\u2019t be realized.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy briefly. But, when your desires are not fulfilled, you suffer. As there is no end to desire, you experience joy and suffering repeatedly. The Buddha said that this never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is the inevitable contradiction and limit of human life. Joy and suffering can\u2019t be divided. Yesterday\u2019s suffering can turn into today\u2019s joy and today\u2019s joy can turn into tomorrow\u2019s suffering. Since people don\u2019t know this principle, they want to live in a world filled with joy and devoid of suffering, thinking that it is possible to live in such a world. However, this is not possible in real life, so they wish to be born in such a world after they die. Therefore, every religion has an ideal world called heaven or paradise.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Society\u2019s current level consumption is even higher than that which is supposedly provided by the ideal world, the heaven that people dreamed of in the past. But we have greater desires now, so we consider our condition no better than hell. We can\u2019t see this contradiction because we only see what we want to achieve. Thinking that they are unhappy because their abilities or efforts are not sufficient, people try to get what they want by asking a powerful third party. As a result, religions that contain elements of asking help from almighty gods came to exist.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Religions already existed 5,000 years ago. The contemporaries of the Buddha, who lived 2,600 years ago, also tried to solve the contradictions of the world with religion. Religious teachings could comfort people temporarily, like drugs, but couldn\u2019t solve the problems fundamentally.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The way of neither following nor suppressing desires<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

The Buddha investigated how to solve this problem in-depth. He discovered that the root of the never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is desire. When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy and when your desires are not fulfilled, you suffer. But once you are free from desire, joy and suffering also disappear. The cycle of joy and suffering ends. But people can\u2019t even imagine becoming free from desire. People can think of only two ways to respond to desire: surrendering or resisting. In the West, these two ways were expressed as Epicureanism and Stoicism. And in India, they were expressed as hedonism and asceticism. The Buddha experienced ultimate pleasure and ultimate self-mortification, and found that neither are the right way toward liberation and nirvana. He discovered a third path, the Middle Way. He followed the Middle Way and attained liberation and nirvana.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Middle Way is just recognizing desire instead of following or suppressing. When you follow desire, consequences follow, and when you suppress desire, you become stressed. People suppress desire because following it will result in loss, but suppressing it leads to frustration and eventually to an explosion. Explosions result in loss again, so they suppress it, and then explode again, this cycle is repeated constantly. However, simply recognizing desire is not to respond to it at all; neither following nor suppressing.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

True freedom is to be free from desire by recognizing it. Then, from where does desire arise? The root of desire is karma. When your karma comes into contact with an external situation, a feeling arises, and based on that feeling, a desire arises. Each person has different karma, so each person has different desires.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some people have a strong desire for money, whereas others have no desire for money. Some people have a strong desire for food, whereas others don\u2019t care much about food and they can eat anything offered, like an ascetic. Different people have different desires. This gives us hope even though it seems impossible for humans to be free from desire. Because even ordinary people are free from some desires. Therefore, we can see that becoming free from desires is not impossible and anyone can do it.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We seem to live our life but in fact our life is the automatic reactions of our karma. Based on each reaction, a desire arises within us and then we act on the desire. In other words, our life is a perpetual repetition of karma and desire. People think that they are unhappy because of some external circumstances, but it is only a secondary and partial reason. When we are free from desire, we seldom suffer or feel fettered.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Observing the precepts is essential to becoming free from desire and karma<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Then how can we be free from our desires and karma? We are meditating now to achieve this freedom. However, wanting to be free from desire while eating whatever you want to eat, lying down when you want to lie down, and doing whatever you want to do is contradictory. In addition to the desires for food and sleep, we have other serious karma. Even if we are free from the desires for food and sleep, attaining liberation will be hard. As such, wishing for liberation without even achieving this much is contradictory.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For example, let\u2019s say I have a habit of smoking. I am not saying that smoking is bad but not being able to quit smoking while pursuing liberation and nirvana is contradictory. How can I be free from karma that has been formed through infinity if I can\u2019t even quit smoking, a habit that is only several years or decades old? That is why anyone who wishes to move toward liberation and nirvana needs to observe the precepts. We need to value and observe the precepts. Practicing to attain liberation and nirvana while not observing the precepts is contradictory.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A slave is forced to do something and a master takes the lead<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Yesterday, I recommended that you voluntarily follow the rules to control desires, instead of worrying about what others might think of you if you don\u2019t follow them. If you observe the precepts voluntarily, they are not restraints. Jesus said: \u201cIf anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles,\u201d \u201cIf someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them,\u201d and \u201cIf someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also.\u201d Have a willing mind like this. If you are forced to do something, you are a slave but if you take the lead, you are a master.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if there is no restriction on food, I recommend you to decide: \u201cI will eat a little because I won\u2019t need much energy while meditating,\u201d and even if there is no restriction on lying down, I recommend you to decide: \u201cI will lie down only during the designated hours while I am participating in the practice to be free from desire.\u201d If you decide like this voluntarily, you won\u2019t feel restricted.<\/strong><\/p>\n","post_title":"The Reason Why People Are Unhappy No Matter How Hard They Try To Be Happy","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"the-reason-why-people-are-unhappy-no-matter-how-hard-they-try-to-be-happy-2","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-07-14 14:40:41","post_modified_gmt":"2024-07-14 19:40:41","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=19801","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":20393,"post_author":"46","post_date":"2024-08-04 03:55:37","post_date_gmt":"2024-08-04 08:55:37","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] How can I relax when meditating?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-how-can-i-relax-when-meditating","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-05-11 08:24:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-05-11 13:24:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=28435","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":19801,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-08-27 14:25:45","post_date_gmt":"2024-08-27 19:25:45","post_content":"\n

Meditation is not about training in techniques, such as how to sit or how to breathe. The most important goal of meditation is to move toward liberation and nirvana. Liberation means freedom from all fetters. Nirvana means happiness without suffering. In other words, liberation and nirvana is a state of sustainable freedom and happiness in which the endless cycle of joy and suffering is ended.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The reason why people are unhappy no matter how hard they try to be happy<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not. It is not because it is impossible to be free and happy, but because they are going in the wrong direction. As they are going in the wrong direction, they can\u2019t reach their destination no matter how steadfastly they walk.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why am I saying that people are going in the wrong direction? People in the world consider the good feelings they have when things go their way to be happiness. They consider the bad feeling they have when things don\u2019t go their way to be unhappiness. And they think that doing whatever they want is freedom and not doing what they want is bondage. These are ordinary people\u2019s concepts of happiness and freedom. However, in real life, these values can\u2019t be realized.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy briefly. But, when your desires are not fulfilled, you suffer. As there is no end to desire, you experience joy and suffering repeatedly. The Buddha said that this never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is the inevitable contradiction and limit of human life. Joy and suffering can\u2019t be divided. Yesterday\u2019s suffering can turn into today\u2019s joy and today\u2019s joy can turn into tomorrow\u2019s suffering. Since people don\u2019t know this principle, they want to live in a world filled with joy and devoid of suffering, thinking that it is possible to live in such a world. However, this is not possible in real life, so they wish to be born in such a world after they die. Therefore, every religion has an ideal world called heaven or paradise.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Society\u2019s current level consumption is even higher than that which is supposedly provided by the ideal world, the heaven that people dreamed of in the past. But we have greater desires now, so we consider our condition no better than hell. We can\u2019t see this contradiction because we only see what we want to achieve. Thinking that they are unhappy because their abilities or efforts are not sufficient, people try to get what they want by asking a powerful third party. As a result, religions that contain elements of asking help from almighty gods came to exist.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Religions already existed 5,000 years ago. The contemporaries of the Buddha, who lived 2,600 years ago, also tried to solve the contradictions of the world with religion. Religious teachings could comfort people temporarily, like drugs, but couldn\u2019t solve the problems fundamentally.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The way of neither following nor suppressing desires<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

The Buddha investigated how to solve this problem in-depth. He discovered that the root of the never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is desire. When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy and when your desires are not fulfilled, you suffer. But once you are free from desire, joy and suffering also disappear. The cycle of joy and suffering ends. But people can\u2019t even imagine becoming free from desire. People can think of only two ways to respond to desire: surrendering or resisting. In the West, these two ways were expressed as Epicureanism and Stoicism. And in India, they were expressed as hedonism and asceticism. The Buddha experienced ultimate pleasure and ultimate self-mortification, and found that neither are the right way toward liberation and nirvana. He discovered a third path, the Middle Way. He followed the Middle Way and attained liberation and nirvana.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Middle Way is just recognizing desire instead of following or suppressing. When you follow desire, consequences follow, and when you suppress desire, you become stressed. People suppress desire because following it will result in loss, but suppressing it leads to frustration and eventually to an explosion. Explosions result in loss again, so they suppress it, and then explode again, this cycle is repeated constantly. However, simply recognizing desire is not to respond to it at all; neither following nor suppressing.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

True freedom is to be free from desire by recognizing it. Then, from where does desire arise? The root of desire is karma. When your karma comes into contact with an external situation, a feeling arises, and based on that feeling, a desire arises. Each person has different karma, so each person has different desires.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some people have a strong desire for money, whereas others have no desire for money. Some people have a strong desire for food, whereas others don\u2019t care much about food and they can eat anything offered, like an ascetic. Different people have different desires. This gives us hope even though it seems impossible for humans to be free from desire. Because even ordinary people are free from some desires. Therefore, we can see that becoming free from desires is not impossible and anyone can do it.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We seem to live our life but in fact our life is the automatic reactions of our karma. Based on each reaction, a desire arises within us and then we act on the desire. In other words, our life is a perpetual repetition of karma and desire. People think that they are unhappy because of some external circumstances, but it is only a secondary and partial reason. When we are free from desire, we seldom suffer or feel fettered.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Observing the precepts is essential to becoming free from desire and karma<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Then how can we be free from our desires and karma? We are meditating now to achieve this freedom. However, wanting to be free from desire while eating whatever you want to eat, lying down when you want to lie down, and doing whatever you want to do is contradictory. In addition to the desires for food and sleep, we have other serious karma. Even if we are free from the desires for food and sleep, attaining liberation will be hard. As such, wishing for liberation without even achieving this much is contradictory.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For example, let\u2019s say I have a habit of smoking. I am not saying that smoking is bad but not being able to quit smoking while pursuing liberation and nirvana is contradictory. How can I be free from karma that has been formed through infinity if I can\u2019t even quit smoking, a habit that is only several years or decades old? That is why anyone who wishes to move toward liberation and nirvana needs to observe the precepts. We need to value and observe the precepts. Practicing to attain liberation and nirvana while not observing the precepts is contradictory.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A slave is forced to do something and a master takes the lead<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Yesterday, I recommended that you voluntarily follow the rules to control desires, instead of worrying about what others might think of you if you don\u2019t follow them. If you observe the precepts voluntarily, they are not restraints. Jesus said: \u201cIf anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles,\u201d \u201cIf someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them,\u201d and \u201cIf someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also.\u201d Have a willing mind like this. If you are forced to do something, you are a slave but if you take the lead, you are a master.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if there is no restriction on food, I recommend you to decide: \u201cI will eat a little because I won\u2019t need much energy while meditating,\u201d and even if there is no restriction on lying down, I recommend you to decide: \u201cI will lie down only during the designated hours while I am participating in the practice to be free from desire.\u201d If you decide like this voluntarily, you won\u2019t feel restricted.<\/strong><\/p>\n","post_title":"The Reason Why People Are Unhappy No Matter How Hard They Try To Be Happy","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"the-reason-why-people-are-unhappy-no-matter-how-hard-they-try-to-be-happy-2","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-07-14 14:40:41","post_modified_gmt":"2024-07-14 19:40:41","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=19801","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":20393,"post_author":"46","post_date":"2024-08-04 03:55:37","post_date_gmt":"2024-08-04 08:55:37","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"(\ud55c SUB) [Meditation Q&A] \u201cIs it wrong to take a deep breath during meditation?\u201d","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"%ed%95%9c-sub-meditation-qa-is-it-wrong-to-take-a-deep-breath-during-meditation","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-08-04 03:57:39","post_modified_gmt":"2024-08-04 08:57:39","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=20393","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":19744,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-07-12 17:07:50","post_date_gmt":"2024-07-12 22:07:50","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cI am not good at meditation. How can I make progress?\u201d","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-i-am-not-good-at-meditation-how-can-i-make-progress","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-07-04 17:13:18","post_modified_gmt":"2024-07-04 22:13:18","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=19744","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":18488,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-05-03 00:51:00","post_date_gmt":"2024-05-03 05:51:00","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cIn meditation, is curiousity helpful or is it an obstacle?\u201d","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-do-we-have-to-give-up-pleasure-to-live-without-suffering-duplicate-18475","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-05-07 11:55:14","post_modified_gmt":"2024-05-07 16:55:14","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=18488","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":18034,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-03-08 07:00:00","post_date_gmt":"2024-03-08 12:00:00","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cHow can I incorporate mindfulness into my work where I\u2019m challenged…. ?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-the-feeling-of-solitude-increases-and-the-motivation-in-life-decreases","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-02-27 18:46:27","post_modified_gmt":"2024-02-27 23:46:27","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=18034","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":18039,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-03-01 07:00:00","post_date_gmt":"2024-03-01 12:00:00","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cThe feeling of solitude increases and the motivation in life decreases\u2026. ?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-the-feeling-of-solitude-increases-and-the-motivation-in-life-decreases-2","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-02-27 18:51:13","post_modified_gmt":"2024-02-27 23:51:13","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=18039","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":18030,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-02-27 18:17:13","post_date_gmt":"2024-02-27 23:17:13","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cDuring meditation, I count from 1 to 100. Is this an improper tactic?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-during-meditation-i-count-from-1-to-100-is-this-an-improper-tactic","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-02-27 18:17:16","post_modified_gmt":"2024-02-27 23:17:16","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=18030","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":17831,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-02-16 07:00:00","post_date_gmt":"2024-02-16 12:00:00","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cIf I can be mindful of my life, does it mean I don\u2019t need meditation anymore?\u201d","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-if-i-can-be-mindful-of-my-life-does-it-mean-i-dont-need-meditation-anymore","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-01-06 21:29:41","post_modified_gmt":"2024-01-07 02:29:41","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=17831","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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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] How can I relax when meditating?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-how-can-i-relax-when-meditating","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-05-11 08:24:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-05-11 13:24:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=28435","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":19801,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-08-27 14:25:45","post_date_gmt":"2024-08-27 19:25:45","post_content":"\n

Meditation is not about training in techniques, such as how to sit or how to breathe. The most important goal of meditation is to move toward liberation and nirvana. Liberation means freedom from all fetters. Nirvana means happiness without suffering. In other words, liberation and nirvana is a state of sustainable freedom and happiness in which the endless cycle of joy and suffering is ended.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The reason why people are unhappy no matter how hard they try to be happy<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not. It is not because it is impossible to be free and happy, but because they are going in the wrong direction. As they are going in the wrong direction, they can\u2019t reach their destination no matter how steadfastly they walk.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why am I saying that people are going in the wrong direction? People in the world consider the good feelings they have when things go their way to be happiness. They consider the bad feeling they have when things don\u2019t go their way to be unhappiness. And they think that doing whatever they want is freedom and not doing what they want is bondage. These are ordinary people\u2019s concepts of happiness and freedom. However, in real life, these values can\u2019t be realized.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy briefly. But, when your desires are not fulfilled, you suffer. As there is no end to desire, you experience joy and suffering repeatedly. The Buddha said that this never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is the inevitable contradiction and limit of human life. Joy and suffering can\u2019t be divided. Yesterday\u2019s suffering can turn into today\u2019s joy and today\u2019s joy can turn into tomorrow\u2019s suffering. Since people don\u2019t know this principle, they want to live in a world filled with joy and devoid of suffering, thinking that it is possible to live in such a world. However, this is not possible in real life, so they wish to be born in such a world after they die. Therefore, every religion has an ideal world called heaven or paradise.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Society\u2019s current level consumption is even higher than that which is supposedly provided by the ideal world, the heaven that people dreamed of in the past. But we have greater desires now, so we consider our condition no better than hell. We can\u2019t see this contradiction because we only see what we want to achieve. Thinking that they are unhappy because their abilities or efforts are not sufficient, people try to get what they want by asking a powerful third party. As a result, religions that contain elements of asking help from almighty gods came to exist.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Religions already existed 5,000 years ago. The contemporaries of the Buddha, who lived 2,600 years ago, also tried to solve the contradictions of the world with religion. Religious teachings could comfort people temporarily, like drugs, but couldn\u2019t solve the problems fundamentally.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The way of neither following nor suppressing desires<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

The Buddha investigated how to solve this problem in-depth. He discovered that the root of the never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is desire. When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy and when your desires are not fulfilled, you suffer. But once you are free from desire, joy and suffering also disappear. The cycle of joy and suffering ends. But people can\u2019t even imagine becoming free from desire. People can think of only two ways to respond to desire: surrendering or resisting. In the West, these two ways were expressed as Epicureanism and Stoicism. And in India, they were expressed as hedonism and asceticism. The Buddha experienced ultimate pleasure and ultimate self-mortification, and found that neither are the right way toward liberation and nirvana. He discovered a third path, the Middle Way. He followed the Middle Way and attained liberation and nirvana.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Middle Way is just recognizing desire instead of following or suppressing. When you follow desire, consequences follow, and when you suppress desire, you become stressed. People suppress desire because following it will result in loss, but suppressing it leads to frustration and eventually to an explosion. Explosions result in loss again, so they suppress it, and then explode again, this cycle is repeated constantly. However, simply recognizing desire is not to respond to it at all; neither following nor suppressing.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

True freedom is to be free from desire by recognizing it. Then, from where does desire arise? The root of desire is karma. When your karma comes into contact with an external situation, a feeling arises, and based on that feeling, a desire arises. Each person has different karma, so each person has different desires.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some people have a strong desire for money, whereas others have no desire for money. Some people have a strong desire for food, whereas others don\u2019t care much about food and they can eat anything offered, like an ascetic. Different people have different desires. This gives us hope even though it seems impossible for humans to be free from desire. Because even ordinary people are free from some desires. Therefore, we can see that becoming free from desires is not impossible and anyone can do it.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We seem to live our life but in fact our life is the automatic reactions of our karma. Based on each reaction, a desire arises within us and then we act on the desire. In other words, our life is a perpetual repetition of karma and desire. People think that they are unhappy because of some external circumstances, but it is only a secondary and partial reason. When we are free from desire, we seldom suffer or feel fettered.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Observing the precepts is essential to becoming free from desire and karma<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Then how can we be free from our desires and karma? We are meditating now to achieve this freedom. However, wanting to be free from desire while eating whatever you want to eat, lying down when you want to lie down, and doing whatever you want to do is contradictory. In addition to the desires for food and sleep, we have other serious karma. Even if we are free from the desires for food and sleep, attaining liberation will be hard. As such, wishing for liberation without even achieving this much is contradictory.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For example, let\u2019s say I have a habit of smoking. I am not saying that smoking is bad but not being able to quit smoking while pursuing liberation and nirvana is contradictory. How can I be free from karma that has been formed through infinity if I can\u2019t even quit smoking, a habit that is only several years or decades old? That is why anyone who wishes to move toward liberation and nirvana needs to observe the precepts. We need to value and observe the precepts. Practicing to attain liberation and nirvana while not observing the precepts is contradictory.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A slave is forced to do something and a master takes the lead<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Yesterday, I recommended that you voluntarily follow the rules to control desires, instead of worrying about what others might think of you if you don\u2019t follow them. If you observe the precepts voluntarily, they are not restraints. Jesus said: \u201cIf anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles,\u201d \u201cIf someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them,\u201d and \u201cIf someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also.\u201d Have a willing mind like this. If you are forced to do something, you are a slave but if you take the lead, you are a master.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if there is no restriction on food, I recommend you to decide: \u201cI will eat a little because I won\u2019t need much energy while meditating,\u201d and even if there is no restriction on lying down, I recommend you to decide: \u201cI will lie down only during the designated hours while I am participating in the practice to be free from desire.\u201d If you decide like this voluntarily, you won\u2019t feel restricted.<\/strong><\/p>\n","post_title":"The Reason Why People Are Unhappy No Matter How Hard They Try To Be Happy","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"the-reason-why-people-are-unhappy-no-matter-how-hard-they-try-to-be-happy-2","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-07-14 14:40:41","post_modified_gmt":"2024-07-14 19:40:41","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=19801","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":20393,"post_author":"46","post_date":"2024-08-04 03:55:37","post_date_gmt":"2024-08-04 08:55:37","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"(\ud55c SUB) [Meditation Q&A] \u201cIs it wrong to take a deep breath during meditation?\u201d","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"%ed%95%9c-sub-meditation-qa-is-it-wrong-to-take-a-deep-breath-during-meditation","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-08-04 03:57:39","post_modified_gmt":"2024-08-04 08:57:39","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=20393","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":19744,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-07-12 17:07:50","post_date_gmt":"2024-07-12 22:07:50","post_content":"\n

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Meditation is not about training in techniques, such as how to sit or how to breathe. The most important goal of meditation is to move toward liberation and nirvana. Liberation means freedom from all fetters. Nirvana means happiness without suffering. In other words, liberation and nirvana is a state of sustainable freedom and happiness in which the endless cycle of joy and suffering is ended.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The reason why people are unhappy no matter how hard they try to be happy<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not. It is not because it is impossible to be free and happy, but because they are going in the wrong direction. As they are going in the wrong direction, they can\u2019t reach their destination no matter how steadfastly they walk.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why am I saying that people are going in the wrong direction? People in the world consider the good feelings they have when things go their way to be happiness. They consider the bad feeling they have when things don\u2019t go their way to be unhappiness. And they think that doing whatever they want is freedom and not doing what they want is bondage. These are ordinary people\u2019s concepts of happiness and freedom. However, in real life, these values can\u2019t be realized.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy briefly. But, when your desires are not fulfilled, you suffer. As there is no end to desire, you experience joy and suffering repeatedly. The Buddha said that this never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is the inevitable contradiction and limit of human life. Joy and suffering can\u2019t be divided. Yesterday\u2019s suffering can turn into today\u2019s joy and today\u2019s joy can turn into tomorrow\u2019s suffering. Since people don\u2019t know this principle, they want to live in a world filled with joy and devoid of suffering, thinking that it is possible to live in such a world. However, this is not possible in real life, so they wish to be born in such a world after they die. Therefore, every religion has an ideal world called heaven or paradise.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Society\u2019s current level consumption is even higher than that which is supposedly provided by the ideal world, the heaven that people dreamed of in the past. But we have greater desires now, so we consider our condition no better than hell. We can\u2019t see this contradiction because we only see what we want to achieve. Thinking that they are unhappy because their abilities or efforts are not sufficient, people try to get what they want by asking a powerful third party. As a result, religions that contain elements of asking help from almighty gods came to exist.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Religions already existed 5,000 years ago. The contemporaries of the Buddha, who lived 2,600 years ago, also tried to solve the contradictions of the world with religion. Religious teachings could comfort people temporarily, like drugs, but couldn\u2019t solve the problems fundamentally.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The way of neither following nor suppressing desires<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

The Buddha investigated how to solve this problem in-depth. He discovered that the root of the never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is desire. When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy and when your desires are not fulfilled, you suffer. But once you are free from desire, joy and suffering also disappear. The cycle of joy and suffering ends. But people can\u2019t even imagine becoming free from desire. People can think of only two ways to respond to desire: surrendering or resisting. In the West, these two ways were expressed as Epicureanism and Stoicism. And in India, they were expressed as hedonism and asceticism. The Buddha experienced ultimate pleasure and ultimate self-mortification, and found that neither are the right way toward liberation and nirvana. He discovered a third path, the Middle Way. He followed the Middle Way and attained liberation and nirvana.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Middle Way is just recognizing desire instead of following or suppressing. When you follow desire, consequences follow, and when you suppress desire, you become stressed. People suppress desire because following it will result in loss, but suppressing it leads to frustration and eventually to an explosion. Explosions result in loss again, so they suppress it, and then explode again, this cycle is repeated constantly. However, simply recognizing desire is not to respond to it at all; neither following nor suppressing.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

True freedom is to be free from desire by recognizing it. Then, from where does desire arise? The root of desire is karma. When your karma comes into contact with an external situation, a feeling arises, and based on that feeling, a desire arises. Each person has different karma, so each person has different desires.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some people have a strong desire for money, whereas others have no desire for money. Some people have a strong desire for food, whereas others don\u2019t care much about food and they can eat anything offered, like an ascetic. Different people have different desires. This gives us hope even though it seems impossible for humans to be free from desire. Because even ordinary people are free from some desires. Therefore, we can see that becoming free from desires is not impossible and anyone can do it.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We seem to live our life but in fact our life is the automatic reactions of our karma. Based on each reaction, a desire arises within us and then we act on the desire. In other words, our life is a perpetual repetition of karma and desire. People think that they are unhappy because of some external circumstances, but it is only a secondary and partial reason. When we are free from desire, we seldom suffer or feel fettered.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Observing the precepts is essential to becoming free from desire and karma<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Then how can we be free from our desires and karma? We are meditating now to achieve this freedom. However, wanting to be free from desire while eating whatever you want to eat, lying down when you want to lie down, and doing whatever you want to do is contradictory. In addition to the desires for food and sleep, we have other serious karma. Even if we are free from the desires for food and sleep, attaining liberation will be hard. As such, wishing for liberation without even achieving this much is contradictory.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For example, let\u2019s say I have a habit of smoking. I am not saying that smoking is bad but not being able to quit smoking while pursuing liberation and nirvana is contradictory. How can I be free from karma that has been formed through infinity if I can\u2019t even quit smoking, a habit that is only several years or decades old? That is why anyone who wishes to move toward liberation and nirvana needs to observe the precepts. We need to value and observe the precepts. Practicing to attain liberation and nirvana while not observing the precepts is contradictory.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A slave is forced to do something and a master takes the lead<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Yesterday, I recommended that you voluntarily follow the rules to control desires, instead of worrying about what others might think of you if you don\u2019t follow them. If you observe the precepts voluntarily, they are not restraints. Jesus said: \u201cIf anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles,\u201d \u201cIf someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them,\u201d and \u201cIf someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also.\u201d Have a willing mind like this. If you are forced to do something, you are a slave but if you take the lead, you are a master.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if there is no restriction on food, I recommend you to decide: \u201cI will eat a little because I won\u2019t need much energy while meditating,\u201d and even if there is no restriction on lying down, I recommend you to decide: \u201cI will lie down only during the designated hours while I am participating in the practice to be free from desire.\u201d If you decide like this voluntarily, you won\u2019t feel restricted.<\/strong><\/p>\n","post_title":"The Reason Why People Are Unhappy No Matter How Hard They Try To Be Happy","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"the-reason-why-people-are-unhappy-no-matter-how-hard-they-try-to-be-happy-2","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-07-14 14:40:41","post_modified_gmt":"2024-07-14 19:40:41","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=19801","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":20393,"post_author":"46","post_date":"2024-08-04 03:55:37","post_date_gmt":"2024-08-04 08:55:37","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] How can I relax when meditating?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-how-can-i-relax-when-meditating","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-05-11 08:24:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-05-11 13:24:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=28435","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":19801,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-08-27 14:25:45","post_date_gmt":"2024-08-27 19:25:45","post_content":"\n

Meditation is not about training in techniques, such as how to sit or how to breathe. The most important goal of meditation is to move toward liberation and nirvana. Liberation means freedom from all fetters. Nirvana means happiness without suffering. In other words, liberation and nirvana is a state of sustainable freedom and happiness in which the endless cycle of joy and suffering is ended.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The reason why people are unhappy no matter how hard they try to be happy<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not. It is not because it is impossible to be free and happy, but because they are going in the wrong direction. As they are going in the wrong direction, they can\u2019t reach their destination no matter how steadfastly they walk.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why am I saying that people are going in the wrong direction? People in the world consider the good feelings they have when things go their way to be happiness. They consider the bad feeling they have when things don\u2019t go their way to be unhappiness. And they think that doing whatever they want is freedom and not doing what they want is bondage. These are ordinary people\u2019s concepts of happiness and freedom. However, in real life, these values can\u2019t be realized.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy briefly. But, when your desires are not fulfilled, you suffer. As there is no end to desire, you experience joy and suffering repeatedly. The Buddha said that this never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is the inevitable contradiction and limit of human life. Joy and suffering can\u2019t be divided. Yesterday\u2019s suffering can turn into today\u2019s joy and today\u2019s joy can turn into tomorrow\u2019s suffering. Since people don\u2019t know this principle, they want to live in a world filled with joy and devoid of suffering, thinking that it is possible to live in such a world. However, this is not possible in real life, so they wish to be born in such a world after they die. Therefore, every religion has an ideal world called heaven or paradise.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Society\u2019s current level consumption is even higher than that which is supposedly provided by the ideal world, the heaven that people dreamed of in the past. But we have greater desires now, so we consider our condition no better than hell. We can\u2019t see this contradiction because we only see what we want to achieve. Thinking that they are unhappy because their abilities or efforts are not sufficient, people try to get what they want by asking a powerful third party. As a result, religions that contain elements of asking help from almighty gods came to exist.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Religions already existed 5,000 years ago. The contemporaries of the Buddha, who lived 2,600 years ago, also tried to solve the contradictions of the world with religion. Religious teachings could comfort people temporarily, like drugs, but couldn\u2019t solve the problems fundamentally.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The way of neither following nor suppressing desires<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

The Buddha investigated how to solve this problem in-depth. He discovered that the root of the never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is desire. When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy and when your desires are not fulfilled, you suffer. But once you are free from desire, joy and suffering also disappear. The cycle of joy and suffering ends. But people can\u2019t even imagine becoming free from desire. People can think of only two ways to respond to desire: surrendering or resisting. In the West, these two ways were expressed as Epicureanism and Stoicism. And in India, they were expressed as hedonism and asceticism. The Buddha experienced ultimate pleasure and ultimate self-mortification, and found that neither are the right way toward liberation and nirvana. He discovered a third path, the Middle Way. He followed the Middle Way and attained liberation and nirvana.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Middle Way is just recognizing desire instead of following or suppressing. When you follow desire, consequences follow, and when you suppress desire, you become stressed. People suppress desire because following it will result in loss, but suppressing it leads to frustration and eventually to an explosion. Explosions result in loss again, so they suppress it, and then explode again, this cycle is repeated constantly. However, simply recognizing desire is not to respond to it at all; neither following nor suppressing.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

True freedom is to be free from desire by recognizing it. Then, from where does desire arise? The root of desire is karma. When your karma comes into contact with an external situation, a feeling arises, and based on that feeling, a desire arises. Each person has different karma, so each person has different desires.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some people have a strong desire for money, whereas others have no desire for money. Some people have a strong desire for food, whereas others don\u2019t care much about food and they can eat anything offered, like an ascetic. Different people have different desires. This gives us hope even though it seems impossible for humans to be free from desire. Because even ordinary people are free from some desires. Therefore, we can see that becoming free from desires is not impossible and anyone can do it.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We seem to live our life but in fact our life is the automatic reactions of our karma. Based on each reaction, a desire arises within us and then we act on the desire. In other words, our life is a perpetual repetition of karma and desire. People think that they are unhappy because of some external circumstances, but it is only a secondary and partial reason. When we are free from desire, we seldom suffer or feel fettered.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Observing the precepts is essential to becoming free from desire and karma<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Then how can we be free from our desires and karma? We are meditating now to achieve this freedom. However, wanting to be free from desire while eating whatever you want to eat, lying down when you want to lie down, and doing whatever you want to do is contradictory. In addition to the desires for food and sleep, we have other serious karma. Even if we are free from the desires for food and sleep, attaining liberation will be hard. As such, wishing for liberation without even achieving this much is contradictory.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For example, let\u2019s say I have a habit of smoking. I am not saying that smoking is bad but not being able to quit smoking while pursuing liberation and nirvana is contradictory. How can I be free from karma that has been formed through infinity if I can\u2019t even quit smoking, a habit that is only several years or decades old? That is why anyone who wishes to move toward liberation and nirvana needs to observe the precepts. We need to value and observe the precepts. Practicing to attain liberation and nirvana while not observing the precepts is contradictory.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A slave is forced to do something and a master takes the lead<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Yesterday, I recommended that you voluntarily follow the rules to control desires, instead of worrying about what others might think of you if you don\u2019t follow them. If you observe the precepts voluntarily, they are not restraints. Jesus said: \u201cIf anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles,\u201d \u201cIf someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them,\u201d and \u201cIf someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also.\u201d Have a willing mind like this. If you are forced to do something, you are a slave but if you take the lead, you are a master.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if there is no restriction on food, I recommend you to decide: \u201cI will eat a little because I won\u2019t need much energy while meditating,\u201d and even if there is no restriction on lying down, I recommend you to decide: \u201cI will lie down only during the designated hours while I am participating in the practice to be free from desire.\u201d If you decide like this voluntarily, you won\u2019t feel restricted.<\/strong><\/p>\n","post_title":"The Reason Why People Are Unhappy No Matter How Hard They Try To Be Happy","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"the-reason-why-people-are-unhappy-no-matter-how-hard-they-try-to-be-happy-2","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-07-14 14:40:41","post_modified_gmt":"2024-07-14 19:40:41","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=19801","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":20393,"post_author":"46","post_date":"2024-08-04 03:55:37","post_date_gmt":"2024-08-04 08:55:37","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"(\ud55c SUB) [Meditation Q&A] \u201cIs it wrong to take a deep breath during meditation?\u201d","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"%ed%95%9c-sub-meditation-qa-is-it-wrong-to-take-a-deep-breath-during-meditation","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-08-04 03:57:39","post_modified_gmt":"2024-08-04 08:57:39","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=20393","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":19744,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-07-12 17:07:50","post_date_gmt":"2024-07-12 22:07:50","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cI am not good at meditation. How can I make progress?\u201d","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-i-am-not-good-at-meditation-how-can-i-make-progress","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-07-04 17:13:18","post_modified_gmt":"2024-07-04 22:13:18","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=19744","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":18488,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-05-03 00:51:00","post_date_gmt":"2024-05-03 05:51:00","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cIn meditation, is curiousity helpful or is it an obstacle?\u201d","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-do-we-have-to-give-up-pleasure-to-live-without-suffering-duplicate-18475","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-05-07 11:55:14","post_modified_gmt":"2024-05-07 16:55:14","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=18488","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":18034,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-03-08 07:00:00","post_date_gmt":"2024-03-08 12:00:00","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cHow can I incorporate mindfulness into my work where I\u2019m challenged…. ?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-the-feeling-of-solitude-increases-and-the-motivation-in-life-decreases","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-02-27 18:46:27","post_modified_gmt":"2024-02-27 23:46:27","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=18034","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":18039,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-03-01 07:00:00","post_date_gmt":"2024-03-01 12:00:00","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cThe feeling of solitude increases and the motivation in life decreases\u2026. ?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-the-feeling-of-solitude-increases-and-the-motivation-in-life-decreases-2","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-02-27 18:51:13","post_modified_gmt":"2024-02-27 23:51:13","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=18039","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":18030,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-02-27 18:17:13","post_date_gmt":"2024-02-27 23:17:13","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cDuring meditation, I count from 1 to 100. Is this an improper tactic?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-during-meditation-i-count-from-1-to-100-is-this-an-improper-tactic","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-02-27 18:17:16","post_modified_gmt":"2024-02-27 23:17:16","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=18030","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":17831,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-02-16 07:00:00","post_date_gmt":"2024-02-16 12:00:00","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cIf I can be mindful of my life, does it mean I don\u2019t need meditation anymore?\u201d","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-if-i-can-be-mindful-of-my-life-does-it-mean-i-dont-need-meditation-anymore","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-01-06 21:29:41","post_modified_gmt":"2024-01-07 02:29:41","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=17831","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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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] Is relaxation enough in meditation?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-is-relaxation-enough-in-meditation","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2026-01-24 22:49:48","post_modified_gmt":"2026-01-25 03:49:48","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=33586","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":28435,"post_author":"46","post_date":"2025-05-31 08:22:43","post_date_gmt":"2025-05-31 13:22:43","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] How can I relax when meditating?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-how-can-i-relax-when-meditating","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-05-11 08:24:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-05-11 13:24:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=28435","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":19801,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-08-27 14:25:45","post_date_gmt":"2024-08-27 19:25:45","post_content":"\n

Meditation is not about training in techniques, such as how to sit or how to breathe. The most important goal of meditation is to move toward liberation and nirvana. Liberation means freedom from all fetters. Nirvana means happiness without suffering. In other words, liberation and nirvana is a state of sustainable freedom and happiness in which the endless cycle of joy and suffering is ended.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The reason why people are unhappy no matter how hard they try to be happy<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not. It is not because it is impossible to be free and happy, but because they are going in the wrong direction. As they are going in the wrong direction, they can\u2019t reach their destination no matter how steadfastly they walk.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why am I saying that people are going in the wrong direction? People in the world consider the good feelings they have when things go their way to be happiness. They consider the bad feeling they have when things don\u2019t go their way to be unhappiness. And they think that doing whatever they want is freedom and not doing what they want is bondage. These are ordinary people\u2019s concepts of happiness and freedom. However, in real life, these values can\u2019t be realized.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy briefly. But, when your desires are not fulfilled, you suffer. As there is no end to desire, you experience joy and suffering repeatedly. The Buddha said that this never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is the inevitable contradiction and limit of human life. Joy and suffering can\u2019t be divided. Yesterday\u2019s suffering can turn into today\u2019s joy and today\u2019s joy can turn into tomorrow\u2019s suffering. Since people don\u2019t know this principle, they want to live in a world filled with joy and devoid of suffering, thinking that it is possible to live in such a world. However, this is not possible in real life, so they wish to be born in such a world after they die. Therefore, every religion has an ideal world called heaven or paradise.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Society\u2019s current level consumption is even higher than that which is supposedly provided by the ideal world, the heaven that people dreamed of in the past. But we have greater desires now, so we consider our condition no better than hell. We can\u2019t see this contradiction because we only see what we want to achieve. Thinking that they are unhappy because their abilities or efforts are not sufficient, people try to get what they want by asking a powerful third party. As a result, religions that contain elements of asking help from almighty gods came to exist.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Religions already existed 5,000 years ago. The contemporaries of the Buddha, who lived 2,600 years ago, also tried to solve the contradictions of the world with religion. Religious teachings could comfort people temporarily, like drugs, but couldn\u2019t solve the problems fundamentally.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The way of neither following nor suppressing desires<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

The Buddha investigated how to solve this problem in-depth. He discovered that the root of the never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is desire. When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy and when your desires are not fulfilled, you suffer. But once you are free from desire, joy and suffering also disappear. The cycle of joy and suffering ends. But people can\u2019t even imagine becoming free from desire. People can think of only two ways to respond to desire: surrendering or resisting. In the West, these two ways were expressed as Epicureanism and Stoicism. And in India, they were expressed as hedonism and asceticism. The Buddha experienced ultimate pleasure and ultimate self-mortification, and found that neither are the right way toward liberation and nirvana. He discovered a third path, the Middle Way. He followed the Middle Way and attained liberation and nirvana.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Middle Way is just recognizing desire instead of following or suppressing. When you follow desire, consequences follow, and when you suppress desire, you become stressed. People suppress desire because following it will result in loss, but suppressing it leads to frustration and eventually to an explosion. Explosions result in loss again, so they suppress it, and then explode again, this cycle is repeated constantly. However, simply recognizing desire is not to respond to it at all; neither following nor suppressing.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

True freedom is to be free from desire by recognizing it. Then, from where does desire arise? The root of desire is karma. When your karma comes into contact with an external situation, a feeling arises, and based on that feeling, a desire arises. Each person has different karma, so each person has different desires.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some people have a strong desire for money, whereas others have no desire for money. Some people have a strong desire for food, whereas others don\u2019t care much about food and they can eat anything offered, like an ascetic. Different people have different desires. This gives us hope even though it seems impossible for humans to be free from desire. Because even ordinary people are free from some desires. Therefore, we can see that becoming free from desires is not impossible and anyone can do it.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We seem to live our life but in fact our life is the automatic reactions of our karma. Based on each reaction, a desire arises within us and then we act on the desire. In other words, our life is a perpetual repetition of karma and desire. People think that they are unhappy because of some external circumstances, but it is only a secondary and partial reason. When we are free from desire, we seldom suffer or feel fettered.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Observing the precepts is essential to becoming free from desire and karma<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Then how can we be free from our desires and karma? We are meditating now to achieve this freedom. However, wanting to be free from desire while eating whatever you want to eat, lying down when you want to lie down, and doing whatever you want to do is contradictory. In addition to the desires for food and sleep, we have other serious karma. Even if we are free from the desires for food and sleep, attaining liberation will be hard. As such, wishing for liberation without even achieving this much is contradictory.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For example, let\u2019s say I have a habit of smoking. I am not saying that smoking is bad but not being able to quit smoking while pursuing liberation and nirvana is contradictory. How can I be free from karma that has been formed through infinity if I can\u2019t even quit smoking, a habit that is only several years or decades old? That is why anyone who wishes to move toward liberation and nirvana needs to observe the precepts. We need to value and observe the precepts. Practicing to attain liberation and nirvana while not observing the precepts is contradictory.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A slave is forced to do something and a master takes the lead<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Yesterday, I recommended that you voluntarily follow the rules to control desires, instead of worrying about what others might think of you if you don\u2019t follow them. If you observe the precepts voluntarily, they are not restraints. Jesus said: \u201cIf anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles,\u201d \u201cIf someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them,\u201d and \u201cIf someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also.\u201d Have a willing mind like this. If you are forced to do something, you are a slave but if you take the lead, you are a master.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if there is no restriction on food, I recommend you to decide: \u201cI will eat a little because I won\u2019t need much energy while meditating,\u201d and even if there is no restriction on lying down, I recommend you to decide: \u201cI will lie down only during the designated hours while I am participating in the practice to be free from desire.\u201d If you decide like this voluntarily, you won\u2019t feel restricted.<\/strong><\/p>\n","post_title":"The Reason Why People Are Unhappy No Matter How Hard They Try To Be Happy","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"the-reason-why-people-are-unhappy-no-matter-how-hard-they-try-to-be-happy-2","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-07-14 14:40:41","post_modified_gmt":"2024-07-14 19:40:41","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=19801","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":20393,"post_author":"46","post_date":"2024-08-04 03:55:37","post_date_gmt":"2024-08-04 08:55:37","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] Is relaxation enough in meditation?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-is-relaxation-enough-in-meditation","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2026-01-24 22:49:48","post_modified_gmt":"2026-01-25 03:49:48","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=33586","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":28435,"post_author":"46","post_date":"2025-05-31 08:22:43","post_date_gmt":"2025-05-31 13:22:43","post_content":"\n

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Meditation is not about training in techniques, such as how to sit or how to breathe. The most important goal of meditation is to move toward liberation and nirvana. Liberation means freedom from all fetters. Nirvana means happiness without suffering. In other words, liberation and nirvana is a state of sustainable freedom and happiness in which the endless cycle of joy and suffering is ended.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The reason why people are unhappy no matter how hard they try to be happy<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not. It is not because it is impossible to be free and happy, but because they are going in the wrong direction. As they are going in the wrong direction, they can\u2019t reach their destination no matter how steadfastly they walk.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why am I saying that people are going in the wrong direction? People in the world consider the good feelings they have when things go their way to be happiness. They consider the bad feeling they have when things don\u2019t go their way to be unhappiness. And they think that doing whatever they want is freedom and not doing what they want is bondage. These are ordinary people\u2019s concepts of happiness and freedom. However, in real life, these values can\u2019t be realized.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy briefly. But, when your desires are not fulfilled, you suffer. As there is no end to desire, you experience joy and suffering repeatedly. The Buddha said that this never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is the inevitable contradiction and limit of human life. Joy and suffering can\u2019t be divided. Yesterday\u2019s suffering can turn into today\u2019s joy and today\u2019s joy can turn into tomorrow\u2019s suffering. Since people don\u2019t know this principle, they want to live in a world filled with joy and devoid of suffering, thinking that it is possible to live in such a world. However, this is not possible in real life, so they wish to be born in such a world after they die. Therefore, every religion has an ideal world called heaven or paradise.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Society\u2019s current level consumption is even higher than that which is supposedly provided by the ideal world, the heaven that people dreamed of in the past. But we have greater desires now, so we consider our condition no better than hell. We can\u2019t see this contradiction because we only see what we want to achieve. Thinking that they are unhappy because their abilities or efforts are not sufficient, people try to get what they want by asking a powerful third party. As a result, religions that contain elements of asking help from almighty gods came to exist.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Religions already existed 5,000 years ago. The contemporaries of the Buddha, who lived 2,600 years ago, also tried to solve the contradictions of the world with religion. Religious teachings could comfort people temporarily, like drugs, but couldn\u2019t solve the problems fundamentally.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The way of neither following nor suppressing desires<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

The Buddha investigated how to solve this problem in-depth. He discovered that the root of the never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is desire. When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy and when your desires are not fulfilled, you suffer. But once you are free from desire, joy and suffering also disappear. The cycle of joy and suffering ends. But people can\u2019t even imagine becoming free from desire. People can think of only two ways to respond to desire: surrendering or resisting. In the West, these two ways were expressed as Epicureanism and Stoicism. And in India, they were expressed as hedonism and asceticism. The Buddha experienced ultimate pleasure and ultimate self-mortification, and found that neither are the right way toward liberation and nirvana. He discovered a third path, the Middle Way. He followed the Middle Way and attained liberation and nirvana.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Middle Way is just recognizing desire instead of following or suppressing. When you follow desire, consequences follow, and when you suppress desire, you become stressed. People suppress desire because following it will result in loss, but suppressing it leads to frustration and eventually to an explosion. Explosions result in loss again, so they suppress it, and then explode again, this cycle is repeated constantly. However, simply recognizing desire is not to respond to it at all; neither following nor suppressing.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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True freedom is to be free from desire by recognizing it. Then, from where does desire arise? The root of desire is karma. When your karma comes into contact with an external situation, a feeling arises, and based on that feeling, a desire arises. Each person has different karma, so each person has different desires.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some people have a strong desire for money, whereas others have no desire for money. Some people have a strong desire for food, whereas others don\u2019t care much about food and they can eat anything offered, like an ascetic. Different people have different desires. This gives us hope even though it seems impossible for humans to be free from desire. Because even ordinary people are free from some desires. Therefore, we can see that becoming free from desires is not impossible and anyone can do it.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We seem to live our life but in fact our life is the automatic reactions of our karma. Based on each reaction, a desire arises within us and then we act on the desire. In other words, our life is a perpetual repetition of karma and desire. People think that they are unhappy because of some external circumstances, but it is only a secondary and partial reason. When we are free from desire, we seldom suffer or feel fettered.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Observing the precepts is essential to becoming free from desire and karma<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Then how can we be free from our desires and karma? We are meditating now to achieve this freedom. However, wanting to be free from desire while eating whatever you want to eat, lying down when you want to lie down, and doing whatever you want to do is contradictory. In addition to the desires for food and sleep, we have other serious karma. Even if we are free from the desires for food and sleep, attaining liberation will be hard. As such, wishing for liberation without even achieving this much is contradictory.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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For example, let\u2019s say I have a habit of smoking. I am not saying that smoking is bad but not being able to quit smoking while pursuing liberation and nirvana is contradictory. How can I be free from karma that has been formed through infinity if I can\u2019t even quit smoking, a habit that is only several years or decades old? That is why anyone who wishes to move toward liberation and nirvana needs to observe the precepts. We need to value and observe the precepts. Practicing to attain liberation and nirvana while not observing the precepts is contradictory.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A slave is forced to do something and a master takes the lead<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Yesterday, I recommended that you voluntarily follow the rules to control desires, instead of worrying about what others might think of you if you don\u2019t follow them. If you observe the precepts voluntarily, they are not restraints. Jesus said: \u201cIf anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles,\u201d \u201cIf someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them,\u201d and \u201cIf someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also.\u201d Have a willing mind like this. If you are forced to do something, you are a slave but if you take the lead, you are a master.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if there is no restriction on food, I recommend you to decide: \u201cI will eat a little because I won\u2019t need much energy while meditating,\u201d and even if there is no restriction on lying down, I recommend you to decide: \u201cI will lie down only during the designated hours while I am participating in the practice to be free from desire.\u201d If you decide like this voluntarily, you won\u2019t feel restricted.<\/strong><\/p>\n","post_title":"The Reason Why People Are Unhappy No Matter How Hard They Try To Be Happy","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"the-reason-why-people-are-unhappy-no-matter-how-hard-they-try-to-be-happy-2","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-07-14 14:40:41","post_modified_gmt":"2024-07-14 19:40:41","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=19801","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":20393,"post_author":"46","post_date":"2024-08-04 03:55:37","post_date_gmt":"2024-08-04 08:55:37","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cDuring meditation, I count from 1 to 100. Is this an improper tactic?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-during-meditation-i-count-from-1-to-100-is-this-an-improper-tactic","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-02-27 18:17:16","post_modified_gmt":"2024-02-27 23:17:16","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=18030","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":17831,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-02-16 07:00:00","post_date_gmt":"2024-02-16 12:00:00","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] Is relaxation enough in meditation?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-is-relaxation-enough-in-meditation","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2026-01-24 22:49:48","post_modified_gmt":"2026-01-25 03:49:48","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=33586","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":28435,"post_author":"46","post_date":"2025-05-31 08:22:43","post_date_gmt":"2025-05-31 13:22:43","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] How can I relax when meditating?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-how-can-i-relax-when-meditating","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-05-11 08:24:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-05-11 13:24:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=28435","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":19801,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-08-27 14:25:45","post_date_gmt":"2024-08-27 19:25:45","post_content":"\n

Meditation is not about training in techniques, such as how to sit or how to breathe. The most important goal of meditation is to move toward liberation and nirvana. Liberation means freedom from all fetters. Nirvana means happiness without suffering. In other words, liberation and nirvana is a state of sustainable freedom and happiness in which the endless cycle of joy and suffering is ended.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The reason why people are unhappy no matter how hard they try to be happy<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not. It is not because it is impossible to be free and happy, but because they are going in the wrong direction. As they are going in the wrong direction, they can\u2019t reach their destination no matter how steadfastly they walk.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why am I saying that people are going in the wrong direction? People in the world consider the good feelings they have when things go their way to be happiness. They consider the bad feeling they have when things don\u2019t go their way to be unhappiness. And they think that doing whatever they want is freedom and not doing what they want is bondage. These are ordinary people\u2019s concepts of happiness and freedom. However, in real life, these values can\u2019t be realized.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy briefly. But, when your desires are not fulfilled, you suffer. As there is no end to desire, you experience joy and suffering repeatedly. The Buddha said that this never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is the inevitable contradiction and limit of human life. Joy and suffering can\u2019t be divided. Yesterday\u2019s suffering can turn into today\u2019s joy and today\u2019s joy can turn into tomorrow\u2019s suffering. Since people don\u2019t know this principle, they want to live in a world filled with joy and devoid of suffering, thinking that it is possible to live in such a world. However, this is not possible in real life, so they wish to be born in such a world after they die. Therefore, every religion has an ideal world called heaven or paradise.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Society\u2019s current level consumption is even higher than that which is supposedly provided by the ideal world, the heaven that people dreamed of in the past. But we have greater desires now, so we consider our condition no better than hell. We can\u2019t see this contradiction because we only see what we want to achieve. Thinking that they are unhappy because their abilities or efforts are not sufficient, people try to get what they want by asking a powerful third party. As a result, religions that contain elements of asking help from almighty gods came to exist.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Religions already existed 5,000 years ago. The contemporaries of the Buddha, who lived 2,600 years ago, also tried to solve the contradictions of the world with religion. Religious teachings could comfort people temporarily, like drugs, but couldn\u2019t solve the problems fundamentally.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The way of neither following nor suppressing desires<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

The Buddha investigated how to solve this problem in-depth. He discovered that the root of the never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is desire. When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy and when your desires are not fulfilled, you suffer. But once you are free from desire, joy and suffering also disappear. The cycle of joy and suffering ends. But people can\u2019t even imagine becoming free from desire. People can think of only two ways to respond to desire: surrendering or resisting. In the West, these two ways were expressed as Epicureanism and Stoicism. And in India, they were expressed as hedonism and asceticism. The Buddha experienced ultimate pleasure and ultimate self-mortification, and found that neither are the right way toward liberation and nirvana. He discovered a third path, the Middle Way. He followed the Middle Way and attained liberation and nirvana.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Middle Way is just recognizing desire instead of following or suppressing. When you follow desire, consequences follow, and when you suppress desire, you become stressed. People suppress desire because following it will result in loss, but suppressing it leads to frustration and eventually to an explosion. Explosions result in loss again, so they suppress it, and then explode again, this cycle is repeated constantly. However, simply recognizing desire is not to respond to it at all; neither following nor suppressing.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

True freedom is to be free from desire by recognizing it. Then, from where does desire arise? The root of desire is karma. When your karma comes into contact with an external situation, a feeling arises, and based on that feeling, a desire arises. Each person has different karma, so each person has different desires.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some people have a strong desire for money, whereas others have no desire for money. Some people have a strong desire for food, whereas others don\u2019t care much about food and they can eat anything offered, like an ascetic. Different people have different desires. This gives us hope even though it seems impossible for humans to be free from desire. Because even ordinary people are free from some desires. Therefore, we can see that becoming free from desires is not impossible and anyone can do it.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We seem to live our life but in fact our life is the automatic reactions of our karma. Based on each reaction, a desire arises within us and then we act on the desire. In other words, our life is a perpetual repetition of karma and desire. People think that they are unhappy because of some external circumstances, but it is only a secondary and partial reason. When we are free from desire, we seldom suffer or feel fettered.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Observing the precepts is essential to becoming free from desire and karma<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Then how can we be free from our desires and karma? We are meditating now to achieve this freedom. However, wanting to be free from desire while eating whatever you want to eat, lying down when you want to lie down, and doing whatever you want to do is contradictory. In addition to the desires for food and sleep, we have other serious karma. Even if we are free from the desires for food and sleep, attaining liberation will be hard. As such, wishing for liberation without even achieving this much is contradictory.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For example, let\u2019s say I have a habit of smoking. I am not saying that smoking is bad but not being able to quit smoking while pursuing liberation and nirvana is contradictory. How can I be free from karma that has been formed through infinity if I can\u2019t even quit smoking, a habit that is only several years or decades old? That is why anyone who wishes to move toward liberation and nirvana needs to observe the precepts. We need to value and observe the precepts. Practicing to attain liberation and nirvana while not observing the precepts is contradictory.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A slave is forced to do something and a master takes the lead<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Yesterday, I recommended that you voluntarily follow the rules to control desires, instead of worrying about what others might think of you if you don\u2019t follow them. If you observe the precepts voluntarily, they are not restraints. Jesus said: \u201cIf anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles,\u201d \u201cIf someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them,\u201d and \u201cIf someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also.\u201d Have a willing mind like this. If you are forced to do something, you are a slave but if you take the lead, you are a master.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if there is no restriction on food, I recommend you to decide: \u201cI will eat a little because I won\u2019t need much energy while meditating,\u201d and even if there is no restriction on lying down, I recommend you to decide: \u201cI will lie down only during the designated hours while I am participating in the practice to be free from desire.\u201d If you decide like this voluntarily, you won\u2019t feel restricted.<\/strong><\/p>\n","post_title":"The Reason Why People Are Unhappy No Matter How Hard They Try To Be Happy","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"the-reason-why-people-are-unhappy-no-matter-how-hard-they-try-to-be-happy-2","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-07-14 14:40:41","post_modified_gmt":"2024-07-14 19:40:41","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=19801","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":20393,"post_author":"46","post_date":"2024-08-04 03:55:37","post_date_gmt":"2024-08-04 08:55:37","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"(\ud55c SUB) [Meditation Q&A] \u201cIs it wrong to take a deep breath during meditation?\u201d","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"%ed%95%9c-sub-meditation-qa-is-it-wrong-to-take-a-deep-breath-during-meditation","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-08-04 03:57:39","post_modified_gmt":"2024-08-04 08:57:39","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=20393","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":19744,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-07-12 17:07:50","post_date_gmt":"2024-07-12 22:07:50","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cI am not good at meditation. How can I make progress?\u201d","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-i-am-not-good-at-meditation-how-can-i-make-progress","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-07-04 17:13:18","post_modified_gmt":"2024-07-04 22:13:18","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=19744","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":18488,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-05-03 00:51:00","post_date_gmt":"2024-05-03 05:51:00","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cIn meditation, is curiousity helpful or is it an obstacle?\u201d","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-do-we-have-to-give-up-pleasure-to-live-without-suffering-duplicate-18475","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-05-07 11:55:14","post_modified_gmt":"2024-05-07 16:55:14","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=18488","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":18034,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-03-08 07:00:00","post_date_gmt":"2024-03-08 12:00:00","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cHow can I incorporate mindfulness into my work where I\u2019m challenged…. ?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-the-feeling-of-solitude-increases-and-the-motivation-in-life-decreases","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-02-27 18:46:27","post_modified_gmt":"2024-02-27 23:46:27","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=18034","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":18039,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-03-01 07:00:00","post_date_gmt":"2024-03-01 12:00:00","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cThe feeling of solitude increases and the motivation in life decreases\u2026. ?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-the-feeling-of-solitude-increases-and-the-motivation-in-life-decreases-2","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-02-27 18:51:13","post_modified_gmt":"2024-02-27 23:51:13","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=18039","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":18030,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-02-27 18:17:13","post_date_gmt":"2024-02-27 23:17:13","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cDuring meditation, I count from 1 to 100. Is this an improper tactic?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-during-meditation-i-count-from-1-to-100-is-this-an-improper-tactic","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-02-27 18:17:16","post_modified_gmt":"2024-02-27 23:17:16","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=18030","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":17831,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-02-16 07:00:00","post_date_gmt":"2024-02-16 12:00:00","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cIf I can be mindful of my life, does it mean I don\u2019t need meditation anymore?\u201d","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-if-i-can-be-mindful-of-my-life-does-it-mean-i-dont-need-meditation-anymore","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-01-06 21:29:41","post_modified_gmt":"2024-01-07 02:29:41","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=17831","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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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] Is relaxation enough in meditation?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-is-relaxation-enough-in-meditation","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2026-01-24 22:49:48","post_modified_gmt":"2026-01-25 03:49:48","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=33586","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":28435,"post_author":"46","post_date":"2025-05-31 08:22:43","post_date_gmt":"2025-05-31 13:22:43","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] How can I relax when meditating?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-how-can-i-relax-when-meditating","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-05-11 08:24:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-05-11 13:24:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=28435","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":19801,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-08-27 14:25:45","post_date_gmt":"2024-08-27 19:25:45","post_content":"\n

Meditation is not about training in techniques, such as how to sit or how to breathe. The most important goal of meditation is to move toward liberation and nirvana. Liberation means freedom from all fetters. Nirvana means happiness without suffering. In other words, liberation and nirvana is a state of sustainable freedom and happiness in which the endless cycle of joy and suffering is ended.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The reason why people are unhappy no matter how hard they try to be happy<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not. It is not because it is impossible to be free and happy, but because they are going in the wrong direction. As they are going in the wrong direction, they can\u2019t reach their destination no matter how steadfastly they walk.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why am I saying that people are going in the wrong direction? People in the world consider the good feelings they have when things go their way to be happiness. They consider the bad feeling they have when things don\u2019t go their way to be unhappiness. And they think that doing whatever they want is freedom and not doing what they want is bondage. These are ordinary people\u2019s concepts of happiness and freedom. However, in real life, these values can\u2019t be realized.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy briefly. But, when your desires are not fulfilled, you suffer. As there is no end to desire, you experience joy and suffering repeatedly. The Buddha said that this never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is the inevitable contradiction and limit of human life. Joy and suffering can\u2019t be divided. Yesterday\u2019s suffering can turn into today\u2019s joy and today\u2019s joy can turn into tomorrow\u2019s suffering. Since people don\u2019t know this principle, they want to live in a world filled with joy and devoid of suffering, thinking that it is possible to live in such a world. However, this is not possible in real life, so they wish to be born in such a world after they die. Therefore, every religion has an ideal world called heaven or paradise.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Society\u2019s current level consumption is even higher than that which is supposedly provided by the ideal world, the heaven that people dreamed of in the past. But we have greater desires now, so we consider our condition no better than hell. We can\u2019t see this contradiction because we only see what we want to achieve. Thinking that they are unhappy because their abilities or efforts are not sufficient, people try to get what they want by asking a powerful third party. As a result, religions that contain elements of asking help from almighty gods came to exist.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Religions already existed 5,000 years ago. The contemporaries of the Buddha, who lived 2,600 years ago, also tried to solve the contradictions of the world with religion. Religious teachings could comfort people temporarily, like drugs, but couldn\u2019t solve the problems fundamentally.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The way of neither following nor suppressing desires<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

The Buddha investigated how to solve this problem in-depth. He discovered that the root of the never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is desire. When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy and when your desires are not fulfilled, you suffer. But once you are free from desire, joy and suffering also disappear. The cycle of joy and suffering ends. But people can\u2019t even imagine becoming free from desire. People can think of only two ways to respond to desire: surrendering or resisting. In the West, these two ways were expressed as Epicureanism and Stoicism. And in India, they were expressed as hedonism and asceticism. The Buddha experienced ultimate pleasure and ultimate self-mortification, and found that neither are the right way toward liberation and nirvana. He discovered a third path, the Middle Way. He followed the Middle Way and attained liberation and nirvana.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Middle Way is just recognizing desire instead of following or suppressing. When you follow desire, consequences follow, and when you suppress desire, you become stressed. People suppress desire because following it will result in loss, but suppressing it leads to frustration and eventually to an explosion. Explosions result in loss again, so they suppress it, and then explode again, this cycle is repeated constantly. However, simply recognizing desire is not to respond to it at all; neither following nor suppressing.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

True freedom is to be free from desire by recognizing it. Then, from where does desire arise? The root of desire is karma. When your karma comes into contact with an external situation, a feeling arises, and based on that feeling, a desire arises. Each person has different karma, so each person has different desires.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some people have a strong desire for money, whereas others have no desire for money. Some people have a strong desire for food, whereas others don\u2019t care much about food and they can eat anything offered, like an ascetic. Different people have different desires. This gives us hope even though it seems impossible for humans to be free from desire. Because even ordinary people are free from some desires. Therefore, we can see that becoming free from desires is not impossible and anyone can do it.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We seem to live our life but in fact our life is the automatic reactions of our karma. Based on each reaction, a desire arises within us and then we act on the desire. In other words, our life is a perpetual repetition of karma and desire. People think that they are unhappy because of some external circumstances, but it is only a secondary and partial reason. When we are free from desire, we seldom suffer or feel fettered.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Observing the precepts is essential to becoming free from desire and karma<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Then how can we be free from our desires and karma? We are meditating now to achieve this freedom. However, wanting to be free from desire while eating whatever you want to eat, lying down when you want to lie down, and doing whatever you want to do is contradictory. In addition to the desires for food and sleep, we have other serious karma. Even if we are free from the desires for food and sleep, attaining liberation will be hard. As such, wishing for liberation without even achieving this much is contradictory.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For example, let\u2019s say I have a habit of smoking. I am not saying that smoking is bad but not being able to quit smoking while pursuing liberation and nirvana is contradictory. How can I be free from karma that has been formed through infinity if I can\u2019t even quit smoking, a habit that is only several years or decades old? That is why anyone who wishes to move toward liberation and nirvana needs to observe the precepts. We need to value and observe the precepts. Practicing to attain liberation and nirvana while not observing the precepts is contradictory.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A slave is forced to do something and a master takes the lead<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Yesterday, I recommended that you voluntarily follow the rules to control desires, instead of worrying about what others might think of you if you don\u2019t follow them. If you observe the precepts voluntarily, they are not restraints. Jesus said: \u201cIf anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles,\u201d \u201cIf someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them,\u201d and \u201cIf someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also.\u201d Have a willing mind like this. If you are forced to do something, you are a slave but if you take the lead, you are a master.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if there is no restriction on food, I recommend you to decide: \u201cI will eat a little because I won\u2019t need much energy while meditating,\u201d and even if there is no restriction on lying down, I recommend you to decide: \u201cI will lie down only during the designated hours while I am participating in the practice to be free from desire.\u201d If you decide like this voluntarily, you won\u2019t feel restricted.<\/strong><\/p>\n","post_title":"The Reason Why People Are Unhappy No Matter How Hard They Try To Be Happy","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"the-reason-why-people-are-unhappy-no-matter-how-hard-they-try-to-be-happy-2","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-07-14 14:40:41","post_modified_gmt":"2024-07-14 19:40:41","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=19801","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":20393,"post_author":"46","post_date":"2024-08-04 03:55:37","post_date_gmt":"2024-08-04 08:55:37","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"(\ud55c SUB) [Meditation Q&A] \u201cIs it wrong to take a deep breath during meditation?\u201d","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"%ed%95%9c-sub-meditation-qa-is-it-wrong-to-take-a-deep-breath-during-meditation","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-08-04 03:57:39","post_modified_gmt":"2024-08-04 08:57:39","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=20393","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":19744,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-07-12 17:07:50","post_date_gmt":"2024-07-12 22:07:50","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cI am not good at meditation. How can I make progress?\u201d","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-i-am-not-good-at-meditation-how-can-i-make-progress","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-07-04 17:13:18","post_modified_gmt":"2024-07-04 22:13:18","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=19744","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":18488,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-05-03 00:51:00","post_date_gmt":"2024-05-03 05:51:00","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cIn meditation, is curiousity helpful or is it an obstacle?\u201d","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-do-we-have-to-give-up-pleasure-to-live-without-suffering-duplicate-18475","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-05-07 11:55:14","post_modified_gmt":"2024-05-07 16:55:14","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=18488","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":18034,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-03-08 07:00:00","post_date_gmt":"2024-03-08 12:00:00","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cHow can I incorporate mindfulness into my work where I\u2019m challenged…. ?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-the-feeling-of-solitude-increases-and-the-motivation-in-life-decreases","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-02-27 18:46:27","post_modified_gmt":"2024-02-27 23:46:27","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=18034","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":18039,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-03-01 07:00:00","post_date_gmt":"2024-03-01 12:00:00","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cThe feeling of solitude increases and the motivation in life decreases\u2026. ?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-the-feeling-of-solitude-increases-and-the-motivation-in-life-decreases-2","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-02-27 18:51:13","post_modified_gmt":"2024-02-27 23:51:13","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=18039","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":18030,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-02-27 18:17:13","post_date_gmt":"2024-02-27 23:17:13","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cDuring meditation, I count from 1 to 100. Is this an improper tactic?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-during-meditation-i-count-from-1-to-100-is-this-an-improper-tactic","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-02-27 18:17:16","post_modified_gmt":"2024-02-27 23:17:16","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=18030","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":17831,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-02-16 07:00:00","post_date_gmt":"2024-02-16 12:00:00","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cIf I can be mindful of my life, does it mean I don\u2019t need meditation anymore?\u201d","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-if-i-can-be-mindful-of-my-life-does-it-mean-i-dont-need-meditation-anymore","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-01-06 21:29:41","post_modified_gmt":"2024-01-07 02:29:41","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=17831","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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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] Is relaxation enough in meditation?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-is-relaxation-enough-in-meditation","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2026-01-24 22:49:48","post_modified_gmt":"2026-01-25 03:49:48","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=33586","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":28435,"post_author":"46","post_date":"2025-05-31 08:22:43","post_date_gmt":"2025-05-31 13:22:43","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] How can I relax when meditating?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-how-can-i-relax-when-meditating","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-05-11 08:24:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-05-11 13:24:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=28435","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":19801,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-08-27 14:25:45","post_date_gmt":"2024-08-27 19:25:45","post_content":"\n

Meditation is not about training in techniques, such as how to sit or how to breathe. The most important goal of meditation is to move toward liberation and nirvana. Liberation means freedom from all fetters. Nirvana means happiness without suffering. In other words, liberation and nirvana is a state of sustainable freedom and happiness in which the endless cycle of joy and suffering is ended.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The reason why people are unhappy no matter how hard they try to be happy<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not. It is not because it is impossible to be free and happy, but because they are going in the wrong direction. As they are going in the wrong direction, they can\u2019t reach their destination no matter how steadfastly they walk.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why am I saying that people are going in the wrong direction? People in the world consider the good feelings they have when things go their way to be happiness. They consider the bad feeling they have when things don\u2019t go their way to be unhappiness. And they think that doing whatever they want is freedom and not doing what they want is bondage. These are ordinary people\u2019s concepts of happiness and freedom. However, in real life, these values can\u2019t be realized.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy briefly. But, when your desires are not fulfilled, you suffer. As there is no end to desire, you experience joy and suffering repeatedly. The Buddha said that this never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is the inevitable contradiction and limit of human life. Joy and suffering can\u2019t be divided. Yesterday\u2019s suffering can turn into today\u2019s joy and today\u2019s joy can turn into tomorrow\u2019s suffering. Since people don\u2019t know this principle, they want to live in a world filled with joy and devoid of suffering, thinking that it is possible to live in such a world. However, this is not possible in real life, so they wish to be born in such a world after they die. Therefore, every religion has an ideal world called heaven or paradise.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Society\u2019s current level consumption is even higher than that which is supposedly provided by the ideal world, the heaven that people dreamed of in the past. But we have greater desires now, so we consider our condition no better than hell. We can\u2019t see this contradiction because we only see what we want to achieve. Thinking that they are unhappy because their abilities or efforts are not sufficient, people try to get what they want by asking a powerful third party. As a result, religions that contain elements of asking help from almighty gods came to exist.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Religions already existed 5,000 years ago. The contemporaries of the Buddha, who lived 2,600 years ago, also tried to solve the contradictions of the world with religion. Religious teachings could comfort people temporarily, like drugs, but couldn\u2019t solve the problems fundamentally.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The way of neither following nor suppressing desires<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

The Buddha investigated how to solve this problem in-depth. He discovered that the root of the never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is desire. When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy and when your desires are not fulfilled, you suffer. But once you are free from desire, joy and suffering also disappear. The cycle of joy and suffering ends. But people can\u2019t even imagine becoming free from desire. People can think of only two ways to respond to desire: surrendering or resisting. In the West, these two ways were expressed as Epicureanism and Stoicism. And in India, they were expressed as hedonism and asceticism. The Buddha experienced ultimate pleasure and ultimate self-mortification, and found that neither are the right way toward liberation and nirvana. He discovered a third path, the Middle Way. He followed the Middle Way and attained liberation and nirvana.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Middle Way is just recognizing desire instead of following or suppressing. When you follow desire, consequences follow, and when you suppress desire, you become stressed. People suppress desire because following it will result in loss, but suppressing it leads to frustration and eventually to an explosion. Explosions result in loss again, so they suppress it, and then explode again, this cycle is repeated constantly. However, simply recognizing desire is not to respond to it at all; neither following nor suppressing.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

True freedom is to be free from desire by recognizing it. Then, from where does desire arise? The root of desire is karma. When your karma comes into contact with an external situation, a feeling arises, and based on that feeling, a desire arises. Each person has different karma, so each person has different desires.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some people have a strong desire for money, whereas others have no desire for money. Some people have a strong desire for food, whereas others don\u2019t care much about food and they can eat anything offered, like an ascetic. Different people have different desires. This gives us hope even though it seems impossible for humans to be free from desire. Because even ordinary people are free from some desires. Therefore, we can see that becoming free from desires is not impossible and anyone can do it.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We seem to live our life but in fact our life is the automatic reactions of our karma. Based on each reaction, a desire arises within us and then we act on the desire. In other words, our life is a perpetual repetition of karma and desire. People think that they are unhappy because of some external circumstances, but it is only a secondary and partial reason. When we are free from desire, we seldom suffer or feel fettered.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Observing the precepts is essential to becoming free from desire and karma<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Then how can we be free from our desires and karma? We are meditating now to achieve this freedom. However, wanting to be free from desire while eating whatever you want to eat, lying down when you want to lie down, and doing whatever you want to do is contradictory. In addition to the desires for food and sleep, we have other serious karma. Even if we are free from the desires for food and sleep, attaining liberation will be hard. As such, wishing for liberation without even achieving this much is contradictory.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For example, let\u2019s say I have a habit of smoking. I am not saying that smoking is bad but not being able to quit smoking while pursuing liberation and nirvana is contradictory. How can I be free from karma that has been formed through infinity if I can\u2019t even quit smoking, a habit that is only several years or decades old? That is why anyone who wishes to move toward liberation and nirvana needs to observe the precepts. We need to value and observe the precepts. Practicing to attain liberation and nirvana while not observing the precepts is contradictory.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A slave is forced to do something and a master takes the lead<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Yesterday, I recommended that you voluntarily follow the rules to control desires, instead of worrying about what others might think of you if you don\u2019t follow them. If you observe the precepts voluntarily, they are not restraints. Jesus said: \u201cIf anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles,\u201d \u201cIf someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them,\u201d and \u201cIf someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also.\u201d Have a willing mind like this. If you are forced to do something, you are a slave but if you take the lead, you are a master.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if there is no restriction on food, I recommend you to decide: \u201cI will eat a little because I won\u2019t need much energy while meditating,\u201d and even if there is no restriction on lying down, I recommend you to decide: \u201cI will lie down only during the designated hours while I am participating in the practice to be free from desire.\u201d If you decide like this voluntarily, you won\u2019t feel restricted.<\/strong><\/p>\n","post_title":"The Reason Why People Are Unhappy No Matter How Hard They Try To Be Happy","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"the-reason-why-people-are-unhappy-no-matter-how-hard-they-try-to-be-happy-2","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-07-14 14:40:41","post_modified_gmt":"2024-07-14 19:40:41","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=19801","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":20393,"post_author":"46","post_date":"2024-08-04 03:55:37","post_date_gmt":"2024-08-04 08:55:37","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"(\ud55c SUB) [Meditation Q&A] \u201cIs it wrong to take a deep breath during meditation?\u201d","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"%ed%95%9c-sub-meditation-qa-is-it-wrong-to-take-a-deep-breath-during-meditation","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-08-04 03:57:39","post_modified_gmt":"2024-08-04 08:57:39","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=20393","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":19744,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-07-12 17:07:50","post_date_gmt":"2024-07-12 22:07:50","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cI am not good at meditation. How can I make progress?\u201d","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-i-am-not-good-at-meditation-how-can-i-make-progress","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-07-04 17:13:18","post_modified_gmt":"2024-07-04 22:13:18","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=19744","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":18488,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-05-03 00:51:00","post_date_gmt":"2024-05-03 05:51:00","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cIn meditation, is curiousity helpful or is it an obstacle?\u201d","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-do-we-have-to-give-up-pleasure-to-live-without-suffering-duplicate-18475","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-05-07 11:55:14","post_modified_gmt":"2024-05-07 16:55:14","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=18488","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":18034,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-03-08 07:00:00","post_date_gmt":"2024-03-08 12:00:00","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cHow can I incorporate mindfulness into my work where I\u2019m challenged…. ?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-the-feeling-of-solitude-increases-and-the-motivation-in-life-decreases","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-02-27 18:46:27","post_modified_gmt":"2024-02-27 23:46:27","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=18034","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":18039,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-03-01 07:00:00","post_date_gmt":"2024-03-01 12:00:00","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cThe feeling of solitude increases and the motivation in life decreases\u2026. ?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-the-feeling-of-solitude-increases-and-the-motivation-in-life-decreases-2","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-02-27 18:51:13","post_modified_gmt":"2024-02-27 23:51:13","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=18039","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":18030,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-02-27 18:17:13","post_date_gmt":"2024-02-27 23:17:13","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cDuring meditation, I count from 1 to 100. Is this an improper tactic?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-during-meditation-i-count-from-1-to-100-is-this-an-improper-tactic","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-02-27 18:17:16","post_modified_gmt":"2024-02-27 23:17:16","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=18030","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":17831,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-02-16 07:00:00","post_date_gmt":"2024-02-16 12:00:00","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] Is relaxation enough in meditation?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-is-relaxation-enough-in-meditation","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2026-01-24 22:49:48","post_modified_gmt":"2026-01-25 03:49:48","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=33586","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":28435,"post_author":"46","post_date":"2025-05-31 08:22:43","post_date_gmt":"2025-05-31 13:22:43","post_content":"\n

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Meditation is not about training in techniques, such as how to sit or how to breathe. The most important goal of meditation is to move toward liberation and nirvana. Liberation means freedom from all fetters. Nirvana means happiness without suffering. In other words, liberation and nirvana is a state of sustainable freedom and happiness in which the endless cycle of joy and suffering is ended.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The reason why people are unhappy no matter how hard they try to be happy<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not. It is not because it is impossible to be free and happy, but because they are going in the wrong direction. As they are going in the wrong direction, they can\u2019t reach their destination no matter how steadfastly they walk.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why am I saying that people are going in the wrong direction? People in the world consider the good feelings they have when things go their way to be happiness. They consider the bad feeling they have when things don\u2019t go their way to be unhappiness. And they think that doing whatever they want is freedom and not doing what they want is bondage. These are ordinary people\u2019s concepts of happiness and freedom. However, in real life, these values can\u2019t be realized.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy briefly. But, when your desires are not fulfilled, you suffer. As there is no end to desire, you experience joy and suffering repeatedly. The Buddha said that this never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is the inevitable contradiction and limit of human life. Joy and suffering can\u2019t be divided. Yesterday\u2019s suffering can turn into today\u2019s joy and today\u2019s joy can turn into tomorrow\u2019s suffering. Since people don\u2019t know this principle, they want to live in a world filled with joy and devoid of suffering, thinking that it is possible to live in such a world. However, this is not possible in real life, so they wish to be born in such a world after they die. Therefore, every religion has an ideal world called heaven or paradise.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Society\u2019s current level consumption is even higher than that which is supposedly provided by the ideal world, the heaven that people dreamed of in the past. But we have greater desires now, so we consider our condition no better than hell. We can\u2019t see this contradiction because we only see what we want to achieve. Thinking that they are unhappy because their abilities or efforts are not sufficient, people try to get what they want by asking a powerful third party. As a result, religions that contain elements of asking help from almighty gods came to exist.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Religions already existed 5,000 years ago. The contemporaries of the Buddha, who lived 2,600 years ago, also tried to solve the contradictions of the world with religion. Religious teachings could comfort people temporarily, like drugs, but couldn\u2019t solve the problems fundamentally.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The way of neither following nor suppressing desires<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

The Buddha investigated how to solve this problem in-depth. He discovered that the root of the never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is desire. When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy and when your desires are not fulfilled, you suffer. But once you are free from desire, joy and suffering also disappear. The cycle of joy and suffering ends. But people can\u2019t even imagine becoming free from desire. People can think of only two ways to respond to desire: surrendering or resisting. In the West, these two ways were expressed as Epicureanism and Stoicism. And in India, they were expressed as hedonism and asceticism. The Buddha experienced ultimate pleasure and ultimate self-mortification, and found that neither are the right way toward liberation and nirvana. He discovered a third path, the Middle Way. He followed the Middle Way and attained liberation and nirvana.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Middle Way is just recognizing desire instead of following or suppressing. When you follow desire, consequences follow, and when you suppress desire, you become stressed. People suppress desire because following it will result in loss, but suppressing it leads to frustration and eventually to an explosion. Explosions result in loss again, so they suppress it, and then explode again, this cycle is repeated constantly. However, simply recognizing desire is not to respond to it at all; neither following nor suppressing.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

True freedom is to be free from desire by recognizing it. Then, from where does desire arise? The root of desire is karma. When your karma comes into contact with an external situation, a feeling arises, and based on that feeling, a desire arises. Each person has different karma, so each person has different desires.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some people have a strong desire for money, whereas others have no desire for money. Some people have a strong desire for food, whereas others don\u2019t care much about food and they can eat anything offered, like an ascetic. Different people have different desires. This gives us hope even though it seems impossible for humans to be free from desire. Because even ordinary people are free from some desires. Therefore, we can see that becoming free from desires is not impossible and anyone can do it.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We seem to live our life but in fact our life is the automatic reactions of our karma. Based on each reaction, a desire arises within us and then we act on the desire. In other words, our life is a perpetual repetition of karma and desire. People think that they are unhappy because of some external circumstances, but it is only a secondary and partial reason. When we are free from desire, we seldom suffer or feel fettered.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Observing the precepts is essential to becoming free from desire and karma<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Then how can we be free from our desires and karma? We are meditating now to achieve this freedom. However, wanting to be free from desire while eating whatever you want to eat, lying down when you want to lie down, and doing whatever you want to do is contradictory. In addition to the desires for food and sleep, we have other serious karma. Even if we are free from the desires for food and sleep, attaining liberation will be hard. As such, wishing for liberation without even achieving this much is contradictory.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For example, let\u2019s say I have a habit of smoking. I am not saying that smoking is bad but not being able to quit smoking while pursuing liberation and nirvana is contradictory. How can I be free from karma that has been formed through infinity if I can\u2019t even quit smoking, a habit that is only several years or decades old? That is why anyone who wishes to move toward liberation and nirvana needs to observe the precepts. We need to value and observe the precepts. Practicing to attain liberation and nirvana while not observing the precepts is contradictory.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A slave is forced to do something and a master takes the lead<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Yesterday, I recommended that you voluntarily follow the rules to control desires, instead of worrying about what others might think of you if you don\u2019t follow them. If you observe the precepts voluntarily, they are not restraints. Jesus said: \u201cIf anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles,\u201d \u201cIf someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them,\u201d and \u201cIf someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also.\u201d Have a willing mind like this. If you are forced to do something, you are a slave but if you take the lead, you are a master.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if there is no restriction on food, I recommend you to decide: \u201cI will eat a little because I won\u2019t need much energy while meditating,\u201d and even if there is no restriction on lying down, I recommend you to decide: \u201cI will lie down only during the designated hours while I am participating in the practice to be free from desire.\u201d If you decide like this voluntarily, you won\u2019t feel restricted.<\/strong><\/p>\n","post_title":"The Reason Why People Are Unhappy No Matter How Hard They Try To Be Happy","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"the-reason-why-people-are-unhappy-no-matter-how-hard-they-try-to-be-happy-2","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-07-14 14:40:41","post_modified_gmt":"2024-07-14 19:40:41","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=19801","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":20393,"post_author":"46","post_date":"2024-08-04 03:55:37","post_date_gmt":"2024-08-04 08:55:37","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cIn meditation, is curiousity helpful or is it an obstacle?\u201d","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-do-we-have-to-give-up-pleasure-to-live-without-suffering-duplicate-18475","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-05-07 11:55:14","post_modified_gmt":"2024-05-07 16:55:14","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=18488","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":18034,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-03-08 07:00:00","post_date_gmt":"2024-03-08 12:00:00","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cHow can I incorporate mindfulness into my work where I\u2019m challenged…. ?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-the-feeling-of-solitude-increases-and-the-motivation-in-life-decreases","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-02-27 18:46:27","post_modified_gmt":"2024-02-27 23:46:27","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=18034","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":18039,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-03-01 07:00:00","post_date_gmt":"2024-03-01 12:00:00","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cThe feeling of solitude increases and the motivation in life decreases\u2026. ?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-the-feeling-of-solitude-increases-and-the-motivation-in-life-decreases-2","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-02-27 18:51:13","post_modified_gmt":"2024-02-27 23:51:13","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=18039","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":18030,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-02-27 18:17:13","post_date_gmt":"2024-02-27 23:17:13","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cDuring meditation, I count from 1 to 100. Is this an improper tactic?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-during-meditation-i-count-from-1-to-100-is-this-an-improper-tactic","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-02-27 18:17:16","post_modified_gmt":"2024-02-27 23:17:16","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=18030","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":17831,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-02-16 07:00:00","post_date_gmt":"2024-02-16 12:00:00","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cIf I can be mindful of my life, does it mean I don\u2019t need meditation anymore?\u201d","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-if-i-can-be-mindful-of-my-life-does-it-mean-i-dont-need-meditation-anymore","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-01-06 21:29:41","post_modified_gmt":"2024-01-07 02:29:41","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=17831","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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Meditation is not about training in techniques, such as how to sit or how to breathe. The most important goal of meditation is to move toward liberation and nirvana. Liberation means freedom from all fetters. Nirvana means happiness without suffering. In other words, liberation and nirvana is a state of sustainable freedom and happiness in which the endless cycle of joy and suffering is ended.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The reason why people are unhappy no matter how hard they try to be happy<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not. It is not because it is impossible to be free and happy, but because they are going in the wrong direction. As they are going in the wrong direction, they can\u2019t reach their destination no matter how steadfastly they walk.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why am I saying that people are going in the wrong direction? People in the world consider the good feelings they have when things go their way to be happiness. They consider the bad feeling they have when things don\u2019t go their way to be unhappiness. And they think that doing whatever they want is freedom and not doing what they want is bondage. These are ordinary people\u2019s concepts of happiness and freedom. However, in real life, these values can\u2019t be realized.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy briefly. But, when your desires are not fulfilled, you suffer. As there is no end to desire, you experience joy and suffering repeatedly. The Buddha said that this never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is the inevitable contradiction and limit of human life. Joy and suffering can\u2019t be divided. Yesterday\u2019s suffering can turn into today\u2019s joy and today\u2019s joy can turn into tomorrow\u2019s suffering. Since people don\u2019t know this principle, they want to live in a world filled with joy and devoid of suffering, thinking that it is possible to live in such a world. However, this is not possible in real life, so they wish to be born in such a world after they die. Therefore, every religion has an ideal world called heaven or paradise.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Society\u2019s current level consumption is even higher than that which is supposedly provided by the ideal world, the heaven that people dreamed of in the past. But we have greater desires now, so we consider our condition no better than hell. We can\u2019t see this contradiction because we only see what we want to achieve. Thinking that they are unhappy because their abilities or efforts are not sufficient, people try to get what they want by asking a powerful third party. As a result, religions that contain elements of asking help from almighty gods came to exist.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Religions already existed 5,000 years ago. The contemporaries of the Buddha, who lived 2,600 years ago, also tried to solve the contradictions of the world with religion. Religious teachings could comfort people temporarily, like drugs, but couldn\u2019t solve the problems fundamentally.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The way of neither following nor suppressing desires<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

The Buddha investigated how to solve this problem in-depth. He discovered that the root of the never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is desire. When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy and when your desires are not fulfilled, you suffer. But once you are free from desire, joy and suffering also disappear. The cycle of joy and suffering ends. But people can\u2019t even imagine becoming free from desire. People can think of only two ways to respond to desire: surrendering or resisting. In the West, these two ways were expressed as Epicureanism and Stoicism. And in India, they were expressed as hedonism and asceticism. The Buddha experienced ultimate pleasure and ultimate self-mortification, and found that neither are the right way toward liberation and nirvana. He discovered a third path, the Middle Way. He followed the Middle Way and attained liberation and nirvana.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Middle Way is just recognizing desire instead of following or suppressing. When you follow desire, consequences follow, and when you suppress desire, you become stressed. People suppress desire because following it will result in loss, but suppressing it leads to frustration and eventually to an explosion. Explosions result in loss again, so they suppress it, and then explode again, this cycle is repeated constantly. However, simply recognizing desire is not to respond to it at all; neither following nor suppressing.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

True freedom is to be free from desire by recognizing it. Then, from where does desire arise? The root of desire is karma. When your karma comes into contact with an external situation, a feeling arises, and based on that feeling, a desire arises. Each person has different karma, so each person has different desires.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some people have a strong desire for money, whereas others have no desire for money. Some people have a strong desire for food, whereas others don\u2019t care much about food and they can eat anything offered, like an ascetic. Different people have different desires. This gives us hope even though it seems impossible for humans to be free from desire. Because even ordinary people are free from some desires. Therefore, we can see that becoming free from desires is not impossible and anyone can do it.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We seem to live our life but in fact our life is the automatic reactions of our karma. Based on each reaction, a desire arises within us and then we act on the desire. In other words, our life is a perpetual repetition of karma and desire. People think that they are unhappy because of some external circumstances, but it is only a secondary and partial reason. When we are free from desire, we seldom suffer or feel fettered.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Observing the precepts is essential to becoming free from desire and karma<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Then how can we be free from our desires and karma? We are meditating now to achieve this freedom. However, wanting to be free from desire while eating whatever you want to eat, lying down when you want to lie down, and doing whatever you want to do is contradictory. In addition to the desires for food and sleep, we have other serious karma. Even if we are free from the desires for food and sleep, attaining liberation will be hard. As such, wishing for liberation without even achieving this much is contradictory.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For example, let\u2019s say I have a habit of smoking. I am not saying that smoking is bad but not being able to quit smoking while pursuing liberation and nirvana is contradictory. How can I be free from karma that has been formed through infinity if I can\u2019t even quit smoking, a habit that is only several years or decades old? That is why anyone who wishes to move toward liberation and nirvana needs to observe the precepts. We need to value and observe the precepts. Practicing to attain liberation and nirvana while not observing the precepts is contradictory.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A slave is forced to do something and a master takes the lead<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Yesterday, I recommended that you voluntarily follow the rules to control desires, instead of worrying about what others might think of you if you don\u2019t follow them. If you observe the precepts voluntarily, they are not restraints. Jesus said: \u201cIf anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles,\u201d \u201cIf someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them,\u201d and \u201cIf someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also.\u201d Have a willing mind like this. If you are forced to do something, you are a slave but if you take the lead, you are a master.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if there is no restriction on food, I recommend you to decide: \u201cI will eat a little because I won\u2019t need much energy while meditating,\u201d and even if there is no restriction on lying down, I recommend you to decide: \u201cI will lie down only during the designated hours while I am participating in the practice to be free from desire.\u201d If you decide like this voluntarily, you won\u2019t feel restricted.<\/strong><\/p>\n","post_title":"The Reason Why People Are Unhappy No Matter How Hard They Try To Be Happy","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"the-reason-why-people-are-unhappy-no-matter-how-hard-they-try-to-be-happy-2","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-07-14 14:40:41","post_modified_gmt":"2024-07-14 19:40:41","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=19801","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":20393,"post_author":"46","post_date":"2024-08-04 03:55:37","post_date_gmt":"2024-08-04 08:55:37","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"(\ud55c SUB) [Meditation Q&A] \u201cIs it wrong to take a deep breath during meditation?\u201d","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"%ed%95%9c-sub-meditation-qa-is-it-wrong-to-take-a-deep-breath-during-meditation","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-08-04 03:57:39","post_modified_gmt":"2024-08-04 08:57:39","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=20393","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":19744,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-07-12 17:07:50","post_date_gmt":"2024-07-12 22:07:50","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cI am not good at meditation. How can I make progress?\u201d","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-i-am-not-good-at-meditation-how-can-i-make-progress","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-07-04 17:13:18","post_modified_gmt":"2024-07-04 22:13:18","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=19744","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":18488,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-05-03 00:51:00","post_date_gmt":"2024-05-03 05:51:00","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cIn meditation, is curiousity helpful or is it an obstacle?\u201d","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-do-we-have-to-give-up-pleasure-to-live-without-suffering-duplicate-18475","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-05-07 11:55:14","post_modified_gmt":"2024-05-07 16:55:14","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=18488","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":18034,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-03-08 07:00:00","post_date_gmt":"2024-03-08 12:00:00","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cHow can I incorporate mindfulness into my work where I\u2019m challenged…. ?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-the-feeling-of-solitude-increases-and-the-motivation-in-life-decreases","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-02-27 18:46:27","post_modified_gmt":"2024-02-27 23:46:27","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=18034","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":18039,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-03-01 07:00:00","post_date_gmt":"2024-03-01 12:00:00","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cThe feeling of solitude increases and the motivation in life decreases\u2026. ?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-the-feeling-of-solitude-increases-and-the-motivation-in-life-decreases-2","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-02-27 18:51:13","post_modified_gmt":"2024-02-27 23:51:13","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=18039","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":18030,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-02-27 18:17:13","post_date_gmt":"2024-02-27 23:17:13","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cDuring meditation, I count from 1 to 100. Is this an improper tactic?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-during-meditation-i-count-from-1-to-100-is-this-an-improper-tactic","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-02-27 18:17:16","post_modified_gmt":"2024-02-27 23:17:16","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=18030","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":17831,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-02-16 07:00:00","post_date_gmt":"2024-02-16 12:00:00","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cIf I can be mindful of my life, does it mean I don\u2019t need meditation anymore?\u201d","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-if-i-can-be-mindful-of-my-life-does-it-mean-i-dont-need-meditation-anymore","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-01-06 21:29:41","post_modified_gmt":"2024-01-07 02:29:41","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=17831","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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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] Is relaxation enough in meditation?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-is-relaxation-enough-in-meditation","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2026-01-24 22:49:48","post_modified_gmt":"2026-01-25 03:49:48","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=33586","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":28435,"post_author":"46","post_date":"2025-05-31 08:22:43","post_date_gmt":"2025-05-31 13:22:43","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] How can I relax when meditating?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-how-can-i-relax-when-meditating","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-05-11 08:24:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-05-11 13:24:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=28435","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":19801,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-08-27 14:25:45","post_date_gmt":"2024-08-27 19:25:45","post_content":"\n

Meditation is not about training in techniques, such as how to sit or how to breathe. The most important goal of meditation is to move toward liberation and nirvana. Liberation means freedom from all fetters. Nirvana means happiness without suffering. In other words, liberation and nirvana is a state of sustainable freedom and happiness in which the endless cycle of joy and suffering is ended.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The reason why people are unhappy no matter how hard they try to be happy<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not. It is not because it is impossible to be free and happy, but because they are going in the wrong direction. As they are going in the wrong direction, they can\u2019t reach their destination no matter how steadfastly they walk.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why am I saying that people are going in the wrong direction? People in the world consider the good feelings they have when things go their way to be happiness. They consider the bad feeling they have when things don\u2019t go their way to be unhappiness. And they think that doing whatever they want is freedom and not doing what they want is bondage. These are ordinary people\u2019s concepts of happiness and freedom. However, in real life, these values can\u2019t be realized.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy briefly. But, when your desires are not fulfilled, you suffer. As there is no end to desire, you experience joy and suffering repeatedly. The Buddha said that this never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is the inevitable contradiction and limit of human life. Joy and suffering can\u2019t be divided. Yesterday\u2019s suffering can turn into today\u2019s joy and today\u2019s joy can turn into tomorrow\u2019s suffering. Since people don\u2019t know this principle, they want to live in a world filled with joy and devoid of suffering, thinking that it is possible to live in such a world. However, this is not possible in real life, so they wish to be born in such a world after they die. Therefore, every religion has an ideal world called heaven or paradise.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Society\u2019s current level consumption is even higher than that which is supposedly provided by the ideal world, the heaven that people dreamed of in the past. But we have greater desires now, so we consider our condition no better than hell. We can\u2019t see this contradiction because we only see what we want to achieve. Thinking that they are unhappy because their abilities or efforts are not sufficient, people try to get what they want by asking a powerful third party. As a result, religions that contain elements of asking help from almighty gods came to exist.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Religions already existed 5,000 years ago. The contemporaries of the Buddha, who lived 2,600 years ago, also tried to solve the contradictions of the world with religion. Religious teachings could comfort people temporarily, like drugs, but couldn\u2019t solve the problems fundamentally.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The way of neither following nor suppressing desires<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

The Buddha investigated how to solve this problem in-depth. He discovered that the root of the never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is desire. When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy and when your desires are not fulfilled, you suffer. But once you are free from desire, joy and suffering also disappear. The cycle of joy and suffering ends. But people can\u2019t even imagine becoming free from desire. People can think of only two ways to respond to desire: surrendering or resisting. In the West, these two ways were expressed as Epicureanism and Stoicism. And in India, they were expressed as hedonism and asceticism. The Buddha experienced ultimate pleasure and ultimate self-mortification, and found that neither are the right way toward liberation and nirvana. He discovered a third path, the Middle Way. He followed the Middle Way and attained liberation and nirvana.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Middle Way is just recognizing desire instead of following or suppressing. When you follow desire, consequences follow, and when you suppress desire, you become stressed. People suppress desire because following it will result in loss, but suppressing it leads to frustration and eventually to an explosion. Explosions result in loss again, so they suppress it, and then explode again, this cycle is repeated constantly. However, simply recognizing desire is not to respond to it at all; neither following nor suppressing.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

True freedom is to be free from desire by recognizing it. Then, from where does desire arise? The root of desire is karma. When your karma comes into contact with an external situation, a feeling arises, and based on that feeling, a desire arises. Each person has different karma, so each person has different desires.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some people have a strong desire for money, whereas others have no desire for money. Some people have a strong desire for food, whereas others don\u2019t care much about food and they can eat anything offered, like an ascetic. Different people have different desires. This gives us hope even though it seems impossible for humans to be free from desire. Because even ordinary people are free from some desires. Therefore, we can see that becoming free from desires is not impossible and anyone can do it.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We seem to live our life but in fact our life is the automatic reactions of our karma. Based on each reaction, a desire arises within us and then we act on the desire. In other words, our life is a perpetual repetition of karma and desire. People think that they are unhappy because of some external circumstances, but it is only a secondary and partial reason. When we are free from desire, we seldom suffer or feel fettered.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Observing the precepts is essential to becoming free from desire and karma<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Then how can we be free from our desires and karma? We are meditating now to achieve this freedom. However, wanting to be free from desire while eating whatever you want to eat, lying down when you want to lie down, and doing whatever you want to do is contradictory. In addition to the desires for food and sleep, we have other serious karma. Even if we are free from the desires for food and sleep, attaining liberation will be hard. As such, wishing for liberation without even achieving this much is contradictory.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For example, let\u2019s say I have a habit of smoking. I am not saying that smoking is bad but not being able to quit smoking while pursuing liberation and nirvana is contradictory. How can I be free from karma that has been formed through infinity if I can\u2019t even quit smoking, a habit that is only several years or decades old? That is why anyone who wishes to move toward liberation and nirvana needs to observe the precepts. We need to value and observe the precepts. Practicing to attain liberation and nirvana while not observing the precepts is contradictory.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A slave is forced to do something and a master takes the lead<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Yesterday, I recommended that you voluntarily follow the rules to control desires, instead of worrying about what others might think of you if you don\u2019t follow them. If you observe the precepts voluntarily, they are not restraints. Jesus said: \u201cIf anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles,\u201d \u201cIf someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them,\u201d and \u201cIf someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also.\u201d Have a willing mind like this. If you are forced to do something, you are a slave but if you take the lead, you are a master.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if there is no restriction on food, I recommend you to decide: \u201cI will eat a little because I won\u2019t need much energy while meditating,\u201d and even if there is no restriction on lying down, I recommend you to decide: \u201cI will lie down only during the designated hours while I am participating in the practice to be free from desire.\u201d If you decide like this voluntarily, you won\u2019t feel restricted.<\/strong><\/p>\n","post_title":"The Reason Why People Are Unhappy No Matter How Hard They Try To Be Happy","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"the-reason-why-people-are-unhappy-no-matter-how-hard-they-try-to-be-happy-2","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-07-14 14:40:41","post_modified_gmt":"2024-07-14 19:40:41","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=19801","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":20393,"post_author":"46","post_date":"2024-08-04 03:55:37","post_date_gmt":"2024-08-04 08:55:37","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] Is relaxation enough in meditation?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-is-relaxation-enough-in-meditation","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2026-01-24 22:49:48","post_modified_gmt":"2026-01-25 03:49:48","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=33586","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":28435,"post_author":"46","post_date":"2025-05-31 08:22:43","post_date_gmt":"2025-05-31 13:22:43","post_content":"\n

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Meditation is not about training in techniques, such as how to sit or how to breathe. The most important goal of meditation is to move toward liberation and nirvana. Liberation means freedom from all fetters. Nirvana means happiness without suffering. In other words, liberation and nirvana is a state of sustainable freedom and happiness in which the endless cycle of joy and suffering is ended.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The reason why people are unhappy no matter how hard they try to be happy<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not. It is not because it is impossible to be free and happy, but because they are going in the wrong direction. As they are going in the wrong direction, they can\u2019t reach their destination no matter how steadfastly they walk.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why am I saying that people are going in the wrong direction? People in the world consider the good feelings they have when things go their way to be happiness. They consider the bad feeling they have when things don\u2019t go their way to be unhappiness. And they think that doing whatever they want is freedom and not doing what they want is bondage. These are ordinary people\u2019s concepts of happiness and freedom. However, in real life, these values can\u2019t be realized.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy briefly. But, when your desires are not fulfilled, you suffer. As there is no end to desire, you experience joy and suffering repeatedly. The Buddha said that this never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is the inevitable contradiction and limit of human life. Joy and suffering can\u2019t be divided. Yesterday\u2019s suffering can turn into today\u2019s joy and today\u2019s joy can turn into tomorrow\u2019s suffering. Since people don\u2019t know this principle, they want to live in a world filled with joy and devoid of suffering, thinking that it is possible to live in such a world. However, this is not possible in real life, so they wish to be born in such a world after they die. Therefore, every religion has an ideal world called heaven or paradise.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Society\u2019s current level consumption is even higher than that which is supposedly provided by the ideal world, the heaven that people dreamed of in the past. But we have greater desires now, so we consider our condition no better than hell. We can\u2019t see this contradiction because we only see what we want to achieve. Thinking that they are unhappy because their abilities or efforts are not sufficient, people try to get what they want by asking a powerful third party. As a result, religions that contain elements of asking help from almighty gods came to exist.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Religions already existed 5,000 years ago. The contemporaries of the Buddha, who lived 2,600 years ago, also tried to solve the contradictions of the world with religion. Religious teachings could comfort people temporarily, like drugs, but couldn\u2019t solve the problems fundamentally.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The way of neither following nor suppressing desires<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

The Buddha investigated how to solve this problem in-depth. He discovered that the root of the never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is desire. When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy and when your desires are not fulfilled, you suffer. But once you are free from desire, joy and suffering also disappear. The cycle of joy and suffering ends. But people can\u2019t even imagine becoming free from desire. People can think of only two ways to respond to desire: surrendering or resisting. In the West, these two ways were expressed as Epicureanism and Stoicism. And in India, they were expressed as hedonism and asceticism. The Buddha experienced ultimate pleasure and ultimate self-mortification, and found that neither are the right way toward liberation and nirvana. He discovered a third path, the Middle Way. He followed the Middle Way and attained liberation and nirvana.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Middle Way is just recognizing desire instead of following or suppressing. When you follow desire, consequences follow, and when you suppress desire, you become stressed. People suppress desire because following it will result in loss, but suppressing it leads to frustration and eventually to an explosion. Explosions result in loss again, so they suppress it, and then explode again, this cycle is repeated constantly. However, simply recognizing desire is not to respond to it at all; neither following nor suppressing.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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True freedom is to be free from desire by recognizing it. Then, from where does desire arise? The root of desire is karma. When your karma comes into contact with an external situation, a feeling arises, and based on that feeling, a desire arises. Each person has different karma, so each person has different desires.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some people have a strong desire for money, whereas others have no desire for money. Some people have a strong desire for food, whereas others don\u2019t care much about food and they can eat anything offered, like an ascetic. Different people have different desires. This gives us hope even though it seems impossible for humans to be free from desire. Because even ordinary people are free from some desires. Therefore, we can see that becoming free from desires is not impossible and anyone can do it.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We seem to live our life but in fact our life is the automatic reactions of our karma. Based on each reaction, a desire arises within us and then we act on the desire. In other words, our life is a perpetual repetition of karma and desire. People think that they are unhappy because of some external circumstances, but it is only a secondary and partial reason. When we are free from desire, we seldom suffer or feel fettered.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Observing the precepts is essential to becoming free from desire and karma<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Then how can we be free from our desires and karma? We are meditating now to achieve this freedom. However, wanting to be free from desire while eating whatever you want to eat, lying down when you want to lie down, and doing whatever you want to do is contradictory. In addition to the desires for food and sleep, we have other serious karma. Even if we are free from the desires for food and sleep, attaining liberation will be hard. As such, wishing for liberation without even achieving this much is contradictory.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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For example, let\u2019s say I have a habit of smoking. I am not saying that smoking is bad but not being able to quit smoking while pursuing liberation and nirvana is contradictory. How can I be free from karma that has been formed through infinity if I can\u2019t even quit smoking, a habit that is only several years or decades old? That is why anyone who wishes to move toward liberation and nirvana needs to observe the precepts. We need to value and observe the precepts. Practicing to attain liberation and nirvana while not observing the precepts is contradictory.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A slave is forced to do something and a master takes the lead<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Yesterday, I recommended that you voluntarily follow the rules to control desires, instead of worrying about what others might think of you if you don\u2019t follow them. If you observe the precepts voluntarily, they are not restraints. Jesus said: \u201cIf anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles,\u201d \u201cIf someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them,\u201d and \u201cIf someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also.\u201d Have a willing mind like this. If you are forced to do something, you are a slave but if you take the lead, you are a master.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if there is no restriction on food, I recommend you to decide: \u201cI will eat a little because I won\u2019t need much energy while meditating,\u201d and even if there is no restriction on lying down, I recommend you to decide: \u201cI will lie down only during the designated hours while I am participating in the practice to be free from desire.\u201d If you decide like this voluntarily, you won\u2019t feel restricted.<\/strong><\/p>\n","post_title":"The Reason Why People Are Unhappy No Matter How Hard They Try To Be Happy","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"the-reason-why-people-are-unhappy-no-matter-how-hard-they-try-to-be-happy-2","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-07-14 14:40:41","post_modified_gmt":"2024-07-14 19:40:41","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=19801","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":20393,"post_author":"46","post_date":"2024-08-04 03:55:37","post_date_gmt":"2024-08-04 08:55:37","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cIf I can be mindful of my life, does it mean I don\u2019t need meditation anymore?\u201d","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-if-i-can-be-mindful-of-my-life-does-it-mean-i-dont-need-meditation-anymore","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-01-06 21:29:41","post_modified_gmt":"2024-01-07 02:29:41","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=17831","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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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] Is relaxation enough in meditation?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-is-relaxation-enough-in-meditation","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2026-01-24 22:49:48","post_modified_gmt":"2026-01-25 03:49:48","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=33586","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":28435,"post_author":"46","post_date":"2025-05-31 08:22:43","post_date_gmt":"2025-05-31 13:22:43","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] How can I relax when meditating?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-how-can-i-relax-when-meditating","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-05-11 08:24:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-05-11 13:24:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=28435","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":19801,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-08-27 14:25:45","post_date_gmt":"2024-08-27 19:25:45","post_content":"\n

Meditation is not about training in techniques, such as how to sit or how to breathe. The most important goal of meditation is to move toward liberation and nirvana. Liberation means freedom from all fetters. Nirvana means happiness without suffering. In other words, liberation and nirvana is a state of sustainable freedom and happiness in which the endless cycle of joy and suffering is ended.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The reason why people are unhappy no matter how hard they try to be happy<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not. It is not because it is impossible to be free and happy, but because they are going in the wrong direction. As they are going in the wrong direction, they can\u2019t reach their destination no matter how steadfastly they walk.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why am I saying that people are going in the wrong direction? People in the world consider the good feelings they have when things go their way to be happiness. They consider the bad feeling they have when things don\u2019t go their way to be unhappiness. And they think that doing whatever they want is freedom and not doing what they want is bondage. These are ordinary people\u2019s concepts of happiness and freedom. However, in real life, these values can\u2019t be realized.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy briefly. But, when your desires are not fulfilled, you suffer. As there is no end to desire, you experience joy and suffering repeatedly. The Buddha said that this never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is the inevitable contradiction and limit of human life. Joy and suffering can\u2019t be divided. Yesterday\u2019s suffering can turn into today\u2019s joy and today\u2019s joy can turn into tomorrow\u2019s suffering. Since people don\u2019t know this principle, they want to live in a world filled with joy and devoid of suffering, thinking that it is possible to live in such a world. However, this is not possible in real life, so they wish to be born in such a world after they die. Therefore, every religion has an ideal world called heaven or paradise.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Society\u2019s current level consumption is even higher than that which is supposedly provided by the ideal world, the heaven that people dreamed of in the past. But we have greater desires now, so we consider our condition no better than hell. We can\u2019t see this contradiction because we only see what we want to achieve. Thinking that they are unhappy because their abilities or efforts are not sufficient, people try to get what they want by asking a powerful third party. As a result, religions that contain elements of asking help from almighty gods came to exist.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Religions already existed 5,000 years ago. The contemporaries of the Buddha, who lived 2,600 years ago, also tried to solve the contradictions of the world with religion. Religious teachings could comfort people temporarily, like drugs, but couldn\u2019t solve the problems fundamentally.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The way of neither following nor suppressing desires<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

The Buddha investigated how to solve this problem in-depth. He discovered that the root of the never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is desire. When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy and when your desires are not fulfilled, you suffer. But once you are free from desire, joy and suffering also disappear. The cycle of joy and suffering ends. But people can\u2019t even imagine becoming free from desire. People can think of only two ways to respond to desire: surrendering or resisting. In the West, these two ways were expressed as Epicureanism and Stoicism. And in India, they were expressed as hedonism and asceticism. The Buddha experienced ultimate pleasure and ultimate self-mortification, and found that neither are the right way toward liberation and nirvana. He discovered a third path, the Middle Way. He followed the Middle Way and attained liberation and nirvana.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Middle Way is just recognizing desire instead of following or suppressing. When you follow desire, consequences follow, and when you suppress desire, you become stressed. People suppress desire because following it will result in loss, but suppressing it leads to frustration and eventually to an explosion. Explosions result in loss again, so they suppress it, and then explode again, this cycle is repeated constantly. However, simply recognizing desire is not to respond to it at all; neither following nor suppressing.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

True freedom is to be free from desire by recognizing it. Then, from where does desire arise? The root of desire is karma. When your karma comes into contact with an external situation, a feeling arises, and based on that feeling, a desire arises. Each person has different karma, so each person has different desires.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some people have a strong desire for money, whereas others have no desire for money. Some people have a strong desire for food, whereas others don\u2019t care much about food and they can eat anything offered, like an ascetic. Different people have different desires. This gives us hope even though it seems impossible for humans to be free from desire. Because even ordinary people are free from some desires. Therefore, we can see that becoming free from desires is not impossible and anyone can do it.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We seem to live our life but in fact our life is the automatic reactions of our karma. Based on each reaction, a desire arises within us and then we act on the desire. In other words, our life is a perpetual repetition of karma and desire. People think that they are unhappy because of some external circumstances, but it is only a secondary and partial reason. When we are free from desire, we seldom suffer or feel fettered.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Observing the precepts is essential to becoming free from desire and karma<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Then how can we be free from our desires and karma? We are meditating now to achieve this freedom. However, wanting to be free from desire while eating whatever you want to eat, lying down when you want to lie down, and doing whatever you want to do is contradictory. In addition to the desires for food and sleep, we have other serious karma. Even if we are free from the desires for food and sleep, attaining liberation will be hard. As such, wishing for liberation without even achieving this much is contradictory.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For example, let\u2019s say I have a habit of smoking. I am not saying that smoking is bad but not being able to quit smoking while pursuing liberation and nirvana is contradictory. How can I be free from karma that has been formed through infinity if I can\u2019t even quit smoking, a habit that is only several years or decades old? That is why anyone who wishes to move toward liberation and nirvana needs to observe the precepts. We need to value and observe the precepts. Practicing to attain liberation and nirvana while not observing the precepts is contradictory.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A slave is forced to do something and a master takes the lead<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Yesterday, I recommended that you voluntarily follow the rules to control desires, instead of worrying about what others might think of you if you don\u2019t follow them. If you observe the precepts voluntarily, they are not restraints. Jesus said: \u201cIf anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles,\u201d \u201cIf someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them,\u201d and \u201cIf someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also.\u201d Have a willing mind like this. If you are forced to do something, you are a slave but if you take the lead, you are a master.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if there is no restriction on food, I recommend you to decide: \u201cI will eat a little because I won\u2019t need much energy while meditating,\u201d and even if there is no restriction on lying down, I recommend you to decide: \u201cI will lie down only during the designated hours while I am participating in the practice to be free from desire.\u201d If you decide like this voluntarily, you won\u2019t feel restricted.<\/strong><\/p>\n","post_title":"The Reason Why People Are Unhappy No Matter How Hard They Try To Be Happy","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"the-reason-why-people-are-unhappy-no-matter-how-hard-they-try-to-be-happy-2","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-07-14 14:40:41","post_modified_gmt":"2024-07-14 19:40:41","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=19801","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":20393,"post_author":"46","post_date":"2024-08-04 03:55:37","post_date_gmt":"2024-08-04 08:55:37","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"(\ud55c SUB) [Meditation Q&A] \u201cIs it wrong to take a deep breath during meditation?\u201d","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"%ed%95%9c-sub-meditation-qa-is-it-wrong-to-take-a-deep-breath-during-meditation","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-08-04 03:57:39","post_modified_gmt":"2024-08-04 08:57:39","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=20393","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":19744,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-07-12 17:07:50","post_date_gmt":"2024-07-12 22:07:50","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cI am not good at meditation. How can I make progress?\u201d","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-i-am-not-good-at-meditation-how-can-i-make-progress","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-07-04 17:13:18","post_modified_gmt":"2024-07-04 22:13:18","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=19744","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":18488,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-05-03 00:51:00","post_date_gmt":"2024-05-03 05:51:00","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cIn meditation, is curiousity helpful or is it an obstacle?\u201d","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-do-we-have-to-give-up-pleasure-to-live-without-suffering-duplicate-18475","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-05-07 11:55:14","post_modified_gmt":"2024-05-07 16:55:14","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=18488","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":18034,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-03-08 07:00:00","post_date_gmt":"2024-03-08 12:00:00","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cHow can I incorporate mindfulness into my work where I\u2019m challenged…. ?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-the-feeling-of-solitude-increases-and-the-motivation-in-life-decreases","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-02-27 18:46:27","post_modified_gmt":"2024-02-27 23:46:27","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=18034","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":18039,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-03-01 07:00:00","post_date_gmt":"2024-03-01 12:00:00","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cThe feeling of solitude increases and the motivation in life decreases\u2026. ?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-the-feeling-of-solitude-increases-and-the-motivation-in-life-decreases-2","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-02-27 18:51:13","post_modified_gmt":"2024-02-27 23:51:13","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=18039","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":18030,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-02-27 18:17:13","post_date_gmt":"2024-02-27 23:17:13","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cDuring meditation, I count from 1 to 100. Is this an improper tactic?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-during-meditation-i-count-from-1-to-100-is-this-an-improper-tactic","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-02-27 18:17:16","post_modified_gmt":"2024-02-27 23:17:16","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=18030","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":17831,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-02-16 07:00:00","post_date_gmt":"2024-02-16 12:00:00","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cIf I can be mindful of my life, does it mean I don\u2019t need meditation anymore?\u201d","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-if-i-can-be-mindful-of-my-life-does-it-mean-i-dont-need-meditation-anymore","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-01-06 21:29:41","post_modified_gmt":"2024-01-07 02:29:41","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=17831","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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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] Is relaxation enough in meditation?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-is-relaxation-enough-in-meditation","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2026-01-24 22:49:48","post_modified_gmt":"2026-01-25 03:49:48","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=33586","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":28435,"post_author":"46","post_date":"2025-05-31 08:22:43","post_date_gmt":"2025-05-31 13:22:43","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] How can I relax when meditating?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-how-can-i-relax-when-meditating","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-05-11 08:24:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-05-11 13:24:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=28435","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":19801,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-08-27 14:25:45","post_date_gmt":"2024-08-27 19:25:45","post_content":"\n

Meditation is not about training in techniques, such as how to sit or how to breathe. The most important goal of meditation is to move toward liberation and nirvana. Liberation means freedom from all fetters. Nirvana means happiness without suffering. In other words, liberation and nirvana is a state of sustainable freedom and happiness in which the endless cycle of joy and suffering is ended.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The reason why people are unhappy no matter how hard they try to be happy<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not. It is not because it is impossible to be free and happy, but because they are going in the wrong direction. As they are going in the wrong direction, they can\u2019t reach their destination no matter how steadfastly they walk.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why am I saying that people are going in the wrong direction? People in the world consider the good feelings they have when things go their way to be happiness. They consider the bad feeling they have when things don\u2019t go their way to be unhappiness. And they think that doing whatever they want is freedom and not doing what they want is bondage. These are ordinary people\u2019s concepts of happiness and freedom. However, in real life, these values can\u2019t be realized.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy briefly. But, when your desires are not fulfilled, you suffer. As there is no end to desire, you experience joy and suffering repeatedly. The Buddha said that this never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is the inevitable contradiction and limit of human life. Joy and suffering can\u2019t be divided. Yesterday\u2019s suffering can turn into today\u2019s joy and today\u2019s joy can turn into tomorrow\u2019s suffering. Since people don\u2019t know this principle, they want to live in a world filled with joy and devoid of suffering, thinking that it is possible to live in such a world. However, this is not possible in real life, so they wish to be born in such a world after they die. Therefore, every religion has an ideal world called heaven or paradise.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Society\u2019s current level consumption is even higher than that which is supposedly provided by the ideal world, the heaven that people dreamed of in the past. But we have greater desires now, so we consider our condition no better than hell. We can\u2019t see this contradiction because we only see what we want to achieve. Thinking that they are unhappy because their abilities or efforts are not sufficient, people try to get what they want by asking a powerful third party. As a result, religions that contain elements of asking help from almighty gods came to exist.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Religions already existed 5,000 years ago. The contemporaries of the Buddha, who lived 2,600 years ago, also tried to solve the contradictions of the world with religion. Religious teachings could comfort people temporarily, like drugs, but couldn\u2019t solve the problems fundamentally.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The way of neither following nor suppressing desires<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

The Buddha investigated how to solve this problem in-depth. He discovered that the root of the never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is desire. When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy and when your desires are not fulfilled, you suffer. But once you are free from desire, joy and suffering also disappear. The cycle of joy and suffering ends. But people can\u2019t even imagine becoming free from desire. People can think of only two ways to respond to desire: surrendering or resisting. In the West, these two ways were expressed as Epicureanism and Stoicism. And in India, they were expressed as hedonism and asceticism. The Buddha experienced ultimate pleasure and ultimate self-mortification, and found that neither are the right way toward liberation and nirvana. He discovered a third path, the Middle Way. He followed the Middle Way and attained liberation and nirvana.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Middle Way is just recognizing desire instead of following or suppressing. When you follow desire, consequences follow, and when you suppress desire, you become stressed. People suppress desire because following it will result in loss, but suppressing it leads to frustration and eventually to an explosion. Explosions result in loss again, so they suppress it, and then explode again, this cycle is repeated constantly. However, simply recognizing desire is not to respond to it at all; neither following nor suppressing.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

True freedom is to be free from desire by recognizing it. Then, from where does desire arise? The root of desire is karma. When your karma comes into contact with an external situation, a feeling arises, and based on that feeling, a desire arises. Each person has different karma, so each person has different desires.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some people have a strong desire for money, whereas others have no desire for money. Some people have a strong desire for food, whereas others don\u2019t care much about food and they can eat anything offered, like an ascetic. Different people have different desires. This gives us hope even though it seems impossible for humans to be free from desire. Because even ordinary people are free from some desires. Therefore, we can see that becoming free from desires is not impossible and anyone can do it.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We seem to live our life but in fact our life is the automatic reactions of our karma. Based on each reaction, a desire arises within us and then we act on the desire. In other words, our life is a perpetual repetition of karma and desire. People think that they are unhappy because of some external circumstances, but it is only a secondary and partial reason. When we are free from desire, we seldom suffer or feel fettered.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Observing the precepts is essential to becoming free from desire and karma<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Then how can we be free from our desires and karma? We are meditating now to achieve this freedom. However, wanting to be free from desire while eating whatever you want to eat, lying down when you want to lie down, and doing whatever you want to do is contradictory. In addition to the desires for food and sleep, we have other serious karma. Even if we are free from the desires for food and sleep, attaining liberation will be hard. As such, wishing for liberation without even achieving this much is contradictory.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For example, let\u2019s say I have a habit of smoking. I am not saying that smoking is bad but not being able to quit smoking while pursuing liberation and nirvana is contradictory. How can I be free from karma that has been formed through infinity if I can\u2019t even quit smoking, a habit that is only several years or decades old? That is why anyone who wishes to move toward liberation and nirvana needs to observe the precepts. We need to value and observe the precepts. Practicing to attain liberation and nirvana while not observing the precepts is contradictory.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A slave is forced to do something and a master takes the lead<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Yesterday, I recommended that you voluntarily follow the rules to control desires, instead of worrying about what others might think of you if you don\u2019t follow them. If you observe the precepts voluntarily, they are not restraints. Jesus said: \u201cIf anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles,\u201d \u201cIf someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them,\u201d and \u201cIf someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also.\u201d Have a willing mind like this. If you are forced to do something, you are a slave but if you take the lead, you are a master.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if there is no restriction on food, I recommend you to decide: \u201cI will eat a little because I won\u2019t need much energy while meditating,\u201d and even if there is no restriction on lying down, I recommend you to decide: \u201cI will lie down only during the designated hours while I am participating in the practice to be free from desire.\u201d If you decide like this voluntarily, you won\u2019t feel restricted.<\/strong><\/p>\n","post_title":"The Reason Why People Are Unhappy No Matter How Hard They Try To Be Happy","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"the-reason-why-people-are-unhappy-no-matter-how-hard-they-try-to-be-happy-2","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-07-14 14:40:41","post_modified_gmt":"2024-07-14 19:40:41","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=19801","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":20393,"post_author":"46","post_date":"2024-08-04 03:55:37","post_date_gmt":"2024-08-04 08:55:37","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"(\ud55c SUB) [Meditation Q&A] \u201cIs it wrong to take a deep breath during meditation?\u201d","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"%ed%95%9c-sub-meditation-qa-is-it-wrong-to-take-a-deep-breath-during-meditation","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-08-04 03:57:39","post_modified_gmt":"2024-08-04 08:57:39","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=20393","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":19744,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-07-12 17:07:50","post_date_gmt":"2024-07-12 22:07:50","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cI am not good at meditation. How can I make progress?\u201d","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-i-am-not-good-at-meditation-how-can-i-make-progress","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-07-04 17:13:18","post_modified_gmt":"2024-07-04 22:13:18","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=19744","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":18488,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-05-03 00:51:00","post_date_gmt":"2024-05-03 05:51:00","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cIn meditation, is curiousity helpful or is it an obstacle?\u201d","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-do-we-have-to-give-up-pleasure-to-live-without-suffering-duplicate-18475","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-05-07 11:55:14","post_modified_gmt":"2024-05-07 16:55:14","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=18488","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":18034,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-03-08 07:00:00","post_date_gmt":"2024-03-08 12:00:00","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cHow can I incorporate mindfulness into my work where I\u2019m challenged…. ?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-the-feeling-of-solitude-increases-and-the-motivation-in-life-decreases","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-02-27 18:46:27","post_modified_gmt":"2024-02-27 23:46:27","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=18034","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":18039,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-03-01 07:00:00","post_date_gmt":"2024-03-01 12:00:00","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cThe feeling of solitude increases and the motivation in life decreases\u2026. ?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-the-feeling-of-solitude-increases-and-the-motivation-in-life-decreases-2","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-02-27 18:51:13","post_modified_gmt":"2024-02-27 23:51:13","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=18039","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":18030,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-02-27 18:17:13","post_date_gmt":"2024-02-27 23:17:13","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cDuring meditation, I count from 1 to 100. Is this an improper tactic?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-during-meditation-i-count-from-1-to-100-is-this-an-improper-tactic","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-02-27 18:17:16","post_modified_gmt":"2024-02-27 23:17:16","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=18030","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":17831,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-02-16 07:00:00","post_date_gmt":"2024-02-16 12:00:00","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] \u201cIf I can be mindful of my life, does it mean I don\u2019t need meditation anymore?\u201d","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-if-i-can-be-mindful-of-my-life-does-it-mean-i-dont-need-meditation-anymore","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-01-06 21:29:41","post_modified_gmt":"2024-01-07 02:29:41","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=17831","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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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] Is relaxation enough in meditation?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-is-relaxation-enough-in-meditation","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2026-01-24 22:49:48","post_modified_gmt":"2026-01-25 03:49:48","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=33586","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":28435,"post_author":"46","post_date":"2025-05-31 08:22:43","post_date_gmt":"2025-05-31 13:22:43","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","post_title":"[Meditation Q&A] How can I relax when meditating?","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"meditation-qa-how-can-i-relax-when-meditating","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-05-11 08:24:43","post_modified_gmt":"2025-05-11 13:24:43","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=28435","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":19801,"post_author":"40","post_date":"2024-08-27 14:25:45","post_date_gmt":"2024-08-27 19:25:45","post_content":"\n

Meditation is not about training in techniques, such as how to sit or how to breathe. The most important goal of meditation is to move toward liberation and nirvana. Liberation means freedom from all fetters. Nirvana means happiness without suffering. In other words, liberation and nirvana is a state of sustainable freedom and happiness in which the endless cycle of joy and suffering is ended.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The reason why people are unhappy no matter how hard they try to be happy<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not. It is not because it is impossible to be free and happy, but because they are going in the wrong direction. As they are going in the wrong direction, they can\u2019t reach their destination no matter how steadfastly they walk.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why am I saying that people are going in the wrong direction? People in the world consider the good feelings they have when things go their way to be happiness. They consider the bad feeling they have when things don\u2019t go their way to be unhappiness. And they think that doing whatever they want is freedom and not doing what they want is bondage. These are ordinary people\u2019s concepts of happiness and freedom. However, in real life, these values can\u2019t be realized.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy briefly. But, when your desires are not fulfilled, you suffer. As there is no end to desire, you experience joy and suffering repeatedly. The Buddha said that this never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is the inevitable contradiction and limit of human life. Joy and suffering can\u2019t be divided. Yesterday\u2019s suffering can turn into today\u2019s joy and today\u2019s joy can turn into tomorrow\u2019s suffering. Since people don\u2019t know this principle, they want to live in a world filled with joy and devoid of suffering, thinking that it is possible to live in such a world. However, this is not possible in real life, so they wish to be born in such a world after they die. Therefore, every religion has an ideal world called heaven or paradise.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Society\u2019s current level consumption is even higher than that which is supposedly provided by the ideal world, the heaven that people dreamed of in the past. But we have greater desires now, so we consider our condition no better than hell. We can\u2019t see this contradiction because we only see what we want to achieve. Thinking that they are unhappy because their abilities or efforts are not sufficient, people try to get what they want by asking a powerful third party. As a result, religions that contain elements of asking help from almighty gods came to exist.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Religions already existed 5,000 years ago. The contemporaries of the Buddha, who lived 2,600 years ago, also tried to solve the contradictions of the world with religion. Religious teachings could comfort people temporarily, like drugs, but couldn\u2019t solve the problems fundamentally.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The way of neither following nor suppressing desires<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

The Buddha investigated how to solve this problem in-depth. He discovered that the root of the never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is desire. When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy and when your desires are not fulfilled, you suffer. But once you are free from desire, joy and suffering also disappear. The cycle of joy and suffering ends. But people can\u2019t even imagine becoming free from desire. People can think of only two ways to respond to desire: surrendering or resisting. In the West, these two ways were expressed as Epicureanism and Stoicism. And in India, they were expressed as hedonism and asceticism. The Buddha experienced ultimate pleasure and ultimate self-mortification, and found that neither are the right way toward liberation and nirvana. He discovered a third path, the Middle Way. He followed the Middle Way and attained liberation and nirvana.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Middle Way is just recognizing desire instead of following or suppressing. When you follow desire, consequences follow, and when you suppress desire, you become stressed. People suppress desire because following it will result in loss, but suppressing it leads to frustration and eventually to an explosion. Explosions result in loss again, so they suppress it, and then explode again, this cycle is repeated constantly. However, simply recognizing desire is not to respond to it at all; neither following nor suppressing.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

True freedom is to be free from desire by recognizing it. Then, from where does desire arise? The root of desire is karma. When your karma comes into contact with an external situation, a feeling arises, and based on that feeling, a desire arises. Each person has different karma, so each person has different desires.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some people have a strong desire for money, whereas others have no desire for money. Some people have a strong desire for food, whereas others don\u2019t care much about food and they can eat anything offered, like an ascetic. Different people have different desires. This gives us hope even though it seems impossible for humans to be free from desire. Because even ordinary people are free from some desires. Therefore, we can see that becoming free from desires is not impossible and anyone can do it.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We seem to live our life but in fact our life is the automatic reactions of our karma. Based on each reaction, a desire arises within us and then we act on the desire. In other words, our life is a perpetual repetition of karma and desire. People think that they are unhappy because of some external circumstances, but it is only a secondary and partial reason. When we are free from desire, we seldom suffer or feel fettered.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Observing the precepts is essential to becoming free from desire and karma<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Then how can we be free from our desires and karma? We are meditating now to achieve this freedom. However, wanting to be free from desire while eating whatever you want to eat, lying down when you want to lie down, and doing whatever you want to do is contradictory. In addition to the desires for food and sleep, we have other serious karma. Even if we are free from the desires for food and sleep, attaining liberation will be hard. As such, wishing for liberation without even achieving this much is contradictory.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For example, let\u2019s say I have a habit of smoking. I am not saying that smoking is bad but not being able to quit smoking while pursuing liberation and nirvana is contradictory. How can I be free from karma that has been formed through infinity if I can\u2019t even quit smoking, a habit that is only several years or decades old? That is why anyone who wishes to move toward liberation and nirvana needs to observe the precepts. We need to value and observe the precepts. Practicing to attain liberation and nirvana while not observing the precepts is contradictory.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A slave is forced to do something and a master takes the lead<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Yesterday, I recommended that you voluntarily follow the rules to control desires, instead of worrying about what others might think of you if you don\u2019t follow them. If you observe the precepts voluntarily, they are not restraints. Jesus said: \u201cIf anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles,\u201d \u201cIf someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them,\u201d and \u201cIf someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also.\u201d Have a willing mind like this. If you are forced to do something, you are a slave but if you take the lead, you are a master.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if there is no restriction on food, I recommend you to decide: \u201cI will eat a little because I won\u2019t need much energy while meditating,\u201d and even if there is no restriction on lying down, I recommend you to decide: \u201cI will lie down only during the designated hours while I am participating in the practice to be free from desire.\u201d If you decide like this voluntarily, you won\u2019t feel restricted.<\/strong><\/p>\n","post_title":"The Reason Why People Are Unhappy No Matter How Hard They Try To Be Happy","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"the-reason-why-people-are-unhappy-no-matter-how-hard-they-try-to-be-happy-2","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-07-14 14:40:41","post_modified_gmt":"2024-07-14 19:40:41","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=19801","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":20393,"post_author":"46","post_date":"2024-08-04 03:55:37","post_date_gmt":"2024-08-04 08:55:37","post_content":"\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/gwmw><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/gwmw><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/gwmw><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/a><\/gwmw><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Home Tag meditation

meditation

Meditation Q&A

[Meditation Q&A] Is relaxation enough in meditation?

January 31, 2026

2

Meditation Q&A

[Meditation Q&A] How can I relax when meditating?

May 31, 2025

15

Meditation

The Reason Why People Are Unhappy No Matter How Hard They Try To Be Happy

August 27, 2024

158

Meditation Q&A

(한 SUB) [Meditation Q&A] “Is it wrong to take a deep breath during meditation?”

August 4, 2024

43

Meditation Q&A

[Meditation Q&A] “I am not good at meditation. How can I make progress?”

July 12, 2024

15

Meditation Q&A

[Meditation Q&A] “In meditation, is curiousity helpful or is it an obstacle?”

May 3, 2024

9

Meditation Q&A

[Meditation Q&A] “How can I incorporate mindfulness into my work where I’m challenged…. ?

March 8, 2024

20

Meditation Q&A

[Meditation Q&A] “The feeling of solitude increases and the motivation in life decreases…. ?

March 1, 2024

22

Meditation Q&A

[Meditation Q&A] “During meditation, I count from 1 to 100. Is this an improper tactic?

February 27, 2024

12

Meditation Q&A

[Meditation Q&A] “If I can be mindful of my life, does it mean I don’t need meditation anymore?”

February 16, 2024

17

Page 1 of 2 1 2 Next

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