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

Illustration by Maseol <\/p>\n","post_title":"Practice is like climbing a mountain","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"practice-is-like-climbing-a-mountain","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-22 19:48:22","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:22","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14198","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":17},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"jnews_block_37"};

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

When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy briefly. But when your desires are not<\/em> 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 that is 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, and so they wish to be born in such a world after they die. Therefore, every religion has an ideal world called heaven or paradise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The level of consumption in modern society is even higher than that which is supposedly provided by the ideal world\u2014the heaven that people dreamed of in the past. But we have greater desires now, so we often consider our life conditions to be 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 for help from almighty gods came to exist.<\/p>\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 can comfort people temporarily, like drugs, but they can\u2019t solve these problems fundamentally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

The Buddha investigated how to solve this problem in-depth. He discovered that the root cause of this never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is desire. When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy. 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 being 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.<\/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.<\/p>\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.<\/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 because although it seems impossible for humans to be free from desire, 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.<\/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 this is only a secondary and partial reason. When we are free from desire, we seldom suffer or feel fettered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Then how can we be free from our desires and karma? We meditate 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 our desires for food and sleep, we have other serious karma. Even if we are free from our desires for food and sleep, attaining liberation will be difficult. As such, wishing for liberation without even achieving this much is contradictory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, let\u2019s say I have a habit of smoking. I am not saying that smoking is bad but being unable 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\u2014a 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Therefore, I recommend 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if there are no restrictions on food, I recommend that you 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 that you 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.<\/p>\n","post_title":"The Reason Why People Are Unhappy No Matter How Hard They Try to Be Happy (Jul 11, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_220711","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14202","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14195,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-24 00:49:23","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-24 05:49:23","post_content":"\n

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

The Korean Seon (Zen) master and engaged Buddhist Venerable Pomnyun Sunim, founder and chairman of the international relief organization Join Together Society (JTS), led a delegation of JTS volunteers to India in September to visit Sujata Academy, a community school established by JTS in Dungheswari, Bihar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the respected monk usually makes annual visits to Dungheswari, to engage with the volunteers and villagers and to review the progress of development activities, this occasion was the first time he had been able to travel there in more than two years because of pandemic-related restrictions. During his week-long visit, Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Published by BDG on September 26, 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Read more: <\/a>https:\/\/www.buddhistdoor.net\/news\/engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"Engaged Buddhism: Ven. Pomnyun Sunim and JTS Volunteers Visit Sujata Academy Project in India","post_excerpt":" Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-26 22:32:14","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-27 03:32:14","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14195","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14198,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-22 19:48:20","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:20","post_content":"\n

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

When you hike through the mountains, you have to climb one peak after another. Our mind is the same. Once we solve one problem, there is always another to solve. So, you repeat the process of noticing and solving one problem after another. The purpose of practice is to constantly repeat the process. Don\u2019t try too hard to do well or get frustrated because you still have a long way to go. Just keep persisting, like when you hike up the next peak in the mountains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

Illustration by Maseol <\/p>\n","post_title":"Practice is like climbing a mountain","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"practice-is-like-climbing-a-mountain","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-22 19:48:22","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:22","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14198","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":17},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"jnews_block_37"};

Page 17 of 24 Previous 1 … 16 17 18 … 24 Next

\n

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

When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy briefly. But when your desires are not<\/em> 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 that is 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, and so they wish to be born in such a world after they die. Therefore, every religion has an ideal world called heaven or paradise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The level of consumption in modern society is even higher than that which is supposedly provided by the ideal world\u2014the heaven that people dreamed of in the past. But we have greater desires now, so we often consider our life conditions to be 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 for help from almighty gods came to exist.<\/p>\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 can comfort people temporarily, like drugs, but they can\u2019t solve these problems fundamentally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

The Buddha investigated how to solve this problem in-depth. He discovered that the root cause of this never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is desire. When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy. 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 being 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.<\/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.<\/p>\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.<\/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 because although it seems impossible for humans to be free from desire, 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.<\/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 this is only a secondary and partial reason. When we are free from desire, we seldom suffer or feel fettered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Then how can we be free from our desires and karma? We meditate 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 our desires for food and sleep, we have other serious karma. Even if we are free from our desires for food and sleep, attaining liberation will be difficult. As such, wishing for liberation without even achieving this much is contradictory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, let\u2019s say I have a habit of smoking. I am not saying that smoking is bad but being unable 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\u2014a 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Therefore, I recommend 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if there are no restrictions on food, I recommend that you 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 that you 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.<\/p>\n","post_title":"The Reason Why People Are Unhappy No Matter How Hard They Try to Be Happy (Jul 11, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_220711","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14202","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14195,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-24 00:49:23","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-24 05:49:23","post_content":"\n

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

The Korean Seon (Zen) master and engaged Buddhist Venerable Pomnyun Sunim, founder and chairman of the international relief organization Join Together Society (JTS), led a delegation of JTS volunteers to India in September to visit Sujata Academy, a community school established by JTS in Dungheswari, Bihar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the respected monk usually makes annual visits to Dungheswari, to engage with the volunteers and villagers and to review the progress of development activities, this occasion was the first time he had been able to travel there in more than two years because of pandemic-related restrictions. During his week-long visit, Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Published by BDG on September 26, 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Read more: <\/a>https:\/\/www.buddhistdoor.net\/news\/engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"Engaged Buddhism: Ven. Pomnyun Sunim and JTS Volunteers Visit Sujata Academy Project in India","post_excerpt":" Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-26 22:32:14","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-27 03:32:14","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14195","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14198,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-22 19:48:20","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:20","post_content":"\n

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

When you hike through the mountains, you have to climb one peak after another. Our mind is the same. Once we solve one problem, there is always another to solve. So, you repeat the process of noticing and solving one problem after another. The purpose of practice is to constantly repeat the process. Don\u2019t try too hard to do well or get frustrated because you still have a long way to go. Just keep persisting, like when you hike up the next peak in the mountains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

Illustration by Maseol <\/p>\n","post_title":"Practice is like climbing a mountain","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"practice-is-like-climbing-a-mountain","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-22 19:48:22","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:22","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14198","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":17},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"jnews_block_37"};

Page 17 of 24 Previous 1 … 16 17 18 … 24 Next

\n

Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not. This 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy briefly. But when your desires are not<\/em> 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 that is 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, and so they wish to be born in such a world after they die. Therefore, every religion has an ideal world called heaven or paradise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The level of consumption in modern society is even higher than that which is supposedly provided by the ideal world\u2014the heaven that people dreamed of in the past. But we have greater desires now, so we often consider our life conditions to be 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 for help from almighty gods came to exist.<\/p>\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 can comfort people temporarily, like drugs, but they can\u2019t solve these problems fundamentally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

The Buddha investigated how to solve this problem in-depth. He discovered that the root cause of this never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is desire. When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy. 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 being 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.<\/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.<\/p>\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.<\/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 because although it seems impossible for humans to be free from desire, 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.<\/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 this is only a secondary and partial reason. When we are free from desire, we seldom suffer or feel fettered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Then how can we be free from our desires and karma? We meditate 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 our desires for food and sleep, we have other serious karma. Even if we are free from our desires for food and sleep, attaining liberation will be difficult. As such, wishing for liberation without even achieving this much is contradictory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, let\u2019s say I have a habit of smoking. I am not saying that smoking is bad but being unable 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\u2014a 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Therefore, I recommend 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if there are no restrictions on food, I recommend that you 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 that you 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.<\/p>\n","post_title":"The Reason Why People Are Unhappy No Matter How Hard They Try to Be Happy (Jul 11, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_220711","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14202","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14195,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-24 00:49:23","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-24 05:49:23","post_content":"\n

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

The Korean Seon (Zen) master and engaged Buddhist Venerable Pomnyun Sunim, founder and chairman of the international relief organization Join Together Society (JTS), led a delegation of JTS volunteers to India in September to visit Sujata Academy, a community school established by JTS in Dungheswari, Bihar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the respected monk usually makes annual visits to Dungheswari, to engage with the volunteers and villagers and to review the progress of development activities, this occasion was the first time he had been able to travel there in more than two years because of pandemic-related restrictions. During his week-long visit, Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Published by BDG on September 26, 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Read more: <\/a>https:\/\/www.buddhistdoor.net\/news\/engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"Engaged Buddhism: Ven. Pomnyun Sunim and JTS Volunteers Visit Sujata Academy Project in India","post_excerpt":" Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-26 22:32:14","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-27 03:32:14","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14195","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14198,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-22 19:48:20","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:20","post_content":"\n

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

When you hike through the mountains, you have to climb one peak after another. Our mind is the same. Once we solve one problem, there is always another to solve. So, you repeat the process of noticing and solving one problem after another. The purpose of practice is to constantly repeat the process. Don\u2019t try too hard to do well or get frustrated because you still have a long way to go. Just keep persisting, like when you hike up the next peak in the mountains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

Illustration by Maseol <\/p>\n","post_title":"Practice is like climbing a mountain","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"practice-is-like-climbing-a-mountain","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-22 19:48:22","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:22","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14198","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":17},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"jnews_block_37"};

Page 17 of 24 Previous 1 … 16 17 18 … 24 Next

\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"How to Overcome the Fear of Death (Dec 03, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Why do we fear death?","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_221203","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14206","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14202,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-25 18:23:27","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-25 23:23:27","post_content":"\n

Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not. This 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy briefly. But when your desires are not<\/em> 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 that is 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, and so they wish to be born in such a world after they die. Therefore, every religion has an ideal world called heaven or paradise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The level of consumption in modern society is even higher than that which is supposedly provided by the ideal world\u2014the heaven that people dreamed of in the past. But we have greater desires now, so we often consider our life conditions to be 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 for help from almighty gods came to exist.<\/p>\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 can comfort people temporarily, like drugs, but they can\u2019t solve these problems fundamentally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

The Buddha investigated how to solve this problem in-depth. He discovered that the root cause of this never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is desire. When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy. 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 being 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.<\/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.<\/p>\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.<\/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 because although it seems impossible for humans to be free from desire, 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.<\/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 this is only a secondary and partial reason. When we are free from desire, we seldom suffer or feel fettered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Then how can we be free from our desires and karma? We meditate 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 our desires for food and sleep, we have other serious karma. Even if we are free from our desires for food and sleep, attaining liberation will be difficult. As such, wishing for liberation without even achieving this much is contradictory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, let\u2019s say I have a habit of smoking. I am not saying that smoking is bad but being unable 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\u2014a 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Therefore, I recommend 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if there are no restrictions on food, I recommend that you 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 that you 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.<\/p>\n","post_title":"The Reason Why People Are Unhappy No Matter How Hard They Try to Be Happy (Jul 11, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_220711","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14202","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14195,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-24 00:49:23","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-24 05:49:23","post_content":"\n

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

The Korean Seon (Zen) master and engaged Buddhist Venerable Pomnyun Sunim, founder and chairman of the international relief organization Join Together Society (JTS), led a delegation of JTS volunteers to India in September to visit Sujata Academy, a community school established by JTS in Dungheswari, Bihar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the respected monk usually makes annual visits to Dungheswari, to engage with the volunteers and villagers and to review the progress of development activities, this occasion was the first time he had been able to travel there in more than two years because of pandemic-related restrictions. During his week-long visit, Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Published by BDG on September 26, 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Read more: <\/a>https:\/\/www.buddhistdoor.net\/news\/engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"Engaged Buddhism: Ven. Pomnyun Sunim and JTS Volunteers Visit Sujata Academy Project in India","post_excerpt":" Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-26 22:32:14","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-27 03:32:14","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14195","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14198,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-22 19:48:20","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:20","post_content":"\n

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

When you hike through the mountains, you have to climb one peak after another. Our mind is the same. Once we solve one problem, there is always another to solve. So, you repeat the process of noticing and solving one problem after another. The purpose of practice is to constantly repeat the process. Don\u2019t try too hard to do well or get frustrated because you still have a long way to go. Just keep persisting, like when you hike up the next peak in the mountains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

Illustration by Maseol <\/p>\n","post_title":"Practice is like climbing a mountain","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"practice-is-like-climbing-a-mountain","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-22 19:48:22","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:22","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14198","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":17},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"jnews_block_37"};

Page 17 of 24 Previous 1 … 16 17 18 … 24 Next

\n

A true Christian shouldn\u2019t worry about living and dying. Since God decides whether to send someone to heaven or hell, you should just follow his will. If you are a Buddhist who believes in the law of cause and effect, and know that everything originates from the mind, you just need to cultivate your mind without worrying about what will happen tomorrow. Then your tomorrow will be better, so there is nothing to worry about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"How to Overcome the Fear of Death (Dec 03, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Why do we fear death?","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_221203","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14206","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14202,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-25 18:23:27","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-25 23:23:27","post_content":"\n

Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not. This 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy briefly. But when your desires are not<\/em> 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 that is 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, and so they wish to be born in such a world after they die. Therefore, every religion has an ideal world called heaven or paradise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The level of consumption in modern society is even higher than that which is supposedly provided by the ideal world\u2014the heaven that people dreamed of in the past. But we have greater desires now, so we often consider our life conditions to be 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 for help from almighty gods came to exist.<\/p>\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 can comfort people temporarily, like drugs, but they can\u2019t solve these problems fundamentally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

The Buddha investigated how to solve this problem in-depth. He discovered that the root cause of this never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is desire. When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy. 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 being 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.<\/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.<\/p>\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.<\/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 because although it seems impossible for humans to be free from desire, 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.<\/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 this is only a secondary and partial reason. When we are free from desire, we seldom suffer or feel fettered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Then how can we be free from our desires and karma? We meditate 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 our desires for food and sleep, we have other serious karma. Even if we are free from our desires for food and sleep, attaining liberation will be difficult. As such, wishing for liberation without even achieving this much is contradictory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, let\u2019s say I have a habit of smoking. I am not saying that smoking is bad but being unable 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\u2014a 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Therefore, I recommend 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if there are no restrictions on food, I recommend that you 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 that you 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.<\/p>\n","post_title":"The Reason Why People Are Unhappy No Matter How Hard They Try to Be Happy (Jul 11, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_220711","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14202","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14195,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-24 00:49:23","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-24 05:49:23","post_content":"\n

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

The Korean Seon (Zen) master and engaged Buddhist Venerable Pomnyun Sunim, founder and chairman of the international relief organization Join Together Society (JTS), led a delegation of JTS volunteers to India in September to visit Sujata Academy, a community school established by JTS in Dungheswari, Bihar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the respected monk usually makes annual visits to Dungheswari, to engage with the volunteers and villagers and to review the progress of development activities, this occasion was the first time he had been able to travel there in more than two years because of pandemic-related restrictions. During his week-long visit, Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Published by BDG on September 26, 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Read more: <\/a>https:\/\/www.buddhistdoor.net\/news\/engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"Engaged Buddhism: Ven. Pomnyun Sunim and JTS Volunteers Visit Sujata Academy Project in India","post_excerpt":" Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-26 22:32:14","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-27 03:32:14","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14195","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14198,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-22 19:48:20","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:20","post_content":"\n

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

When you hike through the mountains, you have to climb one peak after another. Our mind is the same. Once we solve one problem, there is always another to solve. So, you repeat the process of noticing and solving one problem after another. The purpose of practice is to constantly repeat the process. Don\u2019t try too hard to do well or get frustrated because you still have a long way to go. Just keep persisting, like when you hike up the next peak in the mountains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

Illustration by Maseol <\/p>\n","post_title":"Practice is like climbing a mountain","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"practice-is-like-climbing-a-mountain","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-22 19:48:22","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:22","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14198","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":17},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"jnews_block_37"};

Page 17 of 24 Previous 1 … 16 17 18 … 24 Next

\n

Returning to our subject, there is no need to worry about the afterlife. If heaven and hell actually exist, you will go to heaven, not to hell, when you do good deeds. Your future is decided by how you live your life now. Living well today will ensure a better tomorrow. Hoping for a better tomorrow while living an improper life today is like trying to catch a cloud. People who do bad deeds rightly deserve punishment, but when they refuse to accept the consequences and ask to be sent to heaven, they demonstrate a complete lack of awareness. Wanting to go to heaven when they have done nothing to deserve it and refusing to go to hell when they have performed deeds that warrant it is no different from desiring a good harvest after planting rotten seeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A true Christian shouldn\u2019t worry about living and dying. Since God decides whether to send someone to heaven or hell, you should just follow his will. If you are a Buddhist who believes in the law of cause and effect, and know that everything originates from the mind, you just need to cultivate your mind without worrying about what will happen tomorrow. Then your tomorrow will be better, so there is nothing to worry about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"How to Overcome the Fear of Death (Dec 03, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Why do we fear death?","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_221203","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14206","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14202,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-25 18:23:27","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-25 23:23:27","post_content":"\n

Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not. This 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy briefly. But when your desires are not<\/em> 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 that is 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, and so they wish to be born in such a world after they die. Therefore, every religion has an ideal world called heaven or paradise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The level of consumption in modern society is even higher than that which is supposedly provided by the ideal world\u2014the heaven that people dreamed of in the past. But we have greater desires now, so we often consider our life conditions to be 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 for help from almighty gods came to exist.<\/p>\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 can comfort people temporarily, like drugs, but they can\u2019t solve these problems fundamentally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

The Buddha investigated how to solve this problem in-depth. He discovered that the root cause of this never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is desire. When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy. 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 being 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.<\/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.<\/p>\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.<\/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 because although it seems impossible for humans to be free from desire, 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.<\/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 this is only a secondary and partial reason. When we are free from desire, we seldom suffer or feel fettered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Then how can we be free from our desires and karma? We meditate 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 our desires for food and sleep, we have other serious karma. Even if we are free from our desires for food and sleep, attaining liberation will be difficult. As such, wishing for liberation without even achieving this much is contradictory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, let\u2019s say I have a habit of smoking. I am not saying that smoking is bad but being unable 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\u2014a 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Therefore, I recommend 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if there are no restrictions on food, I recommend that you 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 that you 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.<\/p>\n","post_title":"The Reason Why People Are Unhappy No Matter How Hard They Try to Be Happy (Jul 11, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_220711","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14202","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14195,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-24 00:49:23","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-24 05:49:23","post_content":"\n

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

The Korean Seon (Zen) master and engaged Buddhist Venerable Pomnyun Sunim, founder and chairman of the international relief organization Join Together Society (JTS), led a delegation of JTS volunteers to India in September to visit Sujata Academy, a community school established by JTS in Dungheswari, Bihar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the respected monk usually makes annual visits to Dungheswari, to engage with the volunteers and villagers and to review the progress of development activities, this occasion was the first time he had been able to travel there in more than two years because of pandemic-related restrictions. During his week-long visit, Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Published by BDG on September 26, 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Read more: <\/a>https:\/\/www.buddhistdoor.net\/news\/engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"Engaged Buddhism: Ven. Pomnyun Sunim and JTS Volunteers Visit Sujata Academy Project in India","post_excerpt":" Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-26 22:32:14","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-27 03:32:14","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14195","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14198,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-22 19:48:20","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:20","post_content":"\n

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

When you hike through the mountains, you have to climb one peak after another. Our mind is the same. Once we solve one problem, there is always another to solve. So, you repeat the process of noticing and solving one problem after another. The purpose of practice is to constantly repeat the process. Don\u2019t try too hard to do well or get frustrated because you still have a long way to go. Just keep persisting, like when you hike up the next peak in the mountains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

Illustration by Maseol <\/p>\n","post_title":"Practice is like climbing a mountain","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"practice-is-like-climbing-a-mountain","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-22 19:48:22","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:22","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14198","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":17},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"jnews_block_37"};

Page 17 of 24 Previous 1 … 16 17 18 … 24 Next

\n

Would the infinitely compassionate Goddess of Mercy care whether a high school senior goes to a church or a Buddhist temple? She wouldn\u2019t be the Goddess of Mercy if she did, would she? Our religious beliefs are limited by our ignorance, and we disparage God or the Buddha by bringing them down to our own level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Returning to our subject, there is no need to worry about the afterlife. If heaven and hell actually exist, you will go to heaven, not to hell, when you do good deeds. Your future is decided by how you live your life now. Living well today will ensure a better tomorrow. Hoping for a better tomorrow while living an improper life today is like trying to catch a cloud. People who do bad deeds rightly deserve punishment, but when they refuse to accept the consequences and ask to be sent to heaven, they demonstrate a complete lack of awareness. Wanting to go to heaven when they have done nothing to deserve it and refusing to go to hell when they have performed deeds that warrant it is no different from desiring a good harvest after planting rotten seeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A true Christian shouldn\u2019t worry about living and dying. Since God decides whether to send someone to heaven or hell, you should just follow his will. If you are a Buddhist who believes in the law of cause and effect, and know that everything originates from the mind, you just need to cultivate your mind without worrying about what will happen tomorrow. Then your tomorrow will be better, so there is nothing to worry about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"How to Overcome the Fear of Death (Dec 03, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Why do we fear death?","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_221203","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14206","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14202,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-25 18:23:27","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-25 23:23:27","post_content":"\n

Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not. This 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy briefly. But when your desires are not<\/em> 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 that is 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, and so they wish to be born in such a world after they die. Therefore, every religion has an ideal world called heaven or paradise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The level of consumption in modern society is even higher than that which is supposedly provided by the ideal world\u2014the heaven that people dreamed of in the past. But we have greater desires now, so we often consider our life conditions to be 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 for help from almighty gods came to exist.<\/p>\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 can comfort people temporarily, like drugs, but they can\u2019t solve these problems fundamentally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

The Buddha investigated how to solve this problem in-depth. He discovered that the root cause of this never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is desire. When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy. 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 being 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.<\/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.<\/p>\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.<\/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 because although it seems impossible for humans to be free from desire, 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.<\/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 this is only a secondary and partial reason. When we are free from desire, we seldom suffer or feel fettered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Then how can we be free from our desires and karma? We meditate 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 our desires for food and sleep, we have other serious karma. Even if we are free from our desires for food and sleep, attaining liberation will be difficult. As such, wishing for liberation without even achieving this much is contradictory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, let\u2019s say I have a habit of smoking. I am not saying that smoking is bad but being unable 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\u2014a 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Therefore, I recommend 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if there are no restrictions on food, I recommend that you 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 that you 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.<\/p>\n","post_title":"The Reason Why People Are Unhappy No Matter How Hard They Try to Be Happy (Jul 11, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_220711","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14202","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14195,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-24 00:49:23","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-24 05:49:23","post_content":"\n

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

The Korean Seon (Zen) master and engaged Buddhist Venerable Pomnyun Sunim, founder and chairman of the international relief organization Join Together Society (JTS), led a delegation of JTS volunteers to India in September to visit Sujata Academy, a community school established by JTS in Dungheswari, Bihar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the respected monk usually makes annual visits to Dungheswari, to engage with the volunteers and villagers and to review the progress of development activities, this occasion was the first time he had been able to travel there in more than two years because of pandemic-related restrictions. During his week-long visit, Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Published by BDG on September 26, 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Read more: <\/a>https:\/\/www.buddhistdoor.net\/news\/engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"Engaged Buddhism: Ven. Pomnyun Sunim and JTS Volunteers Visit Sujata Academy Project in India","post_excerpt":" Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-26 22:32:14","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-27 03:32:14","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14195","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14198,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-22 19:48:20","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:20","post_content":"\n

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

When you hike through the mountains, you have to climb one peak after another. Our mind is the same. Once we solve one problem, there is always another to solve. So, you repeat the process of noticing and solving one problem after another. The purpose of practice is to constantly repeat the process. Don\u2019t try too hard to do well or get frustrated because you still have a long way to go. Just keep persisting, like when you hike up the next peak in the mountains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

Illustration by Maseol <\/p>\n","post_title":"Practice is like climbing a mountain","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"practice-is-like-climbing-a-mountain","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-22 19:48:22","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:22","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14198","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":17},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"jnews_block_37"};

Page 17 of 24 Previous 1 … 16 17 18 … 24 Next

\n

P: You don\u2019t have to worry at all. The Goddess of Mercy is very kind and generous.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Would the infinitely compassionate Goddess of Mercy care whether a high school senior goes to a church or a Buddhist temple? She wouldn\u2019t be the Goddess of Mercy if she did, would she? Our religious beliefs are limited by our ignorance, and we disparage God or the Buddha by bringing them down to our own level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Returning to our subject, there is no need to worry about the afterlife. If heaven and hell actually exist, you will go to heaven, not to hell, when you do good deeds. Your future is decided by how you live your life now. Living well today will ensure a better tomorrow. Hoping for a better tomorrow while living an improper life today is like trying to catch a cloud. People who do bad deeds rightly deserve punishment, but when they refuse to accept the consequences and ask to be sent to heaven, they demonstrate a complete lack of awareness. Wanting to go to heaven when they have done nothing to deserve it and refusing to go to hell when they have performed deeds that warrant it is no different from desiring a good harvest after planting rotten seeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A true Christian shouldn\u2019t worry about living and dying. Since God decides whether to send someone to heaven or hell, you should just follow his will. If you are a Buddhist who believes in the law of cause and effect, and know that everything originates from the mind, you just need to cultivate your mind without worrying about what will happen tomorrow. Then your tomorrow will be better, so there is nothing to worry about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"How to Overcome the Fear of Death (Dec 03, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Why do we fear death?","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_221203","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14206","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14202,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-25 18:23:27","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-25 23:23:27","post_content":"\n

Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not. This 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy briefly. But when your desires are not<\/em> 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 that is 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, and so they wish to be born in such a world after they die. Therefore, every religion has an ideal world called heaven or paradise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The level of consumption in modern society is even higher than that which is supposedly provided by the ideal world\u2014the heaven that people dreamed of in the past. But we have greater desires now, so we often consider our life conditions to be 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 for help from almighty gods came to exist.<\/p>\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 can comfort people temporarily, like drugs, but they can\u2019t solve these problems fundamentally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

The Buddha investigated how to solve this problem in-depth. He discovered that the root cause of this never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is desire. When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy. 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 being 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.<\/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.<\/p>\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.<\/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 because although it seems impossible for humans to be free from desire, 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.<\/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 this is only a secondary and partial reason. When we are free from desire, we seldom suffer or feel fettered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Then how can we be free from our desires and karma? We meditate 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 our desires for food and sleep, we have other serious karma. Even if we are free from our desires for food and sleep, attaining liberation will be difficult. As such, wishing for liberation without even achieving this much is contradictory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, let\u2019s say I have a habit of smoking. I am not saying that smoking is bad but being unable 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\u2014a 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Therefore, I recommend 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if there are no restrictions on food, I recommend that you 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 that you 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.<\/p>\n","post_title":"The Reason Why People Are Unhappy No Matter How Hard They Try to Be Happy (Jul 11, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_220711","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14202","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14195,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-24 00:49:23","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-24 05:49:23","post_content":"\n

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

The Korean Seon (Zen) master and engaged Buddhist Venerable Pomnyun Sunim, founder and chairman of the international relief organization Join Together Society (JTS), led a delegation of JTS volunteers to India in September to visit Sujata Academy, a community school established by JTS in Dungheswari, Bihar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the respected monk usually makes annual visits to Dungheswari, to engage with the volunteers and villagers and to review the progress of development activities, this occasion was the first time he had been able to travel there in more than two years because of pandemic-related restrictions. During his week-long visit, Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Published by BDG on September 26, 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Read more: <\/a>https:\/\/www.buddhistdoor.net\/news\/engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"Engaged Buddhism: Ven. Pomnyun Sunim and JTS Volunteers Visit Sujata Academy Project in India","post_excerpt":" Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-26 22:32:14","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-27 03:32:14","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14195","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14198,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-22 19:48:20","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:20","post_content":"\n

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

When you hike through the mountains, you have to climb one peak after another. Our mind is the same. Once we solve one problem, there is always another to solve. So, you repeat the process of noticing and solving one problem after another. The purpose of practice is to constantly repeat the process. Don\u2019t try too hard to do well or get frustrated because you still have a long way to go. Just keep persisting, like when you hike up the next peak in the mountains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

Illustration by Maseol <\/p>\n","post_title":"Practice is like climbing a mountain","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"practice-is-like-climbing-a-mountain","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-22 19:48:22","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:22","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14198","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":17},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"jnews_block_37"};

Page 17 of 24 Previous 1 … 16 17 18 … 24 Next

\n

She felt that her prayer would not be answered however hard she prayed to the Goddess of Mercy, a Buddhist bodhisattva, because her granddaughter attended a Christian church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: You don\u2019t have to worry at all. The Goddess of Mercy is very kind and generous.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Would the infinitely compassionate Goddess of Mercy care whether a high school senior goes to a church or a Buddhist temple? She wouldn\u2019t be the Goddess of Mercy if she did, would she? Our religious beliefs are limited by our ignorance, and we disparage God or the Buddha by bringing them down to our own level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Returning to our subject, there is no need to worry about the afterlife. If heaven and hell actually exist, you will go to heaven, not to hell, when you do good deeds. Your future is decided by how you live your life now. Living well today will ensure a better tomorrow. Hoping for a better tomorrow while living an improper life today is like trying to catch a cloud. People who do bad deeds rightly deserve punishment, but when they refuse to accept the consequences and ask to be sent to heaven, they demonstrate a complete lack of awareness. Wanting to go to heaven when they have done nothing to deserve it and refusing to go to hell when they have performed deeds that warrant it is no different from desiring a good harvest after planting rotten seeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A true Christian shouldn\u2019t worry about living and dying. Since God decides whether to send someone to heaven or hell, you should just follow his will. If you are a Buddhist who believes in the law of cause and effect, and know that everything originates from the mind, you just need to cultivate your mind without worrying about what will happen tomorrow. Then your tomorrow will be better, so there is nothing to worry about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"How to Overcome the Fear of Death (Dec 03, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Why do we fear death?","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_221203","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14206","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14202,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-25 18:23:27","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-25 23:23:27","post_content":"\n

Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not. This 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy briefly. But when your desires are not<\/em> 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 that is 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, and so they wish to be born in such a world after they die. Therefore, every religion has an ideal world called heaven or paradise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The level of consumption in modern society is even higher than that which is supposedly provided by the ideal world\u2014the heaven that people dreamed of in the past. But we have greater desires now, so we often consider our life conditions to be 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 for help from almighty gods came to exist.<\/p>\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 can comfort people temporarily, like drugs, but they can\u2019t solve these problems fundamentally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

The Buddha investigated how to solve this problem in-depth. He discovered that the root cause of this never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is desire. When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy. 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 being 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.<\/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.<\/p>\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.<\/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 because although it seems impossible for humans to be free from desire, 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.<\/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 this is only a secondary and partial reason. When we are free from desire, we seldom suffer or feel fettered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Then how can we be free from our desires and karma? We meditate 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 our desires for food and sleep, we have other serious karma. Even if we are free from our desires for food and sleep, attaining liberation will be difficult. As such, wishing for liberation without even achieving this much is contradictory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, let\u2019s say I have a habit of smoking. I am not saying that smoking is bad but being unable 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\u2014a 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Therefore, I recommend 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if there are no restrictions on food, I recommend that you 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 that you 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.<\/p>\n","post_title":"The Reason Why People Are Unhappy No Matter How Hard They Try to Be Happy (Jul 11, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_220711","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14202","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14195,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-24 00:49:23","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-24 05:49:23","post_content":"\n

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

The Korean Seon (Zen) master and engaged Buddhist Venerable Pomnyun Sunim, founder and chairman of the international relief organization Join Together Society (JTS), led a delegation of JTS volunteers to India in September to visit Sujata Academy, a community school established by JTS in Dungheswari, Bihar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the respected monk usually makes annual visits to Dungheswari, to engage with the volunteers and villagers and to review the progress of development activities, this occasion was the first time he had been able to travel there in more than two years because of pandemic-related restrictions. During his week-long visit, Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Published by BDG on September 26, 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Read more: <\/a>https:\/\/www.buddhistdoor.net\/news\/engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"Engaged Buddhism: Ven. Pomnyun Sunim and JTS Volunteers Visit Sujata Academy Project in India","post_excerpt":" Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-26 22:32:14","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-27 03:32:14","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14195","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14198,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-22 19:48:20","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:20","post_content":"\n

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

When you hike through the mountains, you have to climb one peak after another. Our mind is the same. Once we solve one problem, there is always another to solve. So, you repeat the process of noticing and solving one problem after another. The purpose of practice is to constantly repeat the process. Don\u2019t try too hard to do well or get frustrated because you still have a long way to go. Just keep persisting, like when you hike up the next peak in the mountains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

Illustration by Maseol <\/p>\n","post_title":"Practice is like climbing a mountain","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"practice-is-like-climbing-a-mountain","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-22 19:48:22","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:22","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14198","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":17},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"jnews_block_37"};

Page 17 of 24 Previous 1 … 16 17 18 … 24 Next

\n

Q: My granddaughter is a Christian.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

She felt that her prayer would not be answered however hard she prayed to the Goddess of Mercy, a Buddhist bodhisattva, because her granddaughter attended a Christian church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: You don\u2019t have to worry at all. The Goddess of Mercy is very kind and generous.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Would the infinitely compassionate Goddess of Mercy care whether a high school senior goes to a church or a Buddhist temple? She wouldn\u2019t be the Goddess of Mercy if she did, would she? Our religious beliefs are limited by our ignorance, and we disparage God or the Buddha by bringing them down to our own level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Returning to our subject, there is no need to worry about the afterlife. If heaven and hell actually exist, you will go to heaven, not to hell, when you do good deeds. Your future is decided by how you live your life now. Living well today will ensure a better tomorrow. Hoping for a better tomorrow while living an improper life today is like trying to catch a cloud. People who do bad deeds rightly deserve punishment, but when they refuse to accept the consequences and ask to be sent to heaven, they demonstrate a complete lack of awareness. Wanting to go to heaven when they have done nothing to deserve it and refusing to go to hell when they have performed deeds that warrant it is no different from desiring a good harvest after planting rotten seeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A true Christian shouldn\u2019t worry about living and dying. Since God decides whether to send someone to heaven or hell, you should just follow his will. If you are a Buddhist who believes in the law of cause and effect, and know that everything originates from the mind, you just need to cultivate your mind without worrying about what will happen tomorrow. Then your tomorrow will be better, so there is nothing to worry about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"How to Overcome the Fear of Death (Dec 03, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Why do we fear death?","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_221203","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14206","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14202,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-25 18:23:27","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-25 23:23:27","post_content":"\n

Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not. This 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy briefly. But when your desires are not<\/em> 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 that is 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, and so they wish to be born in such a world after they die. Therefore, every religion has an ideal world called heaven or paradise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The level of consumption in modern society is even higher than that which is supposedly provided by the ideal world\u2014the heaven that people dreamed of in the past. But we have greater desires now, so we often consider our life conditions to be 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 for help from almighty gods came to exist.<\/p>\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 can comfort people temporarily, like drugs, but they can\u2019t solve these problems fundamentally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

The Buddha investigated how to solve this problem in-depth. He discovered that the root cause of this never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is desire. When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy. 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 being 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.<\/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.<\/p>\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.<\/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 because although it seems impossible for humans to be free from desire, 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.<\/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 this is only a secondary and partial reason. When we are free from desire, we seldom suffer or feel fettered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Then how can we be free from our desires and karma? We meditate 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 our desires for food and sleep, we have other serious karma. Even if we are free from our desires for food and sleep, attaining liberation will be difficult. As such, wishing for liberation without even achieving this much is contradictory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, let\u2019s say I have a habit of smoking. I am not saying that smoking is bad but being unable 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\u2014a 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Therefore, I recommend 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if there are no restrictions on food, I recommend that you 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 that you 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.<\/p>\n","post_title":"The Reason Why People Are Unhappy No Matter How Hard They Try to Be Happy (Jul 11, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_220711","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14202","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14195,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-24 00:49:23","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-24 05:49:23","post_content":"\n

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

The Korean Seon (Zen) master and engaged Buddhist Venerable Pomnyun Sunim, founder and chairman of the international relief organization Join Together Society (JTS), led a delegation of JTS volunteers to India in September to visit Sujata Academy, a community school established by JTS in Dungheswari, Bihar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the respected monk usually makes annual visits to Dungheswari, to engage with the volunteers and villagers and to review the progress of development activities, this occasion was the first time he had been able to travel there in more than two years because of pandemic-related restrictions. During his week-long visit, Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Published by BDG on September 26, 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Read more: <\/a>https:\/\/www.buddhistdoor.net\/news\/engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"Engaged Buddhism: Ven. Pomnyun Sunim and JTS Volunteers Visit Sujata Academy Project in India","post_excerpt":" Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-26 22:32:14","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-27 03:32:14","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14195","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14198,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-22 19:48:20","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:20","post_content":"\n

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

When you hike through the mountains, you have to climb one peak after another. Our mind is the same. Once we solve one problem, there is always another to solve. So, you repeat the process of noticing and solving one problem after another. The purpose of practice is to constantly repeat the process. Don\u2019t try too hard to do well or get frustrated because you still have a long way to go. Just keep persisting, like when you hike up the next peak in the mountains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

Illustration by Maseol <\/p>\n","post_title":"Practice is like climbing a mountain","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"practice-is-like-climbing-a-mountain","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-22 19:48:22","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:22","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14198","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":17},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"jnews_block_37"};

Page 17 of 24 Previous 1 … 16 17 18 … 24 Next

\n

P: What are you worried about?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: My granddaughter is a Christian.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

She felt that her prayer would not be answered however hard she prayed to the Goddess of Mercy, a Buddhist bodhisattva, because her granddaughter attended a Christian church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: You don\u2019t have to worry at all. The Goddess of Mercy is very kind and generous.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Would the infinitely compassionate Goddess of Mercy care whether a high school senior goes to a church or a Buddhist temple? She wouldn\u2019t be the Goddess of Mercy if she did, would she? Our religious beliefs are limited by our ignorance, and we disparage God or the Buddha by bringing them down to our own level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Returning to our subject, there is no need to worry about the afterlife. If heaven and hell actually exist, you will go to heaven, not to hell, when you do good deeds. Your future is decided by how you live your life now. Living well today will ensure a better tomorrow. Hoping for a better tomorrow while living an improper life today is like trying to catch a cloud. People who do bad deeds rightly deserve punishment, but when they refuse to accept the consequences and ask to be sent to heaven, they demonstrate a complete lack of awareness. Wanting to go to heaven when they have done nothing to deserve it and refusing to go to hell when they have performed deeds that warrant it is no different from desiring a good harvest after planting rotten seeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A true Christian shouldn\u2019t worry about living and dying. Since God decides whether to send someone to heaven or hell, you should just follow his will. If you are a Buddhist who believes in the law of cause and effect, and know that everything originates from the mind, you just need to cultivate your mind without worrying about what will happen tomorrow. Then your tomorrow will be better, so there is nothing to worry about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"How to Overcome the Fear of Death (Dec 03, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Why do we fear death?","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_221203","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14206","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14202,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-25 18:23:27","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-25 23:23:27","post_content":"\n

Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not. This 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy briefly. But when your desires are not<\/em> 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 that is 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, and so they wish to be born in such a world after they die. Therefore, every religion has an ideal world called heaven or paradise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The level of consumption in modern society is even higher than that which is supposedly provided by the ideal world\u2014the heaven that people dreamed of in the past. But we have greater desires now, so we often consider our life conditions to be 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 for help from almighty gods came to exist.<\/p>\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 can comfort people temporarily, like drugs, but they can\u2019t solve these problems fundamentally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

The Buddha investigated how to solve this problem in-depth. He discovered that the root cause of this never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is desire. When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy. 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 being 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.<\/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.<\/p>\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.<\/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 because although it seems impossible for humans to be free from desire, 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.<\/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 this is only a secondary and partial reason. When we are free from desire, we seldom suffer or feel fettered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Then how can we be free from our desires and karma? We meditate 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 our desires for food and sleep, we have other serious karma. Even if we are free from our desires for food and sleep, attaining liberation will be difficult. As such, wishing for liberation without even achieving this much is contradictory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, let\u2019s say I have a habit of smoking. I am not saying that smoking is bad but being unable 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\u2014a 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Therefore, I recommend 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if there are no restrictions on food, I recommend that you 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 that you 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.<\/p>\n","post_title":"The Reason Why People Are Unhappy No Matter How Hard They Try to Be Happy (Jul 11, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_220711","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14202","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14195,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-24 00:49:23","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-24 05:49:23","post_content":"\n

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

The Korean Seon (Zen) master and engaged Buddhist Venerable Pomnyun Sunim, founder and chairman of the international relief organization Join Together Society (JTS), led a delegation of JTS volunteers to India in September to visit Sujata Academy, a community school established by JTS in Dungheswari, Bihar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the respected monk usually makes annual visits to Dungheswari, to engage with the volunteers and villagers and to review the progress of development activities, this occasion was the first time he had been able to travel there in more than two years because of pandemic-related restrictions. During his week-long visit, Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Published by BDG on September 26, 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Read more: <\/a>https:\/\/www.buddhistdoor.net\/news\/engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"Engaged Buddhism: Ven. Pomnyun Sunim and JTS Volunteers Visit Sujata Academy Project in India","post_excerpt":" Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-26 22:32:14","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-27 03:32:14","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14195","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14198,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-22 19:48:20","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:20","post_content":"\n

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

When you hike through the mountains, you have to climb one peak after another. Our mind is the same. Once we solve one problem, there is always another to solve. So, you repeat the process of noticing and solving one problem after another. The purpose of practice is to constantly repeat the process. Don\u2019t try too hard to do well or get frustrated because you still have a long way to go. Just keep persisting, like when you hike up the next peak in the mountains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

Illustration by Maseol <\/p>\n","post_title":"Practice is like climbing a mountain","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"practice-is-like-climbing-a-mountain","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-22 19:48:22","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:22","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14198","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":17},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"jnews_block_37"};

Page 17 of 24 Previous 1 … 16 17 18 … 24 Next

\n

Q: My granddaughter is a senior in high school. I am praying that my granddaughter gets accepted into a good college.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: What are you worried about?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: My granddaughter is a Christian.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

She felt that her prayer would not be answered however hard she prayed to the Goddess of Mercy, a Buddhist bodhisattva, because her granddaughter attended a Christian church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: You don\u2019t have to worry at all. The Goddess of Mercy is very kind and generous.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Would the infinitely compassionate Goddess of Mercy care whether a high school senior goes to a church or a Buddhist temple? She wouldn\u2019t be the Goddess of Mercy if she did, would she? Our religious beliefs are limited by our ignorance, and we disparage God or the Buddha by bringing them down to our own level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Returning to our subject, there is no need to worry about the afterlife. If heaven and hell actually exist, you will go to heaven, not to hell, when you do good deeds. Your future is decided by how you live your life now. Living well today will ensure a better tomorrow. Hoping for a better tomorrow while living an improper life today is like trying to catch a cloud. People who do bad deeds rightly deserve punishment, but when they refuse to accept the consequences and ask to be sent to heaven, they demonstrate a complete lack of awareness. Wanting to go to heaven when they have done nothing to deserve it and refusing to go to hell when they have performed deeds that warrant it is no different from desiring a good harvest after planting rotten seeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A true Christian shouldn\u2019t worry about living and dying. Since God decides whether to send someone to heaven or hell, you should just follow his will. If you are a Buddhist who believes in the law of cause and effect, and know that everything originates from the mind, you just need to cultivate your mind without worrying about what will happen tomorrow. Then your tomorrow will be better, so there is nothing to worry about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"How to Overcome the Fear of Death (Dec 03, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Why do we fear death?","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_221203","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14206","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14202,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-25 18:23:27","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-25 23:23:27","post_content":"\n

Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not. This 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy briefly. But when your desires are not<\/em> 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 that is 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, and so they wish to be born in such a world after they die. Therefore, every religion has an ideal world called heaven or paradise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The level of consumption in modern society is even higher than that which is supposedly provided by the ideal world\u2014the heaven that people dreamed of in the past. But we have greater desires now, so we often consider our life conditions to be 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 for help from almighty gods came to exist.<\/p>\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 can comfort people temporarily, like drugs, but they can\u2019t solve these problems fundamentally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

The Buddha investigated how to solve this problem in-depth. He discovered that the root cause of this never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is desire. When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy. 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 being 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.<\/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.<\/p>\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.<\/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 because although it seems impossible for humans to be free from desire, 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.<\/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 this is only a secondary and partial reason. When we are free from desire, we seldom suffer or feel fettered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Then how can we be free from our desires and karma? We meditate 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 our desires for food and sleep, we have other serious karma. Even if we are free from our desires for food and sleep, attaining liberation will be difficult. As such, wishing for liberation without even achieving this much is contradictory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, let\u2019s say I have a habit of smoking. I am not saying that smoking is bad but being unable 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\u2014a 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Therefore, I recommend 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if there are no restrictions on food, I recommend that you 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 that you 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.<\/p>\n","post_title":"The Reason Why People Are Unhappy No Matter How Hard They Try to Be Happy (Jul 11, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_220711","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14202","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14195,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-24 00:49:23","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-24 05:49:23","post_content":"\n

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

The Korean Seon (Zen) master and engaged Buddhist Venerable Pomnyun Sunim, founder and chairman of the international relief organization Join Together Society (JTS), led a delegation of JTS volunteers to India in September to visit Sujata Academy, a community school established by JTS in Dungheswari, Bihar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the respected monk usually makes annual visits to Dungheswari, to engage with the volunteers and villagers and to review the progress of development activities, this occasion was the first time he had been able to travel there in more than two years because of pandemic-related restrictions. During his week-long visit, Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Published by BDG on September 26, 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Read more: <\/a>https:\/\/www.buddhistdoor.net\/news\/engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"Engaged Buddhism: Ven. Pomnyun Sunim and JTS Volunteers Visit Sujata Academy Project in India","post_excerpt":" Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-26 22:32:14","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-27 03:32:14","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14195","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14198,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-22 19:48:20","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:20","post_content":"\n

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

When you hike through the mountains, you have to climb one peak after another. Our mind is the same. Once we solve one problem, there is always another to solve. So, you repeat the process of noticing and solving one problem after another. The purpose of practice is to constantly repeat the process. Don\u2019t try too hard to do well or get frustrated because you still have a long way to go. Just keep persisting, like when you hike up the next peak in the mountains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

Illustration by Maseol <\/p>\n","post_title":"Practice is like climbing a mountain","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"practice-is-like-climbing-a-mountain","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-22 19:48:22","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:22","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14198","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":17},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"jnews_block_37"};

Page 17 of 24 Previous 1 … 16 17 18 … 24 Next

\n

P: What are you praying for?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: My granddaughter is a senior in high school. I am praying that my granddaughter gets accepted into a good college.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: What are you worried about?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: My granddaughter is a Christian.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

She felt that her prayer would not be answered however hard she prayed to the Goddess of Mercy, a Buddhist bodhisattva, because her granddaughter attended a Christian church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: You don\u2019t have to worry at all. The Goddess of Mercy is very kind and generous.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Would the infinitely compassionate Goddess of Mercy care whether a high school senior goes to a church or a Buddhist temple? She wouldn\u2019t be the Goddess of Mercy if she did, would she? Our religious beliefs are limited by our ignorance, and we disparage God or the Buddha by bringing them down to our own level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Returning to our subject, there is no need to worry about the afterlife. If heaven and hell actually exist, you will go to heaven, not to hell, when you do good deeds. Your future is decided by how you live your life now. Living well today will ensure a better tomorrow. Hoping for a better tomorrow while living an improper life today is like trying to catch a cloud. People who do bad deeds rightly deserve punishment, but when they refuse to accept the consequences and ask to be sent to heaven, they demonstrate a complete lack of awareness. Wanting to go to heaven when they have done nothing to deserve it and refusing to go to hell when they have performed deeds that warrant it is no different from desiring a good harvest after planting rotten seeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A true Christian shouldn\u2019t worry about living and dying. Since God decides whether to send someone to heaven or hell, you should just follow his will. If you are a Buddhist who believes in the law of cause and effect, and know that everything originates from the mind, you just need to cultivate your mind without worrying about what will happen tomorrow. Then your tomorrow will be better, so there is nothing to worry about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"How to Overcome the Fear of Death (Dec 03, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Why do we fear death?","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_221203","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14206","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14202,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-25 18:23:27","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-25 23:23:27","post_content":"\n

Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not. This 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy briefly. But when your desires are not<\/em> 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 that is 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, and so they wish to be born in such a world after they die. Therefore, every religion has an ideal world called heaven or paradise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The level of consumption in modern society is even higher than that which is supposedly provided by the ideal world\u2014the heaven that people dreamed of in the past. But we have greater desires now, so we often consider our life conditions to be 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 for help from almighty gods came to exist.<\/p>\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 can comfort people temporarily, like drugs, but they can\u2019t solve these problems fundamentally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

The Buddha investigated how to solve this problem in-depth. He discovered that the root cause of this never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is desire. When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy. 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 being 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.<\/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.<\/p>\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.<\/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 because although it seems impossible for humans to be free from desire, 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.<\/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 this is only a secondary and partial reason. When we are free from desire, we seldom suffer or feel fettered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Then how can we be free from our desires and karma? We meditate 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 our desires for food and sleep, we have other serious karma. Even if we are free from our desires for food and sleep, attaining liberation will be difficult. As such, wishing for liberation without even achieving this much is contradictory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, let\u2019s say I have a habit of smoking. I am not saying that smoking is bad but being unable 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\u2014a 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Therefore, I recommend 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if there are no restrictions on food, I recommend that you 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 that you 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.<\/p>\n","post_title":"The Reason Why People Are Unhappy No Matter How Hard They Try to Be Happy (Jul 11, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_220711","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14202","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14195,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-24 00:49:23","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-24 05:49:23","post_content":"\n

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

The Korean Seon (Zen) master and engaged Buddhist Venerable Pomnyun Sunim, founder and chairman of the international relief organization Join Together Society (JTS), led a delegation of JTS volunteers to India in September to visit Sujata Academy, a community school established by JTS in Dungheswari, Bihar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the respected monk usually makes annual visits to Dungheswari, to engage with the volunteers and villagers and to review the progress of development activities, this occasion was the first time he had been able to travel there in more than two years because of pandemic-related restrictions. During his week-long visit, Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Published by BDG on September 26, 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Read more: <\/a>https:\/\/www.buddhistdoor.net\/news\/engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"Engaged Buddhism: Ven. Pomnyun Sunim and JTS Volunteers Visit Sujata Academy Project in India","post_excerpt":" Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-26 22:32:14","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-27 03:32:14","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14195","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14198,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-22 19:48:20","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:20","post_content":"\n

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

When you hike through the mountains, you have to climb one peak after another. Our mind is the same. Once we solve one problem, there is always another to solve. So, you repeat the process of noticing and solving one problem after another. The purpose of practice is to constantly repeat the process. Don\u2019t try too hard to do well or get frustrated because you still have a long way to go. Just keep persisting, like when you hike up the next peak in the mountains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

Illustration by Maseol <\/p>\n","post_title":"Practice is like climbing a mountain","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"practice-is-like-climbing-a-mountain","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-22 19:48:22","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:22","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14198","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":17},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"jnews_block_37"};

Page 17 of 24 Previous 1 … 16 17 18 … 24 Next

\n

Q: I pray to the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, the Goddess of Mercy, but I am afraid my prayer will not be answered.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: What are you praying for?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: My granddaughter is a senior in high school. I am praying that my granddaughter gets accepted into a good college.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: What are you worried about?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: My granddaughter is a Christian.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

She felt that her prayer would not be answered however hard she prayed to the Goddess of Mercy, a Buddhist bodhisattva, because her granddaughter attended a Christian church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: You don\u2019t have to worry at all. The Goddess of Mercy is very kind and generous.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Would the infinitely compassionate Goddess of Mercy care whether a high school senior goes to a church or a Buddhist temple? She wouldn\u2019t be the Goddess of Mercy if she did, would she? Our religious beliefs are limited by our ignorance, and we disparage God or the Buddha by bringing them down to our own level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Returning to our subject, there is no need to worry about the afterlife. If heaven and hell actually exist, you will go to heaven, not to hell, when you do good deeds. Your future is decided by how you live your life now. Living well today will ensure a better tomorrow. Hoping for a better tomorrow while living an improper life today is like trying to catch a cloud. People who do bad deeds rightly deserve punishment, but when they refuse to accept the consequences and ask to be sent to heaven, they demonstrate a complete lack of awareness. Wanting to go to heaven when they have done nothing to deserve it and refusing to go to hell when they have performed deeds that warrant it is no different from desiring a good harvest after planting rotten seeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A true Christian shouldn\u2019t worry about living and dying. Since God decides whether to send someone to heaven or hell, you should just follow his will. If you are a Buddhist who believes in the law of cause and effect, and know that everything originates from the mind, you just need to cultivate your mind without worrying about what will happen tomorrow. Then your tomorrow will be better, so there is nothing to worry about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"How to Overcome the Fear of Death (Dec 03, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Why do we fear death?","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_221203","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14206","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14202,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-25 18:23:27","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-25 23:23:27","post_content":"\n

Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not. This 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy briefly. But when your desires are not<\/em> 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 that is 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, and so they wish to be born in such a world after they die. Therefore, every religion has an ideal world called heaven or paradise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The level of consumption in modern society is even higher than that which is supposedly provided by the ideal world\u2014the heaven that people dreamed of in the past. But we have greater desires now, so we often consider our life conditions to be 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 for help from almighty gods came to exist.<\/p>\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 can comfort people temporarily, like drugs, but they can\u2019t solve these problems fundamentally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

The Buddha investigated how to solve this problem in-depth. He discovered that the root cause of this never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is desire. When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy. 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 being 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.<\/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.<\/p>\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.<\/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 because although it seems impossible for humans to be free from desire, 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.<\/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 this is only a secondary and partial reason. When we are free from desire, we seldom suffer or feel fettered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Then how can we be free from our desires and karma? We meditate 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 our desires for food and sleep, we have other serious karma. Even if we are free from our desires for food and sleep, attaining liberation will be difficult. As such, wishing for liberation without even achieving this much is contradictory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, let\u2019s say I have a habit of smoking. I am not saying that smoking is bad but being unable 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\u2014a 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Therefore, I recommend 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if there are no restrictions on food, I recommend that you 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 that you 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.<\/p>\n","post_title":"The Reason Why People Are Unhappy No Matter How Hard They Try to Be Happy (Jul 11, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_220711","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14202","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14195,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-24 00:49:23","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-24 05:49:23","post_content":"\n

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

The Korean Seon (Zen) master and engaged Buddhist Venerable Pomnyun Sunim, founder and chairman of the international relief organization Join Together Society (JTS), led a delegation of JTS volunteers to India in September to visit Sujata Academy, a community school established by JTS in Dungheswari, Bihar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the respected monk usually makes annual visits to Dungheswari, to engage with the volunteers and villagers and to review the progress of development activities, this occasion was the first time he had been able to travel there in more than two years because of pandemic-related restrictions. During his week-long visit, Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Published by BDG on September 26, 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Read more: <\/a>https:\/\/www.buddhistdoor.net\/news\/engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"Engaged Buddhism: Ven. Pomnyun Sunim and JTS Volunteers Visit Sujata Academy Project in India","post_excerpt":" Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-26 22:32:14","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-27 03:32:14","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14195","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14198,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-22 19:48:20","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:20","post_content":"\n

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

When you hike through the mountains, you have to climb one peak after another. Our mind is the same. Once we solve one problem, there is always another to solve. So, you repeat the process of noticing and solving one problem after another. The purpose of practice is to constantly repeat the process. Don\u2019t try too hard to do well or get frustrated because you still have a long way to go. Just keep persisting, like when you hike up the next peak in the mountains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

Illustration by Maseol <\/p>\n","post_title":"Practice is like climbing a mountain","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"practice-is-like-climbing-a-mountain","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-22 19:48:22","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:22","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14198","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":17},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"jnews_block_37"};

Page 17 of 24 Previous 1 … 16 17 18 … 24 Next

\n

An old lady came to consult me about her worries:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: I pray to the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, the Goddess of Mercy, but I am afraid my prayer will not be answered.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: What are you praying for?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: My granddaughter is a senior in high school. I am praying that my granddaughter gets accepted into a good college.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: What are you worried about?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: My granddaughter is a Christian.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

She felt that her prayer would not be answered however hard she prayed to the Goddess of Mercy, a Buddhist bodhisattva, because her granddaughter attended a Christian church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: You don\u2019t have to worry at all. The Goddess of Mercy is very kind and generous.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Would the infinitely compassionate Goddess of Mercy care whether a high school senior goes to a church or a Buddhist temple? She wouldn\u2019t be the Goddess of Mercy if she did, would she? Our religious beliefs are limited by our ignorance, and we disparage God or the Buddha by bringing them down to our own level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Returning to our subject, there is no need to worry about the afterlife. If heaven and hell actually exist, you will go to heaven, not to hell, when you do good deeds. Your future is decided by how you live your life now. Living well today will ensure a better tomorrow. Hoping for a better tomorrow while living an improper life today is like trying to catch a cloud. People who do bad deeds rightly deserve punishment, but when they refuse to accept the consequences and ask to be sent to heaven, they demonstrate a complete lack of awareness. Wanting to go to heaven when they have done nothing to deserve it and refusing to go to hell when they have performed deeds that warrant it is no different from desiring a good harvest after planting rotten seeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A true Christian shouldn\u2019t worry about living and dying. Since God decides whether to send someone to heaven or hell, you should just follow his will. If you are a Buddhist who believes in the law of cause and effect, and know that everything originates from the mind, you just need to cultivate your mind without worrying about what will happen tomorrow. Then your tomorrow will be better, so there is nothing to worry about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"How to Overcome the Fear of Death (Dec 03, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Why do we fear death?","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_221203","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14206","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14202,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-25 18:23:27","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-25 23:23:27","post_content":"\n

Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not. This 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy briefly. But when your desires are not<\/em> 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 that is 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, and so they wish to be born in such a world after they die. Therefore, every religion has an ideal world called heaven or paradise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The level of consumption in modern society is even higher than that which is supposedly provided by the ideal world\u2014the heaven that people dreamed of in the past. But we have greater desires now, so we often consider our life conditions to be 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 for help from almighty gods came to exist.<\/p>\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 can comfort people temporarily, like drugs, but they can\u2019t solve these problems fundamentally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

The Buddha investigated how to solve this problem in-depth. He discovered that the root cause of this never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is desire. When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy. 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 being 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.<\/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.<\/p>\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.<\/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 because although it seems impossible for humans to be free from desire, 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.<\/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 this is only a secondary and partial reason. When we are free from desire, we seldom suffer or feel fettered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Then how can we be free from our desires and karma? We meditate 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 our desires for food and sleep, we have other serious karma. Even if we are free from our desires for food and sleep, attaining liberation will be difficult. As such, wishing for liberation without even achieving this much is contradictory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, let\u2019s say I have a habit of smoking. I am not saying that smoking is bad but being unable 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\u2014a 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Therefore, I recommend 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if there are no restrictions on food, I recommend that you 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 that you 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.<\/p>\n","post_title":"The Reason Why People Are Unhappy No Matter How Hard They Try to Be Happy (Jul 11, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_220711","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14202","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14195,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-24 00:49:23","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-24 05:49:23","post_content":"\n

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

The Korean Seon (Zen) master and engaged Buddhist Venerable Pomnyun Sunim, founder and chairman of the international relief organization Join Together Society (JTS), led a delegation of JTS volunteers to India in September to visit Sujata Academy, a community school established by JTS in Dungheswari, Bihar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the respected monk usually makes annual visits to Dungheswari, to engage with the volunteers and villagers and to review the progress of development activities, this occasion was the first time he had been able to travel there in more than two years because of pandemic-related restrictions. During his week-long visit, Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Published by BDG on September 26, 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Read more: <\/a>https:\/\/www.buddhistdoor.net\/news\/engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"Engaged Buddhism: Ven. Pomnyun Sunim and JTS Volunteers Visit Sujata Academy Project in India","post_excerpt":" Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-26 22:32:14","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-27 03:32:14","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14195","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14198,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-22 19:48:20","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:20","post_content":"\n

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

When you hike through the mountains, you have to climb one peak after another. Our mind is the same. Once we solve one problem, there is always another to solve. So, you repeat the process of noticing and solving one problem after another. The purpose of practice is to constantly repeat the process. Don\u2019t try too hard to do well or get frustrated because you still have a long way to go. Just keep persisting, like when you hike up the next peak in the mountains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

Illustration by Maseol <\/p>\n","post_title":"Practice is like climbing a mountain","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"practice-is-like-climbing-a-mountain","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-22 19:48:22","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:22","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14198","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":17},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"jnews_block_37"};

Page 17 of 24 Previous 1 … 16 17 18 … 24 Next

\n

We have created an image of a gluttonous pig, perhaps based on the sound they make when they eat, and made them synonymous with greed. There is no proof that a greedy person is reincarnated as a pig. Besides, reincarnation originated with Hinduism, so it\u2019s not originally a Buddhist belief. Over 90 per cent of Korean Buddhists believe in Hindu doctrines that they mistakenly think are Buddhist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An old lady came to consult me about her worries:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: I pray to the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, the Goddess of Mercy, but I am afraid my prayer will not be answered.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: What are you praying for?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: My granddaughter is a senior in high school. I am praying that my granddaughter gets accepted into a good college.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: What are you worried about?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: My granddaughter is a Christian.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

She felt that her prayer would not be answered however hard she prayed to the Goddess of Mercy, a Buddhist bodhisattva, because her granddaughter attended a Christian church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: You don\u2019t have to worry at all. The Goddess of Mercy is very kind and generous.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Would the infinitely compassionate Goddess of Mercy care whether a high school senior goes to a church or a Buddhist temple? She wouldn\u2019t be the Goddess of Mercy if she did, would she? Our religious beliefs are limited by our ignorance, and we disparage God or the Buddha by bringing them down to our own level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Returning to our subject, there is no need to worry about the afterlife. If heaven and hell actually exist, you will go to heaven, not to hell, when you do good deeds. Your future is decided by how you live your life now. Living well today will ensure a better tomorrow. Hoping for a better tomorrow while living an improper life today is like trying to catch a cloud. People who do bad deeds rightly deserve punishment, but when they refuse to accept the consequences and ask to be sent to heaven, they demonstrate a complete lack of awareness. Wanting to go to heaven when they have done nothing to deserve it and refusing to go to hell when they have performed deeds that warrant it is no different from desiring a good harvest after planting rotten seeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A true Christian shouldn\u2019t worry about living and dying. Since God decides whether to send someone to heaven or hell, you should just follow his will. If you are a Buddhist who believes in the law of cause and effect, and know that everything originates from the mind, you just need to cultivate your mind without worrying about what will happen tomorrow. Then your tomorrow will be better, so there is nothing to worry about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"How to Overcome the Fear of Death (Dec 03, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Why do we fear death?","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_221203","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14206","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14202,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-25 18:23:27","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-25 23:23:27","post_content":"\n

Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not. This 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy briefly. But when your desires are not<\/em> 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 that is 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, and so they wish to be born in such a world after they die. Therefore, every religion has an ideal world called heaven or paradise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The level of consumption in modern society is even higher than that which is supposedly provided by the ideal world\u2014the heaven that people dreamed of in the past. But we have greater desires now, so we often consider our life conditions to be 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 for help from almighty gods came to exist.<\/p>\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 can comfort people temporarily, like drugs, but they can\u2019t solve these problems fundamentally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

The Buddha investigated how to solve this problem in-depth. He discovered that the root cause of this never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is desire. When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy. 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 being 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.<\/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.<\/p>\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.<\/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 because although it seems impossible for humans to be free from desire, 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.<\/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 this is only a secondary and partial reason. When we are free from desire, we seldom suffer or feel fettered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Then how can we be free from our desires and karma? We meditate 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 our desires for food and sleep, we have other serious karma. Even if we are free from our desires for food and sleep, attaining liberation will be difficult. As such, wishing for liberation without even achieving this much is contradictory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, let\u2019s say I have a habit of smoking. I am not saying that smoking is bad but being unable 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\u2014a 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Therefore, I recommend 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if there are no restrictions on food, I recommend that you 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 that you 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.<\/p>\n","post_title":"The Reason Why People Are Unhappy No Matter How Hard They Try to Be Happy (Jul 11, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_220711","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14202","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14195,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-24 00:49:23","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-24 05:49:23","post_content":"\n

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

The Korean Seon (Zen) master and engaged Buddhist Venerable Pomnyun Sunim, founder and chairman of the international relief organization Join Together Society (JTS), led a delegation of JTS volunteers to India in September to visit Sujata Academy, a community school established by JTS in Dungheswari, Bihar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the respected monk usually makes annual visits to Dungheswari, to engage with the volunteers and villagers and to review the progress of development activities, this occasion was the first time he had been able to travel there in more than two years because of pandemic-related restrictions. During his week-long visit, Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Published by BDG on September 26, 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Read more: <\/a>https:\/\/www.buddhistdoor.net\/news\/engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"Engaged Buddhism: Ven. Pomnyun Sunim and JTS Volunteers Visit Sujata Academy Project in India","post_excerpt":" Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-26 22:32:14","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-27 03:32:14","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14195","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14198,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-22 19:48:20","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:20","post_content":"\n

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

When you hike through the mountains, you have to climb one peak after another. Our mind is the same. Once we solve one problem, there is always another to solve. So, you repeat the process of noticing and solving one problem after another. The purpose of practice is to constantly repeat the process. Don\u2019t try too hard to do well or get frustrated because you still have a long way to go. Just keep persisting, like when you hike up the next peak in the mountains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

Illustration by Maseol <\/p>\n","post_title":"Practice is like climbing a mountain","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"practice-is-like-climbing-a-mountain","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-22 19:48:22","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:22","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14198","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":17},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"jnews_block_37"};

Page 17 of 24 Previous 1 … 16 17 18 … 24 Next

\n

Traditionally, Buddhists believe that the greedy will be reincarnated as swine, the lazy as cows, and the nasty as serpents. But are pigs really that gluttonous? They eat when they are hungry, and they stop eating when they are no longer hungry. They don\u2019t prevent other pigs from eating the remaining food. Humans, on the other hand, do not share the food stored in their homes, even if there is someone starving right before their eyes. People are much greedier than pigs. Similarly, lions are wild and ferocious, but they will not kill a hare that crosses their path when they are not hungry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have created an image of a gluttonous pig, perhaps based on the sound they make when they eat, and made them synonymous with greed. There is no proof that a greedy person is reincarnated as a pig. Besides, reincarnation originated with Hinduism, so it\u2019s not originally a Buddhist belief. Over 90 per cent of Korean Buddhists believe in Hindu doctrines that they mistakenly think are Buddhist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An old lady came to consult me about her worries:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: I pray to the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, the Goddess of Mercy, but I am afraid my prayer will not be answered.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: What are you praying for?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: My granddaughter is a senior in high school. I am praying that my granddaughter gets accepted into a good college.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: What are you worried about?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: My granddaughter is a Christian.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

She felt that her prayer would not be answered however hard she prayed to the Goddess of Mercy, a Buddhist bodhisattva, because her granddaughter attended a Christian church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: You don\u2019t have to worry at all. The Goddess of Mercy is very kind and generous.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Would the infinitely compassionate Goddess of Mercy care whether a high school senior goes to a church or a Buddhist temple? She wouldn\u2019t be the Goddess of Mercy if she did, would she? Our religious beliefs are limited by our ignorance, and we disparage God or the Buddha by bringing them down to our own level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Returning to our subject, there is no need to worry about the afterlife. If heaven and hell actually exist, you will go to heaven, not to hell, when you do good deeds. Your future is decided by how you live your life now. Living well today will ensure a better tomorrow. Hoping for a better tomorrow while living an improper life today is like trying to catch a cloud. People who do bad deeds rightly deserve punishment, but when they refuse to accept the consequences and ask to be sent to heaven, they demonstrate a complete lack of awareness. Wanting to go to heaven when they have done nothing to deserve it and refusing to go to hell when they have performed deeds that warrant it is no different from desiring a good harvest after planting rotten seeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A true Christian shouldn\u2019t worry about living and dying. Since God decides whether to send someone to heaven or hell, you should just follow his will. If you are a Buddhist who believes in the law of cause and effect, and know that everything originates from the mind, you just need to cultivate your mind without worrying about what will happen tomorrow. Then your tomorrow will be better, so there is nothing to worry about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"How to Overcome the Fear of Death (Dec 03, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Why do we fear death?","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_221203","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14206","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14202,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-25 18:23:27","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-25 23:23:27","post_content":"\n

Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not. This 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy briefly. But when your desires are not<\/em> 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 that is 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, and so they wish to be born in such a world after they die. Therefore, every religion has an ideal world called heaven or paradise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The level of consumption in modern society is even higher than that which is supposedly provided by the ideal world\u2014the heaven that people dreamed of in the past. But we have greater desires now, so we often consider our life conditions to be 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 for help from almighty gods came to exist.<\/p>\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 can comfort people temporarily, like drugs, but they can\u2019t solve these problems fundamentally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

The Buddha investigated how to solve this problem in-depth. He discovered that the root cause of this never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is desire. When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy. 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 being 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.<\/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.<\/p>\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.<\/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 because although it seems impossible for humans to be free from desire, 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.<\/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 this is only a secondary and partial reason. When we are free from desire, we seldom suffer or feel fettered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Then how can we be free from our desires and karma? We meditate 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 our desires for food and sleep, we have other serious karma. Even if we are free from our desires for food and sleep, attaining liberation will be difficult. As such, wishing for liberation without even achieving this much is contradictory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, let\u2019s say I have a habit of smoking. I am not saying that smoking is bad but being unable 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\u2014a 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Therefore, I recommend 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if there are no restrictions on food, I recommend that you 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 that you 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.<\/p>\n","post_title":"The Reason Why People Are Unhappy No Matter How Hard They Try to Be Happy (Jul 11, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_220711","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14202","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14195,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-24 00:49:23","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-24 05:49:23","post_content":"\n

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

The Korean Seon (Zen) master and engaged Buddhist Venerable Pomnyun Sunim, founder and chairman of the international relief organization Join Together Society (JTS), led a delegation of JTS volunteers to India in September to visit Sujata Academy, a community school established by JTS in Dungheswari, Bihar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the respected monk usually makes annual visits to Dungheswari, to engage with the volunteers and villagers and to review the progress of development activities, this occasion was the first time he had been able to travel there in more than two years because of pandemic-related restrictions. During his week-long visit, Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Published by BDG on September 26, 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Read more: <\/a>https:\/\/www.buddhistdoor.net\/news\/engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"Engaged Buddhism: Ven. Pomnyun Sunim and JTS Volunteers Visit Sujata Academy Project in India","post_excerpt":" Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-26 22:32:14","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-27 03:32:14","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14195","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14198,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-22 19:48:20","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:20","post_content":"\n

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

When you hike through the mountains, you have to climb one peak after another. Our mind is the same. Once we solve one problem, there is always another to solve. So, you repeat the process of noticing and solving one problem after another. The purpose of practice is to constantly repeat the process. Don\u2019t try too hard to do well or get frustrated because you still have a long way to go. Just keep persisting, like when you hike up the next peak in the mountains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

Illustration by Maseol <\/p>\n","post_title":"Practice is like climbing a mountain","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"practice-is-like-climbing-a-mountain","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-22 19:48:22","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:22","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14198","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":17},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"jnews_block_37"};

Page 17 of 24 Previous 1 … 16 17 18 … 24 Next

\n

The Buddha was saying that if a man can go to heaven for being dipped in the Ganga River after his death, the fish that live in the river will go to heaven before anyone. The Buddha\u2019s words help us reach an important realization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Traditionally, Buddhists believe that the greedy will be reincarnated as swine, the lazy as cows, and the nasty as serpents. But are pigs really that gluttonous? They eat when they are hungry, and they stop eating when they are no longer hungry. They don\u2019t prevent other pigs from eating the remaining food. Humans, on the other hand, do not share the food stored in their homes, even if there is someone starving right before their eyes. People are much greedier than pigs. Similarly, lions are wild and ferocious, but they will not kill a hare that crosses their path when they are not hungry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have created an image of a gluttonous pig, perhaps based on the sound they make when they eat, and made them synonymous with greed. There is no proof that a greedy person is reincarnated as a pig. Besides, reincarnation originated with Hinduism, so it\u2019s not originally a Buddhist belief. Over 90 per cent of Korean Buddhists believe in Hindu doctrines that they mistakenly think are Buddhist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An old lady came to consult me about her worries:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: I pray to the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, the Goddess of Mercy, but I am afraid my prayer will not be answered.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: What are you praying for?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: My granddaughter is a senior in high school. I am praying that my granddaughter gets accepted into a good college.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: What are you worried about?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: My granddaughter is a Christian.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

She felt that her prayer would not be answered however hard she prayed to the Goddess of Mercy, a Buddhist bodhisattva, because her granddaughter attended a Christian church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: You don\u2019t have to worry at all. The Goddess of Mercy is very kind and generous.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Would the infinitely compassionate Goddess of Mercy care whether a high school senior goes to a church or a Buddhist temple? She wouldn\u2019t be the Goddess of Mercy if she did, would she? Our religious beliefs are limited by our ignorance, and we disparage God or the Buddha by bringing them down to our own level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Returning to our subject, there is no need to worry about the afterlife. If heaven and hell actually exist, you will go to heaven, not to hell, when you do good deeds. Your future is decided by how you live your life now. Living well today will ensure a better tomorrow. Hoping for a better tomorrow while living an improper life today is like trying to catch a cloud. People who do bad deeds rightly deserve punishment, but when they refuse to accept the consequences and ask to be sent to heaven, they demonstrate a complete lack of awareness. Wanting to go to heaven when they have done nothing to deserve it and refusing to go to hell when they have performed deeds that warrant it is no different from desiring a good harvest after planting rotten seeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A true Christian shouldn\u2019t worry about living and dying. Since God decides whether to send someone to heaven or hell, you should just follow his will. If you are a Buddhist who believes in the law of cause and effect, and know that everything originates from the mind, you just need to cultivate your mind without worrying about what will happen tomorrow. Then your tomorrow will be better, so there is nothing to worry about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"How to Overcome the Fear of Death (Dec 03, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Why do we fear death?","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_221203","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14206","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14202,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-25 18:23:27","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-25 23:23:27","post_content":"\n

Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not. This 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy briefly. But when your desires are not<\/em> 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 that is 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, and so they wish to be born in such a world after they die. Therefore, every religion has an ideal world called heaven or paradise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The level of consumption in modern society is even higher than that which is supposedly provided by the ideal world\u2014the heaven that people dreamed of in the past. But we have greater desires now, so we often consider our life conditions to be 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 for help from almighty gods came to exist.<\/p>\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 can comfort people temporarily, like drugs, but they can\u2019t solve these problems fundamentally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

The Buddha investigated how to solve this problem in-depth. He discovered that the root cause of this never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is desire. When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy. 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 being 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.<\/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.<\/p>\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.<\/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 because although it seems impossible for humans to be free from desire, 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.<\/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 this is only a secondary and partial reason. When we are free from desire, we seldom suffer or feel fettered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Then how can we be free from our desires and karma? We meditate 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 our desires for food and sleep, we have other serious karma. Even if we are free from our desires for food and sleep, attaining liberation will be difficult. As such, wishing for liberation without even achieving this much is contradictory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, let\u2019s say I have a habit of smoking. I am not saying that smoking is bad but being unable 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\u2014a 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Therefore, I recommend 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if there are no restrictions on food, I recommend that you 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 that you 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.<\/p>\n","post_title":"The Reason Why People Are Unhappy No Matter How Hard They Try to Be Happy (Jul 11, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_220711","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14202","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14195,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-24 00:49:23","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-24 05:49:23","post_content":"\n

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

The Korean Seon (Zen) master and engaged Buddhist Venerable Pomnyun Sunim, founder and chairman of the international relief organization Join Together Society (JTS), led a delegation of JTS volunteers to India in September to visit Sujata Academy, a community school established by JTS in Dungheswari, Bihar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the respected monk usually makes annual visits to Dungheswari, to engage with the volunteers and villagers and to review the progress of development activities, this occasion was the first time he had been able to travel there in more than two years because of pandemic-related restrictions. During his week-long visit, Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Published by BDG on September 26, 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Read more: <\/a>https:\/\/www.buddhistdoor.net\/news\/engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"Engaged Buddhism: Ven. Pomnyun Sunim and JTS Volunteers Visit Sujata Academy Project in India","post_excerpt":" Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-26 22:32:14","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-27 03:32:14","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14195","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14198,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-22 19:48:20","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:20","post_content":"\n

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

When you hike through the mountains, you have to climb one peak after another. Our mind is the same. Once we solve one problem, there is always another to solve. So, you repeat the process of noticing and solving one problem after another. The purpose of practice is to constantly repeat the process. Don\u2019t try too hard to do well or get frustrated because you still have a long way to go. Just keep persisting, like when you hike up the next peak in the mountains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

Illustration by Maseol <\/p>\n","post_title":"Practice is like climbing a mountain","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"practice-is-like-climbing-a-mountain","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-22 19:48:22","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:22","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14198","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":17},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"jnews_block_37"};

Page 17 of 24 Previous 1 … 16 17 18 … 24 Next

\n

\u201cIf what they say is true, the fish in the river will be the first ones to go to heaven.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Buddha was saying that if a man can go to heaven for being dipped in the Ganga River after his death, the fish that live in the river will go to heaven before anyone. The Buddha\u2019s words help us reach an important realization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Traditionally, Buddhists believe that the greedy will be reincarnated as swine, the lazy as cows, and the nasty as serpents. But are pigs really that gluttonous? They eat when they are hungry, and they stop eating when they are no longer hungry. They don\u2019t prevent other pigs from eating the remaining food. Humans, on the other hand, do not share the food stored in their homes, even if there is someone starving right before their eyes. People are much greedier than pigs. Similarly, lions are wild and ferocious, but they will not kill a hare that crosses their path when they are not hungry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have created an image of a gluttonous pig, perhaps based on the sound they make when they eat, and made them synonymous with greed. There is no proof that a greedy person is reincarnated as a pig. Besides, reincarnation originated with Hinduism, so it\u2019s not originally a Buddhist belief. Over 90 per cent of Korean Buddhists believe in Hindu doctrines that they mistakenly think are Buddhist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An old lady came to consult me about her worries:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: I pray to the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, the Goddess of Mercy, but I am afraid my prayer will not be answered.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: What are you praying for?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: My granddaughter is a senior in high school. I am praying that my granddaughter gets accepted into a good college.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: What are you worried about?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: My granddaughter is a Christian.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

She felt that her prayer would not be answered however hard she prayed to the Goddess of Mercy, a Buddhist bodhisattva, because her granddaughter attended a Christian church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: You don\u2019t have to worry at all. The Goddess of Mercy is very kind and generous.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Would the infinitely compassionate Goddess of Mercy care whether a high school senior goes to a church or a Buddhist temple? She wouldn\u2019t be the Goddess of Mercy if she did, would she? Our religious beliefs are limited by our ignorance, and we disparage God or the Buddha by bringing them down to our own level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Returning to our subject, there is no need to worry about the afterlife. If heaven and hell actually exist, you will go to heaven, not to hell, when you do good deeds. Your future is decided by how you live your life now. Living well today will ensure a better tomorrow. Hoping for a better tomorrow while living an improper life today is like trying to catch a cloud. People who do bad deeds rightly deserve punishment, but when they refuse to accept the consequences and ask to be sent to heaven, they demonstrate a complete lack of awareness. Wanting to go to heaven when they have done nothing to deserve it and refusing to go to hell when they have performed deeds that warrant it is no different from desiring a good harvest after planting rotten seeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A true Christian shouldn\u2019t worry about living and dying. Since God decides whether to send someone to heaven or hell, you should just follow his will. If you are a Buddhist who believes in the law of cause and effect, and know that everything originates from the mind, you just need to cultivate your mind without worrying about what will happen tomorrow. Then your tomorrow will be better, so there is nothing to worry about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"How to Overcome the Fear of Death (Dec 03, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Why do we fear death?","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_221203","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14206","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14202,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-25 18:23:27","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-25 23:23:27","post_content":"\n

Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not. This 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy briefly. But when your desires are not<\/em> 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 that is 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, and so they wish to be born in such a world after they die. Therefore, every religion has an ideal world called heaven or paradise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The level of consumption in modern society is even higher than that which is supposedly provided by the ideal world\u2014the heaven that people dreamed of in the past. But we have greater desires now, so we often consider our life conditions to be 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 for help from almighty gods came to exist.<\/p>\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 can comfort people temporarily, like drugs, but they can\u2019t solve these problems fundamentally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

The Buddha investigated how to solve this problem in-depth. He discovered that the root cause of this never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is desire. When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy. 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 being 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.<\/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.<\/p>\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.<\/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 because although it seems impossible for humans to be free from desire, 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.<\/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 this is only a secondary and partial reason. When we are free from desire, we seldom suffer or feel fettered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Then how can we be free from our desires and karma? We meditate 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 our desires for food and sleep, we have other serious karma. Even if we are free from our desires for food and sleep, attaining liberation will be difficult. As such, wishing for liberation without even achieving this much is contradictory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, let\u2019s say I have a habit of smoking. I am not saying that smoking is bad but being unable 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\u2014a 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Therefore, I recommend 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if there are no restrictions on food, I recommend that you 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 that you 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.<\/p>\n","post_title":"The Reason Why People Are Unhappy No Matter How Hard They Try to Be Happy (Jul 11, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_220711","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14202","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14195,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-24 00:49:23","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-24 05:49:23","post_content":"\n

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

The Korean Seon (Zen) master and engaged Buddhist Venerable Pomnyun Sunim, founder and chairman of the international relief organization Join Together Society (JTS), led a delegation of JTS volunteers to India in September to visit Sujata Academy, a community school established by JTS in Dungheswari, Bihar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the respected monk usually makes annual visits to Dungheswari, to engage with the volunteers and villagers and to review the progress of development activities, this occasion was the first time he had been able to travel there in more than two years because of pandemic-related restrictions. During his week-long visit, Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Published by BDG on September 26, 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Read more: <\/a>https:\/\/www.buddhistdoor.net\/news\/engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"Engaged Buddhism: Ven. Pomnyun Sunim and JTS Volunteers Visit Sujata Academy Project in India","post_excerpt":" Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-26 22:32:14","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-27 03:32:14","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14195","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14198,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-22 19:48:20","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:20","post_content":"\n

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

When you hike through the mountains, you have to climb one peak after another. Our mind is the same. Once we solve one problem, there is always another to solve. So, you repeat the process of noticing and solving one problem after another. The purpose of practice is to constantly repeat the process. Don\u2019t try too hard to do well or get frustrated because you still have a long way to go. Just keep persisting, like when you hike up the next peak in the mountains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

Illustration by Maseol <\/p>\n","post_title":"Practice is like climbing a mountain","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"practice-is-like-climbing-a-mountain","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-22 19:48:22","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:22","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14198","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":17},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"jnews_block_37"};

Page 17 of 24 Previous 1 … 16 17 18 … 24 Next

\n

One day, a person who had heard of this belief went to the Buddha and asked if the Brahmans were telling the truth. The Buddha answered with a smile on his face:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf what they say is true, the fish in the river will be the first ones to go to heaven.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Buddha was saying that if a man can go to heaven for being dipped in the Ganga River after his death, the fish that live in the river will go to heaven before anyone. The Buddha\u2019s words help us reach an important realization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Traditionally, Buddhists believe that the greedy will be reincarnated as swine, the lazy as cows, and the nasty as serpents. But are pigs really that gluttonous? They eat when they are hungry, and they stop eating when they are no longer hungry. They don\u2019t prevent other pigs from eating the remaining food. Humans, on the other hand, do not share the food stored in their homes, even if there is someone starving right before their eyes. People are much greedier than pigs. Similarly, lions are wild and ferocious, but they will not kill a hare that crosses their path when they are not hungry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have created an image of a gluttonous pig, perhaps based on the sound they make when they eat, and made them synonymous with greed. There is no proof that a greedy person is reincarnated as a pig. Besides, reincarnation originated with Hinduism, so it\u2019s not originally a Buddhist belief. Over 90 per cent of Korean Buddhists believe in Hindu doctrines that they mistakenly think are Buddhist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An old lady came to consult me about her worries:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: I pray to the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, the Goddess of Mercy, but I am afraid my prayer will not be answered.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: What are you praying for?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: My granddaughter is a senior in high school. I am praying that my granddaughter gets accepted into a good college.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: What are you worried about?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: My granddaughter is a Christian.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

She felt that her prayer would not be answered however hard she prayed to the Goddess of Mercy, a Buddhist bodhisattva, because her granddaughter attended a Christian church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: You don\u2019t have to worry at all. The Goddess of Mercy is very kind and generous.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Would the infinitely compassionate Goddess of Mercy care whether a high school senior goes to a church or a Buddhist temple? She wouldn\u2019t be the Goddess of Mercy if she did, would she? Our religious beliefs are limited by our ignorance, and we disparage God or the Buddha by bringing them down to our own level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Returning to our subject, there is no need to worry about the afterlife. If heaven and hell actually exist, you will go to heaven, not to hell, when you do good deeds. Your future is decided by how you live your life now. Living well today will ensure a better tomorrow. Hoping for a better tomorrow while living an improper life today is like trying to catch a cloud. People who do bad deeds rightly deserve punishment, but when they refuse to accept the consequences and ask to be sent to heaven, they demonstrate a complete lack of awareness. Wanting to go to heaven when they have done nothing to deserve it and refusing to go to hell when they have performed deeds that warrant it is no different from desiring a good harvest after planting rotten seeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A true Christian shouldn\u2019t worry about living and dying. Since God decides whether to send someone to heaven or hell, you should just follow his will. If you are a Buddhist who believes in the law of cause and effect, and know that everything originates from the mind, you just need to cultivate your mind without worrying about what will happen tomorrow. Then your tomorrow will be better, so there is nothing to worry about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"How to Overcome the Fear of Death (Dec 03, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Why do we fear death?","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_221203","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14206","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14202,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-25 18:23:27","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-25 23:23:27","post_content":"\n

Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not. This 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy briefly. But when your desires are not<\/em> 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 that is 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, and so they wish to be born in such a world after they die. Therefore, every religion has an ideal world called heaven or paradise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The level of consumption in modern society is even higher than that which is supposedly provided by the ideal world\u2014the heaven that people dreamed of in the past. But we have greater desires now, so we often consider our life conditions to be 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 for help from almighty gods came to exist.<\/p>\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 can comfort people temporarily, like drugs, but they can\u2019t solve these problems fundamentally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

The Buddha investigated how to solve this problem in-depth. He discovered that the root cause of this never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is desire. When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy. 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 being 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.<\/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.<\/p>\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.<\/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 because although it seems impossible for humans to be free from desire, 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.<\/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 this is only a secondary and partial reason. When we are free from desire, we seldom suffer or feel fettered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Then how can we be free from our desires and karma? We meditate 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 our desires for food and sleep, we have other serious karma. Even if we are free from our desires for food and sleep, attaining liberation will be difficult. As such, wishing for liberation without even achieving this much is contradictory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, let\u2019s say I have a habit of smoking. I am not saying that smoking is bad but being unable 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\u2014a 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Therefore, I recommend 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if there are no restrictions on food, I recommend that you 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 that you 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.<\/p>\n","post_title":"The Reason Why People Are Unhappy No Matter How Hard They Try to Be Happy (Jul 11, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_220711","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14202","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14195,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-24 00:49:23","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-24 05:49:23","post_content":"\n

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

The Korean Seon (Zen) master and engaged Buddhist Venerable Pomnyun Sunim, founder and chairman of the international relief organization Join Together Society (JTS), led a delegation of JTS volunteers to India in September to visit Sujata Academy, a community school established by JTS in Dungheswari, Bihar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the respected monk usually makes annual visits to Dungheswari, to engage with the volunteers and villagers and to review the progress of development activities, this occasion was the first time he had been able to travel there in more than two years because of pandemic-related restrictions. During his week-long visit, Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Published by BDG on September 26, 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Read more: <\/a>https:\/\/www.buddhistdoor.net\/news\/engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"Engaged Buddhism: Ven. Pomnyun Sunim and JTS Volunteers Visit Sujata Academy Project in India","post_excerpt":" Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-26 22:32:14","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-27 03:32:14","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14195","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14198,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-22 19:48:20","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:20","post_content":"\n

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

When you hike through the mountains, you have to climb one peak after another. Our mind is the same. Once we solve one problem, there is always another to solve. So, you repeat the process of noticing and solving one problem after another. The purpose of practice is to constantly repeat the process. Don\u2019t try too hard to do well or get frustrated because you still have a long way to go. Just keep persisting, like when you hike up the next peak in the mountains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

Illustration by Maseol <\/p>\n","post_title":"Practice is like climbing a mountain","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"practice-is-like-climbing-a-mountain","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-22 19:48:22","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:22","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14198","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":17},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"jnews_block_37"};

Page 17 of 24 Previous 1 … 16 17 18 … 24 Next

\n

This was a common belief among people in India during the Buddha\u2019s lifetime. Therefore, they washed their bodies in the holy river, and those who had never bathed in the holy river during their lifetime were dipped in it posthumously. They all believed they had to do so in order to enter heaven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One day, a person who had heard of this belief went to the Buddha and asked if the Brahmans were telling the truth. The Buddha answered with a smile on his face:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf what they say is true, the fish in the river will be the first ones to go to heaven.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Buddha was saying that if a man can go to heaven for being dipped in the Ganga River after his death, the fish that live in the river will go to heaven before anyone. The Buddha\u2019s words help us reach an important realization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Traditionally, Buddhists believe that the greedy will be reincarnated as swine, the lazy as cows, and the nasty as serpents. But are pigs really that gluttonous? They eat when they are hungry, and they stop eating when they are no longer hungry. They don\u2019t prevent other pigs from eating the remaining food. Humans, on the other hand, do not share the food stored in their homes, even if there is someone starving right before their eyes. People are much greedier than pigs. Similarly, lions are wild and ferocious, but they will not kill a hare that crosses their path when they are not hungry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have created an image of a gluttonous pig, perhaps based on the sound they make when they eat, and made them synonymous with greed. There is no proof that a greedy person is reincarnated as a pig. Besides, reincarnation originated with Hinduism, so it\u2019s not originally a Buddhist belief. Over 90 per cent of Korean Buddhists believe in Hindu doctrines that they mistakenly think are Buddhist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An old lady came to consult me about her worries:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: I pray to the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, the Goddess of Mercy, but I am afraid my prayer will not be answered.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: What are you praying for?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: My granddaughter is a senior in high school. I am praying that my granddaughter gets accepted into a good college.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: What are you worried about?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: My granddaughter is a Christian.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

She felt that her prayer would not be answered however hard she prayed to the Goddess of Mercy, a Buddhist bodhisattva, because her granddaughter attended a Christian church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: You don\u2019t have to worry at all. The Goddess of Mercy is very kind and generous.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Would the infinitely compassionate Goddess of Mercy care whether a high school senior goes to a church or a Buddhist temple? She wouldn\u2019t be the Goddess of Mercy if she did, would she? Our religious beliefs are limited by our ignorance, and we disparage God or the Buddha by bringing them down to our own level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Returning to our subject, there is no need to worry about the afterlife. If heaven and hell actually exist, you will go to heaven, not to hell, when you do good deeds. Your future is decided by how you live your life now. Living well today will ensure a better tomorrow. Hoping for a better tomorrow while living an improper life today is like trying to catch a cloud. People who do bad deeds rightly deserve punishment, but when they refuse to accept the consequences and ask to be sent to heaven, they demonstrate a complete lack of awareness. Wanting to go to heaven when they have done nothing to deserve it and refusing to go to hell when they have performed deeds that warrant it is no different from desiring a good harvest after planting rotten seeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A true Christian shouldn\u2019t worry about living and dying. Since God decides whether to send someone to heaven or hell, you should just follow his will. If you are a Buddhist who believes in the law of cause and effect, and know that everything originates from the mind, you just need to cultivate your mind without worrying about what will happen tomorrow. Then your tomorrow will be better, so there is nothing to worry about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"How to Overcome the Fear of Death (Dec 03, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Why do we fear death?","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_221203","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14206","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14202,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-25 18:23:27","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-25 23:23:27","post_content":"\n

Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not. This 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy briefly. But when your desires are not<\/em> 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 that is 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, and so they wish to be born in such a world after they die. Therefore, every religion has an ideal world called heaven or paradise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The level of consumption in modern society is even higher than that which is supposedly provided by the ideal world\u2014the heaven that people dreamed of in the past. But we have greater desires now, so we often consider our life conditions to be 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 for help from almighty gods came to exist.<\/p>\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 can comfort people temporarily, like drugs, but they can\u2019t solve these problems fundamentally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

The Buddha investigated how to solve this problem in-depth. He discovered that the root cause of this never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is desire. When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy. 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 being 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.<\/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.<\/p>\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.<\/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 because although it seems impossible for humans to be free from desire, 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.<\/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 this is only a secondary and partial reason. When we are free from desire, we seldom suffer or feel fettered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Then how can we be free from our desires and karma? We meditate 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 our desires for food and sleep, we have other serious karma. Even if we are free from our desires for food and sleep, attaining liberation will be difficult. As such, wishing for liberation without even achieving this much is contradictory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, let\u2019s say I have a habit of smoking. I am not saying that smoking is bad but being unable 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\u2014a 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Therefore, I recommend 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if there are no restrictions on food, I recommend that you 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 that you 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.<\/p>\n","post_title":"The Reason Why People Are Unhappy No Matter How Hard They Try to Be Happy (Jul 11, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_220711","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14202","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14195,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-24 00:49:23","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-24 05:49:23","post_content":"\n

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

The Korean Seon (Zen) master and engaged Buddhist Venerable Pomnyun Sunim, founder and chairman of the international relief organization Join Together Society (JTS), led a delegation of JTS volunteers to India in September to visit Sujata Academy, a community school established by JTS in Dungheswari, Bihar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the respected monk usually makes annual visits to Dungheswari, to engage with the volunteers and villagers and to review the progress of development activities, this occasion was the first time he had been able to travel there in more than two years because of pandemic-related restrictions. During his week-long visit, Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Published by BDG on September 26, 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Read more: <\/a>https:\/\/www.buddhistdoor.net\/news\/engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"Engaged Buddhism: Ven. Pomnyun Sunim and JTS Volunteers Visit Sujata Academy Project in India","post_excerpt":" Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-26 22:32:14","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-27 03:32:14","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14195","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14198,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-22 19:48:20","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:20","post_content":"\n

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

When you hike through the mountains, you have to climb one peak after another. Our mind is the same. Once we solve one problem, there is always another to solve. So, you repeat the process of noticing and solving one problem after another. The purpose of practice is to constantly repeat the process. Don\u2019t try too hard to do well or get frustrated because you still have a long way to go. Just keep persisting, like when you hike up the next peak in the mountains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

Illustration by Maseol <\/p>\n","post_title":"Practice is like climbing a mountain","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"practice-is-like-climbing-a-mountain","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-22 19:48:22","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:22","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14198","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":17},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"jnews_block_37"};

Page 17 of 24 Previous 1 … 16 17 18 … 24 Next

\n

\u201cNo matter what evil deeds you have done, bathing in the holy Ganga River will wash away your sins and you will go to heaven upon your death. But if you do not bathe in the Ganga River, no matter how good you have been throughout your life, you will not be accepted into heaven.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was a common belief among people in India during the Buddha\u2019s lifetime. Therefore, they washed their bodies in the holy river, and those who had never bathed in the holy river during their lifetime were dipped in it posthumously. They all believed they had to do so in order to enter heaven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One day, a person who had heard of this belief went to the Buddha and asked if the Brahmans were telling the truth. The Buddha answered with a smile on his face:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf what they say is true, the fish in the river will be the first ones to go to heaven.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Buddha was saying that if a man can go to heaven for being dipped in the Ganga River after his death, the fish that live in the river will go to heaven before anyone. The Buddha\u2019s words help us reach an important realization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Traditionally, Buddhists believe that the greedy will be reincarnated as swine, the lazy as cows, and the nasty as serpents. But are pigs really that gluttonous? They eat when they are hungry, and they stop eating when they are no longer hungry. They don\u2019t prevent other pigs from eating the remaining food. Humans, on the other hand, do not share the food stored in their homes, even if there is someone starving right before their eyes. People are much greedier than pigs. Similarly, lions are wild and ferocious, but they will not kill a hare that crosses their path when they are not hungry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have created an image of a gluttonous pig, perhaps based on the sound they make when they eat, and made them synonymous with greed. There is no proof that a greedy person is reincarnated as a pig. Besides, reincarnation originated with Hinduism, so it\u2019s not originally a Buddhist belief. Over 90 per cent of Korean Buddhists believe in Hindu doctrines that they mistakenly think are Buddhist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An old lady came to consult me about her worries:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: I pray to the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, the Goddess of Mercy, but I am afraid my prayer will not be answered.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: What are you praying for?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: My granddaughter is a senior in high school. I am praying that my granddaughter gets accepted into a good college.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: What are you worried about?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: My granddaughter is a Christian.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

She felt that her prayer would not be answered however hard she prayed to the Goddess of Mercy, a Buddhist bodhisattva, because her granddaughter attended a Christian church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: You don\u2019t have to worry at all. The Goddess of Mercy is very kind and generous.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Would the infinitely compassionate Goddess of Mercy care whether a high school senior goes to a church or a Buddhist temple? She wouldn\u2019t be the Goddess of Mercy if she did, would she? Our religious beliefs are limited by our ignorance, and we disparage God or the Buddha by bringing them down to our own level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Returning to our subject, there is no need to worry about the afterlife. If heaven and hell actually exist, you will go to heaven, not to hell, when you do good deeds. Your future is decided by how you live your life now. Living well today will ensure a better tomorrow. Hoping for a better tomorrow while living an improper life today is like trying to catch a cloud. People who do bad deeds rightly deserve punishment, but when they refuse to accept the consequences and ask to be sent to heaven, they demonstrate a complete lack of awareness. Wanting to go to heaven when they have done nothing to deserve it and refusing to go to hell when they have performed deeds that warrant it is no different from desiring a good harvest after planting rotten seeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A true Christian shouldn\u2019t worry about living and dying. Since God decides whether to send someone to heaven or hell, you should just follow his will. If you are a Buddhist who believes in the law of cause and effect, and know that everything originates from the mind, you just need to cultivate your mind without worrying about what will happen tomorrow. Then your tomorrow will be better, so there is nothing to worry about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"How to Overcome the Fear of Death (Dec 03, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Why do we fear death?","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_221203","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14206","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14202,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-25 18:23:27","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-25 23:23:27","post_content":"\n

Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not. This 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy briefly. But when your desires are not<\/em> 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 that is 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, and so they wish to be born in such a world after they die. Therefore, every religion has an ideal world called heaven or paradise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The level of consumption in modern society is even higher than that which is supposedly provided by the ideal world\u2014the heaven that people dreamed of in the past. But we have greater desires now, so we often consider our life conditions to be 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 for help from almighty gods came to exist.<\/p>\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 can comfort people temporarily, like drugs, but they can\u2019t solve these problems fundamentally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

The Buddha investigated how to solve this problem in-depth. He discovered that the root cause of this never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is desire. When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy. 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 being 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.<\/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.<\/p>\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.<\/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 because although it seems impossible for humans to be free from desire, 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.<\/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 this is only a secondary and partial reason. When we are free from desire, we seldom suffer or feel fettered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Then how can we be free from our desires and karma? We meditate 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 our desires for food and sleep, we have other serious karma. Even if we are free from our desires for food and sleep, attaining liberation will be difficult. As such, wishing for liberation without even achieving this much is contradictory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, let\u2019s say I have a habit of smoking. I am not saying that smoking is bad but being unable 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\u2014a 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Therefore, I recommend 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if there are no restrictions on food, I recommend that you 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 that you 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.<\/p>\n","post_title":"The Reason Why People Are Unhappy No Matter How Hard They Try to Be Happy (Jul 11, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_220711","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14202","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14195,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-24 00:49:23","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-24 05:49:23","post_content":"\n

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

The Korean Seon (Zen) master and engaged Buddhist Venerable Pomnyun Sunim, founder and chairman of the international relief organization Join Together Society (JTS), led a delegation of JTS volunteers to India in September to visit Sujata Academy, a community school established by JTS in Dungheswari, Bihar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the respected monk usually makes annual visits to Dungheswari, to engage with the volunteers and villagers and to review the progress of development activities, this occasion was the first time he had been able to travel there in more than two years because of pandemic-related restrictions. During his week-long visit, Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Published by BDG on September 26, 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Read more: <\/a>https:\/\/www.buddhistdoor.net\/news\/engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"Engaged Buddhism: Ven. Pomnyun Sunim and JTS Volunteers Visit Sujata Academy Project in India","post_excerpt":" Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-26 22:32:14","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-27 03:32:14","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14195","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14198,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-22 19:48:20","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:20","post_content":"\n

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

When you hike through the mountains, you have to climb one peak after another. Our mind is the same. Once we solve one problem, there is always another to solve. So, you repeat the process of noticing and solving one problem after another. The purpose of practice is to constantly repeat the process. Don\u2019t try too hard to do well or get frustrated because you still have a long way to go. Just keep persisting, like when you hike up the next peak in the mountains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

Illustration by Maseol <\/p>\n","post_title":"Practice is like climbing a mountain","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"practice-is-like-climbing-a-mountain","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-22 19:48:22","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:22","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14198","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":17},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"jnews_block_37"};

Page 17 of 24 Previous 1 … 16 17 18 … 24 Next

\n

From the perspective of Buddhist practice, fear of death is no more real than a daydream. When our fear of death disappears and we can accept our inevitable demise as part of the natural order\u2014it will become irrelevant whether or not the afterlife exists and whether our spirits will go to a good place or a bad place. When fear melts away, everything that stemmed from fear becomes nothing but a dream. While dreaming, there are good dreams and bad dreams. However, when we wake up from the dream, regardless of whether it was good or bad, we realize that it was a dream. In the same vein, when we grasp the essence of fear, all of the issues that originated from it will disperse like clouds. This is how we transcend life and death. Transcending life and death doesn\u2019t mean not dying. Instead, it means realizing that life and death do not actually exist. The afterlife is a frequently visited topic in Buddhism. According to Buddhist beliefs, people go to paradise when they die or are reincarnated, but this cannot be proven. Every religion has different beliefs about the afterlife, but none of them has been proven. There is no point in debating endlessly which belief is right when all is but theory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo matter what evil deeds you have done, bathing in the holy Ganga River will wash away your sins and you will go to heaven upon your death. But if you do not bathe in the Ganga River, no matter how good you have been throughout your life, you will not be accepted into heaven.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was a common belief among people in India during the Buddha\u2019s lifetime. Therefore, they washed their bodies in the holy river, and those who had never bathed in the holy river during their lifetime were dipped in it posthumously. They all believed they had to do so in order to enter heaven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One day, a person who had heard of this belief went to the Buddha and asked if the Brahmans were telling the truth. The Buddha answered with a smile on his face:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf what they say is true, the fish in the river will be the first ones to go to heaven.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Buddha was saying that if a man can go to heaven for being dipped in the Ganga River after his death, the fish that live in the river will go to heaven before anyone. The Buddha\u2019s words help us reach an important realization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Traditionally, Buddhists believe that the greedy will be reincarnated as swine, the lazy as cows, and the nasty as serpents. But are pigs really that gluttonous? They eat when they are hungry, and they stop eating when they are no longer hungry. They don\u2019t prevent other pigs from eating the remaining food. Humans, on the other hand, do not share the food stored in their homes, even if there is someone starving right before their eyes. People are much greedier than pigs. Similarly, lions are wild and ferocious, but they will not kill a hare that crosses their path when they are not hungry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have created an image of a gluttonous pig, perhaps based on the sound they make when they eat, and made them synonymous with greed. There is no proof that a greedy person is reincarnated as a pig. Besides, reincarnation originated with Hinduism, so it\u2019s not originally a Buddhist belief. Over 90 per cent of Korean Buddhists believe in Hindu doctrines that they mistakenly think are Buddhist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An old lady came to consult me about her worries:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: I pray to the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, the Goddess of Mercy, but I am afraid my prayer will not be answered.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: What are you praying for?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: My granddaughter is a senior in high school. I am praying that my granddaughter gets accepted into a good college.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: What are you worried about?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: My granddaughter is a Christian.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

She felt that her prayer would not be answered however hard she prayed to the Goddess of Mercy, a Buddhist bodhisattva, because her granddaughter attended a Christian church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: You don\u2019t have to worry at all. The Goddess of Mercy is very kind and generous.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Would the infinitely compassionate Goddess of Mercy care whether a high school senior goes to a church or a Buddhist temple? She wouldn\u2019t be the Goddess of Mercy if she did, would she? Our religious beliefs are limited by our ignorance, and we disparage God or the Buddha by bringing them down to our own level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Returning to our subject, there is no need to worry about the afterlife. If heaven and hell actually exist, you will go to heaven, not to hell, when you do good deeds. Your future is decided by how you live your life now. Living well today will ensure a better tomorrow. Hoping for a better tomorrow while living an improper life today is like trying to catch a cloud. People who do bad deeds rightly deserve punishment, but when they refuse to accept the consequences and ask to be sent to heaven, they demonstrate a complete lack of awareness. Wanting to go to heaven when they have done nothing to deserve it and refusing to go to hell when they have performed deeds that warrant it is no different from desiring a good harvest after planting rotten seeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A true Christian shouldn\u2019t worry about living and dying. Since God decides whether to send someone to heaven or hell, you should just follow his will. If you are a Buddhist who believes in the law of cause and effect, and know that everything originates from the mind, you just need to cultivate your mind without worrying about what will happen tomorrow. Then your tomorrow will be better, so there is nothing to worry about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"How to Overcome the Fear of Death (Dec 03, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Why do we fear death?","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_221203","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14206","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14202,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-25 18:23:27","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-25 23:23:27","post_content":"\n

Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not. This 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy briefly. But when your desires are not<\/em> 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 that is 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, and so they wish to be born in such a world after they die. Therefore, every religion has an ideal world called heaven or paradise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The level of consumption in modern society is even higher than that which is supposedly provided by the ideal world\u2014the heaven that people dreamed of in the past. But we have greater desires now, so we often consider our life conditions to be 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 for help from almighty gods came to exist.<\/p>\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 can comfort people temporarily, like drugs, but they can\u2019t solve these problems fundamentally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

The Buddha investigated how to solve this problem in-depth. He discovered that the root cause of this never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is desire. When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy. 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 being 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.<\/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.<\/p>\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.<\/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 because although it seems impossible for humans to be free from desire, 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.<\/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 this is only a secondary and partial reason. When we are free from desire, we seldom suffer or feel fettered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Then how can we be free from our desires and karma? We meditate 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 our desires for food and sleep, we have other serious karma. Even if we are free from our desires for food and sleep, attaining liberation will be difficult. As such, wishing for liberation without even achieving this much is contradictory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, let\u2019s say I have a habit of smoking. I am not saying that smoking is bad but being unable 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\u2014a 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Therefore, I recommend 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if there are no restrictions on food, I recommend that you 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 that you 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.<\/p>\n","post_title":"The Reason Why People Are Unhappy No Matter How Hard They Try to Be Happy (Jul 11, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_220711","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14202","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14195,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-24 00:49:23","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-24 05:49:23","post_content":"\n

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

The Korean Seon (Zen) master and engaged Buddhist Venerable Pomnyun Sunim, founder and chairman of the international relief organization Join Together Society (JTS), led a delegation of JTS volunteers to India in September to visit Sujata Academy, a community school established by JTS in Dungheswari, Bihar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the respected monk usually makes annual visits to Dungheswari, to engage with the volunteers and villagers and to review the progress of development activities, this occasion was the first time he had been able to travel there in more than two years because of pandemic-related restrictions. During his week-long visit, Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Published by BDG on September 26, 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Read more: <\/a>https:\/\/www.buddhistdoor.net\/news\/engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"Engaged Buddhism: Ven. Pomnyun Sunim and JTS Volunteers Visit Sujata Academy Project in India","post_excerpt":" Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-26 22:32:14","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-27 03:32:14","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14195","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14198,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-22 19:48:20","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:20","post_content":"\n

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

When you hike through the mountains, you have to climb one peak after another. Our mind is the same. Once we solve one problem, there is always another to solve. So, you repeat the process of noticing and solving one problem after another. The purpose of practice is to constantly repeat the process. Don\u2019t try too hard to do well or get frustrated because you still have a long way to go. Just keep persisting, like when you hike up the next peak in the mountains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

Illustration by Maseol <\/p>\n","post_title":"Practice is like climbing a mountain","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"practice-is-like-climbing-a-mountain","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-22 19:48:22","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:22","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14198","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":17},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"jnews_block_37"};

Page 17 of 24 Previous 1 … 16 17 18 … 24 Next

\n

Of course, we should refrain from placing too much emphasis on the idea of an afterlife because we know from history that it can also have negative side effects. Some examples include churches demanding large donations in exchange for a \u201cticket to Heaven\u201d and Buddhist temples overcharging for 49-day prayer rituals for the dead (49 jae<\/em>: a Buddhist-Confucian ceremony for the deceased). These examples show how religion can take advantage of people\u2019s fear as a means of extortion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the perspective of Buddhist practice, fear of death is no more real than a daydream. When our fear of death disappears and we can accept our inevitable demise as part of the natural order\u2014it will become irrelevant whether or not the afterlife exists and whether our spirits will go to a good place or a bad place. When fear melts away, everything that stemmed from fear becomes nothing but a dream. While dreaming, there are good dreams and bad dreams. However, when we wake up from the dream, regardless of whether it was good or bad, we realize that it was a dream. In the same vein, when we grasp the essence of fear, all of the issues that originated from it will disperse like clouds. This is how we transcend life and death. Transcending life and death doesn\u2019t mean not dying. Instead, it means realizing that life and death do not actually exist. The afterlife is a frequently visited topic in Buddhism. According to Buddhist beliefs, people go to paradise when they die or are reincarnated, but this cannot be proven. Every religion has different beliefs about the afterlife, but none of them has been proven. There is no point in debating endlessly which belief is right when all is but theory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo matter what evil deeds you have done, bathing in the holy Ganga River will wash away your sins and you will go to heaven upon your death. But if you do not bathe in the Ganga River, no matter how good you have been throughout your life, you will not be accepted into heaven.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was a common belief among people in India during the Buddha\u2019s lifetime. Therefore, they washed their bodies in the holy river, and those who had never bathed in the holy river during their lifetime were dipped in it posthumously. They all believed they had to do so in order to enter heaven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One day, a person who had heard of this belief went to the Buddha and asked if the Brahmans were telling the truth. The Buddha answered with a smile on his face:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf what they say is true, the fish in the river will be the first ones to go to heaven.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Buddha was saying that if a man can go to heaven for being dipped in the Ganga River after his death, the fish that live in the river will go to heaven before anyone. The Buddha\u2019s words help us reach an important realization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Traditionally, Buddhists believe that the greedy will be reincarnated as swine, the lazy as cows, and the nasty as serpents. But are pigs really that gluttonous? They eat when they are hungry, and they stop eating when they are no longer hungry. They don\u2019t prevent other pigs from eating the remaining food. Humans, on the other hand, do not share the food stored in their homes, even if there is someone starving right before their eyes. People are much greedier than pigs. Similarly, lions are wild and ferocious, but they will not kill a hare that crosses their path when they are not hungry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have created an image of a gluttonous pig, perhaps based on the sound they make when they eat, and made them synonymous with greed. There is no proof that a greedy person is reincarnated as a pig. Besides, reincarnation originated with Hinduism, so it\u2019s not originally a Buddhist belief. Over 90 per cent of Korean Buddhists believe in Hindu doctrines that they mistakenly think are Buddhist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An old lady came to consult me about her worries:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: I pray to the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, the Goddess of Mercy, but I am afraid my prayer will not be answered.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: What are you praying for?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: My granddaughter is a senior in high school. I am praying that my granddaughter gets accepted into a good college.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: What are you worried about?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: My granddaughter is a Christian.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

She felt that her prayer would not be answered however hard she prayed to the Goddess of Mercy, a Buddhist bodhisattva, because her granddaughter attended a Christian church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: You don\u2019t have to worry at all. The Goddess of Mercy is very kind and generous.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Would the infinitely compassionate Goddess of Mercy care whether a high school senior goes to a church or a Buddhist temple? She wouldn\u2019t be the Goddess of Mercy if she did, would she? Our religious beliefs are limited by our ignorance, and we disparage God or the Buddha by bringing them down to our own level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Returning to our subject, there is no need to worry about the afterlife. If heaven and hell actually exist, you will go to heaven, not to hell, when you do good deeds. Your future is decided by how you live your life now. Living well today will ensure a better tomorrow. Hoping for a better tomorrow while living an improper life today is like trying to catch a cloud. People who do bad deeds rightly deserve punishment, but when they refuse to accept the consequences and ask to be sent to heaven, they demonstrate a complete lack of awareness. Wanting to go to heaven when they have done nothing to deserve it and refusing to go to hell when they have performed deeds that warrant it is no different from desiring a good harvest after planting rotten seeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A true Christian shouldn\u2019t worry about living and dying. Since God decides whether to send someone to heaven or hell, you should just follow his will. If you are a Buddhist who believes in the law of cause and effect, and know that everything originates from the mind, you just need to cultivate your mind without worrying about what will happen tomorrow. Then your tomorrow will be better, so there is nothing to worry about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"How to Overcome the Fear of Death (Dec 03, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Why do we fear death?","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_221203","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14206","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14202,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-25 18:23:27","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-25 23:23:27","post_content":"\n

Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not. This 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy briefly. But when your desires are not<\/em> 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 that is 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, and so they wish to be born in such a world after they die. Therefore, every religion has an ideal world called heaven or paradise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The level of consumption in modern society is even higher than that which is supposedly provided by the ideal world\u2014the heaven that people dreamed of in the past. But we have greater desires now, so we often consider our life conditions to be 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 for help from almighty gods came to exist.<\/p>\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 can comfort people temporarily, like drugs, but they can\u2019t solve these problems fundamentally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

The Buddha investigated how to solve this problem in-depth. He discovered that the root cause of this never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is desire. When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy. 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 being 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.<\/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.<\/p>\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.<\/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 because although it seems impossible for humans to be free from desire, 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.<\/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 this is only a secondary and partial reason. When we are free from desire, we seldom suffer or feel fettered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Then how can we be free from our desires and karma? We meditate 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 our desires for food and sleep, we have other serious karma. Even if we are free from our desires for food and sleep, attaining liberation will be difficult. As such, wishing for liberation without even achieving this much is contradictory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, let\u2019s say I have a habit of smoking. I am not saying that smoking is bad but being unable 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\u2014a 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Therefore, I recommend 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if there are no restrictions on food, I recommend that you 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 that you 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.<\/p>\n","post_title":"The Reason Why People Are Unhappy No Matter How Hard They Try to Be Happy (Jul 11, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_220711","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14202","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14195,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-24 00:49:23","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-24 05:49:23","post_content":"\n

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

The Korean Seon (Zen) master and engaged Buddhist Venerable Pomnyun Sunim, founder and chairman of the international relief organization Join Together Society (JTS), led a delegation of JTS volunteers to India in September to visit Sujata Academy, a community school established by JTS in Dungheswari, Bihar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the respected monk usually makes annual visits to Dungheswari, to engage with the volunteers and villagers and to review the progress of development activities, this occasion was the first time he had been able to travel there in more than two years because of pandemic-related restrictions. During his week-long visit, Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Published by BDG on September 26, 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Read more: <\/a>https:\/\/www.buddhistdoor.net\/news\/engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"Engaged Buddhism: Ven. Pomnyun Sunim and JTS Volunteers Visit Sujata Academy Project in India","post_excerpt":" Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-26 22:32:14","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-27 03:32:14","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14195","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14198,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-22 19:48:20","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:20","post_content":"\n

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

When you hike through the mountains, you have to climb one peak after another. Our mind is the same. Once we solve one problem, there is always another to solve. So, you repeat the process of noticing and solving one problem after another. The purpose of practice is to constantly repeat the process. Don\u2019t try too hard to do well or get frustrated because you still have a long way to go. Just keep persisting, like when you hike up the next peak in the mountains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

Illustration by Maseol <\/p>\n","post_title":"Practice is like climbing a mountain","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"practice-is-like-climbing-a-mountain","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-22 19:48:22","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:22","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14198","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":17},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"jnews_block_37"};

Page 17 of 24 Previous 1 … 16 17 18 … 24 Next

\n

Whether or not the afterlife actually exists is not important. What matters here is that a belief in the afterlife helps us to overcome our fear of death. How empty would we feel to think that our loved ones will disappear completely when they die? Thinking that they are in a better place gives us great comfort. For this reason, instead of asking whether or not life after death exists, it\u2019s better to examine whether or not the belief of its existence is beneficial. It appears to be more beneficial than harmful, so it\u2019s best to accept the age-old methods that humans have established to overcome the fear of death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, we should refrain from placing too much emphasis on the idea of an afterlife because we know from history that it can also have negative side effects. Some examples include churches demanding large donations in exchange for a \u201cticket to Heaven\u201d and Buddhist temples overcharging for 49-day prayer rituals for the dead (49 jae<\/em>: a Buddhist-Confucian ceremony for the deceased). These examples show how religion can take advantage of people\u2019s fear as a means of extortion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the perspective of Buddhist practice, fear of death is no more real than a daydream. When our fear of death disappears and we can accept our inevitable demise as part of the natural order\u2014it will become irrelevant whether or not the afterlife exists and whether our spirits will go to a good place or a bad place. When fear melts away, everything that stemmed from fear becomes nothing but a dream. While dreaming, there are good dreams and bad dreams. However, when we wake up from the dream, regardless of whether it was good or bad, we realize that it was a dream. In the same vein, when we grasp the essence of fear, all of the issues that originated from it will disperse like clouds. This is how we transcend life and death. Transcending life and death doesn\u2019t mean not dying. Instead, it means realizing that life and death do not actually exist. The afterlife is a frequently visited topic in Buddhism. According to Buddhist beliefs, people go to paradise when they die or are reincarnated, but this cannot be proven. Every religion has different beliefs about the afterlife, but none of them has been proven. There is no point in debating endlessly which belief is right when all is but theory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo matter what evil deeds you have done, bathing in the holy Ganga River will wash away your sins and you will go to heaven upon your death. But if you do not bathe in the Ganga River, no matter how good you have been throughout your life, you will not be accepted into heaven.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was a common belief among people in India during the Buddha\u2019s lifetime. Therefore, they washed their bodies in the holy river, and those who had never bathed in the holy river during their lifetime were dipped in it posthumously. They all believed they had to do so in order to enter heaven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One day, a person who had heard of this belief went to the Buddha and asked if the Brahmans were telling the truth. The Buddha answered with a smile on his face:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf what they say is true, the fish in the river will be the first ones to go to heaven.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Buddha was saying that if a man can go to heaven for being dipped in the Ganga River after his death, the fish that live in the river will go to heaven before anyone. The Buddha\u2019s words help us reach an important realization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Traditionally, Buddhists believe that the greedy will be reincarnated as swine, the lazy as cows, and the nasty as serpents. But are pigs really that gluttonous? They eat when they are hungry, and they stop eating when they are no longer hungry. They don\u2019t prevent other pigs from eating the remaining food. Humans, on the other hand, do not share the food stored in their homes, even if there is someone starving right before their eyes. People are much greedier than pigs. Similarly, lions are wild and ferocious, but they will not kill a hare that crosses their path when they are not hungry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have created an image of a gluttonous pig, perhaps based on the sound they make when they eat, and made them synonymous with greed. There is no proof that a greedy person is reincarnated as a pig. Besides, reincarnation originated with Hinduism, so it\u2019s not originally a Buddhist belief. Over 90 per cent of Korean Buddhists believe in Hindu doctrines that they mistakenly think are Buddhist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An old lady came to consult me about her worries:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: I pray to the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, the Goddess of Mercy, but I am afraid my prayer will not be answered.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: What are you praying for?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: My granddaughter is a senior in high school. I am praying that my granddaughter gets accepted into a good college.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: What are you worried about?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: My granddaughter is a Christian.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

She felt that her prayer would not be answered however hard she prayed to the Goddess of Mercy, a Buddhist bodhisattva, because her granddaughter attended a Christian church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: You don\u2019t have to worry at all. The Goddess of Mercy is very kind and generous.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Would the infinitely compassionate Goddess of Mercy care whether a high school senior goes to a church or a Buddhist temple? She wouldn\u2019t be the Goddess of Mercy if she did, would she? Our religious beliefs are limited by our ignorance, and we disparage God or the Buddha by bringing them down to our own level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Returning to our subject, there is no need to worry about the afterlife. If heaven and hell actually exist, you will go to heaven, not to hell, when you do good deeds. Your future is decided by how you live your life now. Living well today will ensure a better tomorrow. Hoping for a better tomorrow while living an improper life today is like trying to catch a cloud. People who do bad deeds rightly deserve punishment, but when they refuse to accept the consequences and ask to be sent to heaven, they demonstrate a complete lack of awareness. Wanting to go to heaven when they have done nothing to deserve it and refusing to go to hell when they have performed deeds that warrant it is no different from desiring a good harvest after planting rotten seeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A true Christian shouldn\u2019t worry about living and dying. Since God decides whether to send someone to heaven or hell, you should just follow his will. If you are a Buddhist who believes in the law of cause and effect, and know that everything originates from the mind, you just need to cultivate your mind without worrying about what will happen tomorrow. Then your tomorrow will be better, so there is nothing to worry about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"How to Overcome the Fear of Death (Dec 03, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Why do we fear death?","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_221203","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14206","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14202,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-25 18:23:27","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-25 23:23:27","post_content":"\n

Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not. This 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy briefly. But when your desires are not<\/em> 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 that is 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, and so they wish to be born in such a world after they die. Therefore, every religion has an ideal world called heaven or paradise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The level of consumption in modern society is even higher than that which is supposedly provided by the ideal world\u2014the heaven that people dreamed of in the past. But we have greater desires now, so we often consider our life conditions to be 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 for help from almighty gods came to exist.<\/p>\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 can comfort people temporarily, like drugs, but they can\u2019t solve these problems fundamentally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

The Buddha investigated how to solve this problem in-depth. He discovered that the root cause of this never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is desire. When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy. 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 being 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.<\/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.<\/p>\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.<\/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 because although it seems impossible for humans to be free from desire, 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.<\/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 this is only a secondary and partial reason. When we are free from desire, we seldom suffer or feel fettered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Then how can we be free from our desires and karma? We meditate 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 our desires for food and sleep, we have other serious karma. Even if we are free from our desires for food and sleep, attaining liberation will be difficult. As such, wishing for liberation without even achieving this much is contradictory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, let\u2019s say I have a habit of smoking. I am not saying that smoking is bad but being unable 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\u2014a 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Therefore, I recommend 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if there are no restrictions on food, I recommend that you 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 that you 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.<\/p>\n","post_title":"The Reason Why People Are Unhappy No Matter How Hard They Try to Be Happy (Jul 11, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_220711","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14202","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14195,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-24 00:49:23","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-24 05:49:23","post_content":"\n

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

The Korean Seon (Zen) master and engaged Buddhist Venerable Pomnyun Sunim, founder and chairman of the international relief organization Join Together Society (JTS), led a delegation of JTS volunteers to India in September to visit Sujata Academy, a community school established by JTS in Dungheswari, Bihar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the respected monk usually makes annual visits to Dungheswari, to engage with the volunteers and villagers and to review the progress of development activities, this occasion was the first time he had been able to travel there in more than two years because of pandemic-related restrictions. During his week-long visit, Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Published by BDG on September 26, 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Read more: <\/a>https:\/\/www.buddhistdoor.net\/news\/engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"Engaged Buddhism: Ven. Pomnyun Sunim and JTS Volunteers Visit Sujata Academy Project in India","post_excerpt":" Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-26 22:32:14","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-27 03:32:14","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14195","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14198,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-22 19:48:20","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:20","post_content":"\n

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

When you hike through the mountains, you have to climb one peak after another. Our mind is the same. Once we solve one problem, there is always another to solve. So, you repeat the process of noticing and solving one problem after another. The purpose of practice is to constantly repeat the process. Don\u2019t try too hard to do well or get frustrated because you still have a long way to go. Just keep persisting, like when you hike up the next peak in the mountains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

Illustration by Maseol <\/p>\n","post_title":"Practice is like climbing a mountain","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"practice-is-like-climbing-a-mountain","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-22 19:48:22","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:22","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14198","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":17},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"jnews_block_37"};

Page 17 of 24 Previous 1 … 16 17 18 … 24 Next

\n

Why do we fear death? The thought that everything will end when we die may trigger a sense of sorrow about others as well as ourselves. These sentiments fuel fear. Our human fear of death has spawned legends and religions that promise a beautiful afterlife, devised to alleviate the terror we feel about the unknown. We feel less fearful when we think that it doesn\u2019t end when we die, that we will live on in some way or go to a better place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether or not the afterlife actually exists is not important. What matters here is that a belief in the afterlife helps us to overcome our fear of death. How empty would we feel to think that our loved ones will disappear completely when they die? Thinking that they are in a better place gives us great comfort. For this reason, instead of asking whether or not life after death exists, it\u2019s better to examine whether or not the belief of its existence is beneficial. It appears to be more beneficial than harmful, so it\u2019s best to accept the age-old methods that humans have established to overcome the fear of death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, we should refrain from placing too much emphasis on the idea of an afterlife because we know from history that it can also have negative side effects. Some examples include churches demanding large donations in exchange for a \u201cticket to Heaven\u201d and Buddhist temples overcharging for 49-day prayer rituals for the dead (49 jae<\/em>: a Buddhist-Confucian ceremony for the deceased). These examples show how religion can take advantage of people\u2019s fear as a means of extortion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the perspective of Buddhist practice, fear of death is no more real than a daydream. When our fear of death disappears and we can accept our inevitable demise as part of the natural order\u2014it will become irrelevant whether or not the afterlife exists and whether our spirits will go to a good place or a bad place. When fear melts away, everything that stemmed from fear becomes nothing but a dream. While dreaming, there are good dreams and bad dreams. However, when we wake up from the dream, regardless of whether it was good or bad, we realize that it was a dream. In the same vein, when we grasp the essence of fear, all of the issues that originated from it will disperse like clouds. This is how we transcend life and death. Transcending life and death doesn\u2019t mean not dying. Instead, it means realizing that life and death do not actually exist. The afterlife is a frequently visited topic in Buddhism. According to Buddhist beliefs, people go to paradise when they die or are reincarnated, but this cannot be proven. Every religion has different beliefs about the afterlife, but none of them has been proven. There is no point in debating endlessly which belief is right when all is but theory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo matter what evil deeds you have done, bathing in the holy Ganga River will wash away your sins and you will go to heaven upon your death. But if you do not bathe in the Ganga River, no matter how good you have been throughout your life, you will not be accepted into heaven.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was a common belief among people in India during the Buddha\u2019s lifetime. Therefore, they washed their bodies in the holy river, and those who had never bathed in the holy river during their lifetime were dipped in it posthumously. They all believed they had to do so in order to enter heaven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One day, a person who had heard of this belief went to the Buddha and asked if the Brahmans were telling the truth. The Buddha answered with a smile on his face:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf what they say is true, the fish in the river will be the first ones to go to heaven.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Buddha was saying that if a man can go to heaven for being dipped in the Ganga River after his death, the fish that live in the river will go to heaven before anyone. The Buddha\u2019s words help us reach an important realization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Traditionally, Buddhists believe that the greedy will be reincarnated as swine, the lazy as cows, and the nasty as serpents. But are pigs really that gluttonous? They eat when they are hungry, and they stop eating when they are no longer hungry. They don\u2019t prevent other pigs from eating the remaining food. Humans, on the other hand, do not share the food stored in their homes, even if there is someone starving right before their eyes. People are much greedier than pigs. Similarly, lions are wild and ferocious, but they will not kill a hare that crosses their path when they are not hungry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have created an image of a gluttonous pig, perhaps based on the sound they make when they eat, and made them synonymous with greed. There is no proof that a greedy person is reincarnated as a pig. Besides, reincarnation originated with Hinduism, so it\u2019s not originally a Buddhist belief. Over 90 per cent of Korean Buddhists believe in Hindu doctrines that they mistakenly think are Buddhist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An old lady came to consult me about her worries:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: I pray to the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, the Goddess of Mercy, but I am afraid my prayer will not be answered.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: What are you praying for?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: My granddaughter is a senior in high school. I am praying that my granddaughter gets accepted into a good college.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: What are you worried about?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: My granddaughter is a Christian.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

She felt that her prayer would not be answered however hard she prayed to the Goddess of Mercy, a Buddhist bodhisattva, because her granddaughter attended a Christian church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: You don\u2019t have to worry at all. The Goddess of Mercy is very kind and generous.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Would the infinitely compassionate Goddess of Mercy care whether a high school senior goes to a church or a Buddhist temple? She wouldn\u2019t be the Goddess of Mercy if she did, would she? Our religious beliefs are limited by our ignorance, and we disparage God or the Buddha by bringing them down to our own level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Returning to our subject, there is no need to worry about the afterlife. If heaven and hell actually exist, you will go to heaven, not to hell, when you do good deeds. Your future is decided by how you live your life now. Living well today will ensure a better tomorrow. Hoping for a better tomorrow while living an improper life today is like trying to catch a cloud. People who do bad deeds rightly deserve punishment, but when they refuse to accept the consequences and ask to be sent to heaven, they demonstrate a complete lack of awareness. Wanting to go to heaven when they have done nothing to deserve it and refusing to go to hell when they have performed deeds that warrant it is no different from desiring a good harvest after planting rotten seeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A true Christian shouldn\u2019t worry about living and dying. Since God decides whether to send someone to heaven or hell, you should just follow his will. If you are a Buddhist who believes in the law of cause and effect, and know that everything originates from the mind, you just need to cultivate your mind without worrying about what will happen tomorrow. Then your tomorrow will be better, so there is nothing to worry about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"How to Overcome the Fear of Death (Dec 03, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Why do we fear death?","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_221203","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14206","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14202,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-25 18:23:27","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-25 23:23:27","post_content":"\n

Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not. This 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy briefly. But when your desires are not<\/em> 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 that is 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, and so they wish to be born in such a world after they die. Therefore, every religion has an ideal world called heaven or paradise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The level of consumption in modern society is even higher than that which is supposedly provided by the ideal world\u2014the heaven that people dreamed of in the past. But we have greater desires now, so we often consider our life conditions to be 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 for help from almighty gods came to exist.<\/p>\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 can comfort people temporarily, like drugs, but they can\u2019t solve these problems fundamentally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

The Buddha investigated how to solve this problem in-depth. He discovered that the root cause of this never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is desire. When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy. 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 being 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.<\/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.<\/p>\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.<\/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 because although it seems impossible for humans to be free from desire, 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.<\/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 this is only a secondary and partial reason. When we are free from desire, we seldom suffer or feel fettered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Then how can we be free from our desires and karma? We meditate 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 our desires for food and sleep, we have other serious karma. Even if we are free from our desires for food and sleep, attaining liberation will be difficult. As such, wishing for liberation without even achieving this much is contradictory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, let\u2019s say I have a habit of smoking. I am not saying that smoking is bad but being unable 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\u2014a 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Therefore, I recommend 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if there are no restrictions on food, I recommend that you 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 that you 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.<\/p>\n","post_title":"The Reason Why People Are Unhappy No Matter How Hard They Try to Be Happy (Jul 11, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_220711","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14202","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14195,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-24 00:49:23","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-24 05:49:23","post_content":"\n

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

The Korean Seon (Zen) master and engaged Buddhist Venerable Pomnyun Sunim, founder and chairman of the international relief organization Join Together Society (JTS), led a delegation of JTS volunteers to India in September to visit Sujata Academy, a community school established by JTS in Dungheswari, Bihar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the respected monk usually makes annual visits to Dungheswari, to engage with the volunteers and villagers and to review the progress of development activities, this occasion was the first time he had been able to travel there in more than two years because of pandemic-related restrictions. During his week-long visit, Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Published by BDG on September 26, 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Read more: <\/a>https:\/\/www.buddhistdoor.net\/news\/engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"Engaged Buddhism: Ven. Pomnyun Sunim and JTS Volunteers Visit Sujata Academy Project in India","post_excerpt":" Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-26 22:32:14","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-27 03:32:14","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14195","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14198,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-22 19:48:20","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:20","post_content":"\n

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

When you hike through the mountains, you have to climb one peak after another. Our mind is the same. Once we solve one problem, there is always another to solve. So, you repeat the process of noticing and solving one problem after another. The purpose of practice is to constantly repeat the process. Don\u2019t try too hard to do well or get frustrated because you still have a long way to go. Just keep persisting, like when you hike up the next peak in the mountains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

Illustration by Maseol <\/p>\n","post_title":"Practice is like climbing a mountain","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"practice-is-like-climbing-a-mountain","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-22 19:48:22","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:22","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14198","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":17},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"jnews_block_37"};

Page 17 of 24 Previous 1 … 16 17 18 … 24 Next

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Therefore, the best farewell for those who pass away is to let them go from our hearts.<\/p>\n","post_title":"The Best Farewell For the Deceased","post_excerpt":"When the Buddha was close to death, his disciples came to him and asked","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"the-best-farewell-for-the-deceased","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-03-02 06:41:26","post_modified_gmt":"2025-03-02 11:41:26","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14214","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14206,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-26 21:05:46","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-27 02:05:46","post_content":"\n

Why do we fear death? The thought that everything will end when we die may trigger a sense of sorrow about others as well as ourselves. These sentiments fuel fear. Our human fear of death has spawned legends and religions that promise a beautiful afterlife, devised to alleviate the terror we feel about the unknown. We feel less fearful when we think that it doesn\u2019t end when we die, that we will live on in some way or go to a better place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether or not the afterlife actually exists is not important. What matters here is that a belief in the afterlife helps us to overcome our fear of death. How empty would we feel to think that our loved ones will disappear completely when they die? Thinking that they are in a better place gives us great comfort. For this reason, instead of asking whether or not life after death exists, it\u2019s better to examine whether or not the belief of its existence is beneficial. It appears to be more beneficial than harmful, so it\u2019s best to accept the age-old methods that humans have established to overcome the fear of death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, we should refrain from placing too much emphasis on the idea of an afterlife because we know from history that it can also have negative side effects. Some examples include churches demanding large donations in exchange for a \u201cticket to Heaven\u201d and Buddhist temples overcharging for 49-day prayer rituals for the dead (49 jae<\/em>: a Buddhist-Confucian ceremony for the deceased). These examples show how religion can take advantage of people\u2019s fear as a means of extortion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the perspective of Buddhist practice, fear of death is no more real than a daydream. When our fear of death disappears and we can accept our inevitable demise as part of the natural order\u2014it will become irrelevant whether or not the afterlife exists and whether our spirits will go to a good place or a bad place. When fear melts away, everything that stemmed from fear becomes nothing but a dream. While dreaming, there are good dreams and bad dreams. However, when we wake up from the dream, regardless of whether it was good or bad, we realize that it was a dream. In the same vein, when we grasp the essence of fear, all of the issues that originated from it will disperse like clouds. This is how we transcend life and death. Transcending life and death doesn\u2019t mean not dying. Instead, it means realizing that life and death do not actually exist. The afterlife is a frequently visited topic in Buddhism. According to Buddhist beliefs, people go to paradise when they die or are reincarnated, but this cannot be proven. Every religion has different beliefs about the afterlife, but none of them has been proven. There is no point in debating endlessly which belief is right when all is but theory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo matter what evil deeds you have done, bathing in the holy Ganga River will wash away your sins and you will go to heaven upon your death. But if you do not bathe in the Ganga River, no matter how good you have been throughout your life, you will not be accepted into heaven.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was a common belief among people in India during the Buddha\u2019s lifetime. Therefore, they washed their bodies in the holy river, and those who had never bathed in the holy river during their lifetime were dipped in it posthumously. They all believed they had to do so in order to enter heaven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One day, a person who had heard of this belief went to the Buddha and asked if the Brahmans were telling the truth. The Buddha answered with a smile on his face:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf what they say is true, the fish in the river will be the first ones to go to heaven.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Buddha was saying that if a man can go to heaven for being dipped in the Ganga River after his death, the fish that live in the river will go to heaven before anyone. The Buddha\u2019s words help us reach an important realization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Traditionally, Buddhists believe that the greedy will be reincarnated as swine, the lazy as cows, and the nasty as serpents. But are pigs really that gluttonous? They eat when they are hungry, and they stop eating when they are no longer hungry. They don\u2019t prevent other pigs from eating the remaining food. Humans, on the other hand, do not share the food stored in their homes, even if there is someone starving right before their eyes. People are much greedier than pigs. Similarly, lions are wild and ferocious, but they will not kill a hare that crosses their path when they are not hungry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have created an image of a gluttonous pig, perhaps based on the sound they make when they eat, and made them synonymous with greed. There is no proof that a greedy person is reincarnated as a pig. Besides, reincarnation originated with Hinduism, so it\u2019s not originally a Buddhist belief. Over 90 per cent of Korean Buddhists believe in Hindu doctrines that they mistakenly think are Buddhist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An old lady came to consult me about her worries:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: I pray to the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, the Goddess of Mercy, but I am afraid my prayer will not be answered.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: What are you praying for?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: My granddaughter is a senior in high school. I am praying that my granddaughter gets accepted into a good college.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: What are you worried about?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: My granddaughter is a Christian.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

She felt that her prayer would not be answered however hard she prayed to the Goddess of Mercy, a Buddhist bodhisattva, because her granddaughter attended a Christian church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: You don\u2019t have to worry at all. The Goddess of Mercy is very kind and generous.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Would the infinitely compassionate Goddess of Mercy care whether a high school senior goes to a church or a Buddhist temple? She wouldn\u2019t be the Goddess of Mercy if she did, would she? Our religious beliefs are limited by our ignorance, and we disparage God or the Buddha by bringing them down to our own level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Returning to our subject, there is no need to worry about the afterlife. If heaven and hell actually exist, you will go to heaven, not to hell, when you do good deeds. Your future is decided by how you live your life now. Living well today will ensure a better tomorrow. Hoping for a better tomorrow while living an improper life today is like trying to catch a cloud. People who do bad deeds rightly deserve punishment, but when they refuse to accept the consequences and ask to be sent to heaven, they demonstrate a complete lack of awareness. Wanting to go to heaven when they have done nothing to deserve it and refusing to go to hell when they have performed deeds that warrant it is no different from desiring a good harvest after planting rotten seeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A true Christian shouldn\u2019t worry about living and dying. Since God decides whether to send someone to heaven or hell, you should just follow his will. If you are a Buddhist who believes in the law of cause and effect, and know that everything originates from the mind, you just need to cultivate your mind without worrying about what will happen tomorrow. Then your tomorrow will be better, so there is nothing to worry about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"How to Overcome the Fear of Death (Dec 03, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Why do we fear death?","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_221203","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14206","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14202,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-25 18:23:27","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-25 23:23:27","post_content":"\n

Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not. This 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy briefly. But when your desires are not<\/em> 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 that is 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, and so they wish to be born in such a world after they die. Therefore, every religion has an ideal world called heaven or paradise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The level of consumption in modern society is even higher than that which is supposedly provided by the ideal world\u2014the heaven that people dreamed of in the past. But we have greater desires now, so we often consider our life conditions to be 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 for help from almighty gods came to exist.<\/p>\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 can comfort people temporarily, like drugs, but they can\u2019t solve these problems fundamentally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

The Buddha investigated how to solve this problem in-depth. He discovered that the root cause of this never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is desire. When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy. 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 being 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.<\/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.<\/p>\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.<\/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 because although it seems impossible for humans to be free from desire, 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.<\/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 this is only a secondary and partial reason. When we are free from desire, we seldom suffer or feel fettered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Then how can we be free from our desires and karma? We meditate 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 our desires for food and sleep, we have other serious karma. Even if we are free from our desires for food and sleep, attaining liberation will be difficult. As such, wishing for liberation without even achieving this much is contradictory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, let\u2019s say I have a habit of smoking. I am not saying that smoking is bad but being unable 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\u2014a 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Therefore, I recommend 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if there are no restrictions on food, I recommend that you 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 that you 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.<\/p>\n","post_title":"The Reason Why People Are Unhappy No Matter How Hard They Try to Be Happy (Jul 11, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_220711","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14202","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14195,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-24 00:49:23","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-24 05:49:23","post_content":"\n

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

The Korean Seon (Zen) master and engaged Buddhist Venerable Pomnyun Sunim, founder and chairman of the international relief organization Join Together Society (JTS), led a delegation of JTS volunteers to India in September to visit Sujata Academy, a community school established by JTS in Dungheswari, Bihar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the respected monk usually makes annual visits to Dungheswari, to engage with the volunteers and villagers and to review the progress of development activities, this occasion was the first time he had been able to travel there in more than two years because of pandemic-related restrictions. During his week-long visit, Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Published by BDG on September 26, 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Read more: <\/a>https:\/\/www.buddhistdoor.net\/news\/engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"Engaged Buddhism: Ven. Pomnyun Sunim and JTS Volunteers Visit Sujata Academy Project in India","post_excerpt":" Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-26 22:32:14","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-27 03:32:14","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14195","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14198,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-22 19:48:20","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:20","post_content":"\n

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

When you hike through the mountains, you have to climb one peak after another. Our mind is the same. Once we solve one problem, there is always another to solve. So, you repeat the process of noticing and solving one problem after another. The purpose of practice is to constantly repeat the process. Don\u2019t try too hard to do well or get frustrated because you still have a long way to go. Just keep persisting, like when you hike up the next peak in the mountains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

Illustration by Maseol <\/p>\n","post_title":"Practice is like climbing a mountain","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"practice-is-like-climbing-a-mountain","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-22 19:48:22","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:22","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14198","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":17},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"jnews_block_37"};

Page 17 of 24 Previous 1 … 16 17 18 … 24 Next

\n

Regardless of the funeral ritual performed, once a person dies it\u2019s the end. By saying \u201cthe end\u201d I am not implying that there is no heaven or afterlife; I am simply saying that the person who draws his last breath no longer exists in this world. From a Christian viewpoint, their spirit goes to heaven. From a Buddhist perspective, their spirit is reborn. So there is nothing more we can do for them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, the best farewell for those who pass away is to let them go from our hearts.<\/p>\n","post_title":"The Best Farewell For the Deceased","post_excerpt":"When the Buddha was close to death, his disciples came to him and asked","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"the-best-farewell-for-the-deceased","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-03-02 06:41:26","post_modified_gmt":"2025-03-02 11:41:26","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14214","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14206,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-26 21:05:46","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-27 02:05:46","post_content":"\n

Why do we fear death? The thought that everything will end when we die may trigger a sense of sorrow about others as well as ourselves. These sentiments fuel fear. Our human fear of death has spawned legends and religions that promise a beautiful afterlife, devised to alleviate the terror we feel about the unknown. We feel less fearful when we think that it doesn\u2019t end when we die, that we will live on in some way or go to a better place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether or not the afterlife actually exists is not important. What matters here is that a belief in the afterlife helps us to overcome our fear of death. How empty would we feel to think that our loved ones will disappear completely when they die? Thinking that they are in a better place gives us great comfort. For this reason, instead of asking whether or not life after death exists, it\u2019s better to examine whether or not the belief of its existence is beneficial. It appears to be more beneficial than harmful, so it\u2019s best to accept the age-old methods that humans have established to overcome the fear of death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, we should refrain from placing too much emphasis on the idea of an afterlife because we know from history that it can also have negative side effects. Some examples include churches demanding large donations in exchange for a \u201cticket to Heaven\u201d and Buddhist temples overcharging for 49-day prayer rituals for the dead (49 jae<\/em>: a Buddhist-Confucian ceremony for the deceased). These examples show how religion can take advantage of people\u2019s fear as a means of extortion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the perspective of Buddhist practice, fear of death is no more real than a daydream. When our fear of death disappears and we can accept our inevitable demise as part of the natural order\u2014it will become irrelevant whether or not the afterlife exists and whether our spirits will go to a good place or a bad place. When fear melts away, everything that stemmed from fear becomes nothing but a dream. While dreaming, there are good dreams and bad dreams. However, when we wake up from the dream, regardless of whether it was good or bad, we realize that it was a dream. In the same vein, when we grasp the essence of fear, all of the issues that originated from it will disperse like clouds. This is how we transcend life and death. Transcending life and death doesn\u2019t mean not dying. Instead, it means realizing that life and death do not actually exist. The afterlife is a frequently visited topic in Buddhism. According to Buddhist beliefs, people go to paradise when they die or are reincarnated, but this cannot be proven. Every religion has different beliefs about the afterlife, but none of them has been proven. There is no point in debating endlessly which belief is right when all is but theory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo matter what evil deeds you have done, bathing in the holy Ganga River will wash away your sins and you will go to heaven upon your death. But if you do not bathe in the Ganga River, no matter how good you have been throughout your life, you will not be accepted into heaven.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was a common belief among people in India during the Buddha\u2019s lifetime. Therefore, they washed their bodies in the holy river, and those who had never bathed in the holy river during their lifetime were dipped in it posthumously. They all believed they had to do so in order to enter heaven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One day, a person who had heard of this belief went to the Buddha and asked if the Brahmans were telling the truth. The Buddha answered with a smile on his face:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf what they say is true, the fish in the river will be the first ones to go to heaven.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Buddha was saying that if a man can go to heaven for being dipped in the Ganga River after his death, the fish that live in the river will go to heaven before anyone. The Buddha\u2019s words help us reach an important realization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Traditionally, Buddhists believe that the greedy will be reincarnated as swine, the lazy as cows, and the nasty as serpents. But are pigs really that gluttonous? They eat when they are hungry, and they stop eating when they are no longer hungry. They don\u2019t prevent other pigs from eating the remaining food. Humans, on the other hand, do not share the food stored in their homes, even if there is someone starving right before their eyes. People are much greedier than pigs. Similarly, lions are wild and ferocious, but they will not kill a hare that crosses their path when they are not hungry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have created an image of a gluttonous pig, perhaps based on the sound they make when they eat, and made them synonymous with greed. There is no proof that a greedy person is reincarnated as a pig. Besides, reincarnation originated with Hinduism, so it\u2019s not originally a Buddhist belief. Over 90 per cent of Korean Buddhists believe in Hindu doctrines that they mistakenly think are Buddhist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An old lady came to consult me about her worries:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: I pray to the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, the Goddess of Mercy, but I am afraid my prayer will not be answered.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: What are you praying for?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: My granddaughter is a senior in high school. I am praying that my granddaughter gets accepted into a good college.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: What are you worried about?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: My granddaughter is a Christian.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

She felt that her prayer would not be answered however hard she prayed to the Goddess of Mercy, a Buddhist bodhisattva, because her granddaughter attended a Christian church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: You don\u2019t have to worry at all. The Goddess of Mercy is very kind and generous.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Would the infinitely compassionate Goddess of Mercy care whether a high school senior goes to a church or a Buddhist temple? She wouldn\u2019t be the Goddess of Mercy if she did, would she? Our religious beliefs are limited by our ignorance, and we disparage God or the Buddha by bringing them down to our own level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Returning to our subject, there is no need to worry about the afterlife. If heaven and hell actually exist, you will go to heaven, not to hell, when you do good deeds. Your future is decided by how you live your life now. Living well today will ensure a better tomorrow. Hoping for a better tomorrow while living an improper life today is like trying to catch a cloud. People who do bad deeds rightly deserve punishment, but when they refuse to accept the consequences and ask to be sent to heaven, they demonstrate a complete lack of awareness. Wanting to go to heaven when they have done nothing to deserve it and refusing to go to hell when they have performed deeds that warrant it is no different from desiring a good harvest after planting rotten seeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A true Christian shouldn\u2019t worry about living and dying. Since God decides whether to send someone to heaven or hell, you should just follow his will. If you are a Buddhist who believes in the law of cause and effect, and know that everything originates from the mind, you just need to cultivate your mind without worrying about what will happen tomorrow. Then your tomorrow will be better, so there is nothing to worry about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"How to Overcome the Fear of Death (Dec 03, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Why do we fear death?","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_221203","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14206","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14202,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-25 18:23:27","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-25 23:23:27","post_content":"\n

Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not. This 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy briefly. But when your desires are not<\/em> 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 that is 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, and so they wish to be born in such a world after they die. Therefore, every religion has an ideal world called heaven or paradise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The level of consumption in modern society is even higher than that which is supposedly provided by the ideal world\u2014the heaven that people dreamed of in the past. But we have greater desires now, so we often consider our life conditions to be 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 for help from almighty gods came to exist.<\/p>\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 can comfort people temporarily, like drugs, but they can\u2019t solve these problems fundamentally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

The Buddha investigated how to solve this problem in-depth. He discovered that the root cause of this never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is desire. When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy. 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 being 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.<\/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.<\/p>\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.<\/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 because although it seems impossible for humans to be free from desire, 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.<\/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 this is only a secondary and partial reason. When we are free from desire, we seldom suffer or feel fettered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Then how can we be free from our desires and karma? We meditate 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 our desires for food and sleep, we have other serious karma. Even if we are free from our desires for food and sleep, attaining liberation will be difficult. As such, wishing for liberation without even achieving this much is contradictory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, let\u2019s say I have a habit of smoking. I am not saying that smoking is bad but being unable 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\u2014a 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Therefore, I recommend 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if there are no restrictions on food, I recommend that you 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 that you 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.<\/p>\n","post_title":"The Reason Why People Are Unhappy No Matter How Hard They Try to Be Happy (Jul 11, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_220711","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14202","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14195,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-24 00:49:23","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-24 05:49:23","post_content":"\n

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

The Korean Seon (Zen) master and engaged Buddhist Venerable Pomnyun Sunim, founder and chairman of the international relief organization Join Together Society (JTS), led a delegation of JTS volunteers to India in September to visit Sujata Academy, a community school established by JTS in Dungheswari, Bihar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the respected monk usually makes annual visits to Dungheswari, to engage with the volunteers and villagers and to review the progress of development activities, this occasion was the first time he had been able to travel there in more than two years because of pandemic-related restrictions. During his week-long visit, Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Published by BDG on September 26, 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Read more: <\/a>https:\/\/www.buddhistdoor.net\/news\/engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"Engaged Buddhism: Ven. Pomnyun Sunim and JTS Volunteers Visit Sujata Academy Project in India","post_excerpt":" Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-26 22:32:14","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-27 03:32:14","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14195","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14198,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-22 19:48:20","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:20","post_content":"\n

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

When you hike through the mountains, you have to climb one peak after another. Our mind is the same. Once we solve one problem, there is always another to solve. So, you repeat the process of noticing and solving one problem after another. The purpose of practice is to constantly repeat the process. Don\u2019t try too hard to do well or get frustrated because you still have a long way to go. Just keep persisting, like when you hike up the next peak in the mountains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

Illustration by Maseol <\/p>\n","post_title":"Practice is like climbing a mountain","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"practice-is-like-climbing-a-mountain","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-22 19:48:22","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:22","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14198","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":17},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"jnews_block_37"};

Page 17 of 24 Previous 1 … 16 17 18 … 24 Next

\n

Each of these funeral rituals has its unique meaning and significance. Tibetans feed their dead to birds because they believe that the spirit of the dead will fly to heaven with the birds. Some cultures bury the dead in the ground because of the belief that the spiritual world exists underground. Meanwhile, Indians believe in reincarnation, so they cremate the corpse to help the spirits quickly sever their attachments to their worldly bodies in order to be reborn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regardless of the funeral ritual performed, once a person dies it\u2019s the end. By saying \u201cthe end\u201d I am not implying that there is no heaven or afterlife; I am simply saying that the person who draws his last breath no longer exists in this world. From a Christian viewpoint, their spirit goes to heaven. From a Buddhist perspective, their spirit is reborn. So there is nothing more we can do for them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, the best farewell for those who pass away is to let them go from our hearts.<\/p>\n","post_title":"The Best Farewell For the Deceased","post_excerpt":"When the Buddha was close to death, his disciples came to him and asked","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"the-best-farewell-for-the-deceased","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-03-02 06:41:26","post_modified_gmt":"2025-03-02 11:41:26","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14214","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14206,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-26 21:05:46","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-27 02:05:46","post_content":"\n

Why do we fear death? The thought that everything will end when we die may trigger a sense of sorrow about others as well as ourselves. These sentiments fuel fear. Our human fear of death has spawned legends and religions that promise a beautiful afterlife, devised to alleviate the terror we feel about the unknown. We feel less fearful when we think that it doesn\u2019t end when we die, that we will live on in some way or go to a better place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether or not the afterlife actually exists is not important. What matters here is that a belief in the afterlife helps us to overcome our fear of death. How empty would we feel to think that our loved ones will disappear completely when they die? Thinking that they are in a better place gives us great comfort. For this reason, instead of asking whether or not life after death exists, it\u2019s better to examine whether or not the belief of its existence is beneficial. It appears to be more beneficial than harmful, so it\u2019s best to accept the age-old methods that humans have established to overcome the fear of death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, we should refrain from placing too much emphasis on the idea of an afterlife because we know from history that it can also have negative side effects. Some examples include churches demanding large donations in exchange for a \u201cticket to Heaven\u201d and Buddhist temples overcharging for 49-day prayer rituals for the dead (49 jae<\/em>: a Buddhist-Confucian ceremony for the deceased). These examples show how religion can take advantage of people\u2019s fear as a means of extortion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the perspective of Buddhist practice, fear of death is no more real than a daydream. When our fear of death disappears and we can accept our inevitable demise as part of the natural order\u2014it will become irrelevant whether or not the afterlife exists and whether our spirits will go to a good place or a bad place. When fear melts away, everything that stemmed from fear becomes nothing but a dream. While dreaming, there are good dreams and bad dreams. However, when we wake up from the dream, regardless of whether it was good or bad, we realize that it was a dream. In the same vein, when we grasp the essence of fear, all of the issues that originated from it will disperse like clouds. This is how we transcend life and death. Transcending life and death doesn\u2019t mean not dying. Instead, it means realizing that life and death do not actually exist. The afterlife is a frequently visited topic in Buddhism. According to Buddhist beliefs, people go to paradise when they die or are reincarnated, but this cannot be proven. Every religion has different beliefs about the afterlife, but none of them has been proven. There is no point in debating endlessly which belief is right when all is but theory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo matter what evil deeds you have done, bathing in the holy Ganga River will wash away your sins and you will go to heaven upon your death. But if you do not bathe in the Ganga River, no matter how good you have been throughout your life, you will not be accepted into heaven.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was a common belief among people in India during the Buddha\u2019s lifetime. Therefore, they washed their bodies in the holy river, and those who had never bathed in the holy river during their lifetime were dipped in it posthumously. They all believed they had to do so in order to enter heaven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One day, a person who had heard of this belief went to the Buddha and asked if the Brahmans were telling the truth. The Buddha answered with a smile on his face:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf what they say is true, the fish in the river will be the first ones to go to heaven.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Buddha was saying that if a man can go to heaven for being dipped in the Ganga River after his death, the fish that live in the river will go to heaven before anyone. The Buddha\u2019s words help us reach an important realization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Traditionally, Buddhists believe that the greedy will be reincarnated as swine, the lazy as cows, and the nasty as serpents. But are pigs really that gluttonous? They eat when they are hungry, and they stop eating when they are no longer hungry. They don\u2019t prevent other pigs from eating the remaining food. Humans, on the other hand, do not share the food stored in their homes, even if there is someone starving right before their eyes. People are much greedier than pigs. Similarly, lions are wild and ferocious, but they will not kill a hare that crosses their path when they are not hungry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have created an image of a gluttonous pig, perhaps based on the sound they make when they eat, and made them synonymous with greed. There is no proof that a greedy person is reincarnated as a pig. Besides, reincarnation originated with Hinduism, so it\u2019s not originally a Buddhist belief. Over 90 per cent of Korean Buddhists believe in Hindu doctrines that they mistakenly think are Buddhist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An old lady came to consult me about her worries:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: I pray to the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, the Goddess of Mercy, but I am afraid my prayer will not be answered.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: What are you praying for?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: My granddaughter is a senior in high school. I am praying that my granddaughter gets accepted into a good college.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: What are you worried about?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: My granddaughter is a Christian.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

She felt that her prayer would not be answered however hard she prayed to the Goddess of Mercy, a Buddhist bodhisattva, because her granddaughter attended a Christian church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: You don\u2019t have to worry at all. The Goddess of Mercy is very kind and generous.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Would the infinitely compassionate Goddess of Mercy care whether a high school senior goes to a church or a Buddhist temple? She wouldn\u2019t be the Goddess of Mercy if she did, would she? Our religious beliefs are limited by our ignorance, and we disparage God or the Buddha by bringing them down to our own level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Returning to our subject, there is no need to worry about the afterlife. If heaven and hell actually exist, you will go to heaven, not to hell, when you do good deeds. Your future is decided by how you live your life now. Living well today will ensure a better tomorrow. Hoping for a better tomorrow while living an improper life today is like trying to catch a cloud. People who do bad deeds rightly deserve punishment, but when they refuse to accept the consequences and ask to be sent to heaven, they demonstrate a complete lack of awareness. Wanting to go to heaven when they have done nothing to deserve it and refusing to go to hell when they have performed deeds that warrant it is no different from desiring a good harvest after planting rotten seeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A true Christian shouldn\u2019t worry about living and dying. Since God decides whether to send someone to heaven or hell, you should just follow his will. If you are a Buddhist who believes in the law of cause and effect, and know that everything originates from the mind, you just need to cultivate your mind without worrying about what will happen tomorrow. Then your tomorrow will be better, so there is nothing to worry about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"How to Overcome the Fear of Death (Dec 03, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Why do we fear death?","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_221203","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14206","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14202,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-25 18:23:27","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-25 23:23:27","post_content":"\n

Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not. This 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy briefly. But when your desires are not<\/em> 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 that is 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, and so they wish to be born in such a world after they die. Therefore, every religion has an ideal world called heaven or paradise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The level of consumption in modern society is even higher than that which is supposedly provided by the ideal world\u2014the heaven that people dreamed of in the past. But we have greater desires now, so we often consider our life conditions to be 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 for help from almighty gods came to exist.<\/p>\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 can comfort people temporarily, like drugs, but they can\u2019t solve these problems fundamentally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

The Buddha investigated how to solve this problem in-depth. He discovered that the root cause of this never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is desire. When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy. 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 being 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.<\/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.<\/p>\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.<\/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 because although it seems impossible for humans to be free from desire, 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.<\/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 this is only a secondary and partial reason. When we are free from desire, we seldom suffer or feel fettered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Then how can we be free from our desires and karma? We meditate 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 our desires for food and sleep, we have other serious karma. Even if we are free from our desires for food and sleep, attaining liberation will be difficult. As such, wishing for liberation without even achieving this much is contradictory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, let\u2019s say I have a habit of smoking. I am not saying that smoking is bad but being unable 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\u2014a 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Therefore, I recommend 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if there are no restrictions on food, I recommend that you 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 that you 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.<\/p>\n","post_title":"The Reason Why People Are Unhappy No Matter How Hard They Try to Be Happy (Jul 11, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_220711","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14202","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14195,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-24 00:49:23","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-24 05:49:23","post_content":"\n

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

The Korean Seon (Zen) master and engaged Buddhist Venerable Pomnyun Sunim, founder and chairman of the international relief organization Join Together Society (JTS), led a delegation of JTS volunteers to India in September to visit Sujata Academy, a community school established by JTS in Dungheswari, Bihar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the respected monk usually makes annual visits to Dungheswari, to engage with the volunteers and villagers and to review the progress of development activities, this occasion was the first time he had been able to travel there in more than two years because of pandemic-related restrictions. During his week-long visit, Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Published by BDG on September 26, 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Read more: <\/a>https:\/\/www.buddhistdoor.net\/news\/engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"Engaged Buddhism: Ven. Pomnyun Sunim and JTS Volunteers Visit Sujata Academy Project in India","post_excerpt":" Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-26 22:32:14","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-27 03:32:14","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14195","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14198,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-22 19:48:20","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:20","post_content":"\n

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

When you hike through the mountains, you have to climb one peak after another. Our mind is the same. Once we solve one problem, there is always another to solve. So, you repeat the process of noticing and solving one problem after another. The purpose of practice is to constantly repeat the process. Don\u2019t try too hard to do well or get frustrated because you still have a long way to go. Just keep persisting, like when you hike up the next peak in the mountains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

Illustration by Maseol <\/p>\n","post_title":"Practice is like climbing a mountain","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"practice-is-like-climbing-a-mountain","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-22 19:48:22","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:22","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14198","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":17},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"jnews_block_37"};

Page 17 of 24 Previous 1 … 16 17 18 … 24 Next

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Funeral customs vary greatly from religion to religion and country to country. In India, the dead are usually cremated. In Tibet, the dead are left to be eaten by birds. The corpse is cut up on big rocks high in the mountains, where it is consumed by vultures and birds of prey. In desert regions, the dead are \u201cburied in the wind.\u201d That is, they are nailed to a wooden board and exposed to the elements for a year until only the bones remain, after which a funeral ceremony is performed. In regions with many islands, the dead are dropped into the sea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each of these funeral rituals has its unique meaning and significance. Tibetans feed their dead to birds because they believe that the spirit of the dead will fly to heaven with the birds. Some cultures bury the dead in the ground because of the belief that the spiritual world exists underground. Meanwhile, Indians believe in reincarnation, so they cremate the corpse to help the spirits quickly sever their attachments to their worldly bodies in order to be reborn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regardless of the funeral ritual performed, once a person dies it\u2019s the end. By saying \u201cthe end\u201d I am not implying that there is no heaven or afterlife; I am simply saying that the person who draws his last breath no longer exists in this world. From a Christian viewpoint, their spirit goes to heaven. From a Buddhist perspective, their spirit is reborn. So there is nothing more we can do for them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, the best farewell for those who pass away is to let them go from our hearts.<\/p>\n","post_title":"The Best Farewell For the Deceased","post_excerpt":"When the Buddha was close to death, his disciples came to him and asked","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"the-best-farewell-for-the-deceased","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-03-02 06:41:26","post_modified_gmt":"2025-03-02 11:41:26","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14214","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14206,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-26 21:05:46","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-27 02:05:46","post_content":"\n

Why do we fear death? The thought that everything will end when we die may trigger a sense of sorrow about others as well as ourselves. These sentiments fuel fear. Our human fear of death has spawned legends and religions that promise a beautiful afterlife, devised to alleviate the terror we feel about the unknown. We feel less fearful when we think that it doesn\u2019t end when we die, that we will live on in some way or go to a better place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether or not the afterlife actually exists is not important. What matters here is that a belief in the afterlife helps us to overcome our fear of death. How empty would we feel to think that our loved ones will disappear completely when they die? Thinking that they are in a better place gives us great comfort. For this reason, instead of asking whether or not life after death exists, it\u2019s better to examine whether or not the belief of its existence is beneficial. It appears to be more beneficial than harmful, so it\u2019s best to accept the age-old methods that humans have established to overcome the fear of death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, we should refrain from placing too much emphasis on the idea of an afterlife because we know from history that it can also have negative side effects. Some examples include churches demanding large donations in exchange for a \u201cticket to Heaven\u201d and Buddhist temples overcharging for 49-day prayer rituals for the dead (49 jae<\/em>: a Buddhist-Confucian ceremony for the deceased). These examples show how religion can take advantage of people\u2019s fear as a means of extortion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the perspective of Buddhist practice, fear of death is no more real than a daydream. When our fear of death disappears and we can accept our inevitable demise as part of the natural order\u2014it will become irrelevant whether or not the afterlife exists and whether our spirits will go to a good place or a bad place. When fear melts away, everything that stemmed from fear becomes nothing but a dream. While dreaming, there are good dreams and bad dreams. However, when we wake up from the dream, regardless of whether it was good or bad, we realize that it was a dream. In the same vein, when we grasp the essence of fear, all of the issues that originated from it will disperse like clouds. This is how we transcend life and death. Transcending life and death doesn\u2019t mean not dying. Instead, it means realizing that life and death do not actually exist. The afterlife is a frequently visited topic in Buddhism. According to Buddhist beliefs, people go to paradise when they die or are reincarnated, but this cannot be proven. Every religion has different beliefs about the afterlife, but none of them has been proven. There is no point in debating endlessly which belief is right when all is but theory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo matter what evil deeds you have done, bathing in the holy Ganga River will wash away your sins and you will go to heaven upon your death. But if you do not bathe in the Ganga River, no matter how good you have been throughout your life, you will not be accepted into heaven.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was a common belief among people in India during the Buddha\u2019s lifetime. Therefore, they washed their bodies in the holy river, and those who had never bathed in the holy river during their lifetime were dipped in it posthumously. They all believed they had to do so in order to enter heaven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One day, a person who had heard of this belief went to the Buddha and asked if the Brahmans were telling the truth. The Buddha answered with a smile on his face:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf what they say is true, the fish in the river will be the first ones to go to heaven.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Buddha was saying that if a man can go to heaven for being dipped in the Ganga River after his death, the fish that live in the river will go to heaven before anyone. The Buddha\u2019s words help us reach an important realization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Traditionally, Buddhists believe that the greedy will be reincarnated as swine, the lazy as cows, and the nasty as serpents. But are pigs really that gluttonous? They eat when they are hungry, and they stop eating when they are no longer hungry. They don\u2019t prevent other pigs from eating the remaining food. Humans, on the other hand, do not share the food stored in their homes, even if there is someone starving right before their eyes. People are much greedier than pigs. Similarly, lions are wild and ferocious, but they will not kill a hare that crosses their path when they are not hungry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have created an image of a gluttonous pig, perhaps based on the sound they make when they eat, and made them synonymous with greed. There is no proof that a greedy person is reincarnated as a pig. Besides, reincarnation originated with Hinduism, so it\u2019s not originally a Buddhist belief. Over 90 per cent of Korean Buddhists believe in Hindu doctrines that they mistakenly think are Buddhist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An old lady came to consult me about her worries:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: I pray to the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, the Goddess of Mercy, but I am afraid my prayer will not be answered.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: What are you praying for?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: My granddaughter is a senior in high school. I am praying that my granddaughter gets accepted into a good college.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: What are you worried about?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: My granddaughter is a Christian.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

She felt that her prayer would not be answered however hard she prayed to the Goddess of Mercy, a Buddhist bodhisattva, because her granddaughter attended a Christian church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: You don\u2019t have to worry at all. The Goddess of Mercy is very kind and generous.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Would the infinitely compassionate Goddess of Mercy care whether a high school senior goes to a church or a Buddhist temple? She wouldn\u2019t be the Goddess of Mercy if she did, would she? Our religious beliefs are limited by our ignorance, and we disparage God or the Buddha by bringing them down to our own level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Returning to our subject, there is no need to worry about the afterlife. If heaven and hell actually exist, you will go to heaven, not to hell, when you do good deeds. Your future is decided by how you live your life now. Living well today will ensure a better tomorrow. Hoping for a better tomorrow while living an improper life today is like trying to catch a cloud. People who do bad deeds rightly deserve punishment, but when they refuse to accept the consequences and ask to be sent to heaven, they demonstrate a complete lack of awareness. Wanting to go to heaven when they have done nothing to deserve it and refusing to go to hell when they have performed deeds that warrant it is no different from desiring a good harvest after planting rotten seeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A true Christian shouldn\u2019t worry about living and dying. Since God decides whether to send someone to heaven or hell, you should just follow his will. If you are a Buddhist who believes in the law of cause and effect, and know that everything originates from the mind, you just need to cultivate your mind without worrying about what will happen tomorrow. Then your tomorrow will be better, so there is nothing to worry about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"How to Overcome the Fear of Death (Dec 03, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Why do we fear death?","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_221203","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14206","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14202,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-25 18:23:27","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-25 23:23:27","post_content":"\n

Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not. This 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy briefly. But when your desires are not<\/em> 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 that is 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, and so they wish to be born in such a world after they die. Therefore, every religion has an ideal world called heaven or paradise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The level of consumption in modern society is even higher than that which is supposedly provided by the ideal world\u2014the heaven that people dreamed of in the past. But we have greater desires now, so we often consider our life conditions to be 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 for help from almighty gods came to exist.<\/p>\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 can comfort people temporarily, like drugs, but they can\u2019t solve these problems fundamentally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

The Buddha investigated how to solve this problem in-depth. He discovered that the root cause of this never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is desire. When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy. 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 being 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.<\/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.<\/p>\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.<\/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 because although it seems impossible for humans to be free from desire, 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.<\/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 this is only a secondary and partial reason. When we are free from desire, we seldom suffer or feel fettered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Then how can we be free from our desires and karma? We meditate 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 our desires for food and sleep, we have other serious karma. Even if we are free from our desires for food and sleep, attaining liberation will be difficult. As such, wishing for liberation without even achieving this much is contradictory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, let\u2019s say I have a habit of smoking. I am not saying that smoking is bad but being unable 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\u2014a 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Therefore, I recommend 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if there are no restrictions on food, I recommend that you 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 that you 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.<\/p>\n","post_title":"The Reason Why People Are Unhappy No Matter How Hard They Try to Be Happy (Jul 11, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_220711","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14202","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14195,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-24 00:49:23","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-24 05:49:23","post_content":"\n

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

The Korean Seon (Zen) master and engaged Buddhist Venerable Pomnyun Sunim, founder and chairman of the international relief organization Join Together Society (JTS), led a delegation of JTS volunteers to India in September to visit Sujata Academy, a community school established by JTS in Dungheswari, Bihar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the respected monk usually makes annual visits to Dungheswari, to engage with the volunteers and villagers and to review the progress of development activities, this occasion was the first time he had been able to travel there in more than two years because of pandemic-related restrictions. During his week-long visit, Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Published by BDG on September 26, 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Read more: <\/a>https:\/\/www.buddhistdoor.net\/news\/engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"Engaged Buddhism: Ven. Pomnyun Sunim and JTS Volunteers Visit Sujata Academy Project in India","post_excerpt":" Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-26 22:32:14","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-27 03:32:14","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14195","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14198,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-22 19:48:20","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:20","post_content":"\n

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

When you hike through the mountains, you have to climb one peak after another. Our mind is the same. Once we solve one problem, there is always another to solve. So, you repeat the process of noticing and solving one problem after another. The purpose of practice is to constantly repeat the process. Don\u2019t try too hard to do well or get frustrated because you still have a long way to go. Just keep persisting, like when you hike up the next peak in the mountains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

Illustration by Maseol <\/p>\n","post_title":"Practice is like climbing a mountain","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"practice-is-like-climbing-a-mountain","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-22 19:48:22","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:22","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14198","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":17},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"jnews_block_37"};

Page 17 of 24 Previous 1 … 16 17 18 … 24 Next

\n

What happens to the people in the eighth and ninth categories? Ultimately, people in all nine categories will all be reborn in paradise. However, those in the eighth and ninth categories have to spend some time in hell before doing so. Each year, Buddhists perform the Buddhist All Soul\u2019s Day ceremony in the seventh month of the lunar calendar to save the souls of those in the two lowest categories from hell. There is no point in debating whether or not this is true because it is a religious belief. As such, people are free to choose whether or not to believe it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Funeral customs vary greatly from religion to religion and country to country. In India, the dead are usually cremated. In Tibet, the dead are left to be eaten by birds. The corpse is cut up on big rocks high in the mountains, where it is consumed by vultures and birds of prey. In desert regions, the dead are \u201cburied in the wind.\u201d That is, they are nailed to a wooden board and exposed to the elements for a year until only the bones remain, after which a funeral ceremony is performed. In regions with many islands, the dead are dropped into the sea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each of these funeral rituals has its unique meaning and significance. Tibetans feed their dead to birds because they believe that the spirit of the dead will fly to heaven with the birds. Some cultures bury the dead in the ground because of the belief that the spiritual world exists underground. Meanwhile, Indians believe in reincarnation, so they cremate the corpse to help the spirits quickly sever their attachments to their worldly bodies in order to be reborn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regardless of the funeral ritual performed, once a person dies it\u2019s the end. By saying \u201cthe end\u201d I am not implying that there is no heaven or afterlife; I am simply saying that the person who draws his last breath no longer exists in this world. From a Christian viewpoint, their spirit goes to heaven. From a Buddhist perspective, their spirit is reborn. So there is nothing more we can do for them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, the best farewell for those who pass away is to let them go from our hearts.<\/p>\n","post_title":"The Best Farewell For the Deceased","post_excerpt":"When the Buddha was close to death, his disciples came to him and asked","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"the-best-farewell-for-the-deceased","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-03-02 06:41:26","post_modified_gmt":"2025-03-02 11:41:26","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14214","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14206,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-26 21:05:46","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-27 02:05:46","post_content":"\n

Why do we fear death? The thought that everything will end when we die may trigger a sense of sorrow about others as well as ourselves. These sentiments fuel fear. Our human fear of death has spawned legends and religions that promise a beautiful afterlife, devised to alleviate the terror we feel about the unknown. We feel less fearful when we think that it doesn\u2019t end when we die, that we will live on in some way or go to a better place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether or not the afterlife actually exists is not important. What matters here is that a belief in the afterlife helps us to overcome our fear of death. How empty would we feel to think that our loved ones will disappear completely when they die? Thinking that they are in a better place gives us great comfort. For this reason, instead of asking whether or not life after death exists, it\u2019s better to examine whether or not the belief of its existence is beneficial. It appears to be more beneficial than harmful, so it\u2019s best to accept the age-old methods that humans have established to overcome the fear of death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, we should refrain from placing too much emphasis on the idea of an afterlife because we know from history that it can also have negative side effects. Some examples include churches demanding large donations in exchange for a \u201cticket to Heaven\u201d and Buddhist temples overcharging for 49-day prayer rituals for the dead (49 jae<\/em>: a Buddhist-Confucian ceremony for the deceased). These examples show how religion can take advantage of people\u2019s fear as a means of extortion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the perspective of Buddhist practice, fear of death is no more real than a daydream. When our fear of death disappears and we can accept our inevitable demise as part of the natural order\u2014it will become irrelevant whether or not the afterlife exists and whether our spirits will go to a good place or a bad place. When fear melts away, everything that stemmed from fear becomes nothing but a dream. While dreaming, there are good dreams and bad dreams. However, when we wake up from the dream, regardless of whether it was good or bad, we realize that it was a dream. In the same vein, when we grasp the essence of fear, all of the issues that originated from it will disperse like clouds. This is how we transcend life and death. Transcending life and death doesn\u2019t mean not dying. Instead, it means realizing that life and death do not actually exist. The afterlife is a frequently visited topic in Buddhism. According to Buddhist beliefs, people go to paradise when they die or are reincarnated, but this cannot be proven. Every religion has different beliefs about the afterlife, but none of them has been proven. There is no point in debating endlessly which belief is right when all is but theory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo matter what evil deeds you have done, bathing in the holy Ganga River will wash away your sins and you will go to heaven upon your death. But if you do not bathe in the Ganga River, no matter how good you have been throughout your life, you will not be accepted into heaven.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was a common belief among people in India during the Buddha\u2019s lifetime. Therefore, they washed their bodies in the holy river, and those who had never bathed in the holy river during their lifetime were dipped in it posthumously. They all believed they had to do so in order to enter heaven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One day, a person who had heard of this belief went to the Buddha and asked if the Brahmans were telling the truth. The Buddha answered with a smile on his face:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf what they say is true, the fish in the river will be the first ones to go to heaven.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Buddha was saying that if a man can go to heaven for being dipped in the Ganga River after his death, the fish that live in the river will go to heaven before anyone. The Buddha\u2019s words help us reach an important realization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Traditionally, Buddhists believe that the greedy will be reincarnated as swine, the lazy as cows, and the nasty as serpents. But are pigs really that gluttonous? They eat when they are hungry, and they stop eating when they are no longer hungry. They don\u2019t prevent other pigs from eating the remaining food. Humans, on the other hand, do not share the food stored in their homes, even if there is someone starving right before their eyes. People are much greedier than pigs. Similarly, lions are wild and ferocious, but they will not kill a hare that crosses their path when they are not hungry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have created an image of a gluttonous pig, perhaps based on the sound they make when they eat, and made them synonymous with greed. There is no proof that a greedy person is reincarnated as a pig. Besides, reincarnation originated with Hinduism, so it\u2019s not originally a Buddhist belief. Over 90 per cent of Korean Buddhists believe in Hindu doctrines that they mistakenly think are Buddhist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An old lady came to consult me about her worries:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: I pray to the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, the Goddess of Mercy, but I am afraid my prayer will not be answered.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: What are you praying for?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: My granddaughter is a senior in high school. I am praying that my granddaughter gets accepted into a good college.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: What are you worried about?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: My granddaughter is a Christian.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

She felt that her prayer would not be answered however hard she prayed to the Goddess of Mercy, a Buddhist bodhisattva, because her granddaughter attended a Christian church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: You don\u2019t have to worry at all. The Goddess of Mercy is very kind and generous.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Would the infinitely compassionate Goddess of Mercy care whether a high school senior goes to a church or a Buddhist temple? She wouldn\u2019t be the Goddess of Mercy if she did, would she? Our religious beliefs are limited by our ignorance, and we disparage God or the Buddha by bringing them down to our own level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Returning to our subject, there is no need to worry about the afterlife. If heaven and hell actually exist, you will go to heaven, not to hell, when you do good deeds. Your future is decided by how you live your life now. Living well today will ensure a better tomorrow. Hoping for a better tomorrow while living an improper life today is like trying to catch a cloud. People who do bad deeds rightly deserve punishment, but when they refuse to accept the consequences and ask to be sent to heaven, they demonstrate a complete lack of awareness. Wanting to go to heaven when they have done nothing to deserve it and refusing to go to hell when they have performed deeds that warrant it is no different from desiring a good harvest after planting rotten seeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A true Christian shouldn\u2019t worry about living and dying. Since God decides whether to send someone to heaven or hell, you should just follow his will. If you are a Buddhist who believes in the law of cause and effect, and know that everything originates from the mind, you just need to cultivate your mind without worrying about what will happen tomorrow. Then your tomorrow will be better, so there is nothing to worry about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"How to Overcome the Fear of Death (Dec 03, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Why do we fear death?","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_221203","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14206","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14202,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-25 18:23:27","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-25 23:23:27","post_content":"\n

Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not. This 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy briefly. But when your desires are not<\/em> 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 that is 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, and so they wish to be born in such a world after they die. Therefore, every religion has an ideal world called heaven or paradise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The level of consumption in modern society is even higher than that which is supposedly provided by the ideal world\u2014the heaven that people dreamed of in the past. But we have greater desires now, so we often consider our life conditions to be 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 for help from almighty gods came to exist.<\/p>\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 can comfort people temporarily, like drugs, but they can\u2019t solve these problems fundamentally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

The Buddha investigated how to solve this problem in-depth. He discovered that the root cause of this never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is desire. When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy. 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 being 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.<\/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.<\/p>\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.<\/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 because although it seems impossible for humans to be free from desire, 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.<\/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 this is only a secondary and partial reason. When we are free from desire, we seldom suffer or feel fettered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Then how can we be free from our desires and karma? We meditate 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 our desires for food and sleep, we have other serious karma. Even if we are free from our desires for food and sleep, attaining liberation will be difficult. As such, wishing for liberation without even achieving this much is contradictory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, let\u2019s say I have a habit of smoking. I am not saying that smoking is bad but being unable 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\u2014a 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Therefore, I recommend 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if there are no restrictions on food, I recommend that you 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 that you 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.<\/p>\n","post_title":"The Reason Why People Are Unhappy No Matter How Hard They Try to Be Happy (Jul 11, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_220711","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14202","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14195,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-24 00:49:23","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-24 05:49:23","post_content":"\n

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

The Korean Seon (Zen) master and engaged Buddhist Venerable Pomnyun Sunim, founder and chairman of the international relief organization Join Together Society (JTS), led a delegation of JTS volunteers to India in September to visit Sujata Academy, a community school established by JTS in Dungheswari, Bihar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the respected monk usually makes annual visits to Dungheswari, to engage with the volunteers and villagers and to review the progress of development activities, this occasion was the first time he had been able to travel there in more than two years because of pandemic-related restrictions. During his week-long visit, Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Published by BDG on September 26, 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Read more: <\/a>https:\/\/www.buddhistdoor.net\/news\/engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"Engaged Buddhism: Ven. Pomnyun Sunim and JTS Volunteers Visit Sujata Academy Project in India","post_excerpt":" Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-26 22:32:14","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-27 03:32:14","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14195","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14198,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-22 19:48:20","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:20","post_content":"\n

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

When you hike through the mountains, you have to climb one peak after another. Our mind is the same. Once we solve one problem, there is always another to solve. So, you repeat the process of noticing and solving one problem after another. The purpose of practice is to constantly repeat the process. Don\u2019t try too hard to do well or get frustrated because you still have a long way to go. Just keep persisting, like when you hike up the next peak in the mountains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

Illustration by Maseol <\/p>\n","post_title":"Practice is like climbing a mountain","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"practice-is-like-climbing-a-mountain","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-22 19:48:22","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:22","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14198","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":17},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"jnews_block_37"};

Page 17 of 24 Previous 1 … 16 17 18 … 24 Next

\n

It is believed that people in the very highest category are reborn in paradise immediately after their death. It is comparable to leaving one room and entering another room. Those in the second category are reborn within 12 hours. It takes a day for those in the third category, three days for those in the fourth, a week for those in the fifth, 21 days for those in the sixth, and finally, it takes 49 days for those in the seventh category to be reborn in paradise. This is  the reason that people hold the 49-day posthumous ceremony. This ritual provides an opportunity for people to do good deeds on behalf of deceased family members and help them to be reborn in paradise within 49 days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What happens to the people in the eighth and ninth categories? Ultimately, people in all nine categories will all be reborn in paradise. However, those in the eighth and ninth categories have to spend some time in hell before doing so. Each year, Buddhists perform the Buddhist All Soul\u2019s Day ceremony in the seventh month of the lunar calendar to save the souls of those in the two lowest categories from hell. There is no point in debating whether or not this is true because it is a religious belief. As such, people are free to choose whether or not to believe it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Funeral customs vary greatly from religion to religion and country to country. In India, the dead are usually cremated. In Tibet, the dead are left to be eaten by birds. The corpse is cut up on big rocks high in the mountains, where it is consumed by vultures and birds of prey. In desert regions, the dead are \u201cburied in the wind.\u201d That is, they are nailed to a wooden board and exposed to the elements for a year until only the bones remain, after which a funeral ceremony is performed. In regions with many islands, the dead are dropped into the sea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each of these funeral rituals has its unique meaning and significance. Tibetans feed their dead to birds because they believe that the spirit of the dead will fly to heaven with the birds. Some cultures bury the dead in the ground because of the belief that the spiritual world exists underground. Meanwhile, Indians believe in reincarnation, so they cremate the corpse to help the spirits quickly sever their attachments to their worldly bodies in order to be reborn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regardless of the funeral ritual performed, once a person dies it\u2019s the end. By saying \u201cthe end\u201d I am not implying that there is no heaven or afterlife; I am simply saying that the person who draws his last breath no longer exists in this world. From a Christian viewpoint, their spirit goes to heaven. From a Buddhist perspective, their spirit is reborn. So there is nothing more we can do for them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, the best farewell for those who pass away is to let them go from our hearts.<\/p>\n","post_title":"The Best Farewell For the Deceased","post_excerpt":"When the Buddha was close to death, his disciples came to him and asked","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"the-best-farewell-for-the-deceased","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-03-02 06:41:26","post_modified_gmt":"2025-03-02 11:41:26","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14214","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14206,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-26 21:05:46","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-27 02:05:46","post_content":"\n

Why do we fear death? The thought that everything will end when we die may trigger a sense of sorrow about others as well as ourselves. These sentiments fuel fear. Our human fear of death has spawned legends and religions that promise a beautiful afterlife, devised to alleviate the terror we feel about the unknown. We feel less fearful when we think that it doesn\u2019t end when we die, that we will live on in some way or go to a better place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether or not the afterlife actually exists is not important. What matters here is that a belief in the afterlife helps us to overcome our fear of death. How empty would we feel to think that our loved ones will disappear completely when they die? Thinking that they are in a better place gives us great comfort. For this reason, instead of asking whether or not life after death exists, it\u2019s better to examine whether or not the belief of its existence is beneficial. It appears to be more beneficial than harmful, so it\u2019s best to accept the age-old methods that humans have established to overcome the fear of death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, we should refrain from placing too much emphasis on the idea of an afterlife because we know from history that it can also have negative side effects. Some examples include churches demanding large donations in exchange for a \u201cticket to Heaven\u201d and Buddhist temples overcharging for 49-day prayer rituals for the dead (49 jae<\/em>: a Buddhist-Confucian ceremony for the deceased). These examples show how religion can take advantage of people\u2019s fear as a means of extortion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the perspective of Buddhist practice, fear of death is no more real than a daydream. When our fear of death disappears and we can accept our inevitable demise as part of the natural order\u2014it will become irrelevant whether or not the afterlife exists and whether our spirits will go to a good place or a bad place. When fear melts away, everything that stemmed from fear becomes nothing but a dream. While dreaming, there are good dreams and bad dreams. However, when we wake up from the dream, regardless of whether it was good or bad, we realize that it was a dream. In the same vein, when we grasp the essence of fear, all of the issues that originated from it will disperse like clouds. This is how we transcend life and death. Transcending life and death doesn\u2019t mean not dying. Instead, it means realizing that life and death do not actually exist. The afterlife is a frequently visited topic in Buddhism. According to Buddhist beliefs, people go to paradise when they die or are reincarnated, but this cannot be proven. Every religion has different beliefs about the afterlife, but none of them has been proven. There is no point in debating endlessly which belief is right when all is but theory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo matter what evil deeds you have done, bathing in the holy Ganga River will wash away your sins and you will go to heaven upon your death. But if you do not bathe in the Ganga River, no matter how good you have been throughout your life, you will not be accepted into heaven.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was a common belief among people in India during the Buddha\u2019s lifetime. Therefore, they washed their bodies in the holy river, and those who had never bathed in the holy river during their lifetime were dipped in it posthumously. They all believed they had to do so in order to enter heaven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One day, a person who had heard of this belief went to the Buddha and asked if the Brahmans were telling the truth. The Buddha answered with a smile on his face:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf what they say is true, the fish in the river will be the first ones to go to heaven.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Buddha was saying that if a man can go to heaven for being dipped in the Ganga River after his death, the fish that live in the river will go to heaven before anyone. The Buddha\u2019s words help us reach an important realization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Traditionally, Buddhists believe that the greedy will be reincarnated as swine, the lazy as cows, and the nasty as serpents. But are pigs really that gluttonous? They eat when they are hungry, and they stop eating when they are no longer hungry. They don\u2019t prevent other pigs from eating the remaining food. Humans, on the other hand, do not share the food stored in their homes, even if there is someone starving right before their eyes. People are much greedier than pigs. Similarly, lions are wild and ferocious, but they will not kill a hare that crosses their path when they are not hungry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have created an image of a gluttonous pig, perhaps based on the sound they make when they eat, and made them synonymous with greed. There is no proof that a greedy person is reincarnated as a pig. Besides, reincarnation originated with Hinduism, so it\u2019s not originally a Buddhist belief. Over 90 per cent of Korean Buddhists believe in Hindu doctrines that they mistakenly think are Buddhist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An old lady came to consult me about her worries:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: I pray to the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, the Goddess of Mercy, but I am afraid my prayer will not be answered.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: What are you praying for?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: My granddaughter is a senior in high school. I am praying that my granddaughter gets accepted into a good college.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: What are you worried about?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: My granddaughter is a Christian.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

She felt that her prayer would not be answered however hard she prayed to the Goddess of Mercy, a Buddhist bodhisattva, because her granddaughter attended a Christian church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: You don\u2019t have to worry at all. The Goddess of Mercy is very kind and generous.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Would the infinitely compassionate Goddess of Mercy care whether a high school senior goes to a church or a Buddhist temple? She wouldn\u2019t be the Goddess of Mercy if she did, would she? Our religious beliefs are limited by our ignorance, and we disparage God or the Buddha by bringing them down to our own level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Returning to our subject, there is no need to worry about the afterlife. If heaven and hell actually exist, you will go to heaven, not to hell, when you do good deeds. Your future is decided by how you live your life now. Living well today will ensure a better tomorrow. Hoping for a better tomorrow while living an improper life today is like trying to catch a cloud. People who do bad deeds rightly deserve punishment, but when they refuse to accept the consequences and ask to be sent to heaven, they demonstrate a complete lack of awareness. Wanting to go to heaven when they have done nothing to deserve it and refusing to go to hell when they have performed deeds that warrant it is no different from desiring a good harvest after planting rotten seeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A true Christian shouldn\u2019t worry about living and dying. Since God decides whether to send someone to heaven or hell, you should just follow his will. If you are a Buddhist who believes in the law of cause and effect, and know that everything originates from the mind, you just need to cultivate your mind without worrying about what will happen tomorrow. Then your tomorrow will be better, so there is nothing to worry about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"How to Overcome the Fear of Death (Dec 03, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Why do we fear death?","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_221203","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14206","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14202,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-25 18:23:27","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-25 23:23:27","post_content":"\n

Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not. This 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy briefly. But when your desires are not<\/em> 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 that is 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, and so they wish to be born in such a world after they die. Therefore, every religion has an ideal world called heaven or paradise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The level of consumption in modern society is even higher than that which is supposedly provided by the ideal world\u2014the heaven that people dreamed of in the past. But we have greater desires now, so we often consider our life conditions to be 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 for help from almighty gods came to exist.<\/p>\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 can comfort people temporarily, like drugs, but they can\u2019t solve these problems fundamentally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

The Buddha investigated how to solve this problem in-depth. He discovered that the root cause of this never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is desire. When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy. 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 being 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.<\/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.<\/p>\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.<\/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 because although it seems impossible for humans to be free from desire, 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.<\/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 this is only a secondary and partial reason. When we are free from desire, we seldom suffer or feel fettered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Then how can we be free from our desires and karma? We meditate 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 our desires for food and sleep, we have other serious karma. Even if we are free from our desires for food and sleep, attaining liberation will be difficult. As such, wishing for liberation without even achieving this much is contradictory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, let\u2019s say I have a habit of smoking. I am not saying that smoking is bad but being unable 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\u2014a 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Therefore, I recommend 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if there are no restrictions on food, I recommend that you 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 that you 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.<\/p>\n","post_title":"The Reason Why People Are Unhappy No Matter How Hard They Try to Be Happy (Jul 11, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_220711","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14202","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14195,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-24 00:49:23","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-24 05:49:23","post_content":"\n

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

The Korean Seon (Zen) master and engaged Buddhist Venerable Pomnyun Sunim, founder and chairman of the international relief organization Join Together Society (JTS), led a delegation of JTS volunteers to India in September to visit Sujata Academy, a community school established by JTS in Dungheswari, Bihar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the respected monk usually makes annual visits to Dungheswari, to engage with the volunteers and villagers and to review the progress of development activities, this occasion was the first time he had been able to travel there in more than two years because of pandemic-related restrictions. During his week-long visit, Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Published by BDG on September 26, 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Read more: <\/a>https:\/\/www.buddhistdoor.net\/news\/engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"Engaged Buddhism: Ven. Pomnyun Sunim and JTS Volunteers Visit Sujata Academy Project in India","post_excerpt":" Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-26 22:32:14","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-27 03:32:14","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14195","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14198,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-22 19:48:20","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:20","post_content":"\n

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

When you hike through the mountains, you have to climb one peak after another. Our mind is the same. Once we solve one problem, there is always another to solve. So, you repeat the process of noticing and solving one problem after another. The purpose of practice is to constantly repeat the process. Don\u2019t try too hard to do well or get frustrated because you still have a long way to go. Just keep persisting, like when you hike up the next peak in the mountains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

Illustration by Maseol <\/p>\n","post_title":"Practice is like climbing a mountain","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"practice-is-like-climbing-a-mountain","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-22 19:48:22","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:22","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14198","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":17},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"jnews_block_37"};

Page 17 of 24 Previous 1 … 16 17 18 … 24 Next

\n

Specifically, people are divided into three categories of high, middle, and low, and those in each of the three categories are again divided into high, middle, and low. And so there are a total of nine categories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is believed that people in the very highest category are reborn in paradise immediately after their death. It is comparable to leaving one room and entering another room. Those in the second category are reborn within 12 hours. It takes a day for those in the third category, three days for those in the fourth, a week for those in the fifth, 21 days for those in the sixth, and finally, it takes 49 days for those in the seventh category to be reborn in paradise. This is  the reason that people hold the 49-day posthumous ceremony. This ritual provides an opportunity for people to do good deeds on behalf of deceased family members and help them to be reborn in paradise within 49 days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What happens to the people in the eighth and ninth categories? Ultimately, people in all nine categories will all be reborn in paradise. However, those in the eighth and ninth categories have to spend some time in hell before doing so. Each year, Buddhists perform the Buddhist All Soul\u2019s Day ceremony in the seventh month of the lunar calendar to save the souls of those in the two lowest categories from hell. There is no point in debating whether or not this is true because it is a religious belief. As such, people are free to choose whether or not to believe it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Funeral customs vary greatly from religion to religion and country to country. In India, the dead are usually cremated. In Tibet, the dead are left to be eaten by birds. The corpse is cut up on big rocks high in the mountains, where it is consumed by vultures and birds of prey. In desert regions, the dead are \u201cburied in the wind.\u201d That is, they are nailed to a wooden board and exposed to the elements for a year until only the bones remain, after which a funeral ceremony is performed. In regions with many islands, the dead are dropped into the sea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each of these funeral rituals has its unique meaning and significance. Tibetans feed their dead to birds because they believe that the spirit of the dead will fly to heaven with the birds. Some cultures bury the dead in the ground because of the belief that the spiritual world exists underground. Meanwhile, Indians believe in reincarnation, so they cremate the corpse to help the spirits quickly sever their attachments to their worldly bodies in order to be reborn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regardless of the funeral ritual performed, once a person dies it\u2019s the end. By saying \u201cthe end\u201d I am not implying that there is no heaven or afterlife; I am simply saying that the person who draws his last breath no longer exists in this world. From a Christian viewpoint, their spirit goes to heaven. From a Buddhist perspective, their spirit is reborn. So there is nothing more we can do for them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, the best farewell for those who pass away is to let them go from our hearts.<\/p>\n","post_title":"The Best Farewell For the Deceased","post_excerpt":"When the Buddha was close to death, his disciples came to him and asked","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"the-best-farewell-for-the-deceased","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-03-02 06:41:26","post_modified_gmt":"2025-03-02 11:41:26","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14214","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14206,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-26 21:05:46","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-27 02:05:46","post_content":"\n

Why do we fear death? The thought that everything will end when we die may trigger a sense of sorrow about others as well as ourselves. These sentiments fuel fear. Our human fear of death has spawned legends and religions that promise a beautiful afterlife, devised to alleviate the terror we feel about the unknown. We feel less fearful when we think that it doesn\u2019t end when we die, that we will live on in some way or go to a better place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether or not the afterlife actually exists is not important. What matters here is that a belief in the afterlife helps us to overcome our fear of death. How empty would we feel to think that our loved ones will disappear completely when they die? Thinking that they are in a better place gives us great comfort. For this reason, instead of asking whether or not life after death exists, it\u2019s better to examine whether or not the belief of its existence is beneficial. It appears to be more beneficial than harmful, so it\u2019s best to accept the age-old methods that humans have established to overcome the fear of death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, we should refrain from placing too much emphasis on the idea of an afterlife because we know from history that it can also have negative side effects. Some examples include churches demanding large donations in exchange for a \u201cticket to Heaven\u201d and Buddhist temples overcharging for 49-day prayer rituals for the dead (49 jae<\/em>: a Buddhist-Confucian ceremony for the deceased). These examples show how religion can take advantage of people\u2019s fear as a means of extortion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the perspective of Buddhist practice, fear of death is no more real than a daydream. When our fear of death disappears and we can accept our inevitable demise as part of the natural order\u2014it will become irrelevant whether or not the afterlife exists and whether our spirits will go to a good place or a bad place. When fear melts away, everything that stemmed from fear becomes nothing but a dream. While dreaming, there are good dreams and bad dreams. However, when we wake up from the dream, regardless of whether it was good or bad, we realize that it was a dream. In the same vein, when we grasp the essence of fear, all of the issues that originated from it will disperse like clouds. This is how we transcend life and death. Transcending life and death doesn\u2019t mean not dying. Instead, it means realizing that life and death do not actually exist. The afterlife is a frequently visited topic in Buddhism. According to Buddhist beliefs, people go to paradise when they die or are reincarnated, but this cannot be proven. Every religion has different beliefs about the afterlife, but none of them has been proven. There is no point in debating endlessly which belief is right when all is but theory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo matter what evil deeds you have done, bathing in the holy Ganga River will wash away your sins and you will go to heaven upon your death. But if you do not bathe in the Ganga River, no matter how good you have been throughout your life, you will not be accepted into heaven.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was a common belief among people in India during the Buddha\u2019s lifetime. Therefore, they washed their bodies in the holy river, and those who had never bathed in the holy river during their lifetime were dipped in it posthumously. They all believed they had to do so in order to enter heaven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One day, a person who had heard of this belief went to the Buddha and asked if the Brahmans were telling the truth. The Buddha answered with a smile on his face:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf what they say is true, the fish in the river will be the first ones to go to heaven.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Buddha was saying that if a man can go to heaven for being dipped in the Ganga River after his death, the fish that live in the river will go to heaven before anyone. The Buddha\u2019s words help us reach an important realization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Traditionally, Buddhists believe that the greedy will be reincarnated as swine, the lazy as cows, and the nasty as serpents. But are pigs really that gluttonous? They eat when they are hungry, and they stop eating when they are no longer hungry. They don\u2019t prevent other pigs from eating the remaining food. Humans, on the other hand, do not share the food stored in their homes, even if there is someone starving right before their eyes. People are much greedier than pigs. Similarly, lions are wild and ferocious, but they will not kill a hare that crosses their path when they are not hungry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have created an image of a gluttonous pig, perhaps based on the sound they make when they eat, and made them synonymous with greed. There is no proof that a greedy person is reincarnated as a pig. Besides, reincarnation originated with Hinduism, so it\u2019s not originally a Buddhist belief. Over 90 per cent of Korean Buddhists believe in Hindu doctrines that they mistakenly think are Buddhist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An old lady came to consult me about her worries:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: I pray to the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, the Goddess of Mercy, but I am afraid my prayer will not be answered.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: What are you praying for?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: My granddaughter is a senior in high school. I am praying that my granddaughter gets accepted into a good college.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: What are you worried about?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: My granddaughter is a Christian.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

She felt that her prayer would not be answered however hard she prayed to the Goddess of Mercy, a Buddhist bodhisattva, because her granddaughter attended a Christian church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: You don\u2019t have to worry at all. The Goddess of Mercy is very kind and generous.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Would the infinitely compassionate Goddess of Mercy care whether a high school senior goes to a church or a Buddhist temple? She wouldn\u2019t be the Goddess of Mercy if she did, would she? Our religious beliefs are limited by our ignorance, and we disparage God or the Buddha by bringing them down to our own level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Returning to our subject, there is no need to worry about the afterlife. If heaven and hell actually exist, you will go to heaven, not to hell, when you do good deeds. Your future is decided by how you live your life now. Living well today will ensure a better tomorrow. Hoping for a better tomorrow while living an improper life today is like trying to catch a cloud. People who do bad deeds rightly deserve punishment, but when they refuse to accept the consequences and ask to be sent to heaven, they demonstrate a complete lack of awareness. Wanting to go to heaven when they have done nothing to deserve it and refusing to go to hell when they have performed deeds that warrant it is no different from desiring a good harvest after planting rotten seeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A true Christian shouldn\u2019t worry about living and dying. Since God decides whether to send someone to heaven or hell, you should just follow his will. If you are a Buddhist who believes in the law of cause and effect, and know that everything originates from the mind, you just need to cultivate your mind without worrying about what will happen tomorrow. Then your tomorrow will be better, so there is nothing to worry about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"How to Overcome the Fear of Death (Dec 03, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Why do we fear death?","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_221203","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14206","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14202,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-25 18:23:27","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-25 23:23:27","post_content":"\n

Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not. This 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy briefly. But when your desires are not<\/em> 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 that is 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, and so they wish to be born in such a world after they die. Therefore, every religion has an ideal world called heaven or paradise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The level of consumption in modern society is even higher than that which is supposedly provided by the ideal world\u2014the heaven that people dreamed of in the past. But we have greater desires now, so we often consider our life conditions to be 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 for help from almighty gods came to exist.<\/p>\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 can comfort people temporarily, like drugs, but they can\u2019t solve these problems fundamentally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

The Buddha investigated how to solve this problem in-depth. He discovered that the root cause of this never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is desire. When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy. 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 being 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.<\/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.<\/p>\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.<\/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 because although it seems impossible for humans to be free from desire, 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.<\/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 this is only a secondary and partial reason. When we are free from desire, we seldom suffer or feel fettered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Then how can we be free from our desires and karma? We meditate 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 our desires for food and sleep, we have other serious karma. Even if we are free from our desires for food and sleep, attaining liberation will be difficult. As such, wishing for liberation without even achieving this much is contradictory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, let\u2019s say I have a habit of smoking. I am not saying that smoking is bad but being unable 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\u2014a 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Therefore, I recommend 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if there are no restrictions on food, I recommend that you 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 that you 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.<\/p>\n","post_title":"The Reason Why People Are Unhappy No Matter How Hard They Try to Be Happy (Jul 11, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_220711","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14202","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14195,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-24 00:49:23","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-24 05:49:23","post_content":"\n

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

The Korean Seon (Zen) master and engaged Buddhist Venerable Pomnyun Sunim, founder and chairman of the international relief organization Join Together Society (JTS), led a delegation of JTS volunteers to India in September to visit Sujata Academy, a community school established by JTS in Dungheswari, Bihar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the respected monk usually makes annual visits to Dungheswari, to engage with the volunteers and villagers and to review the progress of development activities, this occasion was the first time he had been able to travel there in more than two years because of pandemic-related restrictions. During his week-long visit, Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Published by BDG on September 26, 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Read more: <\/a>https:\/\/www.buddhistdoor.net\/news\/engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"Engaged Buddhism: Ven. Pomnyun Sunim and JTS Volunteers Visit Sujata Academy Project in India","post_excerpt":" Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-26 22:32:14","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-27 03:32:14","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14195","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14198,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-22 19:48:20","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:20","post_content":"\n

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

When you hike through the mountains, you have to climb one peak after another. Our mind is the same. Once we solve one problem, there is always another to solve. So, you repeat the process of noticing and solving one problem after another. The purpose of practice is to constantly repeat the process. Don\u2019t try too hard to do well or get frustrated because you still have a long way to go. Just keep persisting, like when you hike up the next peak in the mountains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

Illustration by Maseol <\/p>\n","post_title":"Practice is like climbing a mountain","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"practice-is-like-climbing-a-mountain","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-22 19:48:22","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:22","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14198","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":17},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"jnews_block_37"};

Page 17 of 24 Previous 1 … 16 17 18 … 24 Next

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\u201cAnyone can be reborn in paradise after he dies if he sincerely hopes for it. However, not everyone can be reborn in paradise right away since people fall into one of the nine categories based on their deeds.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Specifically, people are divided into three categories of high, middle, and low, and those in each of the three categories are again divided into high, middle, and low. And so there are a total of nine categories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is believed that people in the very highest category are reborn in paradise immediately after their death. It is comparable to leaving one room and entering another room. Those in the second category are reborn within 12 hours. It takes a day for those in the third category, three days for those in the fourth, a week for those in the fifth, 21 days for those in the sixth, and finally, it takes 49 days for those in the seventh category to be reborn in paradise. This is  the reason that people hold the 49-day posthumous ceremony. This ritual provides an opportunity for people to do good deeds on behalf of deceased family members and help them to be reborn in paradise within 49 days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What happens to the people in the eighth and ninth categories? Ultimately, people in all nine categories will all be reborn in paradise. However, those in the eighth and ninth categories have to spend some time in hell before doing so. Each year, Buddhists perform the Buddhist All Soul\u2019s Day ceremony in the seventh month of the lunar calendar to save the souls of those in the two lowest categories from hell. There is no point in debating whether or not this is true because it is a religious belief. As such, people are free to choose whether or not to believe it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Funeral customs vary greatly from religion to religion and country to country. In India, the dead are usually cremated. In Tibet, the dead are left to be eaten by birds. The corpse is cut up on big rocks high in the mountains, where it is consumed by vultures and birds of prey. In desert regions, the dead are \u201cburied in the wind.\u201d That is, they are nailed to a wooden board and exposed to the elements for a year until only the bones remain, after which a funeral ceremony is performed. In regions with many islands, the dead are dropped into the sea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each of these funeral rituals has its unique meaning and significance. Tibetans feed their dead to birds because they believe that the spirit of the dead will fly to heaven with the birds. Some cultures bury the dead in the ground because of the belief that the spiritual world exists underground. Meanwhile, Indians believe in reincarnation, so they cremate the corpse to help the spirits quickly sever their attachments to their worldly bodies in order to be reborn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regardless of the funeral ritual performed, once a person dies it\u2019s the end. By saying \u201cthe end\u201d I am not implying that there is no heaven or afterlife; I am simply saying that the person who draws his last breath no longer exists in this world. From a Christian viewpoint, their spirit goes to heaven. From a Buddhist perspective, their spirit is reborn. So there is nothing more we can do for them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, the best farewell for those who pass away is to let them go from our hearts.<\/p>\n","post_title":"The Best Farewell For the Deceased","post_excerpt":"When the Buddha was close to death, his disciples came to him and asked","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"the-best-farewell-for-the-deceased","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-03-02 06:41:26","post_modified_gmt":"2025-03-02 11:41:26","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14214","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14206,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-26 21:05:46","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-27 02:05:46","post_content":"\n

Why do we fear death? The thought that everything will end when we die may trigger a sense of sorrow about others as well as ourselves. These sentiments fuel fear. Our human fear of death has spawned legends and religions that promise a beautiful afterlife, devised to alleviate the terror we feel about the unknown. We feel less fearful when we think that it doesn\u2019t end when we die, that we will live on in some way or go to a better place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether or not the afterlife actually exists is not important. What matters here is that a belief in the afterlife helps us to overcome our fear of death. How empty would we feel to think that our loved ones will disappear completely when they die? Thinking that they are in a better place gives us great comfort. For this reason, instead of asking whether or not life after death exists, it\u2019s better to examine whether or not the belief of its existence is beneficial. It appears to be more beneficial than harmful, so it\u2019s best to accept the age-old methods that humans have established to overcome the fear of death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, we should refrain from placing too much emphasis on the idea of an afterlife because we know from history that it can also have negative side effects. Some examples include churches demanding large donations in exchange for a \u201cticket to Heaven\u201d and Buddhist temples overcharging for 49-day prayer rituals for the dead (49 jae<\/em>: a Buddhist-Confucian ceremony for the deceased). These examples show how religion can take advantage of people\u2019s fear as a means of extortion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the perspective of Buddhist practice, fear of death is no more real than a daydream. When our fear of death disappears and we can accept our inevitable demise as part of the natural order\u2014it will become irrelevant whether or not the afterlife exists and whether our spirits will go to a good place or a bad place. When fear melts away, everything that stemmed from fear becomes nothing but a dream. While dreaming, there are good dreams and bad dreams. However, when we wake up from the dream, regardless of whether it was good or bad, we realize that it was a dream. In the same vein, when we grasp the essence of fear, all of the issues that originated from it will disperse like clouds. This is how we transcend life and death. Transcending life and death doesn\u2019t mean not dying. Instead, it means realizing that life and death do not actually exist. The afterlife is a frequently visited topic in Buddhism. According to Buddhist beliefs, people go to paradise when they die or are reincarnated, but this cannot be proven. Every religion has different beliefs about the afterlife, but none of them has been proven. There is no point in debating endlessly which belief is right when all is but theory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo matter what evil deeds you have done, bathing in the holy Ganga River will wash away your sins and you will go to heaven upon your death. But if you do not bathe in the Ganga River, no matter how good you have been throughout your life, you will not be accepted into heaven.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was a common belief among people in India during the Buddha\u2019s lifetime. Therefore, they washed their bodies in the holy river, and those who had never bathed in the holy river during their lifetime were dipped in it posthumously. They all believed they had to do so in order to enter heaven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One day, a person who had heard of this belief went to the Buddha and asked if the Brahmans were telling the truth. The Buddha answered with a smile on his face:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf what they say is true, the fish in the river will be the first ones to go to heaven.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Buddha was saying that if a man can go to heaven for being dipped in the Ganga River after his death, the fish that live in the river will go to heaven before anyone. The Buddha\u2019s words help us reach an important realization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Traditionally, Buddhists believe that the greedy will be reincarnated as swine, the lazy as cows, and the nasty as serpents. But are pigs really that gluttonous? They eat when they are hungry, and they stop eating when they are no longer hungry. They don\u2019t prevent other pigs from eating the remaining food. Humans, on the other hand, do not share the food stored in their homes, even if there is someone starving right before their eyes. People are much greedier than pigs. Similarly, lions are wild and ferocious, but they will not kill a hare that crosses their path when they are not hungry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have created an image of a gluttonous pig, perhaps based on the sound they make when they eat, and made them synonymous with greed. There is no proof that a greedy person is reincarnated as a pig. Besides, reincarnation originated with Hinduism, so it\u2019s not originally a Buddhist belief. Over 90 per cent of Korean Buddhists believe in Hindu doctrines that they mistakenly think are Buddhist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An old lady came to consult me about her worries:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: I pray to the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, the Goddess of Mercy, but I am afraid my prayer will not be answered.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: What are you praying for?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: My granddaughter is a senior in high school. I am praying that my granddaughter gets accepted into a good college.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: What are you worried about?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: My granddaughter is a Christian.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

She felt that her prayer would not be answered however hard she prayed to the Goddess of Mercy, a Buddhist bodhisattva, because her granddaughter attended a Christian church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: You don\u2019t have to worry at all. The Goddess of Mercy is very kind and generous.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Would the infinitely compassionate Goddess of Mercy care whether a high school senior goes to a church or a Buddhist temple? She wouldn\u2019t be the Goddess of Mercy if she did, would she? Our religious beliefs are limited by our ignorance, and we disparage God or the Buddha by bringing them down to our own level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Returning to our subject, there is no need to worry about the afterlife. If heaven and hell actually exist, you will go to heaven, not to hell, when you do good deeds. Your future is decided by how you live your life now. Living well today will ensure a better tomorrow. Hoping for a better tomorrow while living an improper life today is like trying to catch a cloud. People who do bad deeds rightly deserve punishment, but when they refuse to accept the consequences and ask to be sent to heaven, they demonstrate a complete lack of awareness. Wanting to go to heaven when they have done nothing to deserve it and refusing to go to hell when they have performed deeds that warrant it is no different from desiring a good harvest after planting rotten seeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A true Christian shouldn\u2019t worry about living and dying. Since God decides whether to send someone to heaven or hell, you should just follow his will. If you are a Buddhist who believes in the law of cause and effect, and know that everything originates from the mind, you just need to cultivate your mind without worrying about what will happen tomorrow. Then your tomorrow will be better, so there is nothing to worry about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"How to Overcome the Fear of Death (Dec 03, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Why do we fear death?","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_221203","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14206","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14202,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-25 18:23:27","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-25 23:23:27","post_content":"\n

Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not. This 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy briefly. But when your desires are not<\/em> 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 that is 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, and so they wish to be born in such a world after they die. Therefore, every religion has an ideal world called heaven or paradise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The level of consumption in modern society is even higher than that which is supposedly provided by the ideal world\u2014the heaven that people dreamed of in the past. But we have greater desires now, so we often consider our life conditions to be 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 for help from almighty gods came to exist.<\/p>\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 can comfort people temporarily, like drugs, but they can\u2019t solve these problems fundamentally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

The Buddha investigated how to solve this problem in-depth. He discovered that the root cause of this never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is desire. When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy. 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 being 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.<\/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.<\/p>\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.<\/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 because although it seems impossible for humans to be free from desire, 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.<\/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 this is only a secondary and partial reason. When we are free from desire, we seldom suffer or feel fettered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Then how can we be free from our desires and karma? We meditate 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 our desires for food and sleep, we have other serious karma. Even if we are free from our desires for food and sleep, attaining liberation will be difficult. As such, wishing for liberation without even achieving this much is contradictory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, let\u2019s say I have a habit of smoking. I am not saying that smoking is bad but being unable 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\u2014a 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Therefore, I recommend 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if there are no restrictions on food, I recommend that you 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 that you 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.<\/p>\n","post_title":"The Reason Why People Are Unhappy No Matter How Hard They Try to Be Happy (Jul 11, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_220711","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14202","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14195,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-24 00:49:23","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-24 05:49:23","post_content":"\n

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

The Korean Seon (Zen) master and engaged Buddhist Venerable Pomnyun Sunim, founder and chairman of the international relief organization Join Together Society (JTS), led a delegation of JTS volunteers to India in September to visit Sujata Academy, a community school established by JTS in Dungheswari, Bihar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the respected monk usually makes annual visits to Dungheswari, to engage with the volunteers and villagers and to review the progress of development activities, this occasion was the first time he had been able to travel there in more than two years because of pandemic-related restrictions. During his week-long visit, Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Published by BDG on September 26, 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Read more: <\/a>https:\/\/www.buddhistdoor.net\/news\/engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"Engaged Buddhism: Ven. Pomnyun Sunim and JTS Volunteers Visit Sujata Academy Project in India","post_excerpt":" Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-26 22:32:14","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-27 03:32:14","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14195","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14198,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-22 19:48:20","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:20","post_content":"\n

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

When you hike through the mountains, you have to climb one peak after another. Our mind is the same. Once we solve one problem, there is always another to solve. So, you repeat the process of noticing and solving one problem after another. The purpose of practice is to constantly repeat the process. Don\u2019t try too hard to do well or get frustrated because you still have a long way to go. Just keep persisting, like when you hike up the next peak in the mountains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

Illustration by Maseol <\/p>\n","post_title":"Practice is like climbing a mountain","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"practice-is-like-climbing-a-mountain","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-22 19:48:22","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:22","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14198","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":17},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"jnews_block_37"};

Page 17 of 24 Previous 1 … 16 17 18 … 24 Next

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It is said that the deceased person has 49 days to be saved and they are classified into one of nine levels based on their deeds during their life:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnyone can be reborn in paradise after he dies if he sincerely hopes for it. However, not everyone can be reborn in paradise right away since people fall into one of the nine categories based on their deeds.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Specifically, people are divided into three categories of high, middle, and low, and those in each of the three categories are again divided into high, middle, and low. And so there are a total of nine categories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is believed that people in the very highest category are reborn in paradise immediately after their death. It is comparable to leaving one room and entering another room. Those in the second category are reborn within 12 hours. It takes a day for those in the third category, three days for those in the fourth, a week for those in the fifth, 21 days for those in the sixth, and finally, it takes 49 days for those in the seventh category to be reborn in paradise. This is  the reason that people hold the 49-day posthumous ceremony. This ritual provides an opportunity for people to do good deeds on behalf of deceased family members and help them to be reborn in paradise within 49 days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What happens to the people in the eighth and ninth categories? Ultimately, people in all nine categories will all be reborn in paradise. However, those in the eighth and ninth categories have to spend some time in hell before doing so. Each year, Buddhists perform the Buddhist All Soul\u2019s Day ceremony in the seventh month of the lunar calendar to save the souls of those in the two lowest categories from hell. There is no point in debating whether or not this is true because it is a religious belief. As such, people are free to choose whether or not to believe it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Funeral customs vary greatly from religion to religion and country to country. In India, the dead are usually cremated. In Tibet, the dead are left to be eaten by birds. The corpse is cut up on big rocks high in the mountains, where it is consumed by vultures and birds of prey. In desert regions, the dead are \u201cburied in the wind.\u201d That is, they are nailed to a wooden board and exposed to the elements for a year until only the bones remain, after which a funeral ceremony is performed. In regions with many islands, the dead are dropped into the sea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each of these funeral rituals has its unique meaning and significance. Tibetans feed their dead to birds because they believe that the spirit of the dead will fly to heaven with the birds. Some cultures bury the dead in the ground because of the belief that the spiritual world exists underground. Meanwhile, Indians believe in reincarnation, so they cremate the corpse to help the spirits quickly sever their attachments to their worldly bodies in order to be reborn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regardless of the funeral ritual performed, once a person dies it\u2019s the end. By saying \u201cthe end\u201d I am not implying that there is no heaven or afterlife; I am simply saying that the person who draws his last breath no longer exists in this world. From a Christian viewpoint, their spirit goes to heaven. From a Buddhist perspective, their spirit is reborn. So there is nothing more we can do for them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, the best farewell for those who pass away is to let them go from our hearts.<\/p>\n","post_title":"The Best Farewell For the Deceased","post_excerpt":"When the Buddha was close to death, his disciples came to him and asked","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"the-best-farewell-for-the-deceased","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-03-02 06:41:26","post_modified_gmt":"2025-03-02 11:41:26","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14214","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14206,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-26 21:05:46","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-27 02:05:46","post_content":"\n

Why do we fear death? The thought that everything will end when we die may trigger a sense of sorrow about others as well as ourselves. These sentiments fuel fear. Our human fear of death has spawned legends and religions that promise a beautiful afterlife, devised to alleviate the terror we feel about the unknown. We feel less fearful when we think that it doesn\u2019t end when we die, that we will live on in some way or go to a better place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether or not the afterlife actually exists is not important. What matters here is that a belief in the afterlife helps us to overcome our fear of death. How empty would we feel to think that our loved ones will disappear completely when they die? Thinking that they are in a better place gives us great comfort. For this reason, instead of asking whether or not life after death exists, it\u2019s better to examine whether or not the belief of its existence is beneficial. It appears to be more beneficial than harmful, so it\u2019s best to accept the age-old methods that humans have established to overcome the fear of death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, we should refrain from placing too much emphasis on the idea of an afterlife because we know from history that it can also have negative side effects. Some examples include churches demanding large donations in exchange for a \u201cticket to Heaven\u201d and Buddhist temples overcharging for 49-day prayer rituals for the dead (49 jae<\/em>: a Buddhist-Confucian ceremony for the deceased). These examples show how religion can take advantage of people\u2019s fear as a means of extortion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the perspective of Buddhist practice, fear of death is no more real than a daydream. When our fear of death disappears and we can accept our inevitable demise as part of the natural order\u2014it will become irrelevant whether or not the afterlife exists and whether our spirits will go to a good place or a bad place. When fear melts away, everything that stemmed from fear becomes nothing but a dream. While dreaming, there are good dreams and bad dreams. However, when we wake up from the dream, regardless of whether it was good or bad, we realize that it was a dream. In the same vein, when we grasp the essence of fear, all of the issues that originated from it will disperse like clouds. This is how we transcend life and death. Transcending life and death doesn\u2019t mean not dying. Instead, it means realizing that life and death do not actually exist. The afterlife is a frequently visited topic in Buddhism. According to Buddhist beliefs, people go to paradise when they die or are reincarnated, but this cannot be proven. Every religion has different beliefs about the afterlife, but none of them has been proven. There is no point in debating endlessly which belief is right when all is but theory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo matter what evil deeds you have done, bathing in the holy Ganga River will wash away your sins and you will go to heaven upon your death. But if you do not bathe in the Ganga River, no matter how good you have been throughout your life, you will not be accepted into heaven.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was a common belief among people in India during the Buddha\u2019s lifetime. Therefore, they washed their bodies in the holy river, and those who had never bathed in the holy river during their lifetime were dipped in it posthumously. They all believed they had to do so in order to enter heaven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One day, a person who had heard of this belief went to the Buddha and asked if the Brahmans were telling the truth. The Buddha answered with a smile on his face:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf what they say is true, the fish in the river will be the first ones to go to heaven.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Buddha was saying that if a man can go to heaven for being dipped in the Ganga River after his death, the fish that live in the river will go to heaven before anyone. The Buddha\u2019s words help us reach an important realization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Traditionally, Buddhists believe that the greedy will be reincarnated as swine, the lazy as cows, and the nasty as serpents. But are pigs really that gluttonous? They eat when they are hungry, and they stop eating when they are no longer hungry. They don\u2019t prevent other pigs from eating the remaining food. Humans, on the other hand, do not share the food stored in their homes, even if there is someone starving right before their eyes. People are much greedier than pigs. Similarly, lions are wild and ferocious, but they will not kill a hare that crosses their path when they are not hungry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have created an image of a gluttonous pig, perhaps based on the sound they make when they eat, and made them synonymous with greed. There is no proof that a greedy person is reincarnated as a pig. Besides, reincarnation originated with Hinduism, so it\u2019s not originally a Buddhist belief. Over 90 per cent of Korean Buddhists believe in Hindu doctrines that they mistakenly think are Buddhist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An old lady came to consult me about her worries:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: I pray to the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, the Goddess of Mercy, but I am afraid my prayer will not be answered.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: What are you praying for?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: My granddaughter is a senior in high school. I am praying that my granddaughter gets accepted into a good college.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: What are you worried about?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: My granddaughter is a Christian.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

She felt that her prayer would not be answered however hard she prayed to the Goddess of Mercy, a Buddhist bodhisattva, because her granddaughter attended a Christian church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: You don\u2019t have to worry at all. The Goddess of Mercy is very kind and generous.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Would the infinitely compassionate Goddess of Mercy care whether a high school senior goes to a church or a Buddhist temple? She wouldn\u2019t be the Goddess of Mercy if she did, would she? Our religious beliefs are limited by our ignorance, and we disparage God or the Buddha by bringing them down to our own level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Returning to our subject, there is no need to worry about the afterlife. If heaven and hell actually exist, you will go to heaven, not to hell, when you do good deeds. Your future is decided by how you live your life now. Living well today will ensure a better tomorrow. Hoping for a better tomorrow while living an improper life today is like trying to catch a cloud. People who do bad deeds rightly deserve punishment, but when they refuse to accept the consequences and ask to be sent to heaven, they demonstrate a complete lack of awareness. Wanting to go to heaven when they have done nothing to deserve it and refusing to go to hell when they have performed deeds that warrant it is no different from desiring a good harvest after planting rotten seeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A true Christian shouldn\u2019t worry about living and dying. Since God decides whether to send someone to heaven or hell, you should just follow his will. If you are a Buddhist who believes in the law of cause and effect, and know that everything originates from the mind, you just need to cultivate your mind without worrying about what will happen tomorrow. Then your tomorrow will be better, so there is nothing to worry about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"How to Overcome the Fear of Death (Dec 03, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Why do we fear death?","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_221203","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14206","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14202,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-25 18:23:27","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-25 23:23:27","post_content":"\n

Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not. This 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy briefly. But when your desires are not<\/em> 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 that is 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, and so they wish to be born in such a world after they die. Therefore, every religion has an ideal world called heaven or paradise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The level of consumption in modern society is even higher than that which is supposedly provided by the ideal world\u2014the heaven that people dreamed of in the past. But we have greater desires now, so we often consider our life conditions to be 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 for help from almighty gods came to exist.<\/p>\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 can comfort people temporarily, like drugs, but they can\u2019t solve these problems fundamentally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

The Buddha investigated how to solve this problem in-depth. He discovered that the root cause of this never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is desire. When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy. 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 being 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.<\/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.<\/p>\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.<\/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 because although it seems impossible for humans to be free from desire, 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.<\/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 this is only a secondary and partial reason. When we are free from desire, we seldom suffer or feel fettered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Then how can we be free from our desires and karma? We meditate 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 our desires for food and sleep, we have other serious karma. Even if we are free from our desires for food and sleep, attaining liberation will be difficult. As such, wishing for liberation without even achieving this much is contradictory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, let\u2019s say I have a habit of smoking. I am not saying that smoking is bad but being unable 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\u2014a 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Therefore, I recommend 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if there are no restrictions on food, I recommend that you 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 that you 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.<\/p>\n","post_title":"The Reason Why People Are Unhappy No Matter How Hard They Try to Be Happy (Jul 11, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_220711","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14202","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14195,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-24 00:49:23","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-24 05:49:23","post_content":"\n

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

The Korean Seon (Zen) master and engaged Buddhist Venerable Pomnyun Sunim, founder and chairman of the international relief organization Join Together Society (JTS), led a delegation of JTS volunteers to India in September to visit Sujata Academy, a community school established by JTS in Dungheswari, Bihar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the respected monk usually makes annual visits to Dungheswari, to engage with the volunteers and villagers and to review the progress of development activities, this occasion was the first time he had been able to travel there in more than two years because of pandemic-related restrictions. During his week-long visit, Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Published by BDG on September 26, 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Read more: <\/a>https:\/\/www.buddhistdoor.net\/news\/engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"Engaged Buddhism: Ven. Pomnyun Sunim and JTS Volunteers Visit Sujata Academy Project in India","post_excerpt":" Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-26 22:32:14","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-27 03:32:14","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14195","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14198,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-22 19:48:20","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:20","post_content":"\n

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

When you hike through the mountains, you have to climb one peak after another. Our mind is the same. Once we solve one problem, there is always another to solve. So, you repeat the process of noticing and solving one problem after another. The purpose of practice is to constantly repeat the process. Don\u2019t try too hard to do well or get frustrated because you still have a long way to go. Just keep persisting, like when you hike up the next peak in the mountains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

Illustration by Maseol <\/p>\n","post_title":"Practice is like climbing a mountain","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"practice-is-like-climbing-a-mountain","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-22 19:48:22","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:22","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14198","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":17},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"jnews_block_37"};

Page 17 of 24 Previous 1 … 16 17 18 … 24 Next

\n

The Dharma is a teaching about truth, so it does not contain cultural aspects. However, since Buddhism originated in India, the local traditions, customs, and culture were integrated into Buddhist culture. Strictly speaking, neither cremation nor the 49-day posthumous ceremony is a fundamental tradition of Buddhism. They are, in fact, part of the of Indian cultural tradition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is said that the deceased person has 49 days to be saved and they are classified into one of nine levels based on their deeds during their life:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnyone can be reborn in paradise after he dies if he sincerely hopes for it. However, not everyone can be reborn in paradise right away since people fall into one of the nine categories based on their deeds.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Specifically, people are divided into three categories of high, middle, and low, and those in each of the three categories are again divided into high, middle, and low. And so there are a total of nine categories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is believed that people in the very highest category are reborn in paradise immediately after their death. It is comparable to leaving one room and entering another room. Those in the second category are reborn within 12 hours. It takes a day for those in the third category, three days for those in the fourth, a week for those in the fifth, 21 days for those in the sixth, and finally, it takes 49 days for those in the seventh category to be reborn in paradise. This is  the reason that people hold the 49-day posthumous ceremony. This ritual provides an opportunity for people to do good deeds on behalf of deceased family members and help them to be reborn in paradise within 49 days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What happens to the people in the eighth and ninth categories? Ultimately, people in all nine categories will all be reborn in paradise. However, those in the eighth and ninth categories have to spend some time in hell before doing so. Each year, Buddhists perform the Buddhist All Soul\u2019s Day ceremony in the seventh month of the lunar calendar to save the souls of those in the two lowest categories from hell. There is no point in debating whether or not this is true because it is a religious belief. As such, people are free to choose whether or not to believe it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Funeral customs vary greatly from religion to religion and country to country. In India, the dead are usually cremated. In Tibet, the dead are left to be eaten by birds. The corpse is cut up on big rocks high in the mountains, where it is consumed by vultures and birds of prey. In desert regions, the dead are \u201cburied in the wind.\u201d That is, they are nailed to a wooden board and exposed to the elements for a year until only the bones remain, after which a funeral ceremony is performed. In regions with many islands, the dead are dropped into the sea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each of these funeral rituals has its unique meaning and significance. Tibetans feed their dead to birds because they believe that the spirit of the dead will fly to heaven with the birds. Some cultures bury the dead in the ground because of the belief that the spiritual world exists underground. Meanwhile, Indians believe in reincarnation, so they cremate the corpse to help the spirits quickly sever their attachments to their worldly bodies in order to be reborn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regardless of the funeral ritual performed, once a person dies it\u2019s the end. By saying \u201cthe end\u201d I am not implying that there is no heaven or afterlife; I am simply saying that the person who draws his last breath no longer exists in this world. From a Christian viewpoint, their spirit goes to heaven. From a Buddhist perspective, their spirit is reborn. So there is nothing more we can do for them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, the best farewell for those who pass away is to let them go from our hearts.<\/p>\n","post_title":"The Best Farewell For the Deceased","post_excerpt":"When the Buddha was close to death, his disciples came to him and asked","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"the-best-farewell-for-the-deceased","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-03-02 06:41:26","post_modified_gmt":"2025-03-02 11:41:26","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14214","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14206,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-26 21:05:46","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-27 02:05:46","post_content":"\n

Why do we fear death? The thought that everything will end when we die may trigger a sense of sorrow about others as well as ourselves. These sentiments fuel fear. Our human fear of death has spawned legends and religions that promise a beautiful afterlife, devised to alleviate the terror we feel about the unknown. We feel less fearful when we think that it doesn\u2019t end when we die, that we will live on in some way or go to a better place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether or not the afterlife actually exists is not important. What matters here is that a belief in the afterlife helps us to overcome our fear of death. How empty would we feel to think that our loved ones will disappear completely when they die? Thinking that they are in a better place gives us great comfort. For this reason, instead of asking whether or not life after death exists, it\u2019s better to examine whether or not the belief of its existence is beneficial. It appears to be more beneficial than harmful, so it\u2019s best to accept the age-old methods that humans have established to overcome the fear of death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, we should refrain from placing too much emphasis on the idea of an afterlife because we know from history that it can also have negative side effects. Some examples include churches demanding large donations in exchange for a \u201cticket to Heaven\u201d and Buddhist temples overcharging for 49-day prayer rituals for the dead (49 jae<\/em>: a Buddhist-Confucian ceremony for the deceased). These examples show how religion can take advantage of people\u2019s fear as a means of extortion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the perspective of Buddhist practice, fear of death is no more real than a daydream. When our fear of death disappears and we can accept our inevitable demise as part of the natural order\u2014it will become irrelevant whether or not the afterlife exists and whether our spirits will go to a good place or a bad place. When fear melts away, everything that stemmed from fear becomes nothing but a dream. While dreaming, there are good dreams and bad dreams. However, when we wake up from the dream, regardless of whether it was good or bad, we realize that it was a dream. In the same vein, when we grasp the essence of fear, all of the issues that originated from it will disperse like clouds. This is how we transcend life and death. Transcending life and death doesn\u2019t mean not dying. Instead, it means realizing that life and death do not actually exist. The afterlife is a frequently visited topic in Buddhism. According to Buddhist beliefs, people go to paradise when they die or are reincarnated, but this cannot be proven. Every religion has different beliefs about the afterlife, but none of them has been proven. There is no point in debating endlessly which belief is right when all is but theory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo matter what evil deeds you have done, bathing in the holy Ganga River will wash away your sins and you will go to heaven upon your death. But if you do not bathe in the Ganga River, no matter how good you have been throughout your life, you will not be accepted into heaven.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was a common belief among people in India during the Buddha\u2019s lifetime. Therefore, they washed their bodies in the holy river, and those who had never bathed in the holy river during their lifetime were dipped in it posthumously. They all believed they had to do so in order to enter heaven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One day, a person who had heard of this belief went to the Buddha and asked if the Brahmans were telling the truth. The Buddha answered with a smile on his face:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf what they say is true, the fish in the river will be the first ones to go to heaven.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Buddha was saying that if a man can go to heaven for being dipped in the Ganga River after his death, the fish that live in the river will go to heaven before anyone. The Buddha\u2019s words help us reach an important realization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Traditionally, Buddhists believe that the greedy will be reincarnated as swine, the lazy as cows, and the nasty as serpents. But are pigs really that gluttonous? They eat when they are hungry, and they stop eating when they are no longer hungry. They don\u2019t prevent other pigs from eating the remaining food. Humans, on the other hand, do not share the food stored in their homes, even if there is someone starving right before their eyes. People are much greedier than pigs. Similarly, lions are wild and ferocious, but they will not kill a hare that crosses their path when they are not hungry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have created an image of a gluttonous pig, perhaps based on the sound they make when they eat, and made them synonymous with greed. There is no proof that a greedy person is reincarnated as a pig. Besides, reincarnation originated with Hinduism, so it\u2019s not originally a Buddhist belief. Over 90 per cent of Korean Buddhists believe in Hindu doctrines that they mistakenly think are Buddhist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An old lady came to consult me about her worries:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: I pray to the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, the Goddess of Mercy, but I am afraid my prayer will not be answered.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: What are you praying for?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: My granddaughter is a senior in high school. I am praying that my granddaughter gets accepted into a good college.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: What are you worried about?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: My granddaughter is a Christian.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

She felt that her prayer would not be answered however hard she prayed to the Goddess of Mercy, a Buddhist bodhisattva, because her granddaughter attended a Christian church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: You don\u2019t have to worry at all. The Goddess of Mercy is very kind and generous.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Would the infinitely compassionate Goddess of Mercy care whether a high school senior goes to a church or a Buddhist temple? She wouldn\u2019t be the Goddess of Mercy if she did, would she? Our religious beliefs are limited by our ignorance, and we disparage God or the Buddha by bringing them down to our own level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Returning to our subject, there is no need to worry about the afterlife. If heaven and hell actually exist, you will go to heaven, not to hell, when you do good deeds. Your future is decided by how you live your life now. Living well today will ensure a better tomorrow. Hoping for a better tomorrow while living an improper life today is like trying to catch a cloud. People who do bad deeds rightly deserve punishment, but when they refuse to accept the consequences and ask to be sent to heaven, they demonstrate a complete lack of awareness. Wanting to go to heaven when they have done nothing to deserve it and refusing to go to hell when they have performed deeds that warrant it is no different from desiring a good harvest after planting rotten seeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A true Christian shouldn\u2019t worry about living and dying. Since God decides whether to send someone to heaven or hell, you should just follow his will. If you are a Buddhist who believes in the law of cause and effect, and know that everything originates from the mind, you just need to cultivate your mind without worrying about what will happen tomorrow. Then your tomorrow will be better, so there is nothing to worry about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"How to Overcome the Fear of Death (Dec 03, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Why do we fear death?","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_221203","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14206","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14202,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-25 18:23:27","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-25 23:23:27","post_content":"\n

Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not. This 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy briefly. But when your desires are not<\/em> 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 that is 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, and so they wish to be born in such a world after they die. Therefore, every religion has an ideal world called heaven or paradise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The level of consumption in modern society is even higher than that which is supposedly provided by the ideal world\u2014the heaven that people dreamed of in the past. But we have greater desires now, so we often consider our life conditions to be 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 for help from almighty gods came to exist.<\/p>\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 can comfort people temporarily, like drugs, but they can\u2019t solve these problems fundamentally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

The Buddha investigated how to solve this problem in-depth. He discovered that the root cause of this never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is desire. When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy. 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 being 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.<\/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.<\/p>\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.<\/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 because although it seems impossible for humans to be free from desire, 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.<\/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 this is only a secondary and partial reason. When we are free from desire, we seldom suffer or feel fettered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Then how can we be free from our desires and karma? We meditate 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 our desires for food and sleep, we have other serious karma. Even if we are free from our desires for food and sleep, attaining liberation will be difficult. As such, wishing for liberation without even achieving this much is contradictory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, let\u2019s say I have a habit of smoking. I am not saying that smoking is bad but being unable 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\u2014a 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Therefore, I recommend 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if there are no restrictions on food, I recommend that you 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 that you 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.<\/p>\n","post_title":"The Reason Why People Are Unhappy No Matter How Hard They Try to Be Happy (Jul 11, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_220711","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14202","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14195,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-24 00:49:23","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-24 05:49:23","post_content":"\n

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

The Korean Seon (Zen) master and engaged Buddhist Venerable Pomnyun Sunim, founder and chairman of the international relief organization Join Together Society (JTS), led a delegation of JTS volunteers to India in September to visit Sujata Academy, a community school established by JTS in Dungheswari, Bihar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the respected monk usually makes annual visits to Dungheswari, to engage with the volunteers and villagers and to review the progress of development activities, this occasion was the first time he had been able to travel there in more than two years because of pandemic-related restrictions. During his week-long visit, Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Published by BDG on September 26, 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Read more: <\/a>https:\/\/www.buddhistdoor.net\/news\/engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"Engaged Buddhism: Ven. Pomnyun Sunim and JTS Volunteers Visit Sujata Academy Project in India","post_excerpt":" Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-26 22:32:14","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-27 03:32:14","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14195","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14198,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-22 19:48:20","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:20","post_content":"\n

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

When you hike through the mountains, you have to climb one peak after another. Our mind is the same. Once we solve one problem, there is always another to solve. So, you repeat the process of noticing and solving one problem after another. The purpose of practice is to constantly repeat the process. Don\u2019t try too hard to do well or get frustrated because you still have a long way to go. Just keep persisting, like when you hike up the next peak in the mountains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

Illustration by Maseol <\/p>\n","post_title":"Practice is like climbing a mountain","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"practice-is-like-climbing-a-mountain","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-22 19:48:22","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:22","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14198","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":17},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"jnews_block_37"};

Page 17 of 24 Previous 1 … 16 17 18 … 24 Next

\n

Lay Buddhists are those who take refuge in the Three Jewels and practice the Five Precepts without becoming monks or nuns. When the Buddha said that they would take care of it, he meant that his funeral would be conducted based on the customs of laypeople in India. And so, after the Buddha died, lay Buddhists cremated the Buddha\u2019s body according to Indian tradition. If he had lived in Korea, the Buddha would have been buried in the ground as is the custom in Korea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Dharma is a teaching about truth, so it does not contain cultural aspects. However, since Buddhism originated in India, the local traditions, customs, and culture were integrated into Buddhist culture. Strictly speaking, neither cremation nor the 49-day posthumous ceremony is a fundamental tradition of Buddhism. They are, in fact, part of the of Indian cultural tradition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is said that the deceased person has 49 days to be saved and they are classified into one of nine levels based on their deeds during their life:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnyone can be reborn in paradise after he dies if he sincerely hopes for it. However, not everyone can be reborn in paradise right away since people fall into one of the nine categories based on their deeds.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Specifically, people are divided into three categories of high, middle, and low, and those in each of the three categories are again divided into high, middle, and low. And so there are a total of nine categories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is believed that people in the very highest category are reborn in paradise immediately after their death. It is comparable to leaving one room and entering another room. Those in the second category are reborn within 12 hours. It takes a day for those in the third category, three days for those in the fourth, a week for those in the fifth, 21 days for those in the sixth, and finally, it takes 49 days for those in the seventh category to be reborn in paradise. This is  the reason that people hold the 49-day posthumous ceremony. This ritual provides an opportunity for people to do good deeds on behalf of deceased family members and help them to be reborn in paradise within 49 days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What happens to the people in the eighth and ninth categories? Ultimately, people in all nine categories will all be reborn in paradise. However, those in the eighth and ninth categories have to spend some time in hell before doing so. Each year, Buddhists perform the Buddhist All Soul\u2019s Day ceremony in the seventh month of the lunar calendar to save the souls of those in the two lowest categories from hell. There is no point in debating whether or not this is true because it is a religious belief. As such, people are free to choose whether or not to believe it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Funeral customs vary greatly from religion to religion and country to country. In India, the dead are usually cremated. In Tibet, the dead are left to be eaten by birds. The corpse is cut up on big rocks high in the mountains, where it is consumed by vultures and birds of prey. In desert regions, the dead are \u201cburied in the wind.\u201d That is, they are nailed to a wooden board and exposed to the elements for a year until only the bones remain, after which a funeral ceremony is performed. In regions with many islands, the dead are dropped into the sea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each of these funeral rituals has its unique meaning and significance. Tibetans feed their dead to birds because they believe that the spirit of the dead will fly to heaven with the birds. Some cultures bury the dead in the ground because of the belief that the spiritual world exists underground. Meanwhile, Indians believe in reincarnation, so they cremate the corpse to help the spirits quickly sever their attachments to their worldly bodies in order to be reborn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regardless of the funeral ritual performed, once a person dies it\u2019s the end. By saying \u201cthe end\u201d I am not implying that there is no heaven or afterlife; I am simply saying that the person who draws his last breath no longer exists in this world. From a Christian viewpoint, their spirit goes to heaven. From a Buddhist perspective, their spirit is reborn. So there is nothing more we can do for them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, the best farewell for those who pass away is to let them go from our hearts.<\/p>\n","post_title":"The Best Farewell For the Deceased","post_excerpt":"When the Buddha was close to death, his disciples came to him and asked","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"the-best-farewell-for-the-deceased","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-03-02 06:41:26","post_modified_gmt":"2025-03-02 11:41:26","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14214","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14206,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-26 21:05:46","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-27 02:05:46","post_content":"\n

Why do we fear death? The thought that everything will end when we die may trigger a sense of sorrow about others as well as ourselves. These sentiments fuel fear. Our human fear of death has spawned legends and religions that promise a beautiful afterlife, devised to alleviate the terror we feel about the unknown. We feel less fearful when we think that it doesn\u2019t end when we die, that we will live on in some way or go to a better place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether or not the afterlife actually exists is not important. What matters here is that a belief in the afterlife helps us to overcome our fear of death. How empty would we feel to think that our loved ones will disappear completely when they die? Thinking that they are in a better place gives us great comfort. For this reason, instead of asking whether or not life after death exists, it\u2019s better to examine whether or not the belief of its existence is beneficial. It appears to be more beneficial than harmful, so it\u2019s best to accept the age-old methods that humans have established to overcome the fear of death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, we should refrain from placing too much emphasis on the idea of an afterlife because we know from history that it can also have negative side effects. Some examples include churches demanding large donations in exchange for a \u201cticket to Heaven\u201d and Buddhist temples overcharging for 49-day prayer rituals for the dead (49 jae<\/em>: a Buddhist-Confucian ceremony for the deceased). These examples show how religion can take advantage of people\u2019s fear as a means of extortion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the perspective of Buddhist practice, fear of death is no more real than a daydream. When our fear of death disappears and we can accept our inevitable demise as part of the natural order\u2014it will become irrelevant whether or not the afterlife exists and whether our spirits will go to a good place or a bad place. When fear melts away, everything that stemmed from fear becomes nothing but a dream. While dreaming, there are good dreams and bad dreams. However, when we wake up from the dream, regardless of whether it was good or bad, we realize that it was a dream. In the same vein, when we grasp the essence of fear, all of the issues that originated from it will disperse like clouds. This is how we transcend life and death. Transcending life and death doesn\u2019t mean not dying. Instead, it means realizing that life and death do not actually exist. The afterlife is a frequently visited topic in Buddhism. According to Buddhist beliefs, people go to paradise when they die or are reincarnated, but this cannot be proven. Every religion has different beliefs about the afterlife, but none of them has been proven. There is no point in debating endlessly which belief is right when all is but theory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo matter what evil deeds you have done, bathing in the holy Ganga River will wash away your sins and you will go to heaven upon your death. But if you do not bathe in the Ganga River, no matter how good you have been throughout your life, you will not be accepted into heaven.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was a common belief among people in India during the Buddha\u2019s lifetime. Therefore, they washed their bodies in the holy river, and those who had never bathed in the holy river during their lifetime were dipped in it posthumously. They all believed they had to do so in order to enter heaven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One day, a person who had heard of this belief went to the Buddha and asked if the Brahmans were telling the truth. The Buddha answered with a smile on his face:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf what they say is true, the fish in the river will be the first ones to go to heaven.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Buddha was saying that if a man can go to heaven for being dipped in the Ganga River after his death, the fish that live in the river will go to heaven before anyone. The Buddha\u2019s words help us reach an important realization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Traditionally, Buddhists believe that the greedy will be reincarnated as swine, the lazy as cows, and the nasty as serpents. But are pigs really that gluttonous? They eat when they are hungry, and they stop eating when they are no longer hungry. They don\u2019t prevent other pigs from eating the remaining food. Humans, on the other hand, do not share the food stored in their homes, even if there is someone starving right before their eyes. People are much greedier than pigs. Similarly, lions are wild and ferocious, but they will not kill a hare that crosses their path when they are not hungry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have created an image of a gluttonous pig, perhaps based on the sound they make when they eat, and made them synonymous with greed. There is no proof that a greedy person is reincarnated as a pig. Besides, reincarnation originated with Hinduism, so it\u2019s not originally a Buddhist belief. Over 90 per cent of Korean Buddhists believe in Hindu doctrines that they mistakenly think are Buddhist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An old lady came to consult me about her worries:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: I pray to the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, the Goddess of Mercy, but I am afraid my prayer will not be answered.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: What are you praying for?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: My granddaughter is a senior in high school. I am praying that my granddaughter gets accepted into a good college.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: What are you worried about?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: My granddaughter is a Christian.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

She felt that her prayer would not be answered however hard she prayed to the Goddess of Mercy, a Buddhist bodhisattva, because her granddaughter attended a Christian church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: You don\u2019t have to worry at all. The Goddess of Mercy is very kind and generous.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Would the infinitely compassionate Goddess of Mercy care whether a high school senior goes to a church or a Buddhist temple? She wouldn\u2019t be the Goddess of Mercy if she did, would she? Our religious beliefs are limited by our ignorance, and we disparage God or the Buddha by bringing them down to our own level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Returning to our subject, there is no need to worry about the afterlife. If heaven and hell actually exist, you will go to heaven, not to hell, when you do good deeds. Your future is decided by how you live your life now. Living well today will ensure a better tomorrow. Hoping for a better tomorrow while living an improper life today is like trying to catch a cloud. People who do bad deeds rightly deserve punishment, but when they refuse to accept the consequences and ask to be sent to heaven, they demonstrate a complete lack of awareness. Wanting to go to heaven when they have done nothing to deserve it and refusing to go to hell when they have performed deeds that warrant it is no different from desiring a good harvest after planting rotten seeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A true Christian shouldn\u2019t worry about living and dying. Since God decides whether to send someone to heaven or hell, you should just follow his will. If you are a Buddhist who believes in the law of cause and effect, and know that everything originates from the mind, you just need to cultivate your mind without worrying about what will happen tomorrow. Then your tomorrow will be better, so there is nothing to worry about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"How to Overcome the Fear of Death (Dec 03, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Why do we fear death?","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_221203","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14206","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14202,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-25 18:23:27","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-25 23:23:27","post_content":"\n

Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not. This 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy briefly. But when your desires are not<\/em> 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 that is 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, and so they wish to be born in such a world after they die. Therefore, every religion has an ideal world called heaven or paradise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The level of consumption in modern society is even higher than that which is supposedly provided by the ideal world\u2014the heaven that people dreamed of in the past. But we have greater desires now, so we often consider our life conditions to be 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 for help from almighty gods came to exist.<\/p>\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 can comfort people temporarily, like drugs, but they can\u2019t solve these problems fundamentally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

The Buddha investigated how to solve this problem in-depth. He discovered that the root cause of this never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is desire. When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy. 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 being 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.<\/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.<\/p>\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.<\/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 because although it seems impossible for humans to be free from desire, 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.<\/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 this is only a secondary and partial reason. When we are free from desire, we seldom suffer or feel fettered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Then how can we be free from our desires and karma? We meditate 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 our desires for food and sleep, we have other serious karma. Even if we are free from our desires for food and sleep, attaining liberation will be difficult. As such, wishing for liberation without even achieving this much is contradictory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, let\u2019s say I have a habit of smoking. I am not saying that smoking is bad but being unable 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\u2014a 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Therefore, I recommend 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if there are no restrictions on food, I recommend that you 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 that you 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.<\/p>\n","post_title":"The Reason Why People Are Unhappy No Matter How Hard They Try to Be Happy (Jul 11, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_220711","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14202","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14195,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-24 00:49:23","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-24 05:49:23","post_content":"\n

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

The Korean Seon (Zen) master and engaged Buddhist Venerable Pomnyun Sunim, founder and chairman of the international relief organization Join Together Society (JTS), led a delegation of JTS volunteers to India in September to visit Sujata Academy, a community school established by JTS in Dungheswari, Bihar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the respected monk usually makes annual visits to Dungheswari, to engage with the volunteers and villagers and to review the progress of development activities, this occasion was the first time he had been able to travel there in more than two years because of pandemic-related restrictions. During his week-long visit, Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Published by BDG on September 26, 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Read more: <\/a>https:\/\/www.buddhistdoor.net\/news\/engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"Engaged Buddhism: Ven. Pomnyun Sunim and JTS Volunteers Visit Sujata Academy Project in India","post_excerpt":" Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-26 22:32:14","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-27 03:32:14","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14195","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14198,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-22 19:48:20","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:20","post_content":"\n

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

When you hike through the mountains, you have to climb one peak after another. Our mind is the same. Once we solve one problem, there is always another to solve. So, you repeat the process of noticing and solving one problem after another. The purpose of practice is to constantly repeat the process. Don\u2019t try too hard to do well or get frustrated because you still have a long way to go. Just keep persisting, like when you hike up the next peak in the mountains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

Illustration by Maseol <\/p>\n","post_title":"Practice is like climbing a mountain","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"practice-is-like-climbing-a-mountain","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-22 19:48:22","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:22","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14198","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":17},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"jnews_block_37"};

Page 17 of 24 Previous 1 … 16 17 18 … 24 Next

\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t need to worry about my funeral because the lay Buddhists will take care of it.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lay Buddhists are those who take refuge in the Three Jewels and practice the Five Precepts without becoming monks or nuns. When the Buddha said that they would take care of it, he meant that his funeral would be conducted based on the customs of laypeople in India. And so, after the Buddha died, lay Buddhists cremated the Buddha\u2019s body according to Indian tradition. If he had lived in Korea, the Buddha would have been buried in the ground as is the custom in Korea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Dharma is a teaching about truth, so it does not contain cultural aspects. However, since Buddhism originated in India, the local traditions, customs, and culture were integrated into Buddhist culture. Strictly speaking, neither cremation nor the 49-day posthumous ceremony is a fundamental tradition of Buddhism. They are, in fact, part of the of Indian cultural tradition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is said that the deceased person has 49 days to be saved and they are classified into one of nine levels based on their deeds during their life:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnyone can be reborn in paradise after he dies if he sincerely hopes for it. However, not everyone can be reborn in paradise right away since people fall into one of the nine categories based on their deeds.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Specifically, people are divided into three categories of high, middle, and low, and those in each of the three categories are again divided into high, middle, and low. And so there are a total of nine categories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is believed that people in the very highest category are reborn in paradise immediately after their death. It is comparable to leaving one room and entering another room. Those in the second category are reborn within 12 hours. It takes a day for those in the third category, three days for those in the fourth, a week for those in the fifth, 21 days for those in the sixth, and finally, it takes 49 days for those in the seventh category to be reborn in paradise. This is  the reason that people hold the 49-day posthumous ceremony. This ritual provides an opportunity for people to do good deeds on behalf of deceased family members and help them to be reborn in paradise within 49 days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What happens to the people in the eighth and ninth categories? Ultimately, people in all nine categories will all be reborn in paradise. However, those in the eighth and ninth categories have to spend some time in hell before doing so. Each year, Buddhists perform the Buddhist All Soul\u2019s Day ceremony in the seventh month of the lunar calendar to save the souls of those in the two lowest categories from hell. There is no point in debating whether or not this is true because it is a religious belief. As such, people are free to choose whether or not to believe it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Funeral customs vary greatly from religion to religion and country to country. In India, the dead are usually cremated. In Tibet, the dead are left to be eaten by birds. The corpse is cut up on big rocks high in the mountains, where it is consumed by vultures and birds of prey. In desert regions, the dead are \u201cburied in the wind.\u201d That is, they are nailed to a wooden board and exposed to the elements for a year until only the bones remain, after which a funeral ceremony is performed. In regions with many islands, the dead are dropped into the sea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each of these funeral rituals has its unique meaning and significance. Tibetans feed their dead to birds because they believe that the spirit of the dead will fly to heaven with the birds. Some cultures bury the dead in the ground because of the belief that the spiritual world exists underground. Meanwhile, Indians believe in reincarnation, so they cremate the corpse to help the spirits quickly sever their attachments to their worldly bodies in order to be reborn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regardless of the funeral ritual performed, once a person dies it\u2019s the end. By saying \u201cthe end\u201d I am not implying that there is no heaven or afterlife; I am simply saying that the person who draws his last breath no longer exists in this world. From a Christian viewpoint, their spirit goes to heaven. From a Buddhist perspective, their spirit is reborn. So there is nothing more we can do for them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, the best farewell for those who pass away is to let them go from our hearts.<\/p>\n","post_title":"The Best Farewell For the Deceased","post_excerpt":"When the Buddha was close to death, his disciples came to him and asked","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"the-best-farewell-for-the-deceased","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-03-02 06:41:26","post_modified_gmt":"2025-03-02 11:41:26","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14214","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14206,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-26 21:05:46","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-27 02:05:46","post_content":"\n

Why do we fear death? The thought that everything will end when we die may trigger a sense of sorrow about others as well as ourselves. These sentiments fuel fear. Our human fear of death has spawned legends and religions that promise a beautiful afterlife, devised to alleviate the terror we feel about the unknown. We feel less fearful when we think that it doesn\u2019t end when we die, that we will live on in some way or go to a better place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether or not the afterlife actually exists is not important. What matters here is that a belief in the afterlife helps us to overcome our fear of death. How empty would we feel to think that our loved ones will disappear completely when they die? Thinking that they are in a better place gives us great comfort. For this reason, instead of asking whether or not life after death exists, it\u2019s better to examine whether or not the belief of its existence is beneficial. It appears to be more beneficial than harmful, so it\u2019s best to accept the age-old methods that humans have established to overcome the fear of death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, we should refrain from placing too much emphasis on the idea of an afterlife because we know from history that it can also have negative side effects. Some examples include churches demanding large donations in exchange for a \u201cticket to Heaven\u201d and Buddhist temples overcharging for 49-day prayer rituals for the dead (49 jae<\/em>: a Buddhist-Confucian ceremony for the deceased). These examples show how religion can take advantage of people\u2019s fear as a means of extortion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the perspective of Buddhist practice, fear of death is no more real than a daydream. When our fear of death disappears and we can accept our inevitable demise as part of the natural order\u2014it will become irrelevant whether or not the afterlife exists and whether our spirits will go to a good place or a bad place. When fear melts away, everything that stemmed from fear becomes nothing but a dream. While dreaming, there are good dreams and bad dreams. However, when we wake up from the dream, regardless of whether it was good or bad, we realize that it was a dream. In the same vein, when we grasp the essence of fear, all of the issues that originated from it will disperse like clouds. This is how we transcend life and death. Transcending life and death doesn\u2019t mean not dying. Instead, it means realizing that life and death do not actually exist. The afterlife is a frequently visited topic in Buddhism. According to Buddhist beliefs, people go to paradise when they die or are reincarnated, but this cannot be proven. Every religion has different beliefs about the afterlife, but none of them has been proven. There is no point in debating endlessly which belief is right when all is but theory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo matter what evil deeds you have done, bathing in the holy Ganga River will wash away your sins and you will go to heaven upon your death. But if you do not bathe in the Ganga River, no matter how good you have been throughout your life, you will not be accepted into heaven.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was a common belief among people in India during the Buddha\u2019s lifetime. Therefore, they washed their bodies in the holy river, and those who had never bathed in the holy river during their lifetime were dipped in it posthumously. They all believed they had to do so in order to enter heaven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One day, a person who had heard of this belief went to the Buddha and asked if the Brahmans were telling the truth. The Buddha answered with a smile on his face:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf what they say is true, the fish in the river will be the first ones to go to heaven.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Buddha was saying that if a man can go to heaven for being dipped in the Ganga River after his death, the fish that live in the river will go to heaven before anyone. The Buddha\u2019s words help us reach an important realization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Traditionally, Buddhists believe that the greedy will be reincarnated as swine, the lazy as cows, and the nasty as serpents. But are pigs really that gluttonous? They eat when they are hungry, and they stop eating when they are no longer hungry. They don\u2019t prevent other pigs from eating the remaining food. Humans, on the other hand, do not share the food stored in their homes, even if there is someone starving right before their eyes. People are much greedier than pigs. Similarly, lions are wild and ferocious, but they will not kill a hare that crosses their path when they are not hungry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have created an image of a gluttonous pig, perhaps based on the sound they make when they eat, and made them synonymous with greed. There is no proof that a greedy person is reincarnated as a pig. Besides, reincarnation originated with Hinduism, so it\u2019s not originally a Buddhist belief. Over 90 per cent of Korean Buddhists believe in Hindu doctrines that they mistakenly think are Buddhist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An old lady came to consult me about her worries:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: I pray to the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, the Goddess of Mercy, but I am afraid my prayer will not be answered.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: What are you praying for?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: My granddaughter is a senior in high school. I am praying that my granddaughter gets accepted into a good college.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: What are you worried about?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: My granddaughter is a Christian.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

She felt that her prayer would not be answered however hard she prayed to the Goddess of Mercy, a Buddhist bodhisattva, because her granddaughter attended a Christian church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: You don\u2019t have to worry at all. The Goddess of Mercy is very kind and generous.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Would the infinitely compassionate Goddess of Mercy care whether a high school senior goes to a church or a Buddhist temple? She wouldn\u2019t be the Goddess of Mercy if she did, would she? Our religious beliefs are limited by our ignorance, and we disparage God or the Buddha by bringing them down to our own level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Returning to our subject, there is no need to worry about the afterlife. If heaven and hell actually exist, you will go to heaven, not to hell, when you do good deeds. Your future is decided by how you live your life now. Living well today will ensure a better tomorrow. Hoping for a better tomorrow while living an improper life today is like trying to catch a cloud. People who do bad deeds rightly deserve punishment, but when they refuse to accept the consequences and ask to be sent to heaven, they demonstrate a complete lack of awareness. Wanting to go to heaven when they have done nothing to deserve it and refusing to go to hell when they have performed deeds that warrant it is no different from desiring a good harvest after planting rotten seeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A true Christian shouldn\u2019t worry about living and dying. Since God decides whether to send someone to heaven or hell, you should just follow his will. If you are a Buddhist who believes in the law of cause and effect, and know that everything originates from the mind, you just need to cultivate your mind without worrying about what will happen tomorrow. Then your tomorrow will be better, so there is nothing to worry about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"How to Overcome the Fear of Death (Dec 03, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Why do we fear death?","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_221203","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14206","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14202,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-25 18:23:27","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-25 23:23:27","post_content":"\n

Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not. This 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy briefly. But when your desires are not<\/em> 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 that is 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, and so they wish to be born in such a world after they die. Therefore, every religion has an ideal world called heaven or paradise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The level of consumption in modern society is even higher than that which is supposedly provided by the ideal world\u2014the heaven that people dreamed of in the past. But we have greater desires now, so we often consider our life conditions to be 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 for help from almighty gods came to exist.<\/p>\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 can comfort people temporarily, like drugs, but they can\u2019t solve these problems fundamentally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

The Buddha investigated how to solve this problem in-depth. He discovered that the root cause of this never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is desire. When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy. 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 being 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.<\/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.<\/p>\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.<\/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 because although it seems impossible for humans to be free from desire, 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.<\/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 this is only a secondary and partial reason. When we are free from desire, we seldom suffer or feel fettered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Then how can we be free from our desires and karma? We meditate 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 our desires for food and sleep, we have other serious karma. Even if we are free from our desires for food and sleep, attaining liberation will be difficult. As such, wishing for liberation without even achieving this much is contradictory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, let\u2019s say I have a habit of smoking. I am not saying that smoking is bad but being unable 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\u2014a 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Therefore, I recommend 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if there are no restrictions on food, I recommend that you 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 that you 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.<\/p>\n","post_title":"The Reason Why People Are Unhappy No Matter How Hard They Try to Be Happy (Jul 11, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_220711","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14202","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14195,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-24 00:49:23","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-24 05:49:23","post_content":"\n

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

The Korean Seon (Zen) master and engaged Buddhist Venerable Pomnyun Sunim, founder and chairman of the international relief organization Join Together Society (JTS), led a delegation of JTS volunteers to India in September to visit Sujata Academy, a community school established by JTS in Dungheswari, Bihar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the respected monk usually makes annual visits to Dungheswari, to engage with the volunteers and villagers and to review the progress of development activities, this occasion was the first time he had been able to travel there in more than two years because of pandemic-related restrictions. During his week-long visit, Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Published by BDG on September 26, 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Read more: <\/a>https:\/\/www.buddhistdoor.net\/news\/engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"Engaged Buddhism: Ven. Pomnyun Sunim and JTS Volunteers Visit Sujata Academy Project in India","post_excerpt":" Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-26 22:32:14","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-27 03:32:14","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14195","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14198,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-22 19:48:20","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:20","post_content":"\n

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

When you hike through the mountains, you have to climb one peak after another. Our mind is the same. Once we solve one problem, there is always another to solve. So, you repeat the process of noticing and solving one problem after another. The purpose of practice is to constantly repeat the process. Don\u2019t try too hard to do well or get frustrated because you still have a long way to go. Just keep persisting, like when you hike up the next peak in the mountains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

Illustration by Maseol <\/p>\n","post_title":"Practice is like climbing a mountain","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"practice-is-like-climbing-a-mountain","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-22 19:48:22","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:22","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14198","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":17},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"jnews_block_37"};

Page 17 of 24 Previous 1 … 16 17 18 … 24 Next

\n

The Buddha answered:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t need to worry about my funeral because the lay Buddhists will take care of it.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lay Buddhists are those who take refuge in the Three Jewels and practice the Five Precepts without becoming monks or nuns. When the Buddha said that they would take care of it, he meant that his funeral would be conducted based on the customs of laypeople in India. And so, after the Buddha died, lay Buddhists cremated the Buddha\u2019s body according to Indian tradition. If he had lived in Korea, the Buddha would have been buried in the ground as is the custom in Korea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Dharma is a teaching about truth, so it does not contain cultural aspects. However, since Buddhism originated in India, the local traditions, customs, and culture were integrated into Buddhist culture. Strictly speaking, neither cremation nor the 49-day posthumous ceremony is a fundamental tradition of Buddhism. They are, in fact, part of the of Indian cultural tradition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is said that the deceased person has 49 days to be saved and they are classified into one of nine levels based on their deeds during their life:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnyone can be reborn in paradise after he dies if he sincerely hopes for it. However, not everyone can be reborn in paradise right away since people fall into one of the nine categories based on their deeds.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Specifically, people are divided into three categories of high, middle, and low, and those in each of the three categories are again divided into high, middle, and low. And so there are a total of nine categories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is believed that people in the very highest category are reborn in paradise immediately after their death. It is comparable to leaving one room and entering another room. Those in the second category are reborn within 12 hours. It takes a day for those in the third category, three days for those in the fourth, a week for those in the fifth, 21 days for those in the sixth, and finally, it takes 49 days for those in the seventh category to be reborn in paradise. This is  the reason that people hold the 49-day posthumous ceremony. This ritual provides an opportunity for people to do good deeds on behalf of deceased family members and help them to be reborn in paradise within 49 days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What happens to the people in the eighth and ninth categories? Ultimately, people in all nine categories will all be reborn in paradise. However, those in the eighth and ninth categories have to spend some time in hell before doing so. Each year, Buddhists perform the Buddhist All Soul\u2019s Day ceremony in the seventh month of the lunar calendar to save the souls of those in the two lowest categories from hell. There is no point in debating whether or not this is true because it is a religious belief. As such, people are free to choose whether or not to believe it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Funeral customs vary greatly from religion to religion and country to country. In India, the dead are usually cremated. In Tibet, the dead are left to be eaten by birds. The corpse is cut up on big rocks high in the mountains, where it is consumed by vultures and birds of prey. In desert regions, the dead are \u201cburied in the wind.\u201d That is, they are nailed to a wooden board and exposed to the elements for a year until only the bones remain, after which a funeral ceremony is performed. In regions with many islands, the dead are dropped into the sea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each of these funeral rituals has its unique meaning and significance. Tibetans feed their dead to birds because they believe that the spirit of the dead will fly to heaven with the birds. Some cultures bury the dead in the ground because of the belief that the spiritual world exists underground. Meanwhile, Indians believe in reincarnation, so they cremate the corpse to help the spirits quickly sever their attachments to their worldly bodies in order to be reborn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regardless of the funeral ritual performed, once a person dies it\u2019s the end. By saying \u201cthe end\u201d I am not implying that there is no heaven or afterlife; I am simply saying that the person who draws his last breath no longer exists in this world. From a Christian viewpoint, their spirit goes to heaven. From a Buddhist perspective, their spirit is reborn. So there is nothing more we can do for them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, the best farewell for those who pass away is to let them go from our hearts.<\/p>\n","post_title":"The Best Farewell For the Deceased","post_excerpt":"When the Buddha was close to death, his disciples came to him and asked","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"the-best-farewell-for-the-deceased","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-03-02 06:41:26","post_modified_gmt":"2025-03-02 11:41:26","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14214","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14206,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-26 21:05:46","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-27 02:05:46","post_content":"\n

Why do we fear death? The thought that everything will end when we die may trigger a sense of sorrow about others as well as ourselves. These sentiments fuel fear. Our human fear of death has spawned legends and religions that promise a beautiful afterlife, devised to alleviate the terror we feel about the unknown. We feel less fearful when we think that it doesn\u2019t end when we die, that we will live on in some way or go to a better place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether or not the afterlife actually exists is not important. What matters here is that a belief in the afterlife helps us to overcome our fear of death. How empty would we feel to think that our loved ones will disappear completely when they die? Thinking that they are in a better place gives us great comfort. For this reason, instead of asking whether or not life after death exists, it\u2019s better to examine whether or not the belief of its existence is beneficial. It appears to be more beneficial than harmful, so it\u2019s best to accept the age-old methods that humans have established to overcome the fear of death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, we should refrain from placing too much emphasis on the idea of an afterlife because we know from history that it can also have negative side effects. Some examples include churches demanding large donations in exchange for a \u201cticket to Heaven\u201d and Buddhist temples overcharging for 49-day prayer rituals for the dead (49 jae<\/em>: a Buddhist-Confucian ceremony for the deceased). These examples show how religion can take advantage of people\u2019s fear as a means of extortion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the perspective of Buddhist practice, fear of death is no more real than a daydream. When our fear of death disappears and we can accept our inevitable demise as part of the natural order\u2014it will become irrelevant whether or not the afterlife exists and whether our spirits will go to a good place or a bad place. When fear melts away, everything that stemmed from fear becomes nothing but a dream. While dreaming, there are good dreams and bad dreams. However, when we wake up from the dream, regardless of whether it was good or bad, we realize that it was a dream. In the same vein, when we grasp the essence of fear, all of the issues that originated from it will disperse like clouds. This is how we transcend life and death. Transcending life and death doesn\u2019t mean not dying. Instead, it means realizing that life and death do not actually exist. The afterlife is a frequently visited topic in Buddhism. According to Buddhist beliefs, people go to paradise when they die or are reincarnated, but this cannot be proven. Every religion has different beliefs about the afterlife, but none of them has been proven. There is no point in debating endlessly which belief is right when all is but theory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo matter what evil deeds you have done, bathing in the holy Ganga River will wash away your sins and you will go to heaven upon your death. But if you do not bathe in the Ganga River, no matter how good you have been throughout your life, you will not be accepted into heaven.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was a common belief among people in India during the Buddha\u2019s lifetime. Therefore, they washed their bodies in the holy river, and those who had never bathed in the holy river during their lifetime were dipped in it posthumously. They all believed they had to do so in order to enter heaven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One day, a person who had heard of this belief went to the Buddha and asked if the Brahmans were telling the truth. The Buddha answered with a smile on his face:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf what they say is true, the fish in the river will be the first ones to go to heaven.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Buddha was saying that if a man can go to heaven for being dipped in the Ganga River after his death, the fish that live in the river will go to heaven before anyone. The Buddha\u2019s words help us reach an important realization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Traditionally, Buddhists believe that the greedy will be reincarnated as swine, the lazy as cows, and the nasty as serpents. But are pigs really that gluttonous? They eat when they are hungry, and they stop eating when they are no longer hungry. They don\u2019t prevent other pigs from eating the remaining food. Humans, on the other hand, do not share the food stored in their homes, even if there is someone starving right before their eyes. People are much greedier than pigs. Similarly, lions are wild and ferocious, but they will not kill a hare that crosses their path when they are not hungry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have created an image of a gluttonous pig, perhaps based on the sound they make when they eat, and made them synonymous with greed. There is no proof that a greedy person is reincarnated as a pig. Besides, reincarnation originated with Hinduism, so it\u2019s not originally a Buddhist belief. Over 90 per cent of Korean Buddhists believe in Hindu doctrines that they mistakenly think are Buddhist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An old lady came to consult me about her worries:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: I pray to the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, the Goddess of Mercy, but I am afraid my prayer will not be answered.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: What are you praying for?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: My granddaughter is a senior in high school. I am praying that my granddaughter gets accepted into a good college.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: What are you worried about?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: My granddaughter is a Christian.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

She felt that her prayer would not be answered however hard she prayed to the Goddess of Mercy, a Buddhist bodhisattva, because her granddaughter attended a Christian church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: You don\u2019t have to worry at all. The Goddess of Mercy is very kind and generous.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Would the infinitely compassionate Goddess of Mercy care whether a high school senior goes to a church or a Buddhist temple? She wouldn\u2019t be the Goddess of Mercy if she did, would she? Our religious beliefs are limited by our ignorance, and we disparage God or the Buddha by bringing them down to our own level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Returning to our subject, there is no need to worry about the afterlife. If heaven and hell actually exist, you will go to heaven, not to hell, when you do good deeds. Your future is decided by how you live your life now. Living well today will ensure a better tomorrow. Hoping for a better tomorrow while living an improper life today is like trying to catch a cloud. People who do bad deeds rightly deserve punishment, but when they refuse to accept the consequences and ask to be sent to heaven, they demonstrate a complete lack of awareness. Wanting to go to heaven when they have done nothing to deserve it and refusing to go to hell when they have performed deeds that warrant it is no different from desiring a good harvest after planting rotten seeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A true Christian shouldn\u2019t worry about living and dying. Since God decides whether to send someone to heaven or hell, you should just follow his will. If you are a Buddhist who believes in the law of cause and effect, and know that everything originates from the mind, you just need to cultivate your mind without worrying about what will happen tomorrow. Then your tomorrow will be better, so there is nothing to worry about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"How to Overcome the Fear of Death (Dec 03, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Why do we fear death?","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_221203","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14206","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14202,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-25 18:23:27","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-25 23:23:27","post_content":"\n

Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not. This 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy briefly. But when your desires are not<\/em> 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 that is 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, and so they wish to be born in such a world after they die. Therefore, every religion has an ideal world called heaven or paradise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The level of consumption in modern society is even higher than that which is supposedly provided by the ideal world\u2014the heaven that people dreamed of in the past. But we have greater desires now, so we often consider our life conditions to be 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 for help from almighty gods came to exist.<\/p>\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 can comfort people temporarily, like drugs, but they can\u2019t solve these problems fundamentally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

The Buddha investigated how to solve this problem in-depth. He discovered that the root cause of this never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is desire. When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy. 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 being 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.<\/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.<\/p>\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.<\/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 because although it seems impossible for humans to be free from desire, 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.<\/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 this is only a secondary and partial reason. When we are free from desire, we seldom suffer or feel fettered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Then how can we be free from our desires and karma? We meditate 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 our desires for food and sleep, we have other serious karma. Even if we are free from our desires for food and sleep, attaining liberation will be difficult. As such, wishing for liberation without even achieving this much is contradictory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, let\u2019s say I have a habit of smoking. I am not saying that smoking is bad but being unable 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\u2014a 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Therefore, I recommend 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if there are no restrictions on food, I recommend that you 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 that you 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.<\/p>\n","post_title":"The Reason Why People Are Unhappy No Matter How Hard They Try to Be Happy (Jul 11, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_220711","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14202","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14195,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-24 00:49:23","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-24 05:49:23","post_content":"\n

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

The Korean Seon (Zen) master and engaged Buddhist Venerable Pomnyun Sunim, founder and chairman of the international relief organization Join Together Society (JTS), led a delegation of JTS volunteers to India in September to visit Sujata Academy, a community school established by JTS in Dungheswari, Bihar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the respected monk usually makes annual visits to Dungheswari, to engage with the volunteers and villagers and to review the progress of development activities, this occasion was the first time he had been able to travel there in more than two years because of pandemic-related restrictions. During his week-long visit, Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Published by BDG on September 26, 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Read more: <\/a>https:\/\/www.buddhistdoor.net\/news\/engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"Engaged Buddhism: Ven. Pomnyun Sunim and JTS Volunteers Visit Sujata Academy Project in India","post_excerpt":" Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-26 22:32:14","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-27 03:32:14","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14195","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14198,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-22 19:48:20","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:20","post_content":"\n

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

When you hike through the mountains, you have to climb one peak after another. Our mind is the same. Once we solve one problem, there is always another to solve. So, you repeat the process of noticing and solving one problem after another. The purpose of practice is to constantly repeat the process. Don\u2019t try too hard to do well or get frustrated because you still have a long way to go. Just keep persisting, like when you hike up the next peak in the mountains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

Illustration by Maseol <\/p>\n","post_title":"Practice is like climbing a mountain","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"practice-is-like-climbing-a-mountain","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-22 19:48:22","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:22","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14198","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":17},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"jnews_block_37"};

Page 17 of 24 Previous 1 … 16 17 18 … 24 Next

\n

\u201cHow would you like us to conduct your funeral?\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Buddha answered:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t need to worry about my funeral because the lay Buddhists will take care of it.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lay Buddhists are those who take refuge in the Three Jewels and practice the Five Precepts without becoming monks or nuns. When the Buddha said that they would take care of it, he meant that his funeral would be conducted based on the customs of laypeople in India. And so, after the Buddha died, lay Buddhists cremated the Buddha\u2019s body according to Indian tradition. If he had lived in Korea, the Buddha would have been buried in the ground as is the custom in Korea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Dharma is a teaching about truth, so it does not contain cultural aspects. However, since Buddhism originated in India, the local traditions, customs, and culture were integrated into Buddhist culture. Strictly speaking, neither cremation nor the 49-day posthumous ceremony is a fundamental tradition of Buddhism. They are, in fact, part of the of Indian cultural tradition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is said that the deceased person has 49 days to be saved and they are classified into one of nine levels based on their deeds during their life:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnyone can be reborn in paradise after he dies if he sincerely hopes for it. However, not everyone can be reborn in paradise right away since people fall into one of the nine categories based on their deeds.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Specifically, people are divided into three categories of high, middle, and low, and those in each of the three categories are again divided into high, middle, and low. And so there are a total of nine categories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is believed that people in the very highest category are reborn in paradise immediately after their death. It is comparable to leaving one room and entering another room. Those in the second category are reborn within 12 hours. It takes a day for those in the third category, three days for those in the fourth, a week for those in the fifth, 21 days for those in the sixth, and finally, it takes 49 days for those in the seventh category to be reborn in paradise. This is  the reason that people hold the 49-day posthumous ceremony. This ritual provides an opportunity for people to do good deeds on behalf of deceased family members and help them to be reborn in paradise within 49 days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What happens to the people in the eighth and ninth categories? Ultimately, people in all nine categories will all be reborn in paradise. However, those in the eighth and ninth categories have to spend some time in hell before doing so. Each year, Buddhists perform the Buddhist All Soul\u2019s Day ceremony in the seventh month of the lunar calendar to save the souls of those in the two lowest categories from hell. There is no point in debating whether or not this is true because it is a religious belief. As such, people are free to choose whether or not to believe it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Funeral customs vary greatly from religion to religion and country to country. In India, the dead are usually cremated. In Tibet, the dead are left to be eaten by birds. The corpse is cut up on big rocks high in the mountains, where it is consumed by vultures and birds of prey. In desert regions, the dead are \u201cburied in the wind.\u201d That is, they are nailed to a wooden board and exposed to the elements for a year until only the bones remain, after which a funeral ceremony is performed. In regions with many islands, the dead are dropped into the sea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each of these funeral rituals has its unique meaning and significance. Tibetans feed their dead to birds because they believe that the spirit of the dead will fly to heaven with the birds. Some cultures bury the dead in the ground because of the belief that the spiritual world exists underground. Meanwhile, Indians believe in reincarnation, so they cremate the corpse to help the spirits quickly sever their attachments to their worldly bodies in order to be reborn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regardless of the funeral ritual performed, once a person dies it\u2019s the end. By saying \u201cthe end\u201d I am not implying that there is no heaven or afterlife; I am simply saying that the person who draws his last breath no longer exists in this world. From a Christian viewpoint, their spirit goes to heaven. From a Buddhist perspective, their spirit is reborn. So there is nothing more we can do for them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, the best farewell for those who pass away is to let them go from our hearts.<\/p>\n","post_title":"The Best Farewell For the Deceased","post_excerpt":"When the Buddha was close to death, his disciples came to him and asked","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"the-best-farewell-for-the-deceased","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-03-02 06:41:26","post_modified_gmt":"2025-03-02 11:41:26","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14214","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14206,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-26 21:05:46","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-27 02:05:46","post_content":"\n

Why do we fear death? The thought that everything will end when we die may trigger a sense of sorrow about others as well as ourselves. These sentiments fuel fear. Our human fear of death has spawned legends and religions that promise a beautiful afterlife, devised to alleviate the terror we feel about the unknown. We feel less fearful when we think that it doesn\u2019t end when we die, that we will live on in some way or go to a better place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether or not the afterlife actually exists is not important. What matters here is that a belief in the afterlife helps us to overcome our fear of death. How empty would we feel to think that our loved ones will disappear completely when they die? Thinking that they are in a better place gives us great comfort. For this reason, instead of asking whether or not life after death exists, it\u2019s better to examine whether or not the belief of its existence is beneficial. It appears to be more beneficial than harmful, so it\u2019s best to accept the age-old methods that humans have established to overcome the fear of death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, we should refrain from placing too much emphasis on the idea of an afterlife because we know from history that it can also have negative side effects. Some examples include churches demanding large donations in exchange for a \u201cticket to Heaven\u201d and Buddhist temples overcharging for 49-day prayer rituals for the dead (49 jae<\/em>: a Buddhist-Confucian ceremony for the deceased). These examples show how religion can take advantage of people\u2019s fear as a means of extortion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the perspective of Buddhist practice, fear of death is no more real than a daydream. When our fear of death disappears and we can accept our inevitable demise as part of the natural order\u2014it will become irrelevant whether or not the afterlife exists and whether our spirits will go to a good place or a bad place. When fear melts away, everything that stemmed from fear becomes nothing but a dream. While dreaming, there are good dreams and bad dreams. However, when we wake up from the dream, regardless of whether it was good or bad, we realize that it was a dream. In the same vein, when we grasp the essence of fear, all of the issues that originated from it will disperse like clouds. This is how we transcend life and death. Transcending life and death doesn\u2019t mean not dying. Instead, it means realizing that life and death do not actually exist. The afterlife is a frequently visited topic in Buddhism. According to Buddhist beliefs, people go to paradise when they die or are reincarnated, but this cannot be proven. Every religion has different beliefs about the afterlife, but none of them has been proven. There is no point in debating endlessly which belief is right when all is but theory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo matter what evil deeds you have done, bathing in the holy Ganga River will wash away your sins and you will go to heaven upon your death. But if you do not bathe in the Ganga River, no matter how good you have been throughout your life, you will not be accepted into heaven.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was a common belief among people in India during the Buddha\u2019s lifetime. Therefore, they washed their bodies in the holy river, and those who had never bathed in the holy river during their lifetime were dipped in it posthumously. They all believed they had to do so in order to enter heaven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One day, a person who had heard of this belief went to the Buddha and asked if the Brahmans were telling the truth. The Buddha answered with a smile on his face:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf what they say is true, the fish in the river will be the first ones to go to heaven.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Buddha was saying that if a man can go to heaven for being dipped in the Ganga River after his death, the fish that live in the river will go to heaven before anyone. The Buddha\u2019s words help us reach an important realization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Traditionally, Buddhists believe that the greedy will be reincarnated as swine, the lazy as cows, and the nasty as serpents. But are pigs really that gluttonous? They eat when they are hungry, and they stop eating when they are no longer hungry. They don\u2019t prevent other pigs from eating the remaining food. Humans, on the other hand, do not share the food stored in their homes, even if there is someone starving right before their eyes. People are much greedier than pigs. Similarly, lions are wild and ferocious, but they will not kill a hare that crosses their path when they are not hungry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have created an image of a gluttonous pig, perhaps based on the sound they make when they eat, and made them synonymous with greed. There is no proof that a greedy person is reincarnated as a pig. Besides, reincarnation originated with Hinduism, so it\u2019s not originally a Buddhist belief. Over 90 per cent of Korean Buddhists believe in Hindu doctrines that they mistakenly think are Buddhist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An old lady came to consult me about her worries:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: I pray to the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, the Goddess of Mercy, but I am afraid my prayer will not be answered.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: What are you praying for?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: My granddaughter is a senior in high school. I am praying that my granddaughter gets accepted into a good college.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: What are you worried about?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: My granddaughter is a Christian.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

She felt that her prayer would not be answered however hard she prayed to the Goddess of Mercy, a Buddhist bodhisattva, because her granddaughter attended a Christian church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: You don\u2019t have to worry at all. The Goddess of Mercy is very kind and generous.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Would the infinitely compassionate Goddess of Mercy care whether a high school senior goes to a church or a Buddhist temple? She wouldn\u2019t be the Goddess of Mercy if she did, would she? Our religious beliefs are limited by our ignorance, and we disparage God or the Buddha by bringing them down to our own level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Returning to our subject, there is no need to worry about the afterlife. If heaven and hell actually exist, you will go to heaven, not to hell, when you do good deeds. Your future is decided by how you live your life now. Living well today will ensure a better tomorrow. Hoping for a better tomorrow while living an improper life today is like trying to catch a cloud. People who do bad deeds rightly deserve punishment, but when they refuse to accept the consequences and ask to be sent to heaven, they demonstrate a complete lack of awareness. Wanting to go to heaven when they have done nothing to deserve it and refusing to go to hell when they have performed deeds that warrant it is no different from desiring a good harvest after planting rotten seeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A true Christian shouldn\u2019t worry about living and dying. Since God decides whether to send someone to heaven or hell, you should just follow his will. If you are a Buddhist who believes in the law of cause and effect, and know that everything originates from the mind, you just need to cultivate your mind without worrying about what will happen tomorrow. Then your tomorrow will be better, so there is nothing to worry about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"How to Overcome the Fear of Death (Dec 03, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Why do we fear death?","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_221203","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14206","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14202,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-25 18:23:27","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-25 23:23:27","post_content":"\n

Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not. This 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy briefly. But when your desires are not<\/em> 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 that is 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, and so they wish to be born in such a world after they die. Therefore, every religion has an ideal world called heaven or paradise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The level of consumption in modern society is even higher than that which is supposedly provided by the ideal world\u2014the heaven that people dreamed of in the past. But we have greater desires now, so we often consider our life conditions to be 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 for help from almighty gods came to exist.<\/p>\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 can comfort people temporarily, like drugs, but they can\u2019t solve these problems fundamentally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

The Buddha investigated how to solve this problem in-depth. He discovered that the root cause of this never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is desire. When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy. 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 being 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.<\/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.<\/p>\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.<\/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 because although it seems impossible for humans to be free from desire, 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.<\/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 this is only a secondary and partial reason. When we are free from desire, we seldom suffer or feel fettered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Then how can we be free from our desires and karma? We meditate 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 our desires for food and sleep, we have other serious karma. Even if we are free from our desires for food and sleep, attaining liberation will be difficult. As such, wishing for liberation without even achieving this much is contradictory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, let\u2019s say I have a habit of smoking. I am not saying that smoking is bad but being unable 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\u2014a 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Therefore, I recommend 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if there are no restrictions on food, I recommend that you 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 that you 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.<\/p>\n","post_title":"The Reason Why People Are Unhappy No Matter How Hard They Try to Be Happy (Jul 11, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_220711","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14202","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14195,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-24 00:49:23","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-24 05:49:23","post_content":"\n

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

The Korean Seon (Zen) master and engaged Buddhist Venerable Pomnyun Sunim, founder and chairman of the international relief organization Join Together Society (JTS), led a delegation of JTS volunteers to India in September to visit Sujata Academy, a community school established by JTS in Dungheswari, Bihar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the respected monk usually makes annual visits to Dungheswari, to engage with the volunteers and villagers and to review the progress of development activities, this occasion was the first time he had been able to travel there in more than two years because of pandemic-related restrictions. During his week-long visit, Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Published by BDG on September 26, 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Read more: <\/a>https:\/\/www.buddhistdoor.net\/news\/engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"Engaged Buddhism: Ven. Pomnyun Sunim and JTS Volunteers Visit Sujata Academy Project in India","post_excerpt":" Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-26 22:32:14","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-27 03:32:14","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14195","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14198,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-22 19:48:20","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:20","post_content":"\n

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

When you hike through the mountains, you have to climb one peak after another. Our mind is the same. Once we solve one problem, there is always another to solve. So, you repeat the process of noticing and solving one problem after another. The purpose of practice is to constantly repeat the process. Don\u2019t try too hard to do well or get frustrated because you still have a long way to go. Just keep persisting, like when you hike up the next peak in the mountains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

Illustration by Maseol <\/p>\n","post_title":"Practice is like climbing a mountain","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"practice-is-like-climbing-a-mountain","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-22 19:48:22","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:22","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14198","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":17},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"jnews_block_37"};

Page 17 of 24 Previous 1 … 16 17 18 … 24 Next

\n

When the Buddha was close to death, his disciples came to him and asked:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHow would you like us to conduct your funeral?\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Buddha answered:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t need to worry about my funeral because the lay Buddhists will take care of it.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lay Buddhists are those who take refuge in the Three Jewels and practice the Five Precepts without becoming monks or nuns. When the Buddha said that they would take care of it, he meant that his funeral would be conducted based on the customs of laypeople in India. And so, after the Buddha died, lay Buddhists cremated the Buddha\u2019s body according to Indian tradition. If he had lived in Korea, the Buddha would have been buried in the ground as is the custom in Korea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Dharma is a teaching about truth, so it does not contain cultural aspects. However, since Buddhism originated in India, the local traditions, customs, and culture were integrated into Buddhist culture. Strictly speaking, neither cremation nor the 49-day posthumous ceremony is a fundamental tradition of Buddhism. They are, in fact, part of the of Indian cultural tradition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is said that the deceased person has 49 days to be saved and they are classified into one of nine levels based on their deeds during their life:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnyone can be reborn in paradise after he dies if he sincerely hopes for it. However, not everyone can be reborn in paradise right away since people fall into one of the nine categories based on their deeds.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Specifically, people are divided into three categories of high, middle, and low, and those in each of the three categories are again divided into high, middle, and low. And so there are a total of nine categories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is believed that people in the very highest category are reborn in paradise immediately after their death. It is comparable to leaving one room and entering another room. Those in the second category are reborn within 12 hours. It takes a day for those in the third category, three days for those in the fourth, a week for those in the fifth, 21 days for those in the sixth, and finally, it takes 49 days for those in the seventh category to be reborn in paradise. This is  the reason that people hold the 49-day posthumous ceremony. This ritual provides an opportunity for people to do good deeds on behalf of deceased family members and help them to be reborn in paradise within 49 days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What happens to the people in the eighth and ninth categories? Ultimately, people in all nine categories will all be reborn in paradise. However, those in the eighth and ninth categories have to spend some time in hell before doing so. Each year, Buddhists perform the Buddhist All Soul\u2019s Day ceremony in the seventh month of the lunar calendar to save the souls of those in the two lowest categories from hell. There is no point in debating whether or not this is true because it is a religious belief. As such, people are free to choose whether or not to believe it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Funeral customs vary greatly from religion to religion and country to country. In India, the dead are usually cremated. In Tibet, the dead are left to be eaten by birds. The corpse is cut up on big rocks high in the mountains, where it is consumed by vultures and birds of prey. In desert regions, the dead are \u201cburied in the wind.\u201d That is, they are nailed to a wooden board and exposed to the elements for a year until only the bones remain, after which a funeral ceremony is performed. In regions with many islands, the dead are dropped into the sea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each of these funeral rituals has its unique meaning and significance. Tibetans feed their dead to birds because they believe that the spirit of the dead will fly to heaven with the birds. Some cultures bury the dead in the ground because of the belief that the spiritual world exists underground. Meanwhile, Indians believe in reincarnation, so they cremate the corpse to help the spirits quickly sever their attachments to their worldly bodies in order to be reborn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regardless of the funeral ritual performed, once a person dies it\u2019s the end. By saying \u201cthe end\u201d I am not implying that there is no heaven or afterlife; I am simply saying that the person who draws his last breath no longer exists in this world. From a Christian viewpoint, their spirit goes to heaven. From a Buddhist perspective, their spirit is reborn. So there is nothing more we can do for them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, the best farewell for those who pass away is to let them go from our hearts.<\/p>\n","post_title":"The Best Farewell For the Deceased","post_excerpt":"When the Buddha was close to death, his disciples came to him and asked","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"the-best-farewell-for-the-deceased","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-03-02 06:41:26","post_modified_gmt":"2025-03-02 11:41:26","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14214","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14206,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-26 21:05:46","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-27 02:05:46","post_content":"\n

Why do we fear death? The thought that everything will end when we die may trigger a sense of sorrow about others as well as ourselves. These sentiments fuel fear. Our human fear of death has spawned legends and religions that promise a beautiful afterlife, devised to alleviate the terror we feel about the unknown. We feel less fearful when we think that it doesn\u2019t end when we die, that we will live on in some way or go to a better place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether or not the afterlife actually exists is not important. What matters here is that a belief in the afterlife helps us to overcome our fear of death. How empty would we feel to think that our loved ones will disappear completely when they die? Thinking that they are in a better place gives us great comfort. For this reason, instead of asking whether or not life after death exists, it\u2019s better to examine whether or not the belief of its existence is beneficial. It appears to be more beneficial than harmful, so it\u2019s best to accept the age-old methods that humans have established to overcome the fear of death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, we should refrain from placing too much emphasis on the idea of an afterlife because we know from history that it can also have negative side effects. Some examples include churches demanding large donations in exchange for a \u201cticket to Heaven\u201d and Buddhist temples overcharging for 49-day prayer rituals for the dead (49 jae<\/em>: a Buddhist-Confucian ceremony for the deceased). These examples show how religion can take advantage of people\u2019s fear as a means of extortion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the perspective of Buddhist practice, fear of death is no more real than a daydream. When our fear of death disappears and we can accept our inevitable demise as part of the natural order\u2014it will become irrelevant whether or not the afterlife exists and whether our spirits will go to a good place or a bad place. When fear melts away, everything that stemmed from fear becomes nothing but a dream. While dreaming, there are good dreams and bad dreams. However, when we wake up from the dream, regardless of whether it was good or bad, we realize that it was a dream. In the same vein, when we grasp the essence of fear, all of the issues that originated from it will disperse like clouds. This is how we transcend life and death. Transcending life and death doesn\u2019t mean not dying. Instead, it means realizing that life and death do not actually exist. The afterlife is a frequently visited topic in Buddhism. According to Buddhist beliefs, people go to paradise when they die or are reincarnated, but this cannot be proven. Every religion has different beliefs about the afterlife, but none of them has been proven. There is no point in debating endlessly which belief is right when all is but theory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo matter what evil deeds you have done, bathing in the holy Ganga River will wash away your sins and you will go to heaven upon your death. But if you do not bathe in the Ganga River, no matter how good you have been throughout your life, you will not be accepted into heaven.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was a common belief among people in India during the Buddha\u2019s lifetime. Therefore, they washed their bodies in the holy river, and those who had never bathed in the holy river during their lifetime were dipped in it posthumously. They all believed they had to do so in order to enter heaven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One day, a person who had heard of this belief went to the Buddha and asked if the Brahmans were telling the truth. The Buddha answered with a smile on his face:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf what they say is true, the fish in the river will be the first ones to go to heaven.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Buddha was saying that if a man can go to heaven for being dipped in the Ganga River after his death, the fish that live in the river will go to heaven before anyone. The Buddha\u2019s words help us reach an important realization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Traditionally, Buddhists believe that the greedy will be reincarnated as swine, the lazy as cows, and the nasty as serpents. But are pigs really that gluttonous? They eat when they are hungry, and they stop eating when they are no longer hungry. They don\u2019t prevent other pigs from eating the remaining food. Humans, on the other hand, do not share the food stored in their homes, even if there is someone starving right before their eyes. People are much greedier than pigs. Similarly, lions are wild and ferocious, but they will not kill a hare that crosses their path when they are not hungry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have created an image of a gluttonous pig, perhaps based on the sound they make when they eat, and made them synonymous with greed. There is no proof that a greedy person is reincarnated as a pig. Besides, reincarnation originated with Hinduism, so it\u2019s not originally a Buddhist belief. Over 90 per cent of Korean Buddhists believe in Hindu doctrines that they mistakenly think are Buddhist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An old lady came to consult me about her worries:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: I pray to the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, the Goddess of Mercy, but I am afraid my prayer will not be answered.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: What are you praying for?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: My granddaughter is a senior in high school. I am praying that my granddaughter gets accepted into a good college.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: What are you worried about?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: My granddaughter is a Christian.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

She felt that her prayer would not be answered however hard she prayed to the Goddess of Mercy, a Buddhist bodhisattva, because her granddaughter attended a Christian church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: You don\u2019t have to worry at all. The Goddess of Mercy is very kind and generous.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Would the infinitely compassionate Goddess of Mercy care whether a high school senior goes to a church or a Buddhist temple? She wouldn\u2019t be the Goddess of Mercy if she did, would she? Our religious beliefs are limited by our ignorance, and we disparage God or the Buddha by bringing them down to our own level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Returning to our subject, there is no need to worry about the afterlife. If heaven and hell actually exist, you will go to heaven, not to hell, when you do good deeds. Your future is decided by how you live your life now. Living well today will ensure a better tomorrow. Hoping for a better tomorrow while living an improper life today is like trying to catch a cloud. People who do bad deeds rightly deserve punishment, but when they refuse to accept the consequences and ask to be sent to heaven, they demonstrate a complete lack of awareness. Wanting to go to heaven when they have done nothing to deserve it and refusing to go to hell when they have performed deeds that warrant it is no different from desiring a good harvest after planting rotten seeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A true Christian shouldn\u2019t worry about living and dying. Since God decides whether to send someone to heaven or hell, you should just follow his will. If you are a Buddhist who believes in the law of cause and effect, and know that everything originates from the mind, you just need to cultivate your mind without worrying about what will happen tomorrow. Then your tomorrow will be better, so there is nothing to worry about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"How to Overcome the Fear of Death (Dec 03, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Why do we fear death?","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_221203","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14206","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14202,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-25 18:23:27","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-25 23:23:27","post_content":"\n

Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not. This 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy briefly. But when your desires are not<\/em> 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 that is 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, and so they wish to be born in such a world after they die. Therefore, every religion has an ideal world called heaven or paradise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The level of consumption in modern society is even higher than that which is supposedly provided by the ideal world\u2014the heaven that people dreamed of in the past. But we have greater desires now, so we often consider our life conditions to be 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 for help from almighty gods came to exist.<\/p>\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 can comfort people temporarily, like drugs, but they can\u2019t solve these problems fundamentally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

The Buddha investigated how to solve this problem in-depth. He discovered that the root cause of this never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is desire. When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy. 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 being 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.<\/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.<\/p>\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.<\/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 because although it seems impossible for humans to be free from desire, 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.<\/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 this is only a secondary and partial reason. When we are free from desire, we seldom suffer or feel fettered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Then how can we be free from our desires and karma? We meditate 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 our desires for food and sleep, we have other serious karma. Even if we are free from our desires for food and sleep, attaining liberation will be difficult. As such, wishing for liberation without even achieving this much is contradictory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, let\u2019s say I have a habit of smoking. I am not saying that smoking is bad but being unable 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\u2014a 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Therefore, I recommend 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if there are no restrictions on food, I recommend that you 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 that you 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.<\/p>\n","post_title":"The Reason Why People Are Unhappy No Matter How Hard They Try to Be Happy (Jul 11, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_220711","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14202","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14195,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-24 00:49:23","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-24 05:49:23","post_content":"\n

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

The Korean Seon (Zen) master and engaged Buddhist Venerable Pomnyun Sunim, founder and chairman of the international relief organization Join Together Society (JTS), led a delegation of JTS volunteers to India in September to visit Sujata Academy, a community school established by JTS in Dungheswari, Bihar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the respected monk usually makes annual visits to Dungheswari, to engage with the volunteers and villagers and to review the progress of development activities, this occasion was the first time he had been able to travel there in more than two years because of pandemic-related restrictions. During his week-long visit, Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Published by BDG on September 26, 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Read more: <\/a>https:\/\/www.buddhistdoor.net\/news\/engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"Engaged Buddhism: Ven. Pomnyun Sunim and JTS Volunteers Visit Sujata Academy Project in India","post_excerpt":" Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-26 22:32:14","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-27 03:32:14","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14195","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14198,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-22 19:48:20","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:20","post_content":"\n

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

When you hike through the mountains, you have to climb one peak after another. Our mind is the same. Once we solve one problem, there is always another to solve. So, you repeat the process of noticing and solving one problem after another. The purpose of practice is to constantly repeat the process. Don\u2019t try too hard to do well or get frustrated because you still have a long way to go. Just keep persisting, like when you hike up the next peak in the mountains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

Illustration by Maseol <\/p>\n","post_title":"Practice is like climbing a mountain","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"practice-is-like-climbing-a-mountain","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-22 19:48:22","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:22","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14198","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":17},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"jnews_block_37"};

Page 17 of 24 Previous 1 … 16 17 18 … 24 Next

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<\/p>\n","post_title":"DMZ Peace Declaration in Korea","post_excerpt":"INEB and Jungto Society joint DMZ Peace Declaration in Korea ","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"dmz-peace-declaration-in-korea","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-27 22:12:47","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-28 03:12:47","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14222","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14214,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-27 21:56:25","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-28 02:56:25","post_content":"\n

When the Buddha was close to death, his disciples came to him and asked:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHow would you like us to conduct your funeral?\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Buddha answered:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t need to worry about my funeral because the lay Buddhists will take care of it.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lay Buddhists are those who take refuge in the Three Jewels and practice the Five Precepts without becoming monks or nuns. When the Buddha said that they would take care of it, he meant that his funeral would be conducted based on the customs of laypeople in India. And so, after the Buddha died, lay Buddhists cremated the Buddha\u2019s body according to Indian tradition. If he had lived in Korea, the Buddha would have been buried in the ground as is the custom in Korea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Dharma is a teaching about truth, so it does not contain cultural aspects. However, since Buddhism originated in India, the local traditions, customs, and culture were integrated into Buddhist culture. Strictly speaking, neither cremation nor the 49-day posthumous ceremony is a fundamental tradition of Buddhism. They are, in fact, part of the of Indian cultural tradition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is said that the deceased person has 49 days to be saved and they are classified into one of nine levels based on their deeds during their life:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnyone can be reborn in paradise after he dies if he sincerely hopes for it. However, not everyone can be reborn in paradise right away since people fall into one of the nine categories based on their deeds.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Specifically, people are divided into three categories of high, middle, and low, and those in each of the three categories are again divided into high, middle, and low. And so there are a total of nine categories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is believed that people in the very highest category are reborn in paradise immediately after their death. It is comparable to leaving one room and entering another room. Those in the second category are reborn within 12 hours. It takes a day for those in the third category, three days for those in the fourth, a week for those in the fifth, 21 days for those in the sixth, and finally, it takes 49 days for those in the seventh category to be reborn in paradise. This is  the reason that people hold the 49-day posthumous ceremony. This ritual provides an opportunity for people to do good deeds on behalf of deceased family members and help them to be reborn in paradise within 49 days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What happens to the people in the eighth and ninth categories? Ultimately, people in all nine categories will all be reborn in paradise. However, those in the eighth and ninth categories have to spend some time in hell before doing so. Each year, Buddhists perform the Buddhist All Soul\u2019s Day ceremony in the seventh month of the lunar calendar to save the souls of those in the two lowest categories from hell. There is no point in debating whether or not this is true because it is a religious belief. As such, people are free to choose whether or not to believe it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Funeral customs vary greatly from religion to religion and country to country. In India, the dead are usually cremated. In Tibet, the dead are left to be eaten by birds. The corpse is cut up on big rocks high in the mountains, where it is consumed by vultures and birds of prey. In desert regions, the dead are \u201cburied in the wind.\u201d That is, they are nailed to a wooden board and exposed to the elements for a year until only the bones remain, after which a funeral ceremony is performed. In regions with many islands, the dead are dropped into the sea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each of these funeral rituals has its unique meaning and significance. Tibetans feed their dead to birds because they believe that the spirit of the dead will fly to heaven with the birds. Some cultures bury the dead in the ground because of the belief that the spiritual world exists underground. Meanwhile, Indians believe in reincarnation, so they cremate the corpse to help the spirits quickly sever their attachments to their worldly bodies in order to be reborn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regardless of the funeral ritual performed, once a person dies it\u2019s the end. By saying \u201cthe end\u201d I am not implying that there is no heaven or afterlife; I am simply saying that the person who draws his last breath no longer exists in this world. From a Christian viewpoint, their spirit goes to heaven. From a Buddhist perspective, their spirit is reborn. So there is nothing more we can do for them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, the best farewell for those who pass away is to let them go from our hearts.<\/p>\n","post_title":"The Best Farewell For the Deceased","post_excerpt":"When the Buddha was close to death, his disciples came to him and asked","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"the-best-farewell-for-the-deceased","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-03-02 06:41:26","post_modified_gmt":"2025-03-02 11:41:26","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14214","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14206,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-26 21:05:46","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-27 02:05:46","post_content":"\n

Why do we fear death? The thought that everything will end when we die may trigger a sense of sorrow about others as well as ourselves. These sentiments fuel fear. Our human fear of death has spawned legends and religions that promise a beautiful afterlife, devised to alleviate the terror we feel about the unknown. We feel less fearful when we think that it doesn\u2019t end when we die, that we will live on in some way or go to a better place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether or not the afterlife actually exists is not important. What matters here is that a belief in the afterlife helps us to overcome our fear of death. How empty would we feel to think that our loved ones will disappear completely when they die? Thinking that they are in a better place gives us great comfort. For this reason, instead of asking whether or not life after death exists, it\u2019s better to examine whether or not the belief of its existence is beneficial. It appears to be more beneficial than harmful, so it\u2019s best to accept the age-old methods that humans have established to overcome the fear of death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, we should refrain from placing too much emphasis on the idea of an afterlife because we know from history that it can also have negative side effects. Some examples include churches demanding large donations in exchange for a \u201cticket to Heaven\u201d and Buddhist temples overcharging for 49-day prayer rituals for the dead (49 jae<\/em>: a Buddhist-Confucian ceremony for the deceased). These examples show how religion can take advantage of people\u2019s fear as a means of extortion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the perspective of Buddhist practice, fear of death is no more real than a daydream. When our fear of death disappears and we can accept our inevitable demise as part of the natural order\u2014it will become irrelevant whether or not the afterlife exists and whether our spirits will go to a good place or a bad place. When fear melts away, everything that stemmed from fear becomes nothing but a dream. While dreaming, there are good dreams and bad dreams. However, when we wake up from the dream, regardless of whether it was good or bad, we realize that it was a dream. In the same vein, when we grasp the essence of fear, all of the issues that originated from it will disperse like clouds. This is how we transcend life and death. Transcending life and death doesn\u2019t mean not dying. Instead, it means realizing that life and death do not actually exist. The afterlife is a frequently visited topic in Buddhism. According to Buddhist beliefs, people go to paradise when they die or are reincarnated, but this cannot be proven. Every religion has different beliefs about the afterlife, but none of them has been proven. There is no point in debating endlessly which belief is right when all is but theory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo matter what evil deeds you have done, bathing in the holy Ganga River will wash away your sins and you will go to heaven upon your death. But if you do not bathe in the Ganga River, no matter how good you have been throughout your life, you will not be accepted into heaven.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was a common belief among people in India during the Buddha\u2019s lifetime. Therefore, they washed their bodies in the holy river, and those who had never bathed in the holy river during their lifetime were dipped in it posthumously. They all believed they had to do so in order to enter heaven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One day, a person who had heard of this belief went to the Buddha and asked if the Brahmans were telling the truth. The Buddha answered with a smile on his face:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf what they say is true, the fish in the river will be the first ones to go to heaven.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Buddha was saying that if a man can go to heaven for being dipped in the Ganga River after his death, the fish that live in the river will go to heaven before anyone. The Buddha\u2019s words help us reach an important realization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Traditionally, Buddhists believe that the greedy will be reincarnated as swine, the lazy as cows, and the nasty as serpents. But are pigs really that gluttonous? They eat when they are hungry, and they stop eating when they are no longer hungry. They don\u2019t prevent other pigs from eating the remaining food. Humans, on the other hand, do not share the food stored in their homes, even if there is someone starving right before their eyes. People are much greedier than pigs. Similarly, lions are wild and ferocious, but they will not kill a hare that crosses their path when they are not hungry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have created an image of a gluttonous pig, perhaps based on the sound they make when they eat, and made them synonymous with greed. There is no proof that a greedy person is reincarnated as a pig. Besides, reincarnation originated with Hinduism, so it\u2019s not originally a Buddhist belief. Over 90 per cent of Korean Buddhists believe in Hindu doctrines that they mistakenly think are Buddhist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An old lady came to consult me about her worries:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: I pray to the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, the Goddess of Mercy, but I am afraid my prayer will not be answered.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: What are you praying for?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: My granddaughter is a senior in high school. I am praying that my granddaughter gets accepted into a good college.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: What are you worried about?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: My granddaughter is a Christian.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

She felt that her prayer would not be answered however hard she prayed to the Goddess of Mercy, a Buddhist bodhisattva, because her granddaughter attended a Christian church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: You don\u2019t have to worry at all. The Goddess of Mercy is very kind and generous.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Would the infinitely compassionate Goddess of Mercy care whether a high school senior goes to a church or a Buddhist temple? She wouldn\u2019t be the Goddess of Mercy if she did, would she? Our religious beliefs are limited by our ignorance, and we disparage God or the Buddha by bringing them down to our own level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Returning to our subject, there is no need to worry about the afterlife. If heaven and hell actually exist, you will go to heaven, not to hell, when you do good deeds. Your future is decided by how you live your life now. Living well today will ensure a better tomorrow. Hoping for a better tomorrow while living an improper life today is like trying to catch a cloud. People who do bad deeds rightly deserve punishment, but when they refuse to accept the consequences and ask to be sent to heaven, they demonstrate a complete lack of awareness. Wanting to go to heaven when they have done nothing to deserve it and refusing to go to hell when they have performed deeds that warrant it is no different from desiring a good harvest after planting rotten seeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A true Christian shouldn\u2019t worry about living and dying. Since God decides whether to send someone to heaven or hell, you should just follow his will. If you are a Buddhist who believes in the law of cause and effect, and know that everything originates from the mind, you just need to cultivate your mind without worrying about what will happen tomorrow. Then your tomorrow will be better, so there is nothing to worry about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"How to Overcome the Fear of Death (Dec 03, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Why do we fear death?","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_221203","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14206","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14202,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-25 18:23:27","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-25 23:23:27","post_content":"\n

Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not. This 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy briefly. But when your desires are not<\/em> 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 that is 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, and so they wish to be born in such a world after they die. Therefore, every religion has an ideal world called heaven or paradise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The level of consumption in modern society is even higher than that which is supposedly provided by the ideal world\u2014the heaven that people dreamed of in the past. But we have greater desires now, so we often consider our life conditions to be 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 for help from almighty gods came to exist.<\/p>\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 can comfort people temporarily, like drugs, but they can\u2019t solve these problems fundamentally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

The Buddha investigated how to solve this problem in-depth. He discovered that the root cause of this never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is desire. When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy. 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 being 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.<\/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.<\/p>\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.<\/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 because although it seems impossible for humans to be free from desire, 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.<\/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 this is only a secondary and partial reason. When we are free from desire, we seldom suffer or feel fettered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Then how can we be free from our desires and karma? We meditate 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 our desires for food and sleep, we have other serious karma. Even if we are free from our desires for food and sleep, attaining liberation will be difficult. As such, wishing for liberation without even achieving this much is contradictory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, let\u2019s say I have a habit of smoking. I am not saying that smoking is bad but being unable 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\u2014a 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Therefore, I recommend 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if there are no restrictions on food, I recommend that you 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 that you 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.<\/p>\n","post_title":"The Reason Why People Are Unhappy No Matter How Hard They Try to Be Happy (Jul 11, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_220711","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14202","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14195,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-24 00:49:23","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-24 05:49:23","post_content":"\n

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

The Korean Seon (Zen) master and engaged Buddhist Venerable Pomnyun Sunim, founder and chairman of the international relief organization Join Together Society (JTS), led a delegation of JTS volunteers to India in September to visit Sujata Academy, a community school established by JTS in Dungheswari, Bihar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the respected monk usually makes annual visits to Dungheswari, to engage with the volunteers and villagers and to review the progress of development activities, this occasion was the first time he had been able to travel there in more than two years because of pandemic-related restrictions. During his week-long visit, Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Published by BDG on September 26, 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Read more: <\/a>https:\/\/www.buddhistdoor.net\/news\/engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"Engaged Buddhism: Ven. Pomnyun Sunim and JTS Volunteers Visit Sujata Academy Project in India","post_excerpt":" Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-26 22:32:14","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-27 03:32:14","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14195","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14198,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-22 19:48:20","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:20","post_content":"\n

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

When you hike through the mountains, you have to climb one peak after another. Our mind is the same. Once we solve one problem, there is always another to solve. So, you repeat the process of noticing and solving one problem after another. The purpose of practice is to constantly repeat the process. Don\u2019t try too hard to do well or get frustrated because you still have a long way to go. Just keep persisting, like when you hike up the next peak in the mountains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

Illustration by Maseol <\/p>\n","post_title":"Practice is like climbing a mountain","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"practice-is-like-climbing-a-mountain","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-22 19:48:22","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:22","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14198","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":17},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"jnews_block_37"};

Page 17 of 24 Previous 1 … 16 17 18 … 24 Next

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\u25b6\ufe0f Read more: https:\/\/www.inebnetwork.org\/dmz-peace-declaration-in-korea\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"DMZ Peace Declaration in Korea","post_excerpt":"INEB and Jungto Society joint DMZ Peace Declaration in Korea ","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"dmz-peace-declaration-in-korea","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-27 22:12:47","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-28 03:12:47","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14222","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14214,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-27 21:56:25","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-28 02:56:25","post_content":"\n

When the Buddha was close to death, his disciples came to him and asked:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHow would you like us to conduct your funeral?\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Buddha answered:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t need to worry about my funeral because the lay Buddhists will take care of it.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lay Buddhists are those who take refuge in the Three Jewels and practice the Five Precepts without becoming monks or nuns. When the Buddha said that they would take care of it, he meant that his funeral would be conducted based on the customs of laypeople in India. And so, after the Buddha died, lay Buddhists cremated the Buddha\u2019s body according to Indian tradition. If he had lived in Korea, the Buddha would have been buried in the ground as is the custom in Korea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Dharma is a teaching about truth, so it does not contain cultural aspects. However, since Buddhism originated in India, the local traditions, customs, and culture were integrated into Buddhist culture. Strictly speaking, neither cremation nor the 49-day posthumous ceremony is a fundamental tradition of Buddhism. They are, in fact, part of the of Indian cultural tradition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is said that the deceased person has 49 days to be saved and they are classified into one of nine levels based on their deeds during their life:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnyone can be reborn in paradise after he dies if he sincerely hopes for it. However, not everyone can be reborn in paradise right away since people fall into one of the nine categories based on their deeds.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Specifically, people are divided into three categories of high, middle, and low, and those in each of the three categories are again divided into high, middle, and low. And so there are a total of nine categories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is believed that people in the very highest category are reborn in paradise immediately after their death. It is comparable to leaving one room and entering another room. Those in the second category are reborn within 12 hours. It takes a day for those in the third category, three days for those in the fourth, a week for those in the fifth, 21 days for those in the sixth, and finally, it takes 49 days for those in the seventh category to be reborn in paradise. This is  the reason that people hold the 49-day posthumous ceremony. This ritual provides an opportunity for people to do good deeds on behalf of deceased family members and help them to be reborn in paradise within 49 days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What happens to the people in the eighth and ninth categories? Ultimately, people in all nine categories will all be reborn in paradise. However, those in the eighth and ninth categories have to spend some time in hell before doing so. Each year, Buddhists perform the Buddhist All Soul\u2019s Day ceremony in the seventh month of the lunar calendar to save the souls of those in the two lowest categories from hell. There is no point in debating whether or not this is true because it is a religious belief. As such, people are free to choose whether or not to believe it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Funeral customs vary greatly from religion to religion and country to country. In India, the dead are usually cremated. In Tibet, the dead are left to be eaten by birds. The corpse is cut up on big rocks high in the mountains, where it is consumed by vultures and birds of prey. In desert regions, the dead are \u201cburied in the wind.\u201d That is, they are nailed to a wooden board and exposed to the elements for a year until only the bones remain, after which a funeral ceremony is performed. In regions with many islands, the dead are dropped into the sea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each of these funeral rituals has its unique meaning and significance. Tibetans feed their dead to birds because they believe that the spirit of the dead will fly to heaven with the birds. Some cultures bury the dead in the ground because of the belief that the spiritual world exists underground. Meanwhile, Indians believe in reincarnation, so they cremate the corpse to help the spirits quickly sever their attachments to their worldly bodies in order to be reborn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regardless of the funeral ritual performed, once a person dies it\u2019s the end. By saying \u201cthe end\u201d I am not implying that there is no heaven or afterlife; I am simply saying that the person who draws his last breath no longer exists in this world. From a Christian viewpoint, their spirit goes to heaven. From a Buddhist perspective, their spirit is reborn. So there is nothing more we can do for them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, the best farewell for those who pass away is to let them go from our hearts.<\/p>\n","post_title":"The Best Farewell For the Deceased","post_excerpt":"When the Buddha was close to death, his disciples came to him and asked","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"the-best-farewell-for-the-deceased","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-03-02 06:41:26","post_modified_gmt":"2025-03-02 11:41:26","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14214","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14206,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-26 21:05:46","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-27 02:05:46","post_content":"\n

Why do we fear death? The thought that everything will end when we die may trigger a sense of sorrow about others as well as ourselves. These sentiments fuel fear. Our human fear of death has spawned legends and religions that promise a beautiful afterlife, devised to alleviate the terror we feel about the unknown. We feel less fearful when we think that it doesn\u2019t end when we die, that we will live on in some way or go to a better place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether or not the afterlife actually exists is not important. What matters here is that a belief in the afterlife helps us to overcome our fear of death. How empty would we feel to think that our loved ones will disappear completely when they die? Thinking that they are in a better place gives us great comfort. For this reason, instead of asking whether or not life after death exists, it\u2019s better to examine whether or not the belief of its existence is beneficial. It appears to be more beneficial than harmful, so it\u2019s best to accept the age-old methods that humans have established to overcome the fear of death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, we should refrain from placing too much emphasis on the idea of an afterlife because we know from history that it can also have negative side effects. Some examples include churches demanding large donations in exchange for a \u201cticket to Heaven\u201d and Buddhist temples overcharging for 49-day prayer rituals for the dead (49 jae<\/em>: a Buddhist-Confucian ceremony for the deceased). These examples show how religion can take advantage of people\u2019s fear as a means of extortion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the perspective of Buddhist practice, fear of death is no more real than a daydream. When our fear of death disappears and we can accept our inevitable demise as part of the natural order\u2014it will become irrelevant whether or not the afterlife exists and whether our spirits will go to a good place or a bad place. When fear melts away, everything that stemmed from fear becomes nothing but a dream. While dreaming, there are good dreams and bad dreams. However, when we wake up from the dream, regardless of whether it was good or bad, we realize that it was a dream. In the same vein, when we grasp the essence of fear, all of the issues that originated from it will disperse like clouds. This is how we transcend life and death. Transcending life and death doesn\u2019t mean not dying. Instead, it means realizing that life and death do not actually exist. The afterlife is a frequently visited topic in Buddhism. According to Buddhist beliefs, people go to paradise when they die or are reincarnated, but this cannot be proven. Every religion has different beliefs about the afterlife, but none of them has been proven. There is no point in debating endlessly which belief is right when all is but theory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo matter what evil deeds you have done, bathing in the holy Ganga River will wash away your sins and you will go to heaven upon your death. But if you do not bathe in the Ganga River, no matter how good you have been throughout your life, you will not be accepted into heaven.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was a common belief among people in India during the Buddha\u2019s lifetime. Therefore, they washed their bodies in the holy river, and those who had never bathed in the holy river during their lifetime were dipped in it posthumously. They all believed they had to do so in order to enter heaven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One day, a person who had heard of this belief went to the Buddha and asked if the Brahmans were telling the truth. The Buddha answered with a smile on his face:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf what they say is true, the fish in the river will be the first ones to go to heaven.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Buddha was saying that if a man can go to heaven for being dipped in the Ganga River after his death, the fish that live in the river will go to heaven before anyone. The Buddha\u2019s words help us reach an important realization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Traditionally, Buddhists believe that the greedy will be reincarnated as swine, the lazy as cows, and the nasty as serpents. But are pigs really that gluttonous? They eat when they are hungry, and they stop eating when they are no longer hungry. They don\u2019t prevent other pigs from eating the remaining food. Humans, on the other hand, do not share the food stored in their homes, even if there is someone starving right before their eyes. People are much greedier than pigs. Similarly, lions are wild and ferocious, but they will not kill a hare that crosses their path when they are not hungry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have created an image of a gluttonous pig, perhaps based on the sound they make when they eat, and made them synonymous with greed. There is no proof that a greedy person is reincarnated as a pig. Besides, reincarnation originated with Hinduism, so it\u2019s not originally a Buddhist belief. Over 90 per cent of Korean Buddhists believe in Hindu doctrines that they mistakenly think are Buddhist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An old lady came to consult me about her worries:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: I pray to the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, the Goddess of Mercy, but I am afraid my prayer will not be answered.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: What are you praying for?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: My granddaughter is a senior in high school. I am praying that my granddaughter gets accepted into a good college.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: What are you worried about?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: My granddaughter is a Christian.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

She felt that her prayer would not be answered however hard she prayed to the Goddess of Mercy, a Buddhist bodhisattva, because her granddaughter attended a Christian church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: You don\u2019t have to worry at all. The Goddess of Mercy is very kind and generous.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Would the infinitely compassionate Goddess of Mercy care whether a high school senior goes to a church or a Buddhist temple? She wouldn\u2019t be the Goddess of Mercy if she did, would she? Our religious beliefs are limited by our ignorance, and we disparage God or the Buddha by bringing them down to our own level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Returning to our subject, there is no need to worry about the afterlife. If heaven and hell actually exist, you will go to heaven, not to hell, when you do good deeds. Your future is decided by how you live your life now. Living well today will ensure a better tomorrow. Hoping for a better tomorrow while living an improper life today is like trying to catch a cloud. People who do bad deeds rightly deserve punishment, but when they refuse to accept the consequences and ask to be sent to heaven, they demonstrate a complete lack of awareness. Wanting to go to heaven when they have done nothing to deserve it and refusing to go to hell when they have performed deeds that warrant it is no different from desiring a good harvest after planting rotten seeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A true Christian shouldn\u2019t worry about living and dying. Since God decides whether to send someone to heaven or hell, you should just follow his will. If you are a Buddhist who believes in the law of cause and effect, and know that everything originates from the mind, you just need to cultivate your mind without worrying about what will happen tomorrow. Then your tomorrow will be better, so there is nothing to worry about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"How to Overcome the Fear of Death (Dec 03, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Why do we fear death?","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_221203","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14206","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14202,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-25 18:23:27","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-25 23:23:27","post_content":"\n

Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not. This 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy briefly. But when your desires are not<\/em> 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 that is 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, and so they wish to be born in such a world after they die. Therefore, every religion has an ideal world called heaven or paradise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The level of consumption in modern society is even higher than that which is supposedly provided by the ideal world\u2014the heaven that people dreamed of in the past. But we have greater desires now, so we often consider our life conditions to be 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 for help from almighty gods came to exist.<\/p>\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 can comfort people temporarily, like drugs, but they can\u2019t solve these problems fundamentally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

The Buddha investigated how to solve this problem in-depth. He discovered that the root cause of this never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is desire. When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy. 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 being 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.<\/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.<\/p>\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.<\/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 because although it seems impossible for humans to be free from desire, 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.<\/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 this is only a secondary and partial reason. When we are free from desire, we seldom suffer or feel fettered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Then how can we be free from our desires and karma? We meditate 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 our desires for food and sleep, we have other serious karma. Even if we are free from our desires for food and sleep, attaining liberation will be difficult. As such, wishing for liberation without even achieving this much is contradictory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, let\u2019s say I have a habit of smoking. I am not saying that smoking is bad but being unable 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\u2014a 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Therefore, I recommend 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if there are no restrictions on food, I recommend that you 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 that you 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.<\/p>\n","post_title":"The Reason Why People Are Unhappy No Matter How Hard They Try to Be Happy (Jul 11, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_220711","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14202","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14195,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-24 00:49:23","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-24 05:49:23","post_content":"\n

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

The Korean Seon (Zen) master and engaged Buddhist Venerable Pomnyun Sunim, founder and chairman of the international relief organization Join Together Society (JTS), led a delegation of JTS volunteers to India in September to visit Sujata Academy, a community school established by JTS in Dungheswari, Bihar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the respected monk usually makes annual visits to Dungheswari, to engage with the volunteers and villagers and to review the progress of development activities, this occasion was the first time he had been able to travel there in more than two years because of pandemic-related restrictions. During his week-long visit, Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Published by BDG on September 26, 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Read more: <\/a>https:\/\/www.buddhistdoor.net\/news\/engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"Engaged Buddhism: Ven. Pomnyun Sunim and JTS Volunteers Visit Sujata Academy Project in India","post_excerpt":" Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-26 22:32:14","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-27 03:32:14","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14195","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14198,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-22 19:48:20","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:20","post_content":"\n

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

When you hike through the mountains, you have to climb one peak after another. Our mind is the same. Once we solve one problem, there is always another to solve. So, you repeat the process of noticing and solving one problem after another. The purpose of practice is to constantly repeat the process. Don\u2019t try too hard to do well or get frustrated because you still have a long way to go. Just keep persisting, like when you hike up the next peak in the mountains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

Illustration by Maseol <\/p>\n","post_title":"Practice is like climbing a mountain","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"practice-is-like-climbing-a-mountain","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-22 19:48:22","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:22","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14198","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":17},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"jnews_block_37"};

Page 17 of 24 Previous 1 … 16 17 18 … 24 Next

\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Published by INEB on November 24, 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Read more: https:\/\/www.inebnetwork.org\/dmz-peace-declaration-in-korea\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"DMZ Peace Declaration in Korea","post_excerpt":"INEB and Jungto Society joint DMZ Peace Declaration in Korea ","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"dmz-peace-declaration-in-korea","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-27 22:12:47","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-28 03:12:47","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14222","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14214,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-27 21:56:25","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-28 02:56:25","post_content":"\n

When the Buddha was close to death, his disciples came to him and asked:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHow would you like us to conduct your funeral?\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Buddha answered:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t need to worry about my funeral because the lay Buddhists will take care of it.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lay Buddhists are those who take refuge in the Three Jewels and practice the Five Precepts without becoming monks or nuns. When the Buddha said that they would take care of it, he meant that his funeral would be conducted based on the customs of laypeople in India. And so, after the Buddha died, lay Buddhists cremated the Buddha\u2019s body according to Indian tradition. If he had lived in Korea, the Buddha would have been buried in the ground as is the custom in Korea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Dharma is a teaching about truth, so it does not contain cultural aspects. However, since Buddhism originated in India, the local traditions, customs, and culture were integrated into Buddhist culture. Strictly speaking, neither cremation nor the 49-day posthumous ceremony is a fundamental tradition of Buddhism. They are, in fact, part of the of Indian cultural tradition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is said that the deceased person has 49 days to be saved and they are classified into one of nine levels based on their deeds during their life:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnyone can be reborn in paradise after he dies if he sincerely hopes for it. However, not everyone can be reborn in paradise right away since people fall into one of the nine categories based on their deeds.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Specifically, people are divided into three categories of high, middle, and low, and those in each of the three categories are again divided into high, middle, and low. And so there are a total of nine categories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is believed that people in the very highest category are reborn in paradise immediately after their death. It is comparable to leaving one room and entering another room. Those in the second category are reborn within 12 hours. It takes a day for those in the third category, three days for those in the fourth, a week for those in the fifth, 21 days for those in the sixth, and finally, it takes 49 days for those in the seventh category to be reborn in paradise. This is  the reason that people hold the 49-day posthumous ceremony. This ritual provides an opportunity for people to do good deeds on behalf of deceased family members and help them to be reborn in paradise within 49 days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What happens to the people in the eighth and ninth categories? Ultimately, people in all nine categories will all be reborn in paradise. However, those in the eighth and ninth categories have to spend some time in hell before doing so. Each year, Buddhists perform the Buddhist All Soul\u2019s Day ceremony in the seventh month of the lunar calendar to save the souls of those in the two lowest categories from hell. There is no point in debating whether or not this is true because it is a religious belief. As such, people are free to choose whether or not to believe it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Funeral customs vary greatly from religion to religion and country to country. In India, the dead are usually cremated. In Tibet, the dead are left to be eaten by birds. The corpse is cut up on big rocks high in the mountains, where it is consumed by vultures and birds of prey. In desert regions, the dead are \u201cburied in the wind.\u201d That is, they are nailed to a wooden board and exposed to the elements for a year until only the bones remain, after which a funeral ceremony is performed. In regions with many islands, the dead are dropped into the sea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each of these funeral rituals has its unique meaning and significance. Tibetans feed their dead to birds because they believe that the spirit of the dead will fly to heaven with the birds. Some cultures bury the dead in the ground because of the belief that the spiritual world exists underground. Meanwhile, Indians believe in reincarnation, so they cremate the corpse to help the spirits quickly sever their attachments to their worldly bodies in order to be reborn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regardless of the funeral ritual performed, once a person dies it\u2019s the end. By saying \u201cthe end\u201d I am not implying that there is no heaven or afterlife; I am simply saying that the person who draws his last breath no longer exists in this world. From a Christian viewpoint, their spirit goes to heaven. From a Buddhist perspective, their spirit is reborn. So there is nothing more we can do for them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, the best farewell for those who pass away is to let them go from our hearts.<\/p>\n","post_title":"The Best Farewell For the Deceased","post_excerpt":"When the Buddha was close to death, his disciples came to him and asked","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"the-best-farewell-for-the-deceased","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-03-02 06:41:26","post_modified_gmt":"2025-03-02 11:41:26","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14214","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14206,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-26 21:05:46","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-27 02:05:46","post_content":"\n

Why do we fear death? The thought that everything will end when we die may trigger a sense of sorrow about others as well as ourselves. These sentiments fuel fear. Our human fear of death has spawned legends and religions that promise a beautiful afterlife, devised to alleviate the terror we feel about the unknown. We feel less fearful when we think that it doesn\u2019t end when we die, that we will live on in some way or go to a better place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether or not the afterlife actually exists is not important. What matters here is that a belief in the afterlife helps us to overcome our fear of death. How empty would we feel to think that our loved ones will disappear completely when they die? Thinking that they are in a better place gives us great comfort. For this reason, instead of asking whether or not life after death exists, it\u2019s better to examine whether or not the belief of its existence is beneficial. It appears to be more beneficial than harmful, so it\u2019s best to accept the age-old methods that humans have established to overcome the fear of death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, we should refrain from placing too much emphasis on the idea of an afterlife because we know from history that it can also have negative side effects. Some examples include churches demanding large donations in exchange for a \u201cticket to Heaven\u201d and Buddhist temples overcharging for 49-day prayer rituals for the dead (49 jae<\/em>: a Buddhist-Confucian ceremony for the deceased). These examples show how religion can take advantage of people\u2019s fear as a means of extortion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the perspective of Buddhist practice, fear of death is no more real than a daydream. When our fear of death disappears and we can accept our inevitable demise as part of the natural order\u2014it will become irrelevant whether or not the afterlife exists and whether our spirits will go to a good place or a bad place. When fear melts away, everything that stemmed from fear becomes nothing but a dream. While dreaming, there are good dreams and bad dreams. However, when we wake up from the dream, regardless of whether it was good or bad, we realize that it was a dream. In the same vein, when we grasp the essence of fear, all of the issues that originated from it will disperse like clouds. This is how we transcend life and death. Transcending life and death doesn\u2019t mean not dying. Instead, it means realizing that life and death do not actually exist. The afterlife is a frequently visited topic in Buddhism. According to Buddhist beliefs, people go to paradise when they die or are reincarnated, but this cannot be proven. Every religion has different beliefs about the afterlife, but none of them has been proven. There is no point in debating endlessly which belief is right when all is but theory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo matter what evil deeds you have done, bathing in the holy Ganga River will wash away your sins and you will go to heaven upon your death. But if you do not bathe in the Ganga River, no matter how good you have been throughout your life, you will not be accepted into heaven.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was a common belief among people in India during the Buddha\u2019s lifetime. Therefore, they washed their bodies in the holy river, and those who had never bathed in the holy river during their lifetime were dipped in it posthumously. They all believed they had to do so in order to enter heaven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One day, a person who had heard of this belief went to the Buddha and asked if the Brahmans were telling the truth. The Buddha answered with a smile on his face:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf what they say is true, the fish in the river will be the first ones to go to heaven.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Buddha was saying that if a man can go to heaven for being dipped in the Ganga River after his death, the fish that live in the river will go to heaven before anyone. The Buddha\u2019s words help us reach an important realization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Traditionally, Buddhists believe that the greedy will be reincarnated as swine, the lazy as cows, and the nasty as serpents. But are pigs really that gluttonous? They eat when they are hungry, and they stop eating when they are no longer hungry. They don\u2019t prevent other pigs from eating the remaining food. Humans, on the other hand, do not share the food stored in their homes, even if there is someone starving right before their eyes. People are much greedier than pigs. Similarly, lions are wild and ferocious, but they will not kill a hare that crosses their path when they are not hungry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have created an image of a gluttonous pig, perhaps based on the sound they make when they eat, and made them synonymous with greed. There is no proof that a greedy person is reincarnated as a pig. Besides, reincarnation originated with Hinduism, so it\u2019s not originally a Buddhist belief. Over 90 per cent of Korean Buddhists believe in Hindu doctrines that they mistakenly think are Buddhist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An old lady came to consult me about her worries:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: I pray to the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, the Goddess of Mercy, but I am afraid my prayer will not be answered.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: What are you praying for?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: My granddaughter is a senior in high school. I am praying that my granddaughter gets accepted into a good college.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: What are you worried about?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: My granddaughter is a Christian.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

She felt that her prayer would not be answered however hard she prayed to the Goddess of Mercy, a Buddhist bodhisattva, because her granddaughter attended a Christian church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: You don\u2019t have to worry at all. The Goddess of Mercy is very kind and generous.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Would the infinitely compassionate Goddess of Mercy care whether a high school senior goes to a church or a Buddhist temple? She wouldn\u2019t be the Goddess of Mercy if she did, would she? Our religious beliefs are limited by our ignorance, and we disparage God or the Buddha by bringing them down to our own level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Returning to our subject, there is no need to worry about the afterlife. If heaven and hell actually exist, you will go to heaven, not to hell, when you do good deeds. Your future is decided by how you live your life now. Living well today will ensure a better tomorrow. Hoping for a better tomorrow while living an improper life today is like trying to catch a cloud. People who do bad deeds rightly deserve punishment, but when they refuse to accept the consequences and ask to be sent to heaven, they demonstrate a complete lack of awareness. Wanting to go to heaven when they have done nothing to deserve it and refusing to go to hell when they have performed deeds that warrant it is no different from desiring a good harvest after planting rotten seeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A true Christian shouldn\u2019t worry about living and dying. Since God decides whether to send someone to heaven or hell, you should just follow his will. If you are a Buddhist who believes in the law of cause and effect, and know that everything originates from the mind, you just need to cultivate your mind without worrying about what will happen tomorrow. Then your tomorrow will be better, so there is nothing to worry about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"How to Overcome the Fear of Death (Dec 03, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Why do we fear death?","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_221203","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14206","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14202,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-25 18:23:27","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-25 23:23:27","post_content":"\n

Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not. This 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy briefly. But when your desires are not<\/em> 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 that is 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, and so they wish to be born in such a world after they die. Therefore, every religion has an ideal world called heaven or paradise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The level of consumption in modern society is even higher than that which is supposedly provided by the ideal world\u2014the heaven that people dreamed of in the past. But we have greater desires now, so we often consider our life conditions to be 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 for help from almighty gods came to exist.<\/p>\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 can comfort people temporarily, like drugs, but they can\u2019t solve these problems fundamentally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

The Buddha investigated how to solve this problem in-depth. He discovered that the root cause of this never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is desire. When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy. 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 being 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.<\/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.<\/p>\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.<\/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 because although it seems impossible for humans to be free from desire, 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.<\/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 this is only a secondary and partial reason. When we are free from desire, we seldom suffer or feel fettered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Then how can we be free from our desires and karma? We meditate 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 our desires for food and sleep, we have other serious karma. Even if we are free from our desires for food and sleep, attaining liberation will be difficult. As such, wishing for liberation without even achieving this much is contradictory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, let\u2019s say I have a habit of smoking. I am not saying that smoking is bad but being unable 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\u2014a 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Therefore, I recommend 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if there are no restrictions on food, I recommend that you 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 that you 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.<\/p>\n","post_title":"The Reason Why People Are Unhappy No Matter How Hard They Try to Be Happy (Jul 11, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_220711","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14202","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14195,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-24 00:49:23","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-24 05:49:23","post_content":"\n

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

The Korean Seon (Zen) master and engaged Buddhist Venerable Pomnyun Sunim, founder and chairman of the international relief organization Join Together Society (JTS), led a delegation of JTS volunteers to India in September to visit Sujata Academy, a community school established by JTS in Dungheswari, Bihar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the respected monk usually makes annual visits to Dungheswari, to engage with the volunteers and villagers and to review the progress of development activities, this occasion was the first time he had been able to travel there in more than two years because of pandemic-related restrictions. During his week-long visit, Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Published by BDG on September 26, 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Read more: <\/a>https:\/\/www.buddhistdoor.net\/news\/engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"Engaged Buddhism: Ven. Pomnyun Sunim and JTS Volunteers Visit Sujata Academy Project in India","post_excerpt":" Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-26 22:32:14","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-27 03:32:14","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14195","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14198,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-22 19:48:20","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:20","post_content":"\n

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

When you hike through the mountains, you have to climb one peak after another. Our mind is the same. Once we solve one problem, there is always another to solve. So, you repeat the process of noticing and solving one problem after another. The purpose of practice is to constantly repeat the process. Don\u2019t try too hard to do well or get frustrated because you still have a long way to go. Just keep persisting, like when you hike up the next peak in the mountains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

Illustration by Maseol <\/p>\n","post_title":"Practice is like climbing a mountain","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"practice-is-like-climbing-a-mountain","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-22 19:48:22","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:22","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14198","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":17},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"jnews_block_37"};

Page 17 of 24 Previous 1 … 16 17 18 … 24 Next

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This happened because different people had different ideas of what Korea should be and how the people should live. Those differences became hatred and disdain that launched bombs, bullets, and knives against innocent people, and caused untold suffering that continues to resonate today beneath our very feet on this symbolic ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Published by INEB on November 24, 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Read more: https:\/\/www.inebnetwork.org\/dmz-peace-declaration-in-korea\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"DMZ Peace Declaration in Korea","post_excerpt":"INEB and Jungto Society joint DMZ Peace Declaration in Korea ","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"dmz-peace-declaration-in-korea","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-27 22:12:47","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-28 03:12:47","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14222","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14214,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-27 21:56:25","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-28 02:56:25","post_content":"\n

When the Buddha was close to death, his disciples came to him and asked:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHow would you like us to conduct your funeral?\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Buddha answered:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t need to worry about my funeral because the lay Buddhists will take care of it.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lay Buddhists are those who take refuge in the Three Jewels and practice the Five Precepts without becoming monks or nuns. When the Buddha said that they would take care of it, he meant that his funeral would be conducted based on the customs of laypeople in India. And so, after the Buddha died, lay Buddhists cremated the Buddha\u2019s body according to Indian tradition. If he had lived in Korea, the Buddha would have been buried in the ground as is the custom in Korea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Dharma is a teaching about truth, so it does not contain cultural aspects. However, since Buddhism originated in India, the local traditions, customs, and culture were integrated into Buddhist culture. Strictly speaking, neither cremation nor the 49-day posthumous ceremony is a fundamental tradition of Buddhism. They are, in fact, part of the of Indian cultural tradition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is said that the deceased person has 49 days to be saved and they are classified into one of nine levels based on their deeds during their life:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnyone can be reborn in paradise after he dies if he sincerely hopes for it. However, not everyone can be reborn in paradise right away since people fall into one of the nine categories based on their deeds.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Specifically, people are divided into three categories of high, middle, and low, and those in each of the three categories are again divided into high, middle, and low. And so there are a total of nine categories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is believed that people in the very highest category are reborn in paradise immediately after their death. It is comparable to leaving one room and entering another room. Those in the second category are reborn within 12 hours. It takes a day for those in the third category, three days for those in the fourth, a week for those in the fifth, 21 days for those in the sixth, and finally, it takes 49 days for those in the seventh category to be reborn in paradise. This is  the reason that people hold the 49-day posthumous ceremony. This ritual provides an opportunity for people to do good deeds on behalf of deceased family members and help them to be reborn in paradise within 49 days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What happens to the people in the eighth and ninth categories? Ultimately, people in all nine categories will all be reborn in paradise. However, those in the eighth and ninth categories have to spend some time in hell before doing so. Each year, Buddhists perform the Buddhist All Soul\u2019s Day ceremony in the seventh month of the lunar calendar to save the souls of those in the two lowest categories from hell. There is no point in debating whether or not this is true because it is a religious belief. As such, people are free to choose whether or not to believe it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Funeral customs vary greatly from religion to religion and country to country. In India, the dead are usually cremated. In Tibet, the dead are left to be eaten by birds. The corpse is cut up on big rocks high in the mountains, where it is consumed by vultures and birds of prey. In desert regions, the dead are \u201cburied in the wind.\u201d That is, they are nailed to a wooden board and exposed to the elements for a year until only the bones remain, after which a funeral ceremony is performed. In regions with many islands, the dead are dropped into the sea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each of these funeral rituals has its unique meaning and significance. Tibetans feed their dead to birds because they believe that the spirit of the dead will fly to heaven with the birds. Some cultures bury the dead in the ground because of the belief that the spiritual world exists underground. Meanwhile, Indians believe in reincarnation, so they cremate the corpse to help the spirits quickly sever their attachments to their worldly bodies in order to be reborn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regardless of the funeral ritual performed, once a person dies it\u2019s the end. By saying \u201cthe end\u201d I am not implying that there is no heaven or afterlife; I am simply saying that the person who draws his last breath no longer exists in this world. From a Christian viewpoint, their spirit goes to heaven. From a Buddhist perspective, their spirit is reborn. So there is nothing more we can do for them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, the best farewell for those who pass away is to let them go from our hearts.<\/p>\n","post_title":"The Best Farewell For the Deceased","post_excerpt":"When the Buddha was close to death, his disciples came to him and asked","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"the-best-farewell-for-the-deceased","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-03-02 06:41:26","post_modified_gmt":"2025-03-02 11:41:26","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14214","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14206,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-26 21:05:46","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-27 02:05:46","post_content":"\n

Why do we fear death? The thought that everything will end when we die may trigger a sense of sorrow about others as well as ourselves. These sentiments fuel fear. Our human fear of death has spawned legends and religions that promise a beautiful afterlife, devised to alleviate the terror we feel about the unknown. We feel less fearful when we think that it doesn\u2019t end when we die, that we will live on in some way or go to a better place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether or not the afterlife actually exists is not important. What matters here is that a belief in the afterlife helps us to overcome our fear of death. How empty would we feel to think that our loved ones will disappear completely when they die? Thinking that they are in a better place gives us great comfort. For this reason, instead of asking whether or not life after death exists, it\u2019s better to examine whether or not the belief of its existence is beneficial. It appears to be more beneficial than harmful, so it\u2019s best to accept the age-old methods that humans have established to overcome the fear of death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, we should refrain from placing too much emphasis on the idea of an afterlife because we know from history that it can also have negative side effects. Some examples include churches demanding large donations in exchange for a \u201cticket to Heaven\u201d and Buddhist temples overcharging for 49-day prayer rituals for the dead (49 jae<\/em>: a Buddhist-Confucian ceremony for the deceased). These examples show how religion can take advantage of people\u2019s fear as a means of extortion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the perspective of Buddhist practice, fear of death is no more real than a daydream. When our fear of death disappears and we can accept our inevitable demise as part of the natural order\u2014it will become irrelevant whether or not the afterlife exists and whether our spirits will go to a good place or a bad place. When fear melts away, everything that stemmed from fear becomes nothing but a dream. While dreaming, there are good dreams and bad dreams. However, when we wake up from the dream, regardless of whether it was good or bad, we realize that it was a dream. In the same vein, when we grasp the essence of fear, all of the issues that originated from it will disperse like clouds. This is how we transcend life and death. Transcending life and death doesn\u2019t mean not dying. Instead, it means realizing that life and death do not actually exist. The afterlife is a frequently visited topic in Buddhism. According to Buddhist beliefs, people go to paradise when they die or are reincarnated, but this cannot be proven. Every religion has different beliefs about the afterlife, but none of them has been proven. There is no point in debating endlessly which belief is right when all is but theory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo matter what evil deeds you have done, bathing in the holy Ganga River will wash away your sins and you will go to heaven upon your death. But if you do not bathe in the Ganga River, no matter how good you have been throughout your life, you will not be accepted into heaven.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was a common belief among people in India during the Buddha\u2019s lifetime. Therefore, they washed their bodies in the holy river, and those who had never bathed in the holy river during their lifetime were dipped in it posthumously. They all believed they had to do so in order to enter heaven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One day, a person who had heard of this belief went to the Buddha and asked if the Brahmans were telling the truth. The Buddha answered with a smile on his face:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf what they say is true, the fish in the river will be the first ones to go to heaven.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Buddha was saying that if a man can go to heaven for being dipped in the Ganga River after his death, the fish that live in the river will go to heaven before anyone. The Buddha\u2019s words help us reach an important realization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Traditionally, Buddhists believe that the greedy will be reincarnated as swine, the lazy as cows, and the nasty as serpents. But are pigs really that gluttonous? They eat when they are hungry, and they stop eating when they are no longer hungry. They don\u2019t prevent other pigs from eating the remaining food. Humans, on the other hand, do not share the food stored in their homes, even if there is someone starving right before their eyes. People are much greedier than pigs. Similarly, lions are wild and ferocious, but they will not kill a hare that crosses their path when they are not hungry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have created an image of a gluttonous pig, perhaps based on the sound they make when they eat, and made them synonymous with greed. There is no proof that a greedy person is reincarnated as a pig. Besides, reincarnation originated with Hinduism, so it\u2019s not originally a Buddhist belief. Over 90 per cent of Korean Buddhists believe in Hindu doctrines that they mistakenly think are Buddhist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An old lady came to consult me about her worries:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: I pray to the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, the Goddess of Mercy, but I am afraid my prayer will not be answered.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: What are you praying for?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: My granddaughter is a senior in high school. I am praying that my granddaughter gets accepted into a good college.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: What are you worried about?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: My granddaughter is a Christian.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

She felt that her prayer would not be answered however hard she prayed to the Goddess of Mercy, a Buddhist bodhisattva, because her granddaughter attended a Christian church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

P: You don\u2019t have to worry at all. The Goddess of Mercy is very kind and generous.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Would the infinitely compassionate Goddess of Mercy care whether a high school senior goes to a church or a Buddhist temple? She wouldn\u2019t be the Goddess of Mercy if she did, would she? Our religious beliefs are limited by our ignorance, and we disparage God or the Buddha by bringing them down to our own level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Returning to our subject, there is no need to worry about the afterlife. If heaven and hell actually exist, you will go to heaven, not to hell, when you do good deeds. Your future is decided by how you live your life now. Living well today will ensure a better tomorrow. Hoping for a better tomorrow while living an improper life today is like trying to catch a cloud. People who do bad deeds rightly deserve punishment, but when they refuse to accept the consequences and ask to be sent to heaven, they demonstrate a complete lack of awareness. Wanting to go to heaven when they have done nothing to deserve it and refusing to go to hell when they have performed deeds that warrant it is no different from desiring a good harvest after planting rotten seeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A true Christian shouldn\u2019t worry about living and dying. Since God decides whether to send someone to heaven or hell, you should just follow his will. If you are a Buddhist who believes in the law of cause and effect, and know that everything originates from the mind, you just need to cultivate your mind without worrying about what will happen tomorrow. Then your tomorrow will be better, so there is nothing to worry about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"How to Overcome the Fear of Death (Dec 03, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Why do we fear death?","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_221203","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14206","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14202,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-25 18:23:27","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-25 23:23:27","post_content":"\n

Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not. This 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy briefly. But when your desires are not<\/em> 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 that is 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, and so they wish to be born in such a world after they die. Therefore, every religion has an ideal world called heaven or paradise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The level of consumption in modern society is even higher than that which is supposedly provided by the ideal world\u2014the heaven that people dreamed of in the past. But we have greater desires now, so we often consider our life conditions to be 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 for help from almighty gods came to exist.<\/p>\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 can comfort people temporarily, like drugs, but they can\u2019t solve these problems fundamentally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

The Buddha investigated how to solve this problem in-depth. He discovered that the root cause of this never-ending cycle of joy and suffering is desire. When your desires are fulfilled, you feel joy. 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 being 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.<\/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.<\/p>\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.<\/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 because although it seems impossible for humans to be free from desire, 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.<\/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 this is only a secondary and partial reason. When we are free from desire, we seldom suffer or feel fettered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Then how can we be free from our desires and karma? We meditate 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 our desires for food and sleep, we have other serious karma. Even if we are free from our desires for food and sleep, attaining liberation will be difficult. As such, wishing for liberation without even achieving this much is contradictory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, let\u2019s say I have a habit of smoking. I am not saying that smoking is bad but being unable 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\u2014a 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Therefore, I recommend 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if there are no restrictions on food, I recommend that you 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 that you 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.<\/p>\n","post_title":"The Reason Why People Are Unhappy No Matter How Hard They Try to Be Happy (Jul 11, 2022)","post_excerpt":"Everybody wants to be free and happy but they are not.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"pomnyun_220711","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-02 20:40:57","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-03 01:40:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14202","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14195,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-24 00:49:23","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-24 05:49:23","post_content":"\n

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

The Korean Seon (Zen) master and engaged Buddhist Venerable Pomnyun Sunim, founder and chairman of the international relief organization Join Together Society (JTS), led a delegation of JTS volunteers to India in September to visit Sujata Academy, a community school established by JTS in Dungheswari, Bihar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the respected monk usually makes annual visits to Dungheswari, to engage with the volunteers and villagers and to review the progress of development activities, this occasion was the first time he had been able to travel there in more than two years because of pandemic-related restrictions. During his week-long visit, Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Published by BDG on September 26, 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25b6\ufe0f Read more: <\/a>https:\/\/www.buddhistdoor.net\/news\/engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","post_title":"Engaged Buddhism: Ven. Pomnyun Sunim and JTS Volunteers Visit Sujata Academy Project in India","post_excerpt":" Ven. Pomnyun Sunim spent time with the staff of JTS India, and discussed the needs and requests of the local residents and of the children of Sujata Academy.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"engaged-buddhism-ven-pomnyun-sunim-and-jts-volunteers-visit-sujata-academy-project-in-india","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-26 22:32:14","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-27 03:32:14","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14195","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":14198,"post_author":"13","post_date":"2022-11-22 19:48:20","post_date_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:20","post_content":"\n

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

When you hike through the mountains, you have to climb one peak after another. Our mind is the same. Once we solve one problem, there is always another to solve. So, you repeat the process of noticing and solving one problem after another. The purpose of practice is to constantly repeat the process. Don\u2019t try too hard to do well or get frustrated because you still have a long way to go. Just keep persisting, like when you hike up the next peak in the mountains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

Illustration by Maseol <\/p>\n","post_title":"Practice is like climbing a mountain","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"practice-is-like-climbing-a-mountain","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-11-22 19:48:22","post_modified_gmt":"2022-11-23 00:48:22","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.jungtosociety.org\/?p=14198","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"next":false,"prev":true,"total_page":17},"paged":1,"column_class":"jeg_col_2o3","class":"jnews_block_37"};

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