The Paradox of Control

The Paradox of Control 

When I thought about doing my homework 

or cleaning my room, 

I suddenly lost interest as soon as my mom told me to. 

When my siblings, friends, or partner gave me orders, 

it would hurt my pride, lightly and seriously. 

Knowing well that being told what to do is never pleasant, 

I ironically find myself doing the same to others at times. 

Through meditation, reflecting on that mind, 

I think I understand why - 

it is because we want to have control over ourselves. 

However, I belong to neither my parents, 

my partner, nor even myself. 

When we realize that we are representations 

of the infinite universe's emptiness, 

coming from it and returning to it, 

we will stop trying to claim control over the 'self', 

let alone others, 

and instead try to live absent of the 'self'.

 

By letting go of the 'self' through meditation, 

we can live in harmony as the universe itself, 

focusing on a greater vision 

rather than wasting emotional energy 

in struggles for control.

I know how to eat this

I know how to eat this.

 

This is a story shared by my meditation teacher, 

saying that in life, those who are self-assertive 

cannot accommodate others. 

In the past, when I lived in a countryside, 

one of the relatives brought a bag of snack. 

A boy with a runny nose brought it out to the town 

to brag and eat it. 

The leader of the kids in the neighborhood said, 

"I also know how to eat this." 

But this boy ate it all as if he couldn't hear him.

Because he is the boss, because of his ego, 

he doesn't know how to ask for it. 

He should have gently said, 

"Can you please give me some snack?" 

but he only says "I can eat this, too, you know." 

If his purpose is eating the snack, 

he should act to obtain the snack. 

The boy, as if to tease, finishes the snack, 

and then the leader, all he can say is, 

"Hey bastard, I also know how to eat this," 

and cries, making a scene.

Have you had similar experiences? 

Times when emotions took over 

because you couldn't express 

yourself honestly and clearly? 

If so, it's time to reflect on the ego-driven mind, 

such as fear of rejection, conflict, criticism, 

concern about reputation, lack of courage, 

or wanting to hide vulnerability. 

Just as the leader's emotional outburst 

in the story seems unwise, 

let us clear all the troubled minds 

and interact easily with others.

The human mind is like a video

The human mind is like a video 

The human mind is like a video.

This means people live their lives in an illusion from birth. 

It is comparable to a video 

because, through the eyes, ears,

nose, mouth, and body 

- the five senses - 

they take pictures of everything they experience 

and store them within. 

These become form the "self" 

and dictate how they live and behave. 

As people live out their lives within this mind 

- this "film" - 

they take pictures of their hometown, 

their years in elementary, middle, and high school,

college, marriage, career, and religious life. 

Not only have they taken pictures

of their entire past in their mind, 

but they will continue to do so 

even in the future 

of all that they see hear, speak, smell, and feel.

For example, anyone who has been to a beach 

will have an image of the beach in their mind. 

The human mind works exactly like a camera. 

The images on film in the camera are not real; 

they are false. 

The actual beach is what is real. 

What is inside the mind is false, 

just like images on a reel of film. 

This is why we are told to cleanse and empty our minds,

as people are living inside a video.

People have always lived inside this mind, this film, 

and have never once seen or lived 

in the complete world. 

This is what sin is; what karma is. 

Your whole life, 

including everything that happened today, 

was simultaneously taken as a picture 

the moment you saw it. 

Moreover, you are inside that film, the picture.

When you think carefully about your day today, 

wasn't it all inside your mind?

We can live as one with the complete world 

when we destroy this picture world

and come out from within it. 

Thus, the mind that we must cleanse and empty 

is the world of pictures. 

The real world is already complete, 

and it is already enlightened.

Only humans are incomplete 

for they live in a picture world. 

When seen from the real world, it is non-existent 

and when a person who is within this mind world dies, 

they disappear forever. 

The elephant and the Rope 

When an elephant is young, 

it is tied to a sturdy post with a rope. 

No matter how hard it tries, 

it cannot break free. 

Over time, it gives up, 

believing escape is impossible. 

As the elephant grows big and strong,

it could easily break the rope, 

but it doesn't try. 

It remains tied - not by the rope, 

but by the belief formed in its mind.

It's important to reflect on the things 

you continue out of habit, 

such as staying within your comfort zone, 

maintaining unhealthy relationships, 

or chasing wealth and recognition 

based on others' standards 

instead of seeking your own true happiness. 

Remember, it's not the condition, 

but your beliefs that tie you. 

Meditation helps clear these old beliefs,

allowing you to begin a new, liberated life.

Consistency makes the raindrops

to create holes in the rock.

Just keep doing it,

we can be free of all human matters that make you stress

and live well in the real world.

Where Is Heaven?

Where Is Heaven?

Many people think about death and have questions about it but there is no one who knows the answers to their questions. Each religion talks of a world beyond this world: in Buddhism, it is said the world of paradise, where Buddha resides, exists. In Christianity, it is said that heaven exists. However, no one knows which place is true.

In any case, heaven is a world that exists and hell is a world that does not exist. Man is born into the world with a limited amount of time. During his time in the world, he stands at a crossroads of living or dying. However, no one in the world truly realizes this. No one knows whether he will die or live, because man does not have true knowledge that comes from wisdom.

There have been billions on of people Earth who lived seventy to eighty years and passed away. While many people believe they moved on to another place, the only thing that is certain is that they have disappeared from this world.

The principle of the world is that you exist because the ground exists; the ground exists because the Earth or the foundation exists, the Earth, sun, moon, and stars in the sky exist because the empty Universe exists. This is the origin or the original foundation. This original foundation is the master of the Universe and only this original foundation is Truth.

For us, people, our lives in this world are the same as dreaming a mere dream. From the perspective of the everlasting existence, Truth, which has existed since the beginning, we are dreaming a dream that lasts only for a split-second.

The original foundation or the place beyond material existence is Truth, the master of the Universe and the Creator. This existence is a non-material, immortal and living existence; it is the master of the world; it is the Jung and Shin of the Universe that is the master of the world; the Universe's Soul and Spirit. The only eternal existence in the Universe is this existence. For man to live forever he must be reborn with the Soul and Spirit, or the body and mind, of this existence. Otherwise, there is no such thing as eternity in the world.

The human mind is the mind of sin and karma; a false mind world which has copied what belongs to the real world. What is in the world is true but man lives not in the world but inside his own mind which is like a video. This world is hell; an illusionary world. It is false and it does not exist in the real world. From the viewpoint of the real world, it does not exist. In other words, the illusionary world of the video does not exist in the world.

Since man does not live in the world and instead lives in his mind - a copy of the world that overlaps with the world - when he dies he simply disappears. However, when he erases his self-made mind world which is false, the original foundation remains.

If we think about it, the original foundation existed before you were born, and it exists now. It will still exist even after you die. Unless you swap your mind to this existence of Truth, which is the origin, an eternal land does not exist. Doesn't the Universe still exit even after both your mind world and yourself disappear? Material matter in the Universe exists because your mind exists; even after all material matter is erased, the sky still exists. When you become this empty sky and you are reborn from this sky, you will never die.

Only this place is the land without death and this land is a world where one lives forever. If man discards his mind world and his self living in it, he will have the mind of the origin and if his mind becomes this mind of the origin, his mind will become the mind of the world. Within this mind of the world, one's true soul that is the substance of Truth must be reborn. Only then can his body and mind of the true soul live forever in this world even after the body disappears.

It is here that heaven exists. God or Buddha exists in the mind of a person who has become one with the mind of the world, and it is here that heaven also exists. He who has become this mind has the mind of the world. He will live forever in this land, in the world of the Soul and Spirit, where everything in this world is as it is.

Because it is said that we will live with this body in this land, some people and some religions believe that it is the physical body that will live forever. However, it is Truth and the principle of nature that man's physical body cannot live forever. As scientists have proven, even the stars in the sky, including the Earth, have life spans and can only live up to fifteen billion years. It is not the material form that lives, but the original foundation, the Soul and Spirit which is Truth, which will live forever here in this land of Truth. Such a place is heaven. To be reborn and to live in this heaven, one must discard his mind of sins and karma that has turned its back on the world. He must become the mind of the world and within that mind, the world and one's self must be resurrected as the Soul and Spirit, in order to live in this land which is heaven.

Reference: Great teacher Woo Myung's book "Stop Living in this Land and Go to the Everlasting World of Happiness. Live there forever."

What Man Is Mistaken About

What Man Is Mistaken About

Man lives in a world of his own mind; therefore he regards the information stored in his mind from childhood through his eyes, nose, mouth, and body to be correct. Anything that is not within his mind is often rejected and denied.

Long ago, Korea had its own religion. When Buddhism entered the country it was not well accepted because it spoke of new things. Chadon Lee, the Buddhist martyr, was executed. Eventually, Buddhism was accepted as the state religion during the period of the Three Kingdoms, and in the Joseon era, Confucianism became widespread. Christianity is now prevalent in modern times, but it too was oppressed when it first entered the country.

It is hard for those who are zealous to accept something different from their way of thinking. Even now, every individual has his own religion. Each person thinks that what he believes is right and cannot easily accept what others believe. This is the way of the human mind.

It is also very difficult for people to accept something other than what is within them. In Israel, for example, the followers of Judaism do not believe in Jesus. In each country, a new religion is always oppressed and around the world, there have been countless religious wars, which took the lives of innumerable people. The Jewish people believe that the Messiah will come to the world; while the followers of Christianity believe in the second coming of Christ, who is the omniscient, omnipotent God. Christians are waiting for him to come down on clouds accompanied by trumpeting angels. They believe this quite literally without understanding the true meaning and are awaiting the arrival of God in this manner. There are so many different interpretations because there is no one who knows the existence of God, the Truth.

God is the empty Universe itself, the Universe where all material things in the world have been subtracted. This is the original form of God. If this existence comes as a human being, he has come from heaven because he has heaven within his mind. He is one born as the Holy Spirit; so if God comes in human form, God is human. While man believes that an existence other than a human being will come, a person who has the land of God within his mind and has the soul of this land itself is Truth born in the original heaven, though he may have the form of a human- being. Even if such a person is living presently among the people of the world, no one would recognize him because in the eyes of man, he is just a man.

The word omniscient in the phrase "omnipotent and omniscient", means to know the ways of the world. Man only knows what he has read and learned but if he becomes God, the great Universe, he will know all the ways of the world. Only the Universe knows the origin of human existence, where man comes from, why he lives, and where he goes. Man, however, does not know.

The word omnipotent in that same phrase means the creation of everything in this world is done by God, the origin. This means that everything came from the origin; everything in this world was created by God. God is omnipotent because he created all the billions upon billions of things that exist.

It is through his words, however, that God will give new birth to man and everything in the world as the Holy Spirit. This is also why God is omnipotent. Man believes that accomplishing miracles or something of that nature is omnipotent, but a person who saves incomplete and dead people by making them true is omnipotent. Only this person can resurrect the world in the land of Truth and save the dead consciousness of man, giving him life. God, who is omnipotent and omniscient, gives birth to the world in heaven, the land of God; therefore he is omnipotent. Omnipotence is enabling the whole to be born and live.

Material creation occurs when certain conditions come together in balance and harmony that enables the creation. God enables those material things to live forever through spiritual creation. This is accomplished by the word of God, which is his will and Truth. True omnipotent ability is spiritual creation and only God can do this.

Instead of waiting for the coming of his own preconceived notions of a Savior, Maitreya, Jung-do-ryung or God, man should seek out a place where human completion is possible, as this place may be a sign that the existence of Truth has come. Do not expect this existence to be of a particular shape or form. If a place for becoming Truth exists, then the time for accomplishing Truth and completion has come. A Savior of your own preconceptions, in the form you are expecting, will never come. Just as the Jewish people are still waiting for their Messiah, you will wait forever.

Reference: Great teacher Woo Myung's book "Stop Living in this Land and Go to the Everlasting World of Happiness. Live there forever."

My first full marathon challenge! (Sunny Hwang)

My first full marathon challenge!

At this age, well into my mid-50s, could I really do it?

I took on the challenge with half worry and half anticipation.

Looking back on my life, sports were far from me.

In fact, I don't have any sports that I can do.

If breathing is exercise, then that's the only thing I've done so far.

Since I have legs, I walk, and if I go to the mountains, I follow. That's all.

When we ran at school, I was always the last runner.

No matter how hard I ran, I was always the last.

But sometimes I made it to the podium. When three people were running or a friend I was running with fell...

While practicing for the physical education class in my third year of middle school, I ran hard, but the PE teacher told me to run again. He said I ran too halfheartedly. Haha

But after living in Cambodia for a long time, I somehow started running. I was walking, and my neighbor was running slowly, which looked cool. I followed him, and a few years passed. 

Even though my neighbors suggested that we go to a running event in another region, I didn't go. More than anything, I valued what I was doing and what I had to do...

But starting this year, I just joined without thinking.

April 7, 2024, Sihanoukville International Half Marathon

December 1, Angkor International Half Marathon

December 8, Batambong Half Marathon

December 22, Angkor Indochine Full Marathon

There were a lot of marathon events this December.

Thanks to that, I was able to participate in a full marathon. I'm really grateful.

I only participated in the full marathon, but I didn't actually finish the run. My wish was non-stop run for the full marathon.

After 37km, I stopped running once and couldn't run again.

I walked like a defeated soldier. Even my shoes felt heavy as I walked.

I took off my shoes and socks and walked barefoot. I think I walked more than 5km barefoot.

With 1km left, I put on my shoes and slowly started running again. I didn't want to go to the finish line barefoot and worn out like a defeated soldier. Because there were photographers...

That's why I had to participate in the event.

Because it motivated me to push myself again.

The marathon event team let me run together,

The fellow marathoners who ran together,

The tuk-tuk driver that picked me up early in the morning,

The hotel was like my home it always let me sleep,

The bus that took me to Siem Reap,

My parents who gave me a healthy body,

The friends, siblings, family, and meditation members who always cheered me on,...

The younger daughter, who came to Cambodia a few days ago and gave me a gift for running.

My teachers, who told me to practice for 30 minutes every day, more than anything else.

I'm just grateful for everything in the world.

People are beautiful!

The world is beautiful!

Coexistence is heaven!

Thank you to the universe!

Thank you let me live in Cambodia!