2023-05-06 20:49:03
“If you have left home, you should have this level of pride.”
hello. Today, the monk toured Paro, near Thimphu, and chatted with nuns (women of Southern Buddhism).
At the inn, you and I prepared breakfast for you. After eating, we departed for Paro at 8:30. First, I went to Paro Tabletop Temple, which is said to be a representative building of Bhutan. There was a temple built on the edge of a sheer cliff. The monk bowed towards the temple.
“I’m sorry I mightn’t go up.” (Laughs)
Sitting on the lawn under the table temple, the monk chatted with his companions.
“How long will it take to go up to the desk employee?”
“It will take five hours.”
It seemed that there would be disruptions to the followingnoon schedule. Unfortunately, we have moved to Drukgyel Dzong.
Drukgeljong is a Buddhist monastery and a wall built in 1649 to prevent Tibetan invasion. It was almost destroyed by fire in the early 1950s, but is currently undergoing restoration work. I saw a lot of people doing maintenance work all over the place. The monk looked around the castle and talked.
“The Punakha Dzong I saw the other day also has strong walls, but the Drukgel Dzong is built on top of a mountain and is surrounded by walls on all sides, so it looks like a fortress.”
The monk looked around the castle slowly and set off for Thimphu once more. After lunch on the way, he arrived at the BNF Center (Butan Nun Foundation) and first paid his respects to the Buddha enshrined in the library.
Seven Nuns were waiting in the library. Last year, I first received nuns in Bhutan, and now they are all nuns. The monk started the conversation by thanking you for taking care of accommodation and meals while in Bhutan.
“It has been ten days since I came to Bhutan. Thank you for arranging for us to sleep and eat well during our stay here. All schedules were good. The bus ride from Phuentsholing across the border, the week-long trip to the east, the tour of the village, and the conversation with various people at the end were all good.
The purpose of my coming to Bhutan was to find a way to increase GNH (Gross National Happiness) without following capitalism and consumerism. I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be possible to create a model of a happy life in Bhutan even if not rich?’
As you know, modern civilization is steeped in capitalism and consumerism. I think producing a lot and using a lot is the way to live well. But not everyone can live like that. If consumption continues to increase as it is now, resources will be exhausted. When resources are scarce, prices will rise and the risk of war will rise. As China and India develop, this is already happening. Humanity has further developed science and technology, such as developing artificial resources to solve the problem of scarce resources. But bigger challenges emerged than the lack of resources. It’s the climate crisis.
The climate crisis is likely to bring risks we never imagined. In Korea, for example, many bees died following winter last year. Honey is also a problem, but more than that, the harvest of agricultural products has decreased because the fruit of fruits and vegetables has not been fertilized. As a result, the price of agricultural products has risen significantly. Some scientists even predict that humanity will face a food crisis if all bees die.
In the future, the extinction of small creatures due to climate change will be a thousand times more terrifying than nuclear weapons. The extinction of these small creatures may lead to the extinction of mankind. As in the case of bees, no one can yet predict what the consequences of climate change will be.
Why did mankind walk the path of self-destruction? It’s because the perspective of looking at the world is wrong. People are looking at the world from the perspective that ‘all beings in this world exist individually and independently’. That is why, even if someone suffers, they think that it has nothing to do with them, and that it is only necessary that they do not suffer.
At this point, we should consider the teachings of the Buddha. What did the Buddha realize under the Bodhi tree? It is a method of acting that says ‘all beings in this world are related to each other’.
‘There is this, so there is that. Without this, there is no that.’
With bees there are people, and without bees there are no people. This is the acting method. All beings are deferred to each other. Nothing exists individually. If you don’t know the reality of these beings, your life will be painful. When you know the truth, the suffering disappears.
The climate crisis is also a result of not knowing the acting method of ‘destroying nature is destroying me’. To overcome the climate crisis, we must consume less. If you tell people to reduce consumption unconditionally, it is not sustainable because you have to suppress your desire. To find a sustainable alternative, we have to go back to the teachings of the Buddha. If you look at the world through the smoke method, you can automatically know that saving nature is the way to save yourself.
We must be confident that we can overcome the climate crisis through the teachings of the Buddha. Only then can you be confident as a disciple of the Buddha. If you’re a monk, you should have this level of pride. Without this perspective, even if you shave your head and go to the temple, you are not entitled to the offerings of sentient beings. Without such pride, how can a monk solve the problems of mankind and become a teacher to all beings?
Are you going to live in a temple just doing rituals to bless individuals? Or will you go the path of a leader or teacher who solves the world’s problems such as climate crisis, war, and hunger?
We must go back to the Buddha’s fundamental teachings. We must accept the Buddha as our model for life and live according to his teachings. The Buddha was always confident, even when he begged, picked up his clothes, and slept under a tree. Rather, he eased the pain of the king and took care of the pain of his rebirth. Through his frugal life, the Buddha showed us the way to be content and happy without material abundance.
If you know the Buddha’s teachings accurately, you can prepare an alternative to overcome the crisis of modern civilization caused by capitalism and consumerism.”
The monk spoke while explaining the meaning to the interpreters in order to properly convey each word to you. Even the eyes of you looking at the monk were clear.
After the Dharma talk, Hannon thanked the monk.
“Thank you so much for coming all the way here and giving such a good Dharma talk. I feel really blessed to be able to meet you. What you said today is something no one has heard. I will engrave those words in my heart and devote myself to practice. I hope you come to the center once more someday. I hope that the purpose of your visit to Bhutan will be fulfilled well.”
The monk thanked you for feeding and sleeping with you at the BNF Center for a few days, and delivered a simple gift and donation.
After the conversation, we invited BNF center staff to a Korean restaurant and treated them to dinner. The owner of the restaurant welcomed the monk’s visit and prepared a meal with care. After the meal, the monk asked practitioners to pay special attention to basic education for the younger ones and promised to support them.
Now it’s time to go back to Korea. Tomorrow, I’m going to Delhi, India from Paro, Bhutan.
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#left #home #level #pride
