In 2023, a monk travelled to Turkiye following a long journey from Bangkok to Jeddah and a night at the airport. Upon arrival, he met with the Turkiye Earthquake Emergency Response Team and decided to take a tour of the historical sites. He visited Troy and was struck by the similarities between its walls and those of Goguryeo. He explored the ruins and the museum, examining the artifacts and explaining their significance to the JTS Emergency Relief Team. The monk also discussed the Buddhist acting method during a live broadcast, explaining how everything in the world is connected through a delayed, or acting, link. Although some connections may not be immediately visible, they exist and influence our lives.
“How do you experience the Buddhist acting method in everyday life?”
hello. Today, the monk departed from Bangkok Airport yesterday at 6:45 pm, took an 8-hour flight, arrived at Jeddah Airport, near Mecca, Saudi Arabia, at 11 pm last night, spent the night at the airport for 4 hours, and returned at 3:15 am. I boarded a plane to Turkiye.
On the plane to Turkiye, the monk organized the schedule he had spent so far and made notes in his notebook regarding what he had to do in the future. After 4 hours of planning and taking notes, he arrived at Turkiye Airport at 7:25 am.
The monk moved out of the airport and met the Turkiye Earthquake Emergency Response Team.
“Originally, I should be in Pakistan right now, but now that the schedule has turned out like this, let’s take a quick tour of the historical sites. Troy is four hours away from here.”
The monk moved right away to explore Troy. On the way to Troy, the monk opened a map and explained world history and world geography in detail.
The explanation of the past World War I, the history of Troy, and the places around Troy continued.
“This northern end is the Black Sea, this southern end is the Mediterranean Sea, and the bridge that connects them is the Canakkale Bridge. On the way, let’s cross the Canakkale Bridge and see Troy, Pergamon and Ephesus. But I don’t know if I can see them all. I wasted two hours at the airport today, unable to find my luggage.”
At around 12:30, the Canakkale Bridge came out. The bridge between the seas was really big and magnificent.
“The height of this bridge is said to be higher than the Eiffel Tower. It is said to be a bridge built by a Korean construction company.”
After passing the Canakkale Bridge, we arrived at Canakkale, where World War I took place. Troy was getting closer. I saw a wooden horse set from the movie ‘Troy’ in this place.
Upon entering Troy, the monk went around and took many pictures.
“The technology used to build the walls of Troy is very similar to that of Goguryeo.”
The monk looked at various places, examining the structure of the wall, its contours, and the surrounding topography in detail.
“I didn’t know from the outside, but when I came here, I saw that the walls were piled up on top of the mountain. But from the outside it didn’t look like that at all. There is a wall like this on top of the mountain, so it has no choice but to fall.”
The monk looked at the map in the brochure and looked at the traces of Troy one by one.
“Looking at it like this reminds me of the old Hwangseong site.”
I heard a monk quietly singing a song at the ruins of Troy.
“Monk, you are taking a lot of pictures today”
“yes. There are parts that are very similar to the Goguryeo fortress wall structure. I am going to give this photo to the person in charge of history education to study it.”
After looking around the ruins, the monk moved to the museum.
“I moved the things from here to the museum.”
There were artifacts from the entrance to the museum.
“The foundation stones of our country are beautiful, and the foundation stones here are also very beautiful.”
The monk looked at the cornerstone for a long time.
There were so many artifacts in the museum. It was a bowl used in Troy, the king’s accessories, a coffin in a tomb, and various objects that can help you guess the life of the time.
The monk gave a detailed explanation of the artifact to the JTS Emergency Relief Team.
After looking around for a while, it was already past 4pm.
“Today, I just want to see this far. I was going to go to all of them, but I wanted to go more, but I don’t want to create a problem with tomorrow’s schedule, so let’s make a meal on the way and go to the inn today.”
After leaving the museum, we ate out on the way to the accommodation and arrived at the accommodation. We unpacked at the accommodation and took a rest.
Tomorrow, we plan to explore and explore more of the Turkiye region.
Since there was no Dharma talk today, I will end this article by giving you the contents of an instant interview that took place on the live broadcast of the Buddhist training meeting the other day ago.
“It makes sense in my head that I am physically connected when I study acting. But when I meet people, I don’t think I can experience acting. For example, if you meditate as Venerable Pomnyun explained, your mind will be at ease and you will have the experience of noticing your mind well in everyday life. But I don’t think I have any experience with acting. When I meet someone, I hate that person, and sometimes I feel like competing. I think like this. At the time of the Buddha, there was no scientific proof that all beings were connected as one, but the Buddha realized the Dharma of Dependent Origination, right? I wonder how the Buddha realized the acting method and how he applied it in reality.”
“It’s hard to understand when you say you’re mentally deferred. Because the mind is invisible. What is visible is easy to understand, but what is invisible is difficult to understand. What we see with our eyes, hear with our ears, and know by touching with our hands all correspond to material things.
It can be seen that anything solidly connected is deferred, just as the roots of a tree and the ground are connected. And since we can see and touch liquids, we can identify smoke. However, since the aircraft is invisible, it feels as if there is no connection. But if you study science, you will find that trees are solid and liquid with the ground, and gaseous with the air. Cutting the root of a tree cuts off its connection to the ground and causes it to die. And if you surround the tree with a plastic bag and block the air, it will die without cutting the roots. Because what is acting as a gas is blocked.
When cell phones first came out, everyone was amazed. ‘How can I be connected when I am not connected with wires?’ I was amazed, but my cell phone works because it is delayed by radio waves. The sun and the earth are delayed by the waves of light. So if you block the light, the plant will die. If you block radio waves, your cell phone won’t work, just like cutting a wire. However, since radio waves are not visible to us, we do not know that they are delayed and think that we are alone.
But the Buddha realized that everything is postponed. What the mother does affects the child, what the child does affects the mother, and what the media does affects us a lot. When the media tells a story like this, we know it’s all true. Whether it is a good relationship or a bad relationship, it can be said that they are all related to each other. We are all related and influenced by each other. That’s what I call ‘acting’. However, if we cannot see the connected link, we think that there is no connection. So many side effects occur.
So is our body. When you have a headache, you need to put acupuncture on your head, but there are cases where you put acupuncture on your feet or on your hands. We do that because our nerves are all connected. Stimulating any part of the hand affects which part of the head, and stimulating any part of the foot affects the stomach. So when you feel sick, if you put acupuncture on any part of your hand, your body level goes down. It’s because when you stimulate that part, it is delivered to the painful part. I am doing it because I know that this has all been postponed.
However, most people live without knowing that people and nature are acting. But man and nature are dependent on each other in every part: the food they eat, the air they breathe, and the breath they breathe. However, since it is not acting as a solid like tree roots and water pipes, you will think that ‘there is no relationship’.
The material smoke of this world contains solid concepts, liquid concepts, gas concepts, and wave concepts. Mental connections are also the concept of waves. These facts are now scientifically revealed, but in everyday life, people forget regarding them. Because it is difficult to know by experience. The reason why the acting method is not applied well in everyday life is that smoke is thought to be only connected by a pipe. You live without knowing regarding the invisible acting. You can understand that scientists have discovered the material connection to the principles of all things, and Buddhas have realized all the principles and principles of the material world, the life world, and the spiritual world.”
“all right. I was also able to reconsider the invisible smoke. I will try to notice every moment so that I can make better choices in the future.”
“If bees disappear on Earth, there will be no bee stings, and there will be no problems with our lives, right? It’s not like that. If the bee dies, all the flowers will not be fertilized. So, all fruits and vegetables on earth will perish. In that case, even human life might become extinct within three years. In this way we live in relatedness. Yet we don’t know it and just live with it.
We exist in this world because we need all the small and insignificant things that we see as unnecessary. So, I would like you to reconsider the Buddha’s teaching that all beings should not be harmed recklessly, even if it is unavoidable.”
“thank you.”
In conclusion, the tour of Troy, Turkey with the monk was a fascinating insight into world history and geography. The monk’s observations and explanations gave us a new perspective on the awesome technology used to build ancient structures like the walls of Troy. We also learned that everything in our lives is postponed and that we are all interconnected, just like the roots of a tree and the ground. The monk’s teachings remind us that what we do affects the world we live in, and that we should strive to act with kindness and compassion towards others. Let us keep these lessons in mind as we go regarding our daily lives, experiencing the acting method in everyday situations. Thank you for joining us on this journey.
