Sunday Photo; Cherry Blossom Gate

It’s just about cherry blossom time in Seoul. I’ve heard from my friend that they’re already out in the southern parts. When I think about what I’ll miss when I finally leave Korea, mountains, temples, and cherry blossoms are the first things to come to mind.

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Sunday Photo; Bell on the temple eaves, Beomeosa

I feel like the bells are ringing all around the world right now. I finally started to understand Daehaeng Kun Sunim’s meaning of entrusting. I’ve stopped paying much attention to the news, it doesn’t feel like there’s a whole lot of concern in the news for a good outcome, but merely sensationalizing the situation and creating panic. I [...]

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Yoga benefit for Japan – Metta

Next week, Nat from A Summer Day in the City of Angels will be offering a series of yoga classes as part of a fundraiser for quake victims in Japan. This will start Tuesday the 22nd and runs through the 30th; all the proceeds will be used to help victims in Japan. See the link above [...]

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Sunday Photo; Kiyomizu-dera, Kyoto, Japan

The ground may not have moved, here in Korea, but I still feel a little shaken. Not only by the disaster in japan, but all the other recent ones along with it. Today, I’d like to share one of my favorite shots from my trips to Japan. May things settle, maybe not exactly as they [...]

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People doing good – Japan

Here’s a link to lot of tweets about what’s going on in Japan. The cool thing is that most of these are about the great things people are doing to help each other. Really nice to read about how decent people can be when the chips are down. Here’s one of the first tweets: * [...]

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Japan Earthquake, Marcus’ account

Marcus, who posts here when time permits, was just caught in the earthquake in Japan. We lost contact with him for a day or so, but it turns out he’s fine, some modest hardships aside. He and Ikumi were together during the quake so they didn’t have to worry about not being able to contact [...]

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Admonitions to Beginners: Ven Ya-un’s conclusion

Here’s the conclusion to Admonitions to Beginners. It’s quite nice on its own, but since this text has been posted over several months, I’ve gone ahead and added a summary of the Venerable Ya-un’s major points. While these were originally intended for monastics, I think there’s a lot here that would benefit all practitioners. What really [...]

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Sunday Photo; weeds

Weeds are the bane of fields, lust is the bane of mankind. Therefore, what is offered to those free of lust yields abundant fruit. Weeds are the bane of fields, hatred is the bane of mankind. Therefore, what is offered to those free of hatred yields abundant fruit. Weeds are the bane of fields, delusion [...]

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Going where we’ve never been

Today over at Somewhere in Dhamma, Joseph talked about the fact that he often knows what something isn’t, but doesn’t necessary know what it is. I suppose that’s the difficulty with most things: we know what we don’t want, but it’s hard moving towards something that we aren’t used to experiencing. Daehaeng Sunim often told people [...]

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“the whole of the holy life”

In 2009, as part of the Seonwon’s tenth anniversary celebrations, Chong Go Sunim visited Bangkok for the first time and gave a joint talk with Phra Cittasamvaro Bhikku on the subject of Buddha-nature. During his visit I accompanied him to various places in the city, including Wat Chanasonkram, the lovely temple opposite the western end [...]

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