The Korean Seon (Zen) master Venerable Pomnyun Sunim (법륜스님) wears many hats: Buddhist monk, teacher, author, environmentalist, and social activist, to name a few.* As a widely respected Dharma teacher and a tireless socially engaged activist in his native South Korea, Ven. Pomnyun Sunim has founded numerous Dharma-based organizations, initiatives, and projects that are active across the world. Among them, Jungto Society, a volunteer-based community founded on the Buddhist teachings and expressing equality, simple living, and sustainability, is dedicated to addressing modern social issues that lead to suffering, including environmental degradation, poverty, and conflict.
This column, shared by Jungto Society, presents a series of highlights from Ven. Pomnyun Sunim’s writings, teachings, public talks, and regular live-streamed Dharma Q+A sessions, which are accessible across the globe. The following teachings were given on 17 July 2024 in Bangkok.
Compassionate outreach
After the audience watched a video of Venerable Pomnyun Sunim’s recent visit to Bhutan and his relief activities for flood victims in Assam, India, Sunim took the stage to enthusiastic cheers and applause. Ven. Pomnyun Sunim greeted everyone with a bright smile.
Ven. Pomnyun Sunim: The Buddhist humanitarian relief organization JTS provides aid to areas affected by earthquakes or floods, poverty, and other humanitarian crises. I visit various countries to inspect these support projects and find ways to expand them. The reason I’m visiting Bangkok this time is not just to give a lecture. While surveying difficult areas and providing support, I’m also taking time to give lectures to overseas Koreans in areas where many of them live.
There’s a bhikkhuni who has been running an orphanage in Kanchanaburi, in western Thailand, for a long time. When I visited last time, I saw that the orphanage facilities were very old and cramped. About 130 children live there, and when I asked if they wanted to build a new building or remodel, they said they would prefer extensive remodeling. Since the number of orphans is expected to decrease gradually, they said it wouldn’t be necessary to build a new one, so we did a remodeling that was almost like building anew. Tomorrow, we will have an opening ceremony, which is why I came to Thailand today.**
According to the news, Korea has been experiencing heavy rain and severe flood damage, resulting in loss of life and property. Due to global warming, various unpredictable weather anomalies are occurring. Changes in ocean currents and winds due to rising temperatures are likely to cause increasingly severe weather-related conditions, such as heavy rain, drought, wildfires, and heatwaves that are difficult for us to predict.
Finding blindspots where aid doesn’t reach
The Assam region of India is one of the rainiest places in the world, and recently there was a major flood where the Brahmaputra River overflowed, displacing many people. As I happened to be on a schedule to survey the area, I visited the site and provided humanitarian aid such as food and mosquito nets. The residents were especially grateful that we came to comfort them as no one else had come despite the severe flood damage.
Even humanitarian aid has become a kind of business these days, requiring media attention for fundraising. If the media doesn’t cover a story, humanitarian aid hardly reaches those in need, no matter how difficult their situation. The most representative example was the great flood caused by the overflow of the Indus River in Pakistan in 2022. It was a massive flood that affected more than 30 million displaced people, but it received almost no media attention. Because the Ukraine war broke out and all the world’s attention was focused on Ukraine, the Pakistan flood was almost neglected.
Although it’s inevitable that we can only know about news that’s reported, there are many people in need all over the world in places we don’t know about. Even in areas where the government is providing good support, there are blind spots within those areas where humanitarian aid doesn’t reach. Because I try to find these less visible places that need help, I tend to travel a lot. I hope you too will keep an eye out for these blind spots and help them if you can.
I feel stressed because I argue with my mother
Sunim then had conversations with those who had questions from the audience. Over two hours, seven people asked questions.
Q: I often argue with my mom. From my perspective, it seems like my mom is often emotional. We usually argue over trivial things, which causes stress for both my mom and me. I’m wondering how my mom and I can get along well without arguing.
Ven. Pomnyun Sunim: Give me an example of a situation where you typically argue.
Q: It seems like we argue due to misunderstandings in our daily communication.
Ven. Pomnyun Sunim: What kind of misunderstanding? Give me a specific example of something that happened in the past.
Q: I can’t remember anything specific right now, but there were a lot of instances.
Ven. Pomnyun Sunim: At the time of the argument with your mother, that issue seemed important, which is why you became angry or had a verbal dispute. But now that time has passed, you can’t even remember what it was about. So was it an important issue or not?
Q: It doesn’t seem like it was very important.
Ven. Pomnyun Sunim: How about thinking: “This issue won’t be important when I look back on it later” every time an argument arises in the future? When you suddenly feel very angry, if you think that this issue won’t be very important tomorrow, wouldn’t that help you calm down a bit?
You said you’ve experienced many conflicts with your mother. But now, looking back, you can’t specifically remember any of those conflicts. So in the future, when you feel emotionally stirred by something, you can anticipate: “This probably won’t be a big deal after a few days.” This way, you’ll have fewer emotional confrontations with your mother.
Q: Yes, I understand well. Thank you.
Ven. Pomnyun Sunim: The same applies when you’re traveling. On the day of your trip, deciding whether to stay in a hotel, an inn, or a guesthouse might seem incredibly important. However, when you look back on that day years later, where you slept that night doesn’t really matter from your current perspective.
Similarly, choosing between bulgogi, bibimbap, noodles, a sandwich, or skipping dinner altogether for tonight’s menu might feel crucial right now. But years from now, what you ate for dinner on a particular date won’t have any significance in your life.
During school days, you might feel happy when you do well on a mock exam or final exam, and upset when you don’t, but looking back, whether you scored 75, 80, or 85 points doesn’t really matter. Especially for high school seniors facing college entrance exams, failing and having to retake the exam can be a source of great worry. They might feel left behind as their friends go to college, make new relationships, and enjoy campus life while they’re stuck studying at a prep school. However, when you look back in your 50s, some 30 years later, entering college a year late due to retaking the exam isn’t such a big deal. If you maintain this broader, longer-term perspective, you’ll realize that what seems significant right now isn’t actually that important.
Our emotions often flare out of control because we tend to focus on short-term, momentary issues that only affect ourselves. If we broaden our perspective just a little, we’ll see that most things are not a big deal.
This is why we need to be awake, aware, and mindful at all times. We need to be conscious of our anger when we’re angry, and our sadness when we’re sad. We need to realize that, with time, these things are neither worth being sad about, nor happy about, nor troubled about. We must always be awake to avoid becoming trapped in the immediate situation. People often say they’re “feeling it” these days, but when you’re “feeling it,” you momentarily lose sight of everything else. You might lash out in anger, but when you wake up in the morning, you realize it wasn’t a big deal at all.
So, I hope that you can broaden your perspective. With a wider view, you’ll see that your mother is someone who helps you. She’s the one who gave birth to you, fed you, raised you, and sent you to school. She’s someone to be grateful for. But with a narrow view, she becomes someone who doesn’t buy you what you want, wakes you up when you’re sleeping, and interferes with your gaming. Twenty years from now, when you look back on this time, will it really matter that your mom didn’t let you play games or buy you a motorcycle?
When we are caught up in our immediate desires, we become blind to the ways of the world and feel like we can’t live even a single day. But if you broaden your perspective a bit, you’ll see that most things that happen in human life aren’t really a big deal.
I hope you can live with the perspective that “it’s not a big deal in hindsight” whenever you face various situations. You don’t need to make a separate effort to get along well with your mother. Because if you understand the principles correctly, you’ll naturally get along well. It’s because we don’t understand these principles that we live in conflict. If you have any more questions, please ask.”
Q: My concerns have been resolved. Thank you.
By the time the conversation ended, it was 9 p.m. Ven. Pomnyun Sunim stayed behind to sign books for audinence members, warmly greeting each attendee.
“I really enjoyed your lecture today. Thank you.”
“Thanks to you, Sunim, my life has become truly happy.”
* Buddhist Monk Ven. Pomnyun Sunim Awarded the 37th Niwano Peace Prize (BDG)
** Engaged Buddhism: Ven. Pomnyun Sunim Inaugurates Remodeled Orphanage in Thailand (BDG)
See more
Pomnyun
Jungto Society
JTS Korea
JTS America
International Network of Engaged Buddhists
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