▲ Suwoon / President of Goseong Saam Association and Chief Monk of Yaksu Temple

[Teachings of Suwoon]
Suwoon is the chief monk of Yaksu Temple nestled on the foot of Cheonghwang Mountain, Goseong County, South Gyeongsang Province. Suwoon says nature and humans are meant to live together and it is important for us humans to realize that we are not the ones who control nature but we belong to it. What does the pandemic teache us? We should change our attitude of the way we see the world. There are things we cannot see with our own eyes and they are mind and spirit. Our bodies are nothing but corpses without them. Mind and spirit lead us to reach the middle way in which we are not biased. When we look up the leaves of a tree, we know there is the root underneath though we do not see. The things we cannot see but actually exist are but ‘the middle way’ and we call this ‘enlightenment’. We should be alarmed of the thought that I’m always right and others are always wrong. We might be satisfied by doing this arrogance for a while but we never gain peace and happiness. So we must always try to stand in the middle way so that we can be free from our own prejudice. ‘Empty your mind’ does not mean we should give way to others but it truly means ‘let go of obsession and delusion’. After then the light of wisdom is started to be seen. The reason we meditate is to shakes off these obsession and delusion. 

[Serving as President of Goseong Saam Association]
Last year, Suwon took the steering wheel of the Goseong Saam Association. He continues his teachings as the chief monk of Yaksu Temple and as the president of the association: The ides of humankind being the supreme species on earth has been resulted in devastation of nature and ecology such as pollution and virus spread. The pandemic especially is a warning of nature on our arrogance. We have eyes, ears, nose, tongue, skin and spirit which are the causes of 108 torments of mankind. How do we remove these 108 torments? We should realize errors in things. The things like money, fame and relationship which often are formed based on greed. How to remove this greed? We need to look squarely at it and train ourselves through meditation and virtuous actions. Training and meditation are not the words and actions we should feel burdensome. One good way to do is to have virtuous heart first of all and then make it in practice like Buddha taught us in our daily life no matter how trivial it seems. That is but training. We must always be aware that greed makes us sick but humble makes us strong and trying hard makes us peaceful and happy. Buddha is no other side but is in the middle way and therefore has no prejudice. The moment we pass away, gone is the body but not the mind and spirit. Body is the shell and virtue and evil comes from the same root. Staying virtuous is but Buddha and staying evil is but us, the weak. Let us find true self, therefore, instead of deluded self. Let us find the right place where our heart should reside instead of being drawn by temptations. (PowerKorea)

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