No matter how many thousands of things confront you,
no matter how painful or difficult,
even if someone you love is about to die,
entrust all of these to your foundation,
your inherent nature,
your true essence.
It’s always been taking care of me,
it’s guiding me even now,
so what’s there to worry about?
Just entrust everything there
while going forward.
You need this kind of attitude.
All of those things that confront you are your homework,
the path through which you can grow.
If everything in your life is smooth and trouble free,
you won’t be able to rise above the level
of an unenlightened being,
or understand the hardships facing others.
It all depends upon how well you can handle good and evil,
on how non-dually you can let go of both sides,
even including the Buddha.
Frustration, stress, and loneliness,
and situations where success seems unlikely,
all of these things are the raw materials of your spiritual practice.
So, when difficulties and suffering come,
be grateful for them.
For through these
you are able to practice and to grow.
–Daehaeng Kun Sunim
copyright 2010, the Hanmaum Seonwon Foundation
Wake Up and Laugh! 
Kamsahamnida, Sunim,
with palms together
Sometimes not so easy to find the way out of the icy mountains towards the river with the brillant green willow trees…
thank you, Sunim.
Is this weather making you miss the long winter already?? haha
I had air-con at work for the first time in almost three weeks today. There must have been a small lesson in discomfort I had to learn, this month. I feel like my karma just got promoted up a level! ^^
Yeah, Marcus also noticed that I’d used pictures with snow three times in a row! It really wasn’t intentional, but I wonder…^-^
Wow, they haven’t had the air conditioning on until now?! I’m surprised the parents didn’t go nuts about that. (Here in Korea, we’ve had some brutally hot and humid days during the last few weeks.)
Wow. This is so timely for me, Sunim. Just what I needed. Thank you.
– roy – holding palms together
“Frustration, stress, and loneliness,
and situations where success seems unlikely,
all of these things are the raw materials of your spiritual practice.”
Guess I have plenty of the “raw materials” to work with, but it is good that they give me what I need to be able to practice and grow.
Thank you for this post!
“All of those things that confront you are your homework”
Can I audit this course?
Will I get detention if I don’t hand it in?
Can I get an extension on the dead line?
My stomach hurts. Can I go to the nurse now?
I have school phobia…
But seriously… how do I let go non dually of good and evil. Really struggling with this right now. 😦
“My stomach hurts. Can I go to the nurse now?” LOL!
(the people I work with are now looking at me funny!^-^)
About letting go nondually of good and evil, for me this means unconditionally letting go of both sides, of (doing my best to) not cling too much to things whether they’re going well or poorly. Of course a large part of this, for me, is also just entrusting them without getting caught up in trying to assign or figure out labels, explainations, why’s, and who’s fault. When I realize I’ve been doing those things, I just try to let go of them and relax that urge. This also includes the one that says “how can I get some more of this.”
I’ve used a lot of words to paint around this, but for me the only really important one is “unconditionally.” Everything else seems like just letting go of the stuff that isn’t unconditional.
If you have any other questions about this, or I haven’t expressed myself well, please feel free to ask more about this. This is a really important point.
with palms together,
This is wonderful. Thank you.
“It’s always been taking care of me,
it’s guiding me even now,
so what’s there to worry about?”
Beautiful. Thank you Sunim for posting these wonderful words!