Happiness Here and Now- Presentation at Richard Hall Community Mental Health Center

With an invitation from Richard Hall Community Mental Health Center, and as a part of our Educational Outreach, So Shim Sa was invited to give an interactive presentation at Richard Hall on September 27. Richard Hall is a "Comprehensive community mental health center dedicated to the prevention, early detection and treatment of mental illness and serious emotional and behavioral problems." Ven. Myong-Ahn's talk entitled "Happiness Here and Now" was followed by a meditation session led by Ven. Mooh-Sang. The presentation concluded with a wonderful Q&A session with a very interactive and receptive audience of over 30 participants.We hope to foster an ongoing relationship with Richard Hall Center and So Shim Sa's 1000 Hands Outreach.

Founder's Day 2023 (Abbot's Address)

I have, from time to time, on the rarest of occasions, been accused of being...verbose. I know! I was as shocked then as you are now. So, we are in imminent danger of the lunch getting cold. Yet, I don’t have the words (imagine that!) to express how fortunate we are to be in the mere presence of a Dosa. This is the stuff we each have to stick our head through the mystical curtain of mystery to glimpse. So, we won’t go there now. I thought to myself… if I absolutely had to, choose a single quality of IlCho Dosanim that I would want to highlight. What would that be? And of course, we go through the usual list: wisdom, compassion, knowledge, patience, etc. Yet, as much as all of these are true, today they won’t do. And so, I went on, sifting through and I think I found it. So here it is, the single most impressive quality of Il-Cho Dosanim, for me….expressed in a single word… succinct. Succinct. Never have I met someone who can distill the esoteric and the complexities of our human condit...

Words about words

In the near future, we’ll talk about chanting. But I thought it appropriate to first talk about words. Words can be fun, like a toy, we can play with them. “I went to a diner the other day, and order the chicken catastrophe, and eggs overwhelming.   The chicken was so undercooked that it walked down to the end of the counter and tried to beat up my cup of coffee. The coffee wasn't strong enough to defend itself. ” (paraphrased from a Tom Waits song.) Words are tools, descriptive tools. A group of us gets together, and we agree on the meaning of the word and we agree that this thing (word) is going to point to that thing that is the real article. I’m holding up a cup right now. I’m drinking “water”. I’m drinking “aqua”. I’m drinking “mool”, I’m drinking “woda”. Regardless of the word for water, in Spanish, Korean or Polish, the word itself just points to a thing. After all, we cannot drink the word “water”. Like a finger pointing to the moon. Don't get stuck on the finger or ...

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