Dharma Talks

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the Meditation for World Peace. Thank you for being here and for taking this time to practice together. We've gathered this morning to cultivate stillness, peace, and compassion within ourselves so that we can bring more peace into our families, our community, and the world around us.

It's my privilege to introduce Venerable SooSeong. The Venerable SooSeong is an ordained monk in the Korean Zen Buddhist tradition, as well as the Buddhist chaplain at the United States Military Academy at West Point, and the guiding teacher of Bodhicitta Sangha.

Prior to becoming an ordained monk, he served as an officer in the United States Army for 20 years. His teaching is rooted in authentic Zen practice and helps to develop mindfulness, wisdom, and compassion. Venerable, thank you for being with us this morning. I'll now turn the program over to you. Thank you, Jake.

Can everybody hear me well? I know we have one speaker, so I'll try to get the mic close to me as possible. So, thank you all for being here today to join us.

We decided to hold this service for two main reasons.

First of all, you know, there's a lot of chaos going on in the world right now, right? With war and everything else. And in order to bring any kind of impact to the world, I felt that we need to gather as many people as possible to do the metta meditation, which is loving-kindness meditation.

We practiced this at our center with our Sangha members, our community practitioners. But more people would garner all the energy together to be able to impact the world positively.

And second reason is also to provide the community a tool to find your own peace and joy, right? So, even though everyone here wishes for world peace, peace among our community and our society, we have to start with our own inner peace, right? Because otherwise, we're frustrated by what's happening outside. We're angry about those that may be causing suffering, you know? And we're anxious and fearful of what might happen.

When we have all those energy of negative emotion, then we can't really make a positive impact in our society or even with our loved ones. So, it's always good to start with inner peace and inner joy and then spread that energy to our society, to our family members, and also to the world. And when we do that together, it becomes much, much more powerful because our energy gets amplified when we bring that intention together.

So, that is why we're gathering. This is our inaugural event. Hopefully, in the future, we can ask more people to join us. But I think it's a good start for us to gather together and to meditate. And meditation can also be a prayer, especially when we do loving-kindness prayer, which is shared by all meditation practitioners because wisdom and compassion is the way to find true happiness.

And compassion is like the foundation to establish any kind of wisdom, right? So, this is the reason why we're going to make the attempt today to find our inner peace, right here, and then to spread that. So, we're going to start with mindfulness, to bring our attention back to the present moment, to be right here in this present moment, here in the now, okay?

Where we're settled, where our mind is calm, and also bring out the radiant light of unconditional love and compassion through our maitri, our loving-kindness meditation, okay? Is that okay? All right, so thank you all for joining us to amplify this energy for the whole world. And even though you may think, hey, what can maybe 20, 30 people do, but it's very powerful when we become very sincere, okay?

And the world peace, we may consider this whole globe, but everyone here has their own world, right?

Everyone has their own world individually. So, by bringing that inner peace for yourself, you're going to create that peace within your own world, your own relationships, your own circumstances, workplaces, okay? Within the family. So, that is why, even though we talk about world peace, we're really looking at your own individual world peace through your inner self peace, okay? So, without any delay, we will do the mindfulness meditation first, and then we'll go right into our loving-kindness meditation.

And after that, we'll take a little bit of a break, and then maybe answer any questions you may have, and how this meditation can apply in your daily life, and how it can improve your relationship and your experience of your own life, okay?

So, I have my phone here for the time.

So, we're going to start with, everything's going to be guided. So, all you have to do is follow the instruction. So, we're going to start with three chimes, and end with three chimes. So, as far as the posture, since you're sitting on the pier right now, you can relax, okay? Normally, with mindfulness meditation, I ask people to sit up straight with their back straight to bring alertness.

But since we're going to go right into the metta meditation, to loving-kindness meditation, you can just sit back and relax. But initially, when we do the mindfulness, try to keep your eyes open, but lower the sight to a gaze in front of you just to bring awareness of the here and now. You're using a visual cue to see that I'm here in the now, okay?

So, when our attention is back here, the present moment is when we can start to generate the unconditional, infinite amount of unconditional love and compassion, okay? So, for now, let's just listen to the time. Okay, listen.

Listen to a sound that comes and goes. Simply listen. At this time, I'm going to ask everyone to take one deep breath. Breath in and release all the tensions with your out-breath.

Okay, at this point, let's bring our undivided attention to our breath and breath on me. So, as we breathe in, we know we're breathing in. As we breathe out, we know we're breathing out.

You can even label it as in or out. But simply follow the breath, allowing this present moment to be as is, without any resistance, without any judgment.

Completely open your heart to this present moment. To your posture, to all the thoughts that come and go. Let it be. Let it all be as is.

Simply staying with the breath. Follow the sensations of the breath, in or out. Without trying to control the breath. Without trying to stop the thinking.

Just recognize. Just recognize what is. And simply bring your attention back to the present moment. Using your breath as your anchor. So by simply knowing whether you're breathing in or out, you are right here.

All you have to do is know whether you're breathing in or out to be present. The present moment that is everlasting always. Right here in the now.

Allowing everything to be as is. When you see the thoughts, when you see the thoughts, when you recognize you're following the thought, simply come back to your anchor to this present moment, which is your breath.

Until there's nothing but the breath, in or out. The breath has the natural intelligence to take you where you need to be. So just follow the breath, in or out. The breath has the natural intelligence, in or out. The breath has the natural intelligence, in or out. The breath has the natural intelligence, in or out. The breath has the natural intelligence, in or out.

The breath has the natural intelligence, in or out. The breath has the natural intelligence, in or out. The breath has the natural intelligence, in or out. The breath has the natural intelligence, in or out. The breath has the natural intelligence, in or out. The breath has the natural intelligence, in or out. The breath has the natural intelligence, in or out. The breath has the natural intelligence, in or out.

The breath has the natural intelligence, in or out. The breath has the natural intelligence, in or out. the breath has the natural intelligence, in or out. When you recognize, that you're following your thoughts, just simply say thinking, and come right back. Come right back to your breath, in or out.

As you recognize, continue to come back, to right here, to right here in the now. Keep coming back, keep coming back. And stay, right here in the now. Without any resistance, any judgment. Opening your heart, embracing your heart, and embracing this present moment, exactly as is. Is when we're fully mindful, when we're present, and open, open to allow everything to be. To allow everything to be.

To be open, to allow everything to be. To be open, to allow everything to be. To be open, to allow everything to be. To be open, to allow everything to be. To be open, to allow everything to be. To be open, to allow everything to be. To be open, to allow everything to be. To be open, to allow everything to be. To be open, to allow everything to be.

To be open, to allow everything to be. To be open, to allow everything to be. To be open, to allow everything to be. To be open, to allow everything to be. To be open, to allow everything to be. Sounds will come and go, thoughts will come and go, even the sensations that we feel come and go. Just let it all be, staying with the breath, even if it relaxes us, even if it feels like I'm getting sleepy, stay alert, fully alert with the breath, fully conscious of this very present moment.

Okay. Now that everyone is centered and grounded right here in this present moment, I'm going to ask everyone to close your eyes at this time because you're going to use visualization and listen to the instruction and simply follow the instruction. Close your eyes, stay with

the breath still, knowing whether you're breathing in or out. And at this time, bring your attention to your heart area where you're going to intentionally generate energy of unconditional love and compassion. It's energy of bright, glowing, warm, and radiating light. Visualize it in your heart generating, because you can generate infinite amount of this unconditional love. Visualize this glowing, radiant, warm light, warm light spreading from your heart to your body, where it's filling you up completely, where you can feel this warmth of unconditional love and kindness. Kindness, caring, and understanding.

As we fill this up, fill up our body with this energy, we're going to start the prayer for ourself. And repeat this in your own mind. May I be safe, be healthy, and be happy. May I be at ease, free from all suffering. As you vision, as you visualize this energy filling your body up, rejoice in this energy of unconditional love and kindness for yourself. Rejoice in it, meaning enjoy it with sense of gratitude. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Continue to enjoy this as we continue to pray for ourself. May I be safe, be healthy, and be happy. May I be at ease, free from all suffering. May I be at ease, free from all suffering. Allow yourself to enjoy this energy that's filling you up. Allow yourself to enjoy this energy that's filling you up, alleviating all suffering.

Allow yourself to enjoy this energy that's filling you up, alleviating all suffering, rejoicing in it with sense of gratitude. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. So one more time. May I be safe, be healthy, and be happy. May I be at ease, free from all suffering. And visualize this energy filling you up and overflowing from your body to those around you, to everyone in this room.

Visualize this radiating, warm, glowing energy of unconditional love and kindness spreading to everyone in this room as we pray for them. As we pray for them. May you be safe, be healthy, and be happy. May you be at ease, free from all suffering. And imagine everyone enjoying this energy that you're sending them, rejoicing in it with sense of gratitude, thanking you back.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. As you share this energy with everyone in this room, also receive what they're sending you. And rejoice in this energy that's sending you with sense of gratitude. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. As we're sharing this energy of unconditional love and kindness, we're going to now visualize this energy filling up this room and overflowing to the world.

Reaching out first to those we care about. To those who have taken care of me. To those that we love dearly. Whether they're family members or friends. And visualize them as individuals or as a group of people. Even your pets. All the people and your pets. All the people and things you love. Allow them to receive this energy you're sending out. With a prayer.

May you be safe. Be healthy. And be happy. May you be at ease. Free from all suffering. And visualize this energy reaching out to them. Alleviating any suffering they may have. Bringing them peace and joy. And be happy. May you be at ease. Free from all suffering. May you be at ease. And feel free from all suffering. And feel free from all suffering.

And feel free from all suffering. As we continue to pray. As we continue to pray. As we continue to pray. For everyone you can think of. May you be safe. Be healthy. And be happy. May you be at ease. Free from all suffering.

Continue to visualize various people. Even the people you just simply know. Your colleagues. Just people that come into your mind. Allow them to receive this energy. This infinite amount of unconditional love and compassion. That you're generating within your heart. Radiating from your heart to reach everyone.

May you be safe. Be healthy. And be happy. May you be at ease. Free from all suffering. And visualize them not only receiving this energy. But rejoicing in it. With sense of gratitude. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

We're going to continue to allow this energy to stretch out. Radiate. To everyone in this earth. To everyone in this world. To everyone in this world. Even those that may be causing suffering unto others. Even those that may have hurt me in the past. Think of everyone. And allow them to receive this energy as well. As we continue to pray for them.

May you be safe. Be healthy. And be happy. May you be at peace. Free from all suffering. Allow everyone to receive this. Especially those that may be causing suffering. Knowing that they're causing suffering because they are suffering. By allowing them to rejoice in this energy. And be happy. May you be at peace. Free from all suffering. Allow everyone to receive this. Especially those that may be causing suffering.

Knowing that they're causing suffering because they are suffering. By allowing them to rejoice in this energy. And be happy. May you be at peace. May you be at peace. Free from all suffering. May you be at peace. Free from all suffering. May you be at peace. May you be at peace. Free from all suffering. May you be at peace. May you be at peace.

May you be at peace. Free from all suffering. May you be at peace. May you be at peace. Free from all suffering. May you be at peace. May you be at peace. May you be at peace. By allowing them to rejoice in this energy, we can alleviate their suffering, which would minimize their cause of suffering.

So think of those that may have hurt you in the past, that may be causing suffering right now in this world. Allow them to receive this energy you're sending them directly into their heart so they can learn how to be loving and compassionate.

Allow this energy to fill up their heart, this bright, glowing, warm, radiating energy of unconditional loving kindness. As we continue to pray for them, may you be safe, be healthy, and be happy.

May you be at peace, free from all suffering. And visualize them rejoicing in this energy, their sufferings alleviated with sense of gratitude. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Let's continue to spread this energy to everyone with our prayer. May you be safe, be healthy, and be happy. May you be at peace, free from all suffering. May you be at peace, free from all suffering.

May you be at ease, free from all suffering. May you be at ease from all suffering. And let's visualize all beings in this world, all sentient beings in this world. Let's pray for every sentient beings with consciousness, the entire earth, as we pray for them. May all beings be safe, be healthy, and be happy. May all beings be at peace, free from suffering.

And visualize the entire world at peace, enjoying this joy of unconditional love and compassion. Let's keep sending this energy out as far as we can to cover this entire world with our love and kindness that we're generating from our heart.

May all beings be safe, be healthy, and be happy. May all beings be at peace, free from all suffering. May all beings be at peace, free from all suffering.

May all beings be safe, be healthy, and be happy. May all beings be at peace, free from all suffering. Rejoice in this energy for yourself that you're generating for all beings.

as you're generating them. Feel this warm, glowing energy within your own heart that's going to alleviate any suffering, any fear, any anxiety that you may have had in the past. Allow this energy to fill you up as we continue to share.

May all beings enjoy true happiness through wisdom and compassion. May all beings enjoy true happiness through wisdom and compassion. May all beings enjoy true happiness through wisdom and compassion.

So take a moment to rejoice in this energy you're generating for the entire world. Just rejoice in it for a moment. our essence itself is love. compassion joy and equanimity.

Rejoice in our own essence of unconditional love and compassion. the bright energy of joy in your heart. Feel that. The joy that comes from bringing joy to others.

The true happiness true joy is when we bring peace and joy to others. So enjoy that energy that you can create you can generate moment to moment. moment.

Thank you. Okay, relax.

I think you're already relaxed, but we can open our eyes. Did everyone find this beneficial? Yeah. So the intention is to first heal our own heart, if there is anything to be healed.

And we can heal our hearts by choice, by generating the energy of loving kindness, which is innate within all of us. It's that when we look at outside, the people that we tend to judge and we react with negative energy, we resist what we don't want to experience, even though it is right there in front of us. So by opening our hearts, embracing the present moment to simply be as is, it doesn't mean we become passive, succumbing to everything that's happening.

We take the actions that's necessary. We say things, but we do it out of love and compassion. Yeah, that's already within our heart. Then the experience of life changes completely when we don't react, but we act proactively by intention to make a positive impact. To our loved ones, to our loved ones, to our friends, to their society, in general. So when we make that intention, yes, it automatically brings about inner peace.

Automatically brings about the wisdom, the insight into how do we develop a positive relationship, how do we make a positive impact? Yes. So if we do this on a daily basis, even if you didn't meditate every day, if you did this prayer for everyone. So as you exit, we're going to allow you to pick up one of those bookmarks. In the back, it has this love and kindness prayer, metha meditation.

So if you did this, read this out loud every single day and became sincere in your heart, you're going to benefit immediately as your heart softens, right? And as your heart becomes compassionate, that's the joy that we're seeking. Not just temporary joy from having what I want, getting certain things, achieving certain things, but simply by generating love and kindness, we can benefit right here in the now.

Not to mention the karmic effect that we would all have if we prayed every day together for all beings.

So one other thing that I share with our folks when we pray, you know, we may have people that we love that are ill, that are ourself going through some of the illness, or we want to pray for people that we love. Pray for all beings.

And what happens is you're including them, but you're making the prayer much, much more powerful, much, much more impactful if we pray for all beings. Because it opens up your heart. Instead of limiting to the boundaries that we create with our loved ones, our family, it extends that boundary. It makes your heart much, much, much more powerful in making that impact, to creating that causal condition for that to actually happen, to manifest.

Manifest the experience that we want to experience that we want to experience, we have to first be. Be that. Yeah. Be open-hearted. Be compassionate. So we talk about wisdom and compassion. Wisdom is the ability to see things as is, having the insight.

And compassion is that altruistic intention to alleviate somebody else's suffering. Even though we may be suffering, just by making the attempt to alleviate somebody else's suffering, we're generating that compassion. That's the energy we need to heal our own pain, our own suffering.

Does that make sense? Yeah. So this practice, we wanted to share with the community so that you can have this with you all the time to make yourself at peace and be joyful.

Okay? Pretty simple, right? Yeah. But, you know, we tend to react to what's happening or what somebody says. Getting annoyed, frustrated, anger. All of those negative emotions that we react with is the suffering itself. Right?

So all we have to do is change my own behavior, change my own beingness to be happy. Because we can't change others. We may be able to change certain things outside, but we can't change everything. Right? So instead of trying to change the world into a peaceful world, we just simply become peaceful. And that's how we bring about the world peace. Yeah.

That make sense?

Yeah. So I've been in the combat a couple of times, deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq. And I came back with my own PTSD because I couldn't handle what I saw. It was devastating, you know, to witness the war, the battlefield, and losing somebody that you care about. Yeah. And a lot of times we are taught to just kind of move through it, you know, with grits.

And that's why a lot of the service members suffer with PTSD because they don't even know what they're going through. That's why self-awareness has been proven scientifically now that is what was necessary for us to overcome. But how do we establish self-awareness? Right? Yeah. We establish self-awareness by coming back to the present moment and paying attention to ourself so that we can start to choose our own beingness instead of reacting and following those habitual ways of reacting to what's going on outside and what other people say, right, or do.

So first, we have to pay attention to our inner beingness, the energy that we're generating. And even though it's happening automatically, a lot of times, by paying attention, by becoming more aware, we can take that choice back.

Yeah. Right? Instead of giving up that choice to other people and circumstance, we can take that choice back to be what I choose to be. Yeah. Instead of getting dragged by the circumstance of people.

Yeah. So make the choice, being happy, which means being at peace and joy, peaceful heart, peaceful mind, is a choice. It's a choice. Yeah. So don't allow anybody else to take away that peace and joy. Maintain that by being awake right here in this present moment.

Okay. Hopefully this was beneficial for you. Any questions on how to apply this on a daily life? Any questions about what I talked about?

Does it make sense? Yeah? Yeah.

Yes, ma'am. Sometimes in the moment of we react, somebody puts us on a trap or whatever, we react. Do you have to say, please, that we could apply it in the moment to help us create back to the present moment so that we don't get to that point? Yes. Yes. It does take practice, right? But a lot of people do ask the same question.

What do I do when I already reacted? Okay? To come back to the present moment, all you have to do is ask yourself, am I breathing in or breathing out? That's it. So when you're reacting, if you want to stop it, first of all, that's good. You've already caught yourself that has already reacted, and you want to do something about it, right?

So that's good. And somebody is triggering you, and you don't want to be involved in that negative energy. That's good. That means you're already self-aware. You already have the situational awareness, and you want to do something about it. So that's good. That means you're already aware. So ask yourself, am I breathing in or breathing out? Just by simply paying attention to the breath, you may be huffing and puffing because you're, you know, worked up already.

You know, you're reacting. Your heart's beating, right? When we're upset. Take a notice of that. Know that. Ask the awareness. And then a couple of deep breaths, if you can. Just watch yourself breathe in. Watch yourself breathing out. Simply focus completely on the breath for a few breaths, even two or three breaths. You'll notice that you're no longer in that energy of confrontation.

You'll notice that you're now watching the confrontation. Even though you're already upset, you'll be able to notice that you are feeling this tense, you know, muscle tensing up, maybe a headache, maybe in the back. And you just investigate that. It's okay. Where am I feeling this? But don't go into why, because you can always justify your anger, frustration, all of that, right?

Because what somebody did or say. Just look at that itself. What am I feeling right now? So first, am I breathing in or breathing out? And as you're with the breath, you're now present.

Embrace what just happened. You know, my heart's beating. I'm tensing up. Even embrace that. Say, it's okay. It's okay. It's okay. And then you look, investigate into that. Where am I feeling this? Because as soon as you try to look at what you're feeling, you're no longer in it. Just like being in the waves. You know, you get hit by the waves.

You can't see where you're at, right? You can't stand even. But when you step out, you can actually watch the wave come and go. So you're stepping out from that energy of negative reaction. And just to be able to watch it. Say, okay, this is what I feel right now. But I don't have to follow that. I'm going to allow it to be there for as long as it needs to be.

Because once the energy has been triggered, you know, it has that habitual energy to hold on to you. Or you're holding on to it, actually. Just watch that. And just say, okay, I don't need this. And you may have to step away. Take a quick break. Maybe a one-minute break to watch your breath.

And just simply by watching the breath, following the breath, surrendering to the breath, it will take you naturally to that calm state. Where you can think straight and act accordingly instead of react.

Yeah. Does that make sense? Yeah. But it takes a little bit of practice doing that. It may be after you got all angry and yelled at somebody, you know, that, oh, I did it again. But that's still awareness. That's still awareness of myself. When you pay attention, instead of always looking outward, looking inward, that brings awareness. And the more you pay attention to yourself, and the more you pay attention to yourself, and you become more and more close and familiar with my own way of reacting, it will start to lessen that reaction naturally.

You don't even have to say, I don't want to do this. I don't want to be like this. You already have an intention to be at peace. You already want peace already, right? Anybody not want peace and joy? Everybody already wants it. It's already natural. So once you look at it, just try to investigate it, and you get insight into your own tendencies, how you react, things I don't like, things I'd rather experience, then you tend to go back to your essence anyways.

That's the watcher. That's the observer. So the more you observe yourself, the more it will come naturally. Okay? Yes, sir? I have a question in technology. I have to leave. I'm referring to the essence, and this is going to be the last thing I have to say. So I have to go. Yes. That's fine.

Thank you for joining us. Thank you for having me. Yeah. Yes, ma'am.

Are you suggesting that we should show compassion for someone who has done us wrong, horribly wrong, rather than wish they had, they suffered the repercussions? Right. It's because once you understand the energy we're generating is what I'm experiencing. So the reason we are suffering is because we're generating that negative energy. Even though that person hurt us, right? That's in the past. But if we relive it and have judgmental, negative thinking, negative attitude, negative approach to that person, we are generating that negativeness.

Even though it has no effect on that person, it's really hurting me. So it's not beneficial to me to hate somebody or wishing harm onto others. Because that's the energy that I have to experience. So if we can open up our heart to be compassionate for even those that may have hurt me in the past, then at least I am benefiting. Whether that energy gets to that person or not, I am benefiting.

So being altruistic, being compassionate directly benefits how I feel right now. But our head doesn't want to do that because you don't deserve my compassion.

Right? And when we do that, it's more of a judgmental, negative reaction to what has happened in the past. So in order to find my own inner peace, inner joy, we have to forgive. We have to let it go.

Because otherwise I'm still in it, reliving it over and over and over again, even though we may not even see that person ever again. So why do that to ourself when there's a choice to be at peace?

Yes, go ahead.

Yes. To understand that, to be even more specific, I'll give you an example. Let's just say someone at the business has mistreated a potential customer. Yes. Are you saying not even to address that, not even to hurt that person? No, that's why I said it's not about becoming passive. It's about doing what is necessary, but with the right energy. Yeah, with the right energy.

Yeah. So, you know, just an example. Hey, something that costed $50, now somebody's trying to charge me $100, you know. Hey, that's not right. You're thinking that I'm going to pay for it. You're trying to take advantage of me being nice. But you can do something about it without judging the person. Because, you know, they will make an attempt on people and then say, okay, what do I do now?

I'm going to let them know here's what I'm going to pay. Here's what I'm going to do. And if they did something wrong, you can make that correction by sending up the complaint through their, you know, through their chain or whatever it is that we need to do. Because it's going to benefit other people. Right? You don't seek to make it into their job.

No, no, you don't, yeah, that's for them to decide. Yeah. But you need to bring that to the light because other people could also be at disadvantage. So you do it out of compassion. And even for that person, by pointing something out to them, you know, they may not do that again. Whatever mistake they did, or even if it was intentional, by bringing it to light, right?

But so you do it out of more of an intention to help instead of, you know, oh, yeah, let me get you back. You know, that's kind of like the confrontation that we're creating in our own heart. That even though you may not see the effect of it right away, it accumulates. Yeah. All negative energy that we generated in the past, it accumulated somewhere in our subconscious mind.

Yeah. So in our Buddhist practice, it's about how do we purify our mind? It's simply by becoming present and noticing it and letting it go, letting it be. Yeah. So letting go really is just letting it be. Even though you can't change that person, you can do something about it to help other people. So do it from that point of view. Does that make sense?

Okay. Yeah. So it's not about being submissive. Yeah. Being kind and caring is not about being submissive to everything that's going on. You may have to address certain things with stern voice, stern actions, right? But there's no hatred behind it. There's no anger behind it. You just see what's necessary for that person to respond properly. So you may have to make sense.

So you may have to be stern, but you do it out of compassion because you see with wisdom that's what is necessary right now. But always check within. But always check within. But always check within. Am I being angry? Am I frustrated? Am I being angry? Am I frustrated? Is this coming out of my frustration? Then you're sending out negative energy, right?

So always be mindful. That's why we practice mindfulness so that we're always watchful of our own feelings inside. What am I sending out? How am I showing up? You know? So it's really about my own self that we're always watchful of no matter what we say or do. Okay? Yes, sir. It's kind of a similar thing.

Mm-hmm. And by the way, thank you for this is great. Where does activism fit in with this practice? Because when I look around, I think, oh, man, why aren't I 10 times the amount of people? Why isn't this full? Yeah, yeah, yes, yes. And then I think, well, if every one of us brought five people to the next one. Yes. Yes. You feel it would maybe be more powerful.

Yes. But is that just me trying to say, like, does that come from my suffering or my... No, I think it's because you care, you know? So if you're activism and you care, then you just got to act, you know? Maybe bring, just like you said, bring other people next time or come visit us, practice with us. But you focus on me, yeah.

Because other people have different reasons why they're not here, you know? And this is an inaugural event, so a lot of people don't know about it, even though we made the effort to put the flyers out there. And I think Angel Nayak also sent an email out, you know, but Saturday is a nice, beautiful day, right? So it's not a priority for everybody.

But that's okay, you know? We're not here to judge anybody. We're only here to watch ourself. So if you can bring that inner peace, you know, which you're at a peace or you're radiating peace, then it will impact other people one way or the other, yeah, without trying to change others. So I appreciate your presence here. Thank you. Yeah.

Did that answer your question? Yes. Okay, thank you. Yeah. Yes, ma'am.

I'd like to talk about the choice. I know, I think about, like, I want to make a choice to do something, but I find myself still getting stuck in the old ways of getting caught in it. Is there any advice that you can give to me again? Yeah. So I think you're already aware that even though you want to, you know, be at more peace, you tend to react more.

That's a good start. That's a good start. But you also have to be aware of all those years that I've been living that way. It's become a habit. Yeah. In order to change our habit, it's a habitual energy. It's a direction that we're going in certain ways. We have to redirect our mind to a certain direction, path. And that takes intention, you know, strong intention, not just wishful thought that I wish I could be at more peace.

I wish I could be enlightened or, you know, be more compassionate. But every single day in the morning, by doing those prayers, you're setting that intention to be what you'd rather be. So what I always share with everyone, even the cadets at West Point, is to make your intention strong by creating a purpose for your own life.

Your life purpose should be to make, can everybody repeat this after me? To make positive impact on other people's lives. On other people's lives. Yeah. Yeah. If we make that our purpose, doesn't matter what we do, what your profession is, you're doing it for the purpose of making a positive impact. And ask yourself, how am I making a positive impact? Is this really beneficial to making a positive impact?

And you're always reflecting on that. So that intention has to become stronger. So with our folks that I practice together with, our sangha, every morning they have to do, you know, ritual, you know, puja, a prayer to align to that spiritual alignment of that intention to make a positive impact on other people's lives. When we direct our lives to that path of making a positive impact on other people's lives is when we start to change the shift.

You know, you'll see the shift in our heart. Because otherwise, we're always chasing after things I want and running away from things I don't want. And that's always ups and downs, you know. You sometimes get it, sometimes don't, right? But if we focus on life purpose, about making a positive impact on other people's lives, then it lessens that up and down. Because it's less about me, it's about them.

It doesn't mean you sacrifice all the time. How do you find that win-win? And you become less confrontational, less conflict with other people, and less competition, right? Those are the three C's of adversarial world that we'll live in. Conflicts of interest, right? Disagreement. Confrontation, you know, actual fighting. And then competition. Trying to be better than others. Trying to overtake others. Trying to have more than others.

All of those adversarial components create my own suffering. We think it's necessary. That's the illusion. That's what creates suffering. But by focusing on others, we're going to live our life much in a different fashion than when we're focused on ourself. So if you truly want happiness, want true happiness in life, bring that joy. Figure out a way. How can I, what can I use, you know, or do to help other people?

And it could be gentle smile. It could be just gentle greeting on the street. Small random acts of kindness, right? But it all takes practice. So I emphasize daily practice with my group all the time. Yeah. And I even have a daily guidance of the practice that they need to do every single day. Because that's how we change the course that we're taking into that intention that we're setting.

Does that make sense? Yes, thank you. Okay, good. Thank you for asking that question. Yeah. Anybody else?

And so I hope this was beneficial for you. I hope you can take this with you. When you take the bookmark, the prayer is in the back. So if nothing else, if you read it out loud every day, you know, with sincere heart to bring joy to other people, it'll bring joy. Yeah. Just watch how it feels. You know, when we did our meditation, didn't it feel better afterwards?

Yeah. Yeah. So let the world be. We can't change the world. We can't change anybody else. But we can change our inner peace. And that itself is going to radiate and impact others when we become more powerful. Okay.

So I want to express my gratitude for everyone showing up today to bring our energy together, to share the love and kindness energy. I hope I'll see you in the future. Come visit us at the Zen Center.

The bookmark also has a QR code for the website. It has all the information about the sangha, about the community that practices together. So whether we welcome all walks of life, all faith, it doesn't matter. It's really about our mind that we're training anyways. So even at West Point, I have my Sunday services in the afternoon. So cadets can go to church in the morning and come to our session in the afternoon.

Yeah. I mean, they tend to come to the meditation session. But it's really to, I tell them this is your mental fitness training. Yeah. More so than a religious activity. But there are other principles and philosophies that you will learn that will be helpful. That will be helpful in seeing the world differently. When you see the world differently, your paradigm shift happens and what you feel inside also changes.

Okay. And that's what we focus on. It's just our own mind. That's it. Okay.

All right. Thank you so much for being here. Let's close out with our metta prayer one more time. Let's bring our palms together. Okay.

And at this time, repeat after me. Okay. May all beings find true happiness. May all beings find true happiness. Through wisdom and compassion. Through wisdom and compassion. May all beings enjoy true happiness. May all beings enjoy true happiness. Through wisdom and compassion. Through wisdom and compassion. May all beings enjoy true happiness. May all beings enjoy true happiness. Through wisdom and compassion. Through wisdom and compassion.

Okay. Thank you for being here. Have a wonderful weekend. I hope to see you again in the near future. Thank you. Oh. Is there any announcements that you want to make, Jake? You can take the mic if you like. Oh, it's okay, Venerable.

Thank you, Venerable Susan, for your teaching and for guiding us in today's practice.

And thank you to everyone who joined us this morning. The energy of compassion and loving kindness we generated here will not remain in this room.

We will carry into our daily lives in the way that we think, the way that we speak and listen, and the way that we treat one another.

For anyone who would like to continue practicing with us, our sangha gathers every Wednesday from 7 to 8.30pm for meditation and the Dharma talk. We also gather every Saturday from 10.30pm to 12pm. Both gatherings are held at the Bul Kwang Zen Center in Tappan.

And all are welcome. As Venerable mentioned, as we leave, our volunteers have set up hand fans as well as bookmarks, again, with a QR code and a link to our website, so you can find where you can learn more. Thank you, Susan, and The Angel Nyack, for welcoming us into this beautiful space. And to all of our volunteers who helped make today possible.

Thank you, everyone, and have a peaceful day. Thank you. Have a great weekend. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Say thank you. Life-changing. Life-changing. Oh, thank you.

Keep you in our prayer.