Today is the day we travel far to visit villages located in the north-east of Bhutan.
At 6:00 in the morning, a meal was served with rice, vegetables, and fruit prepared by nuns, and at 7:00, a live broadcast of the ascetic practice took place. It is 10 am in Korean time. Until 6 o’clock, I couldn’t connect to the internet, so I burned a child, but a smartphone owned by a nun was able to connect to the internet.
The monk first showed a picture of what he had done and spent the last week explaining in detail. After the monk explained the pictures, we watched a video of what the members of the Jungto Society did in each of the first temples last weekend.
After the time to introduce the activity, the four people who asked questions in advance had a conversation with the monk. One of them asked how to take a stand, saying it was a burden to share his thoughts after morning prayer.
“I learned that the reason for sharing thoughts in the Jeongto Society is to change negative thoughts into positive ones by presenting one’s state of mind here and now, and informing others about one’s state of mind. For some time after dawn, sharing thoughts comes as a burden and feels like homework, so I cannot pour out my heart properly. From what perspective should we share our thoughts so that we can share more comfortably?”
“It is a burden because the questioner does not share his mind and tries to share his thoughts. If you hate praying in the middle of a prayer, you can post your heart this way.
‘I really didn’t want to pray today, but I forced myself to do it.’
Conversely, if there is a part that feels really good, you can share it. You don’t have to write long because it’s easier to share your heart than you think. Writing verse by verse is not about sharing your mind, but rather about sharing your thoughts. You can share your opinion while praying, but the basic thing is to share your heart. I can notice how my heart is here and now and simply put it out. The questioner does not want to give his heart out, so it is burdensome to share his mind. When I pray, when my heart is good, happy, or when prayer is going well, there is no pressure to share my heart, but if I don’t want to pray because nothing seems to say pray, it would be a little embarrassing to write the truth about sharing my heart.
Instead of revealing the questioner’s mind lightly, I keep trying to do it and use it, so I am stuck with my conscience and demanding. Don’t worry about what others say, write what the questioner feels. When it’s short, I write one line, two lines, three lines, simply pray and write how I feel. Sharing your feelings is not the same as sharing your feelings. I have feelings, but I also have many thoughts. If the questioner has time, he may write his impressions, but you are welcome to share how he felt during this morning’s prayer.
There’s a reason why I keep telling you to share your mind. First, it means praying every day. If you forget to pray once, it is not easy to do it again. That is why we check if we have prayed by sharing a heart. It is not intended to be evaluated by examining mind sharing. Second, it means knowing your heart when you pray and revealing that heart once. Even if we know our feelings, we feel embarrassed to reveal them. In particular, it is very demanding to reveal negative thinking. I’d rather hide it. Everyone is good at showing a good heart. However, it is difficult to reveal a negative thought, so it is necessary to practice gently revealing a negative thought.
I don’t have to worry too much about how others evaluate me. It’s good to be aware of your own state of mind, share it with others, and get to know each other. What are you doing by hiding your heart? If someone in Urdd y Tir Pur gives them money or success in life, they may try to look good by hiding their feelings. However, the Jungto Society is not like that, and please, there will be more work. (laughs)
So you don’t have to look good on purpose. The purpose is simply to practice letting go gently. Why does the Jungto Society make sharing their hearts an obligation? I do this to train my husband or anyone else to open their hearts gently. Instead of getting angry and angry with the children when they are in a group, it is much better to put your heart out gently, saying, ‘It hurts my mother because you do that’. I mean, let’s practice that. It is not that negative thoughts should not occur. Everyone has negative thoughts. If you stop him, he becomes angry and stressed, and later explodes. But if you think lightly, it can bring comfort to your everyday life.”
“Thank you.”
In addition to this, three more questions were answered and the live broadcast ended.
As soon as the Buddhist ceremony ended, the monk took the bag and luggage he had prepared in advance, loaded them into the car, and set off. Thimphu, the capital of Bhutan, is in western Bhutan, and I had to drive three full days to get to eastern Bhutan. The west side is being developed to some extent, but the east side has a lot of undeveloped areas, so we decided to explore it for a week. Tashi from the Bhutan Bhikkhuni Foundation will accompany us, and Ssangge will support the driving. As I drove through the city of Thimphu, I saw a winding road in front of me. Bhutan’s main road is winding mountain roads. The car left Thimphu town center and entered a national highway.
Shortly after leaving, there was a place to see the Himalayas, so I stopped the car for a while. It was a cloudy day, so the long stretches of the Himalayas were hard to see. One of the monks explained the location of the Himalayas to the monk.
“where is he? I can’t see him well, but the governor tells me where to look.”
“Sir, there you are. Instead of being lumpy like clouds over there, the snow-capped mountain ranges are a bit pointy.”
Tashi said.
“I can’t see well”
“you’re right. There are many places where you can see the Himalayas today.” (laughs)
Thimphu is 2,320 meters above sea level. Today, we go to Bumtang, which is said to have beautiful natural scenery, over 4,000m. The monk asked about life in Bhutan while checking the area and elevation on the map.
“What kind of food do Bhutanese usually eat? Are you self-sufficient in food?”
“Rice and vegetables are sufficient, but other things are lacking.”
“What foods do you import and export?”
“He comes from the mountains, and exports types of fruit and mushrooms. Mushrooms are also used medicinally. There are not many exports. There is income for things like sugar and cooking oil.”
“Isn’t rice self-sufficient? How about flour or corn?”
“Yes, we import some rice. Wheat flour is imported from India, and maize is mainly consumed as a Bhutanese product. Everything comes out here according to the season, but when the season is over, it’s not self-sustaining, so we import it.”
“How is rice grown? Are all those fields a place to grow rice?”
The monk asked looking at the terraced land.
“Yes.”
The place where rice is grown looks like a field, and it looks similar to the terrace farming method done in the mountains of Korea.
“I need water to grow rice, but what should I do with the water?”
“Water is only farmed with rainwater when it rains.”
“Are there any other irrigation facilities?”
“The rice paddy fields where the river flows down are pumped up, but in places where there is no river water, when it rains, the land is created so that there is water rain collects on the ground and uses agricultural water. We mainly grow rice according to the rainy season. “
Having listened to the story of Mr. Tashi, the foot of the mountain was treated in a terrace. Some were cultivated in front of the house, and others were built on a large scale, with the entire foot of the mountain being terraced.
While driving, I saw a cabin in the middle, so I decided to have a snack there. There are also rice paddies, and a river flows under the paddy fields.
The monk ate a snack, examined the land, and said,
“Since the river below is below the rice fields, if we bring water from just upstream with a pipe, we will be able to farm even when it is not raining.”
After talking to Tashi, I saw the Himalayas. The sunlight reflected off the snow that covers the Himalayas, making them appear white and clear. I got out of the car and looked at the snowy mountains.
“Haengja-nim, why did you try to look at the invisible peak? ‘Those who have eyes, come and see!’ You can see it as what the Buddha said. I couldn’t see that peak even though I had eyes.” (laughs)
After seeing the snowy mountains, we moved again and had lunch at a rest area at 1:00 PM. Rice, stir-fry potatoes, and mushroom food were served for lunch.
“The rice is Bhutanese rice. Please taste it.”
The rice is not as runny as Indian rice and not very sticky like Korean rice.
“Are all these foods Bhutanese?”
“no. This food which is made as soup with cheese in potatoes is Bhutanese food.”
After eating, we got back in the car. After a while, there were one or two cows on the road. On closer inspection, it was a yak.
“This is the first time I’ve seen a yak in real life”
Moving a little further, a huge meadow spread out. Until I just moved, there were many rice farming places, but now everywhere has changed to grasslands and ranches.
The monk looked at the yak and asked Tashi.
“Is milk or cheese self sufficient? Is it possible to export?”
“We also export”
“Do yaks produce milk?”
“Yes, it’s very thick”
“When I entered Thimphu, there were no trees nearby. Is it because people are cutting down trees near Thimphu? Or is the mountain a barren place where no trees can grow?”
“It’s a rocky mountain, and it’s because the land is barren.”
“Once the tree is removed, it will be very difficult to grow it again because it is a stone mountain. Although it is a stone mountain, trees grow on the stone mountain after hundreds of years. However, there were no trees in the vicinity of Thimphu. If you cut a tree on a stony mountain, it will take hundreds of years for the tree to grow back there. When I was young, there were no trees on the mountain and only stones to be seen, but now I can’t see stones. I didn’t cut down trees while burning coal and gas. The same is true of Dungeswari. If people don’t cut down, it will soon grow thick, but because people cut down, trees can’t grow. Still, it’s grown a lot more than when I first started.”
Snowy mountains surrounded my head, and on the mountain in front of me was a meadow and blooming flowers.
“Spring is coming in Bhutan, so flowers are blooming”
When I stopped by the rest stop, the market was open. The monk looked around the market for a while. There were all kinds of vegetables in the market, but among them were gobi and fern, so I thought that Bhutan eats fern like us.
We reached Bumthang around sunset.
The monk thanked Ssangge for driving all day today. I went into the accommodation Tashi had reserved, drank tea, unpacked my bags, proofread the manuscript, and finished my schedule for the day.
Tomorrow, we will continue to move to the eastern part of Bhutan.
