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Why Do You Eat Every Day?Finding true purpose in life

The Human Route

Coming empty-handed, going empty-handed that is human.

When you are born, where do you come fromWhen you die, where do you go

!ife is li"e a floating cloud which appears.#eath is li"e a floating cloud which disappears.The floating cloud itself originally does not e$ist.

!ife and death, coming and going, are also li"e that.%ut there is one thing which always remains clear.&t is pure and clear, not depending on life and death.Then what is the one pure and clear thing - 'n ancient (en poem

Ifyou had asked me twenty-five years ago if Iwould ever consider becoming a Buddhist monk,I would have looked at you strangely and thoughtthat you were drunk, a bit crazy, or both. I wasdevoutly atheist and studiously avoided any formof religion, believing it to be the opiate of themasses. I think that I could only admit to

worshipping the god of money and finance.

hilst working in !ong "ong in #$$%, my

friends managed to persuade me to attend a talkby "orean &en 'aster (eung (ahn. I went with great reluctance, only because I wanted tohave dinner and en)oy myself with them afterwards.

I had no idea that he was a *reat &en 'aster who had attained enlightenment at the age of%%. +o be honest, if I had known, I wouldnt have cared. I wasnt interested in &en, I wasntinterested in any religion I was only interested in my career and work. (teeling myself, Ianticipated two hours of boring, obscure preaching on Buddhist philosophy.

I was wholly unprepared for the impact that &en'aster (eung (ahn made on me. bright faced

stocky man with a /uick laugh, he had an air ofauthority and a total self-conviction in his beliefs.!e had a vibrant personality, spoke with greatenergy, using a form of 0nglish that I would latercome to know as "onglish, a hybrid of "oreanand 0nglish grammar. !e was very down toearth, spoke about our human life with greatcompassion and wisdom.

I found myself nodding in agreement to all hesaid. !e made such an impression on me that the unthinkable happened I got religion,

or more specifically, &en. In my gut, I completely believed in what he said but I neededsome time to get my head around it. I resolved to find out more and very /uickly, I foundmyself drawn into practising &en meditation regularly at the centre.

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0ven after practising &en meditation for a number of years, the thought of enteringmonastic life was as remote to me as finding life on the moon. 1espite completing twointensive ninety day winter &en meditation retreats in "orea in the mid-#$$2s, my view

was unchanged.

fter all, I had nothing to complain about in my life I en)oyed my work, was well paidwith good career prospects and I was in a stable relationship. I even took the bold step ofstarting to pay for the mortgage on a flat. 3eeling pretty much safe and secure, I felt things

were working out /uite well for me.

+hen something started to change. It began imperceptibly a gnawing feeling thatsomething was not completely right with life. 'y life. I often felt a certain emptiness, even

within moments of happiness. 'y work and lifes mundane normality filled me with asense of /uiet desperation that I could not shrug off. I could not name what was botheringme e4cept that it seemed shrouded in an impenetrable grey fog.

*radually the fog began to clear, and with it, /uestions surfaced, forcing me to face them.as the life I was leading work, money, relationships all there was to it5 ouldgetting married, having kids, buying a flat be it5 hy did I see so much suffering aroundme that many others did not even notice5 as there a bigger meaning to my life one thatI had yet to discover5

'any other similar /uestions appeared none ofwhich I could answer with any certainty. 6et I ploddedon with my everyday e4istence, certain of only onething7 whatever my lifes purpose, the one I was living

wasnt it.

I continued with my meditation practice, sometimesin fits and starts, but always at the local &en 8entre. Itgradually dawned on me that I wanted meditation to

be the central pillar of my life. 9ust how that wouldhappen came a little later.

&en 'aster (eung (ahn would visit a few times a year from "orea to teach and give talks.:n one of these visits, he invited me to share his lunch table with some other monks.1uring lunch, he asked me, 1o you have any brothers5

;o, I replied.

hhhh, he said, then become monk not easy.

s soon as I heard that, a thought shot into my head7Why not I spent the rest of lunch in silence,turning that short conversation over and over in myhead. In time, hy not5 became I can and I madethe decision to become a monk with &en 'aster(eung (ahn as my teacher.

I left for "orea and ended up staying for seventeenyears, mostly at 'u (ang (a, an international &enmonastery on *yeryong mountain. In the "orean

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monastic tradition, the accepted wisdom is that it takes about seven years after ordinationto fully embrace monasticism and be completely comfortable in your new life. s yourpractice continues to mature, your mind rela4es and your life direction becomes muchclearer7 it becomes one to )ust help others. 0ven moments of frustration are more thancompensated by moments of )oy7 )oy in the Buddha, )oy in the 1harma and )oy in the(angha.

s sians living in sia, the region promises great opportunities for economic and materialsuccess. It is possible to attain a standard of living and wealth far greater than that of ourforefathers through hard work, sheer effort and persistence.

!owever, as human beings sharing this planet withbillions of other beings, we need to attain the true purposeof our human life. 3inding the correct direction in our lifeis crucial to our continued e4istence and to our ability tolive in peace and harmony with each other. If we do not,

we are like a rudderless ship, drifting on the ocean at the

mercy of lifes pernicious currents.

+o find our life direction as human beings, we need toanswer this simple, important /uestion7 hy do you eatevery day5

Its a /uestion that all &en students are asked as they beginkong-an practice at our centres. If we attain the correct

answer to this /uestion, then we truly get our lifes purpose.

If we answer, I eat because Im hungry, I eat to have energy or I eat because its

necessary for my survival, then we are no different from dogs, cats or other animals. +heyeat for the same reasons. But we are clearly different from animals. e are human beings

with the potential to realize lifes higher purpose.

(o, hy do you eat every day5

If we practice meditation consistently, our mind becomesclear and the answer appears very simply in front of us. Itarises naturally from our innate wisdom.

!eres a hint when you eat, is it for me or for others5 If

it is not clear, please find a nearby &en 8entre, practisemeditation and a good answer will soon appear.

+his article was originally published in the pril %2#< issue of#andelion, the magazine of the =niversiti(ains 'alaysia (tudents Buddhist (ociety.

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