Skip to main content

Why are there so many homeless people around Seoul Station?

 You may notice quite a few homeless people around Seoul Station. A lot of visitors ask me, “Why are there so many homeless people here?” One of the biggest reasons goes back to 1997, during the Asian Financial Crisis. In Korea, we usually call it the IMF Crisis . A lot of companies went bankrupt, unemployment rose very quickly, and many people suddenly lost their jobs and income. Some people eventually lost their homes as well. And many of them came to Seoul Station . Why here? Because this was one of the main places to find day labor and temporary jobs , and it was also the main railway station if they wanted to go back to their hometowns. But some had no money left and nowhere else to go, so they stayed around the station. That is one reason Seoul Station became one of the main gathering places for homeless people after the 1997 crisis. Then another thing happened. Once many homeless people were here, churches, charities, NGOs, and the government started providing help here. Th...

Buddhism terms

The past is already gone, and the present keeps passing and changing moment by moment. The future hasn't come yet. 

Because the moment you call it yours, it's already slipped into the past. so don't cling to the past, don't cling to the present , and don't cling to the future.  Just think about, in changing situations, where you'll go in this very moment, and how you'll move forward. 

과거는 이미 지나갔고 , 현재는 지금 이 순간 계속 지나가고 변하고 있다. 내것이라고 말하는 순간 이미 과거가 돼버리기 때문이다.  그러니까 과거에 집착하지 말고, 현재에도 집착하지 말고, 미래에도 집착하지 말라. 다만 변하는 상황에서 지금 이 순간 내가 어디로갈지, 그리고 어떻게 전환해 나갈지를 생각하라. 


Because nothing has a fixed, unchanging essence, everything around me is simply passing by. 

 ✔️108번뇌 

✔️불교이야기 

✔️팔상도 

✔️팔정도 

심우도

불교 사물

연등회 

불교문양 해석 : 만(卍)자 나치 문양 하켄크로이츠 어떻게 다른가?

풍경 물고기 모양 왜? 




✔️사천왕상 

✔️불교 수용시기 

✔️인도불교 탄생 배경 

고행 - asceticism 

수행자- a practitioner  (*Siddharta realized that asceticism was not the proper path to enlightenment )

제자들 - Many disciples. 

집착- Attachment.

어떻게 집착에서 벗어날수 있는가?  How can one break free from obsession?

사치와 향락 Luxury and Indulgence.

고통 - All suffering.

내면의 고민 - In a conflict.

해탈 - Release from the Cycle of Rebirth 

열반 -nirvana

윤회 - rebirth  

중생- sentient being ( any living beings that can feel or experience suffering. : 고통을 느끼거나 경험할수 있는 모든 생명체) 

Popular posts from this blog

How Cotton Came to Korea and Changed Korean Life (Mun Ik-jeom story)

문익점 목화씨 이야기  Before Cotton: Clothes Were a Winter Problem Before cotton became common, ordinary Koreans mainly depended on hemp cloth . Silk was available, but it was expensive and mostly used by the upper class. Hemp was strong, but it was rough and did not keep people very warm. That was a serious problem during Korea's cold winters. This meant that many poor people suffered severely in winter, and in extreme cases some even died from the cold. After cotton was introduced, this situation changed dramatically. There is also an interesting story about how cotton first arrived in Korea. 1363–1364: The Seeds Came from Yuan China In 1363 , near the end of the Goryeo Dynasty, a Korean diplomatic mission went to the Yuan Dynasty , the Mongol-ruled dynasty in China. One official on that mission, Mun Ik-jeom , returned to Korea in 1364 with about ten cotton seeds. According to a well-known story, he hid the seeds inside a writing brush case (this is the famous anecdote), but it is import...
Read more

Old sailing ship in Korea (황포돛배: Hwang po sailing boat)

  Yellow sail boat (황포 돛배  Hwang-po sailing boat )  When you watch Korean historical dramas , you can often see these ships as a means of transportation when people see off someone who is leaving for a long distance, or in a scene where a man and a woman saying farewell leave each other.    Hwangpo means yellow cloth, and it is a sail dyed with red clay water.  The material of the boat is made of pine tree.  It was also a representative symbol of the history of the Han River.  During the Joseon Dynasty, Ships were used to transport regional specialties such as food, firewood, rice and salt to pay taxes along with people.  The characteristic of the boat is flat-bottomed ship. At the time, Koreans traveled on the southern and western seas where the tidal changes are so severe that the mudflats were exposed during low tide.  These flat-bottomed boats were much safer as they were less likely to capsize.  In addition, it played an import...
Read more

Doljanchi : the baby’s first birthday (Doljabi)

  Have you ever been to a baby’s first birthday party in Korea? If not, you’re in for a treat. Korean first birthdays are not your typical “cake and candles” kind of thing. It's a big, meaningful celebration with deep historical roots. Let me tell you why it’s so special. Baek-il (백일) So, in the past — especially before modern medicine — infant mortality was really high. Babies often didn’t survive the first few months. That’s why when a baby made it to 100 days old, called "Baek-il" in Korean, it was already considered a miracle. Families would throw a small party to celebrate, inviting relatives, neighbors, and pretty much anyone who wanted to come. It was kind of like saying, “Hey! Our baby made it this far — let’s celebrate life!” But the even  bigger  celebration came at the baby’s  first birthday , which we call  "Dol"  or  "Doljanchi."  By that point, if the baby had reached one year, the family felt hopeful that the child would live a lo...
Read more