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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...

Buddhist 49-Day Memorial Rites (49재)

 In Buddhism, 49-Jae (사십구재) is the most significant funeral ritual, performed exactly 49 days after a person passes away. The fundamental belief is based on the concept of reincarnation. After death, the soul does not immediately transition to the next life. Instead, it enters an intermediate spiritual state called Bardo (중유/간극) for 49 days.  During this period, the deceased undergoes judgment every seven days by the kings of the underworld, who evaluate the karma—the accumulated deeds—of their past life to determine their next rebirth.  




Live carefully. Your actions matter. What you do in this life affects what comes next. This is very Buddhist. Buddhism teaches that life is shaped by karma. Karma means actions and their consequences. Good actions create good results. Harmful actions create suffering. So 49-jae reminds people that death is connected to life, and the afterlife is connected to how we live now.




불교에서 49재는 고인이 세상을 떠난 지 정확히 49일째 되는 날에 치르는 가장 중요한 천도 의례이다. 이 의례의 근본 배경은 윤회 사상에 기반한다. 사람이 죽은 후 영혼은 곧바로 다음 생으로 넘어가는 것이 아니다. 대신, 중유(Intermediate State)라 불리는 영적 유예 공간에서 49일 동안 머물게 된다. 이 기간 동안 고인은 7일마다 한 번씩 저승의 대왕들에게 전생의 업(Karma)을 심판받으며, 이 결과에 따라 다음 세상의 몸을 받게 된다.

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