The Korean Seon (Zen) master Venerable Pomnyun Sunim (법륜스님) wears many hats: Buddhist monk, teacher, author, environmentalist, and social activist, to name a few. As a widely respected Dharma teacher and a tireless socially engaged activist in his native South Korea, Ven. Pomnyun Sunim has founded numerous Dharma-based organizations, initiatives, and projects that are active across the world. Among them, Jungto Society, a volunteer-based community founded on the Buddhist teachings and expressing equality, simple living, and sustainability, is dedicated to addressing modern social issues that lead to suffering, including environmental degradation, poverty, and conflict.
This column, shared by Jungto Society, presents a series of highlights from Ven. Pomnyun Sunim’s writings, teachings, public talks, and regular live-streamed Dharma Q+A sessions, which are accessible across the globe.
The following teachings were given in San Diego on 12 September. This article is the 12th in a special series taken from Ven. Pomnyun Sunim’s Dharma tour of Europe and North America—his first overseas tour since the pandemic. Titled “Casual Conversation with Ven. Pomnyun Sunim: Come Talk about Life, Wisdom, and Happiness” the Dharma tour ran from 1–22 September 2023, taking in 21 cities: six in Europe and 15 in North America.*
Sunim held a meeting with local members of Jungto Society prior to commencing his Dharma talk in San Diego. During this session, the Jungto members had an opportunity to share any questions or thoughts that were on their minds.
Prostrating as Part of Buddhist Practice
Q: It seems that while Americans have a strong affinity for meditation, suggesting the practice of 108 prostrations during Jungto Society’s 1,000-day practice resolution appears to be challenging for them.
Ven. Pomnyun Sunim: Engaging in 108 bows might not align well with American culture. However, true faith often emerges when we conquer such challenges. The practice of 108 bows can have a significant impact on personal growth—even more so than daily meditation. First, it aids in overcoming difficulties. Second, it promotes good health through physical exercise. Bowing tirelessly contributes to one’s well-being and good health. Interestingly, the trend of 108 bows has gained popularity in South Korea, especially among judges, irrespective of their religious beliefs. They prepare a seating cushion in their offices and perform 108 bows each morning before commencing their workday.
In Western culture, bowing is often viewed as a sign of submission, making the practice of 108 bows a challenge. However, individuals tend to experience a sense of inner softening after overcoming this initial resistance and engaging in 108 bows. While it’s not advisable to compel people to partake in this practice, you can certainly inform them of the positive benefits associated with it.
The culture of prostrating is primarily observed in Korea and Tibet. In many other countries, meditation is commonly practiced. However, individuals who engage in uninterrupted bowing experience notable changes in life. From my observations within my community, those who refrained from bowing do not exhibit the same progress in personal growth. Therefore, I recommend it but without imposing it on anyone.
Observe the contrasting changes in individuals who engage in 108 bows versus those who meditate for 20 minutes daily over a period of 100 days. From my perspective, those who performed 108 bows showed significantly greater personal transformation. This isn’t to dismiss meditation but to highlight that bowing can be more impactful than meditation in fostering growth and self-reflection. Often during what you may perceive as meditation, a considerable portion of the time is spent daydreaming or dozing off. On the other hand, bowing 108 times each morning can unquestionably lead to noticeable changes in one’s life.
Whenever I send JTS volunteers abroad for fieldwork as part of JTS overseas relief programs, I ensure they begin their workday with 108 bows. However, amid the hustle and bustle of daily tasks, they sometimes skip the 108 bows for a day or two, eventually ceasing the practice altogether. Individuals who consistently perform 108 bows each day tend to endure and successfully complete their missions, while those who stop bowing are more likely to give up and return home. Engaging in this challenging practice daily signifies a clear sense of purpose for their mission. However, when one becomes solely focused on carrying out daily work, they start to lose their sense of purpose and see themselves as simple laborers. That’s why I emphasize the importance of 108 bows, except for those who are physically unable due to injury. Certainly, starting this practice can be tough, and people often inquire about how long they should continue doing 108 bows. My response is that you should do it until you die!
The most beneficial physical exercise is walking, followed by bowing. Going to the golf course to play golf or lifting weights at the gym can be hard on the body and not very healthy. So it’s important not to rush through the 108 bows; instead, do them slowly to avoid straining your body. Doing them slowly is also excellent for your health. Moving slowly can even aid in physical rehabilitation. For example, if you leave your fingers immobile because they’re injured, they’ll stiffen up. Even when it hurts, you should move them little by little for the treatment to be effective.
Q: What mindset should one have when doing 108 bows?
Ven. Pomnyun Sunim: When you do it for exercise, it’s simply a physical act. However, when you perform 108 bows as a form of Buddhist practice, it’s important to approach it with a humble mindset. Bowing involves a physical act of bending down, but consider how this bodily movement is influenced by shifts in your mental state.
Imagine a married couple lying in bed, engaging in a quiet and gentle conversation. If conflict arises and they disagree, they don’t remain lying down. Instead, they sit up and say, “What did you say?” while their voices may escalate. As frustration grows, they might even stand up while speaking. In a state of heightened emotions, they might stand, widen their eyes, and even start shouting. It’s often in these actions that their conviction in being right becomes more evident.
However, when I recognize that I’ve made a mistake, my gaze drops, and my head bows slightly. If the mistake is more significant, my posture inclines further, my waist bends, and for even more substantial errors, my knees bend, ultimately culminating in my forehead touching the ground. This act of acknowledging my shortcomings and humbly bowing to the ground enhances my sense of self-assurance and humility.
Practitioners must be confident and humble. However, foolish people tend to be arrogant and look down on those whom they think are inferior to them, and act subserviently to those they view as superior to them. An arrogant and servile person is a foolish being, while a confident and humble person is a practitioner. Bowing is essential to practice because it makes a person confident and humble.
Moreover, during the act of bowing, you have the opportunity to reflect on your activities from the previous day and contemplate areas in which you may have fallen short. As you review moments from yesterday when you experienced anger, irritation, or laziness, you become aware and think, “Ah, I missed that!” Bowing alone is beneficial for physical health, but combined with self-reflection, it also enhances mental well-being.
Many individuals tend to approach bowing with thoughts such as, “A thousand times would be good,” or “Three thousand times would be even better.” However, this mindset is driven by greed, and not by the essence of bowing. Bowing should be a practice of lowering oneself.
This way, the 1,000-Day Practice program is structured with self-reflection followed by 108 bows, meditation to cultivate mindfulness, and recitation of sutra readings. Repentance is keeping the precepts, meditation is cultivating samadhi (the state of deep awareness in meditation), and reading sutras is acquiring wisdom. The program is structured this way based on the Buddha’s words that practitioners must practice the threefold training.
If you decide to do 108 bows, you need to do it consistently. It’s not considered practice if you start enthusiastically because you’re motivated and then quit when you don’t feel like doing it anymore. Practice requires a steady and unwavering commitment. You have to do it whether you like it or not. It’s through consistent dedication that you can make yourself happier and progress on your life journey.
Moreover, you should strive to become a person who can contribute to making a better world. It can be material contributions or mental/spiritual ones to help practicing the Dharma.
You can contribute with materials and resources or mentally and spiritually. By becoming someone who contributes even a little to the betterment of the world, you will lead a life that embodies the principle of “자리이타” (Kr: jariita): benefiting oneself and benefiting others. It would be wonderful if each one of you could experience such a life at least once.
Ven. Pomnyun Sunim then began his Dharma talk with the waiting audience.
Why Buddhism Is Important in the Era of the Climate Crisis
Ven. Pomnyun Sunim: While the climate crisis may not be an imminent danger to us here today, it already poses a severe threat to people living in impoverished regions. To halt or slow the climate crisis, we need to reduce our consumption. Achieving a zero-carbon lifestyle requires that we significantly reduce our current levels of consumption, in terms of what we eat, wear, and how we live. However, it’s exceedingly challenging for people living in already developed, affluent countries to cut down on consumption. Today, our pursuit of convenience has led many of us to a level of consumption addiction that is almost comparable to drug addiction. Therefore, overcoming consumption addiction appears to be even more challenging than overcoming drug addiction.
Nevertheless, despite these challenges, when we look at the life of Siddhartha Gautama, who lived 2,600 years ago, we find hope for ourselves. He was born as a prince and lived a life of abundance, but he chose to renounce it all and live a humble life, gathering food, wearing discarded clothes, and sleeping under trees. Despite this simplicity, he lived without suffering and found happiness.
Just as the Buddha chose a humble life instead of his vested comfortable lifestyle, I believe that we too should return to such a lifestyle to address the climate crisis. Therefore, if we all learn from the teachings of the Buddha and lead humble yet fulfilling lives, we may be able to make zero-carbon living a reality in the era of the climate crisis.
Living a Frugal Life amid a Culture of Consumerism
Q: You made reference to living a simple life and trying to consume less, but I think it’s difficult in the society we live in, with all the news, social media, consumption of food, alcohol, whatever it is, what are the things you can recommend living a simple life?
Ven. Pomnyun Sunim: Eating less is good for your health. Having a smaller room makes it easier to clean. Walking more contributes to better health. When you reduce consumption, you spend less money, so you don’t have to strive hard to earn a lot. It doesn’t take any special effort to reduce consumption; we advocate for it because it benefits your life.
Q: Is it easier to smoke or not to smoke?
Ven. Pomnyun Sunim: Well . . . to smoke, you first need to earn money to buy cigarettes. You have to buy cigarettes, open the pack, take one out, put it in your mouth, light it, smoke it, and even clean up afterward. On the other hand, not smoking means you don’t have to do any of those things. You don’t have to do anything, which makes not smoking much easier. However, some people find smoking easier, and those are the ones addicted to cigarettes.
Just like eating less is good for your health and spending less means you don’t have to strive hard to earn more money, there are many benefits to reducing consumption. If reducing consumption is still difficult for you despite these advantages, then you are already addicted to consumption.
Even if the per capita GDP in the United States were to increase from the current US$60,000 to US$600,000, it wouldn’t necessarily solve your life’s problems—just like someone who smokes a pack of cigarettes a day doesn’t become happier by smoking 10 packs, it only harms their health further.
If our consumption continues to increase, climate change will worsen, and we will face even greater crises. We shouldn’t envy those who earn a lot of money and consume excessively. Excessive consumption in the era of the climate crisis is akin to a crime that puts humanity at risk.
Q: Thank you.
Is the Current Era a Time of Declining Dharma?
Q: Some people believe that this time is different from the time of the Buddha; that this is a Dharma dark age or a declining age of the Dharma. So I wanted to ask whether you believe this? And if so, do you think it should change how we practice or how we think about the traditional teachings? And what we should prioritize and focus on in our conditions compared with the past?
Ven. Pomnyun Sunim: People tend to say that the era they live in is the most difficult era, and this tendency is often recorded in history as well. However, there is no such thing as the most difficult era. Whether we live in an era without the Dharma or in an era filled with the Dharma depends on our own ignorance or enlightenment. It’s not so important whether the current era is an era of the Dharma or not. What’s more important are our efforts to make this era a better one. Whether or not this era is considered an era of the Dharma will be judged by our descendants in the distant future. Let’s leave that evaluation up to them.
Q: Thank you.
At the end of the Dharma Talk, Sunim shared some concluding remarks.
Ven. Pomnyun Sunim: Through the teachings of the Buddha, my hope is that all of you can alleviate your suffering and stress, and find freedom and happiness. Even at the age of 70, living alone, I still embrace life with laughter, don’t I? There’s no reason to live in misery; we were not meant to suffer. Suffering arises because of excessive thinking. When you stop thinking, there is nothing at all.
See more
Pomnyun
Jungto Society
JTS Korea
JTS America
International Network of Engaged Buddhists
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