Vision of Our Temple
The vision of our temple is deeply related with the vision of Sotaesan. He envisioned that the United States of America would be the ideal place for his teaching and the springboard to spread Won Buddhism around the world. In this regard, the role of the Manhattan Temple is critical in our worldwide movement.
What is our vision?
What do we want to achieve? Sotaesan's vision was to build a paradise on the earth through cultivation of spirituality. He hoped to lead all living beings to the boundless peace and joy of a paradise, away from the tormenting sea of life and it's material attachments. He wanted human beings to know, nourish and follow their original nature in order to become happier human beings in their daily lives. Our vision is to maintain, nourish, and strengthen our Temple and our practice. We want to support the cultivation of spirituality in ourselves, in our community and in our country through Won Buddhism. We would like to offer compassion, spiritual support, and peace to the people in our New York City community through Won Buddhism.
Where would be the best place to attempt to build a paradise on earth?
Sotaesan envisioned that the United States of America would be the ideal place. Why the United States? The United States is the important center of the world today where diverse groups of people with multicultural, multi-religious and multi-national backgrounds live together in the same place, especially here in New York. We need to understand each other in order to coexist peacefully. If we are successful here in the Uned States of America, we can be successful elsewhere.
We can learn from the history of world religions. Take Christianity as an example. When it was founded in Jerusalem and practiced by local Jews, it was a primitive religion that was different from the present form. How was it transformed into a world religion? Only after Christianity moved to Rome which was the center of the world at that time, was it transformed in order to make sense for a broad non-Jewish population. Won Buddhism is in a similar situation. It was founded in Korea that experienced many conflicts, wars and poverty including World War I, World War II, the Japanese colonial period and the Korean War. During this kind of experience, it was hard to fully actualize Sotaesan's vision. Its system was shaped by Korean experience and culture including patriarchal values.
New York City is the most visible symbol of the United States of America as a promised land. New York will play a crucial role in Won Buddhism in the same way as Rome did in Christian history. In addition, the positive side of American culture and the value of a long history of democracy, the ideal of equality, freedom and justice, feminism and human rights, inclusiveness, transparency and participation will help Won Buddhism to be transformed in order to make sense for a broad non-Korean population by fully actualizing Sotaesan's original vision.
At the same time, Won Buddhist teaching and practice can help to improve the negative side of American culture with its over-reliance on science and technology, material values and success, replacement of quality with quantity, loss of meaning and values, uncertainty, insecurity and dehumanization. Accelerating growth and innovation in science, industry, and technology has led to the creation of countless new material items for the convenience, comfort, or entertainment of human beings. As material goods and services proliferate at an accelerating rate into all realms of our lives, they increasingly seem to dominate us and leave us no room for spirituality. Here in New York, we have the most relevant example of place where we need to focus on spirituality.
Why do we want to participate in building a paradise on the earth?
The reason is that we are not happy with the present conditions. We can work together to improve our community and ourselves. It is possible to transform ourselves into being a central force in building a paradise through spiritual civilization and inner revolution. The first step is to cultivate our inner spiritual self, our Buddha within. Through this inner cultivation we will be enlightened and then help others to become enlightened. Inner empowerment through spiritual cultivation is a decisive first step toward building a paradise on the earth, in our hearts, minds and life. We must always begin with inner cultivation to be enlightened to our Buddha nature. We encounter too many problems, threats, anxieties, stress, worries and fears. All kinds of negativity make us unhappy, therefore we want to do something about it. We want to discover Buddha within as a way to live happy lives and cultivate permanent happiness in our hearts.
How can we build a paradise?
First, we need to slow down. We don't have to force ourselves to do more and more in less and less time as we were trained within a technological culture. We will have enough time to do what we need to do in this world. Second, we need to prioritize our life and let go of unessential things. We can prioritize our work based on our values and the meaning of life here on the earth and on what we want to accomplish from this life. Third, it is good to learn how to relax. We have so much tension and anxiety. Relaxation means letting go. We want to let go of all the tensions, anxieties and worries in order to relax. Fourth, we practice doing one thing at a time. Our American culture constantly promotes doing many things at the same time-multitasking. However, if we learn to do one thing at a time, we become much more happily productive. Fifth, we can train ourselves to simplify our lives, belongings, works, words and thoughts. We have too many thoughts in our minds, too many words in our mouth, too many material things and too much work to do. It is good to simplify and simplify. Finally, through the process of slowing down, prioritizing, relaxing, doing one thing at a time and simplifying, we can cultivate innate goodness, wisdom, love, mindful action, positive energy, serenity, and centeredness wherever we go and whatever we do. We become a sun of spirituality in our society that shines light everywhere.
Who can participate in building paradise on the earth?
Who can be at the center in this movement? People who understand the vision, people who know it is important to make concerted effort to better the condition of humanity and the earth, people who are yearning for new vision, new thinking and new approaches to existing problems, shall be at the center of this movement. People who are searching for spiritual growth, meaning and values will become frontier practioners. These practioners will commit themselves to work together and practice together to build a paradise in their minds first, and then in our society.
We therefore need strong teamwork to bring spiritual cultivation, wisdom, love, and mindful action to more New Yorkers and Americans. In Won Buddhist tradition, Temple Council members are empowered to serve as lay ministers of a local temple. To serve as Temple Council members, you must meet certain criteria. Every member can earn his or her opportunity to serve as a lay minister in the future. The first reason we need more leadership of lay ministers is that Rev. Na, Hwang and I cannot serve all of your needs effectively at all levels. We have a language barrier and come from a different culture. We tried very hard for the last ten years. But now we need added dimensions to make this teaching available to more Americans. The second reason is that Sotaesan envisioned equality between men and women, between clergy and laity. We are beginning to actualize it in our temple. I will delegate most of my work to lay ministers, Rev. Na and Rev. Hwang for the temple, related work at the United Nations and inter-religious cooperation until I fully recover. My illness in fact created a healthy opportunity to move toward building a long lasting community. I pray for everyone to cultivate their potential and grow in spirit to fulfill new assignments.
When is the proper time to build a paradise on the earth?
Shall we wait until we have more favorable conditions? Shall we wait until we come back for the next life or five hundred lives to be enlightened? According to the Worldwatch Institute's report in State of the World 2003, we most likely have only one or two generations, to save our planet earth (p.4). The time is now. If we don't change here and now, we cannot change our future. We have to begin here and now, and participate in this spiritual cultivation in order to build a paradise in our hearts, minds, lives, community and on the earth. The timing is critical! When you see the present environmental crisis, you know we cannot wait too long. We may lose our chance to restore the earth. The earth is the best place to live for human beings. Do you think outer space, or under water, will be more suitable places for human life? The earth is the most beautiful, available, comfortable place for human beings to enjoy life. Then please let us join together and take care of it.
Let us begin where we are. Let us begin here and now today to build a paradise in our minds and hearts first. Then we can bring more love, kindness, and mindful action to all life around us.
http://www.wonbuddhism.org/