A dad and his eight-year-old daughter go out for a walk after dinner. The sun is going down and the sky is aglow with the sunset. Then the daughtersays, “Dad, it is almost the time the Moon rises,” and continues, “Dad, I’ve been curious about it for a long time; Since when did the Sun and the Moon work together?”
The dad replies, “Well, probably since the Earth was created.When I was young, I always saw the Sun and the Moon, also. They must have been working together for a long, long time, mustn’t they?”
Then, the daughter says, “Wow, but they never fight. They take turns for morning and night shifts every day. They might sometimes feel tired or have some disagreements. But how come they could never ever fight?”
“Haha.. That’s really a difficult question. Also when I was young, they didn’t fight. In my life, I have never seen the Sun and the Moon fight. When a dawn comes, the sun silently starts the morning and,when an evening comes, like now, the Moon silently takes its turn just like that. They can do so every day probably because they don’t have the selfish mind that we humans have,” replies the dad.
“Oh, I see. The Sun and the Moon really seem to have one mind. I wish people of the world would do their work diligently and help each other without conflicts and fighting,” says the daughter.
“My sweetheart, you are very wise. You’re right. The nature does not have the mind of the ‘self’ so it can silently take its role and harmoniously become one. But humans have the mind of the ‘self’with lots of thoughts and greed that we hardly live like the nature. In some sense, the Sun and the Moon must be much better beings than human beings,” replies the dad.
The Sun completely set and the Moon rises. The Moon is brightly illuminating the world. The Sun and the Moon, without mind, carry out their own roles and brighten the entire world. Although 100 years pass, the Sun and the Moon, without mind, will continue to brightly illuminate our world. Could humans live like the Sun and the Moon? In order for humans to be so, they must probably eliminate the existence of the ‘self’ completely.
Teacher Woo Myung’s Poem
From a poetry, Nature’s Flow
Pines
The pine is an evergreen tree in the mountains.
The pine whistles in the wind.
The pine stands without a word;
no matter spring, summer, fall, or winter,
it stands.
The pine simply exists.
The pine has no will.
The pine knows not the passing of time.
The pine came naturally.
The pine will leave of its own accord.
The pine knows nothing.
The pine simply comes and simply goes.
Man cannot see the pine as a pine
Man thinks.
