Won Buddhism of Manhattan

Buddhism is a very new way of life to me. Almost all members of my family, like the majority of Korean immigrants to North America, participate in Protestant Christian church communities. I was raised in these North American Korean Christian communities and deciding to leave the mentality of the church and practice Buddhism was a very long and difficult decision for me.

Buddhist philosophy and tradition helps me make decisions in this lifetime. What particularly attracts me to the Won Buddhist tradition and what makes me think it is right is that it is focused on mind body integration.

Breathing meditation is also slowly helping me to change my life by changing my relationship between the physical and thought world. Often I find that after meditating regularly, it is easier for me to make clearer headed decisions and see people in a new, sometimes painful, but almost always, a more beautiful and rewarding angle. There are also certain details of the world that I'm more receptive to; for example, the daisy like weeds that grow in the concrete sidewalks next to my apartment. I never noticed such things before in life and now I keep a vase of them on my desk. For me it is a mystery how their presence, simple weeds, now gives me such an irrational and profound pleasure.

Although my footing in Buddhist practice is still young and unsure at times, I am convinced that the Buddhist concept of letting go is the most powerful concept I have come across in this world so far. In English, particularly American English, the phrase 'letting go' has a culturally embedded sense of loss or regret. However, through Buddhist philosophy, practice and community, I have discovered there also exists a strong sense of discovery, of peace, and the intuition that there is something more profound than happiness that is gained by letting go, by drawing closer to the truth.

January, 2010