The Seon Way for a Purposeful Life

By Suroso Mun

Discover what you truly want. If you establish your will firmly, all creations of the Universe wrap supporting energy around you. Therefore, you will gain power. If you dont gain power, that is because your goal is not clear.

Evolution basically means knowing. It is to know about yourself, about God, about nature as well as about birth-aging-illness-death. Once you realize these, once you know the direction which the Universe is headed for, you will then evolve.

Why did the Creator make human beings to be imperfect? Why did He make human beings like this and have them feel pain, grief and sorrow? How did He make human beings and how much did He involve Himself?

The purpose of the Universes creation is evolution, and the Earth is the planet which was created as a training center. The purpose of human beings born on this planet is only evolution through experience. Likewise, if you can become well-aware that the Earth is a school and that people are born to learn lessons, you will be pleased by all the affairs happening to you because they are teaching materials that make you profound by presenting you with experiences.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Jan 10, 2012
• ISBN: 9781462083176

Suroso Mun

Suroso Mun is one of the major spiritual teachers of our time. A child of the Korean War era, Ms. Mun graduated from a prestigious Korean University and developed a successful career at the Korean National Assembly and Red Cross. Thereafter devoting herself to spiritual enlightenment, Suroso Mun has established Suseonjae, The Meditation School with global centers in Korea, the United States, China, and South Africa. She has published more than 20 books in Korean and several have been translated into English.

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Copyright © 2007, 2012 by Suroso Mun.

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ISBN: 978-1-4620-8316-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4620-8317-6 (ebk)

Printed in the United States of America

iUniverse rev. date: 12/13/2011

Contents

Publishing This Book

Chapter 1

Humans—Incompletely Created

Beings

Chapter 2

Evolution, the Purpose for Which

Human Beings Live

Chapter 3

Practice—The Way to Evolve Yourself

Chapter 4

Freedom, the Present Practice Brings

Appendix

Publishing This Book

It has been 7 years since I began meditation.

However, the word meditation feels too huge to me.

So I am still making efforts to round off the edges and soften myself.

The meditation which I have experienced was not something serious or heavy but how to get light, how to have comfortable mind even in the same environment and how to make oneself free.

At the basic level, I learned how to pay attention to my body and to manage myself.

I am learning how to stand on my own feet through meditation.

I am learning how to discover what I need at each corner of my inside, and how to drill and polish myself with it and make myself shine.

Those who can love themselves seem to be more broad-minded and generous toward others.

I came to know that human beings were originally created imperfect.

I also learned that since human beings have the seed to become enhanced beings, they are the beings which cannot be more valuable, although they are insufficient in reality.

Evolution means that something changes, but the change makes one into a better being from the view point of the Universe.

I realize that I have evolved myself through the Meditation School Suseonjae.

I have edited the teachings of the Meditation School Suseonjae which have been the nutrients for my evolution up till now.

I have taken good care for errors not to take place in the process of interpreting and recomposing the teachings.

I tried to make a small but accurate compass which will help you find your own way on the Earth where no one person is the same as another.

I would like to seek your understanding for aspects that are insufficient in spite of my efforts.

As we think that the desire to live and die well is the common topic of all people in the world, we cover the topics of life such as health, love, jobs, evolution and death one by one.

Now I hope that through this book The Seon Way for a Purposeful Life, you will solve the questions of life that you may have, such as why human beings are born, what place the Earth is, what human beings need for their evolution…

I would like to thank my fellow trainees of the Meditation School Suseonjae for working together joyfully and the president and staff of Suseonjae Publishers for their hard work.

I deeply thank my Teacher for opening the Middle Way’ to us among numerous ways in the world.

May, 2007

Mun Seon Mi

The Meditation School Suseonjae

Chapter 1

Humans—Incompletely Created

Beings

1.1. WHAT KIND OF BEINGS ARE HUMANS?

Various Appearances of God

Once I heard the following parable. There was a man who prayed every day to ask God to appear before him, even just once. He said he would believe in Him better if He showed up Himself. Then one day God promised the man He would appear before him. The man was so excited he prepared for the meeting with all his heart, and waited for Him to appear all day long. But God didn’t seem to come out.

While the man was waiting anxiously for God, a beggar asked him for bread, but he turned the beggar away. A girl knocked on his door to sell him some matches, but he refused to buy any. A drunkard lay on a bench shouting in front of his house, and the man snarled at the drunkard to get away from there because a very important guest was to be expected.

The man cried out, reproaching God for not appearing even after it became night. He asked God why He had lied to him. God answered,

"My son! Why do you reproach me?

Today I showed Myself before you three times, but you did not recognize me and drove Me away cold-heartedly. I am very sad."

When I talk about the Creator, I often quote this wonderful story because, above all, its description is so amazing. It says that the Creator does not necessarily appear in a noble and good appearance. He may show Himself in the form of a common person like me, or in the form of a young child, like this one sitting here in front.

Humans Bearing the Seeds of the Creator

The Creator is in Heaven, an insect, the land, or the soil. The Creator resides in all creations in the Universe. Among all of them, human beings are born with the original nature¹, the other self of the Creator, within them.

One human cell contains all the elements that make up a human being. Therefore, if you sample DNA, you can make a human clone. Likewise, each cell contains the elements required to become the Creator. That is to say, the Creator sowed the seed of possibility in human beings. This is a very flexible seed that can grow up to the rank of the Creator if it sprouts properly, given good energy² (the energy of life that allows our bodies to stay alive and animates them) and desirable spiritual conditions. On the other hand, this seed can turn into blasted ears not even being able to bloom.

What Is the Most Precious Treasure of Human Beings?

This seed is called divinity. It is a trait endowed in human beings and that makes them as perfect as the Creator. There is a story as the following;

God wanted to give the most precious treasure to human beings. At first He intended to give it as it was, but He found human beings making too much trouble and He held them culpable. He hid the treasure in a place where humans couldn’t find it; that is, inside the human mind. He hid the precious treasure in the mind, thinking that since people do not look into their minds, they would not be able to find it at all. Only those who look into their minds will find it. That treasure is divinity.

Even great gods, including the Creator, cannot control the human mind freely because of the divinity that lies latent in each one. The Creator cannot control human beings as He pleases, just as parents cannot control their children as they please. All human beings have their own wills. Even young children have their own wills. You may want others to do this or that, but you cannot control them.

Human beings can follow the Creator’s intention only when their divinity is revealed. Before their divinity is revealed, even though the Creator may come, even though hundreds of gods may come, they cannot control people. Before their divinity manifests itself and they can do so for themselves, there is no way to deal with people who go astray. They just watch those people. I too can only teach you methods by saying, Reveal your divinity in this way.

Divinity and Animal Nature Are Half-and-Half

However, human beings are half-and-half. They are half divine and half animal. The body has an animal nature and the mind is born with divinity. Since the Creator needed a vessel to contain the mind, He made the body, which has an animal nature. The Creator made human beings whose content does not appear to be perfect, even though He gave them the ability to become the same as the Creator, to be perfect. He created human beings as half desirable and half undesirable on purpose, because in the program of the Universe, everything is composed as half-and-half.

After all, human beings were created imperfectly by nature. The most perfect of all things which the Creator made is the Creator Himself. All other things are not perfect, though the degree to which they are lacking is different. The cosmic beings far ahead of Earth humans have become so through repeated evolution. They were not perfectly created from the beginning.

Some religions teach people that human beings are born perfect but go wrong on the way and become imperfect. They also claim that since human beings have committed sins and become imperfect, their descendants should expiate the sins that their ancestors committed. I find such teachings very strange. Why should children expiate the sins of their parents? If a father committed theft, that is his fault. Why should his children pay for it? These teachings are very questionable.

But after I had been enlightened through practice³, I found out that the misfortunes that human beings commonly suffer from are not caused by the sins of their ancestors. Human beings were originally created to be imperfect.

Why Did the Creator Create Human Beings to Be Imperfect?

Then, why did the Creator make human beings to be imperfect? Why did He make human beings like this and have them feel pain, grief and sorrow? How did He make human beings and how far did He involve Himself?

The Creator is, as it is said, the one who created things. To make things, one should possess the ability for creation and also decide what his purposes are and at what level things will be made. For example, when artists paint pictures, there are two approaches. First, some artists want to paint pictures well but can only paint to a certain standard because they lack ability. Second, other artists paint pictures to address the people they are aiming at. When they aim at elementary school students, they paint at the level of those students. When they aim at doctoral scholars, they paint at the level of doctoral scholars. A painter of ability can draw any picture at his will.

Then what did the Creator do? Did He create human beings to be so imperfect because He did not have more ability? Conversely, did he create humans to be so imperfect with some intention in mind? If He had some intention, what was this intention? With what intention did the Creator create human beings at this level?

If There Were Only Perfect Human Beings

If human beings were created to be perfect, if all babies were born perfect, what would become of the Universe? If the Universe remained perfect for hundreds of millions of years or billions of years, what would become of it? If only people as perfect as the Creator were alive, what would become of the world?

In your life, haven’t you been happy because you felt you were a little better than others? Compared to others, you may feel happier or sadder. If there was a perfect world where everyone was good-looking and beautiful, everyone rich, an artist and a writer, would people have the desire to live, the desire to develop?

All Were Different From the Beginning

At what level did the Creator make human beings? At the level of completion? At the level of animals? At the level of insects? If human beings could assist the Creator to do something, they would need to be at some level. And even the level would be graded. There are all kinds of people. There are people who are like animals, while there are people who rank among gods. All people are not the same. We were all made different from the beginning.

For example, some people were made at the level of Adam and Eve from the beginning, while others were made at the level of gods from the beginning. Some other people were given very high IQs.

Even the Creator can predict what could become of human beings He created, but does not know what will actually become of them. Thus, He made human beings at this level and at that level, so various kinds of human beings were made. The Creator keeps watching how those incomplete human beings grow to become complete, or how they rise to the rank of the Creator. While watching all of these, he keeps improving the program. Ah, this part must be modified. This part is too abundant and should be cut down. He keeps developing it. He does not finish the program after making it once, but repeats experiments and keeps making it.

What If Everything Were Perfect From the Beginning?

Why were human beings made at different levels? If all human beings are created by the Creator, why were they not made equal but at different levels from the beginning? If people of this kind or of that kind were not evenly mixed, and if all people had the same starting point, what would it mean?

There are people who are evolving rapidly from the beginning, while there are people who must start from the bottom and stay idle for a very long time. In the long run, all are evolving, but all have different starting points. Those who start far behind may have the fun of going further. Those who start evolving immediately may go through much trial and error, go around and around and fall into the bottomless pit. That is to say, they may become human beings who are inferior to animals. It is in human society that these things may happen.

In addition, there are other beings besides human beings. There are tens of thousands of species other than human beings. Different species have different roles and reasons for existence. We can see the fact that the Universe has such varieties is one of the Creator’s techniques.

If all things were made at the same level from the beginning, they would get stagnant and would not evolve. When they are different from one another and at different levels, they may bump into each other and disappear by thesis-antithesis-synthesis, collide against each other and produce other materials. Such things will happen.

In the meantime, human beings are given divinity, the quality nearest to the Creator. All human beings are given the seed to become the Creator, which can sprout out if given the right energy and spiritual conditions.

Extremes Lead to Extinction

If human beings were to go to the extreme by being perfect from the beginning, they would become extinct. When the Universe reaches the end, it becomes the state of mu (nothingness) and disappears.

Everything evolves when it repeatedly develops little by little. Animals repeatedly evolve at the level of animals and plants repeatedly evolve at the level of plants, and then they gradually move toward the state of mu (nothingness) while they embody the material world. If everything is made perfect from the beginning, the Universe itself will reach mu; that is, the state of nothingness at once.

That’s why everything was made to keep evolving little by little. One percent is given to the material world and 99% is given to the invisible energy world. Everything is programmed to evolve through this one percent.

Benefits Due to Vacant Parts

The fact that human beings are fundamentally incomplete beings signifies that they have some vacant parts that are not filled. That we have such vacant parts can be such a benefit. If we are completely filled, it is impossible to put more in. Since we are vacant, we can fill the vacant parts with whatever we want. Human beings can develop because they have incomplete parts.

A person asked me what he should do to get over the inferiority complex he had suffered from since he was little. In fact, there is no one without an inferiority complex. People just appear not to feel inferior. Even Buddha and Jesus felt inferior when they were in human forms.

The way of getting over inferiority is to admit that you are human and an imperfect being, and have a long way to go while you are doing meditation. You should be able to accept all things.

Heading for Perfection

A few days ago, one trainee sent me a letter. I opened it thinking, What is it? He wrote that he would not come to meditate if his difficulties with hearing gave any inconvenience to others.

So far I have encouraged him several times by saying things like: There are not many sounds to listen to in this world, and difficulties in hearing could rather be a blessing for meditation, where one has to listen to the sound of one’s inner self. And above all, physical disabilities could be considered a blessing compared to disabilities of mind. Be grateful for being born with a body and spirituality which are capable of meditation.

I was hoping for this trainee to be an amnesiac so that when somebody spoke to him, he would say, Didn’t I hear you well? and then perhaps another beside him might ask, Can’t you hear things? Oh, I just forgot that. I am sorry.

How many are the things we should remember in this world? That you are physically handicapped, sick or have a disease, that you don’t have a college diploma, that you hold a low social status or that you are poor? Do we have to be conscious of someone else’s mistakes or wrongdoings all the time?

Let’s all become amnesiacs, and if we are asked, answer like this: Did I ever graduate from college? Am I poor? Do I hold a Ph.D.? Did someone make mistakes?

The things we should always remember are the love of Heaven, gratitude for the Earth, and that our own minds are disabled before seeking out the faults of others. Really, what else is there to keep in our minds other than that we are all now striving to become complete, since all human beings are incomplete?

1.2. WHAT KIND OF PLANET IS THE EARTH?

A Unique Planet Throughout the Universe

A few days ago, I watched a doctor of physics giving a lecture on television. He was said to have found a new galaxy. Showing pictures of a galaxy which is five billion light years away, he said, What we see now is what this galaxy looked like five billion years ago. Five billion light years means that it takes five billion years to come here at the speed of light. He added, Five billion light years away in the Universe is a neighbor. That is because the Universe is so huge.

The Universe is large enough to be beyond imagination. Hundreds of billions of stars together make up a galaxy. Numerous galaxies gather in order to form a galactic system. A star cluster consists of thousands of galactic systems. The size of a star cluster is too big to be described.

Planets like the Earth are not common all over the Universe. First of all, life-inhabiting planets themselves are uncommon, and most planets are lifeless. There may be life-supporting planets, but each planet can support specific living things like insects or plants alone. There are only three to five life-inhabiting planets like the Earth in one star cluster, where organisms ranging from very low-level organisms to high-level living things like human beings all live together.

A Planet Characterized by Variety

The Earth is characterized above all by variety. The plants are diverse, the animals are diverse and the people are diverse too. A biologist once did research on a gigantic tree in the Amazon. That tree was the residence of more than 20,000,000 insects. There is such a huge number of species that there are 20,000,000 insects sticking to just one tree. The Earth is the planet with that many living creatures.

The inanimate creatures that provide conditions for the lives of living creatures are also varied. Fallen leaves are piled up on the ground in the woods, aren’t they? Trees grow well thanks to the leaves, which contain many invisible, inanimate elements.

People are various as well. People are largely divided into the yellow, the white, and the black races. But people are varied even within the same race. In the first place, that is because they have different origins. People are so varied that it is not too much to say that each person represents a certain planet. And there are people who have high levels of spirituality and those who have animal levels of spirituality.

A Training Planet Created for Evolution

The purpose of the Earth is evolution. The purpose of the Universe’s creation is evolution and the Earth is a planet that was created as a learning center for evolution. In the star cluster that the Earth belongs to, the Earth is a planet that takes on the serious duty of evolving the Universe.

The Universe has arranged stars with similar elements and then grouped them in certain ways, for example solar systems and galaxies. People of the same galaxy have similar appearances and elements. But people of another galaxy are very different. Because the Universe is so vast, mankind is extremely varied, and if people who are too different from each other are gathered together, it is very hard to get along.

However, since the Earth is a planet for practice, it is furnished with various elements to make people have much to study⁴ (to achieve evolution). The Earth can be said to be a planet that contains all the