SUNHEE YOON

Design courtesy: someone

In the end, only three things matter: 

how much you loved,

how gently you lived,

and how gracefully you let go of things not meant for you.

– Buddha

Well-known inspirational Buddhist quote.
A beautiful reminder for the likes of me at the end of the year and from time to time, turning each page and small chapter of life.

Looking back, my recent years of journey were more about practice runs to learn the 3rd point by Buddha among three things.

So often we feel dragged, drained, and distracted only to discover that we have been holding so tightly to nothing. Instead of being consumed by pressures in our view of principles, consider the greater purpose behind them.

We must learn to let people, memories, and former versions of ourselves go.

It’s time to release the past from your hands and mind. That weight is no longer yours to carry.

– Morgan Richard Olivier

Practice makes progress at least even if it doesn’t make anyone perfect.
I hope I become a better version of me every single day.

If you can truly renew a day, you can renew each day, and you will be renewed day by day.

– Daehak (大學) by Confucius (孔子).

By the way, the above phrase appears originally in the book of Daehak (大學) among four essential books of Confucianism. It is said that this inscription was engraved on a vessel that contained water for daily bathing by King Tang, the founder of China’s Yin (Shang) Dynasty.
구일신 일일신 우일신 (苟日新 日日新 又日新)은 유학의 사서 중 대학(大學)에 나오는 문구로, 이 글귀는 중국 은(殷) 왕조의 시조인 탕왕(湯王)이 매일 목욕을 하기 위해 물을 담는 그릇에 새겨져 있었다고 한다.

The original text in Daehak (大學) goes like this:

Written: 苟日新 日日新 又日新

Read: 구일신 일일신 우일신

Mean: If you can truly renew a day, you can renew each day, and you will be renewed day by day.
진실로 하루를 새롭게 할 수 있다면, 나날을 새롭게 할 수 있고, 또 날로 새로워진다.

 – Confucius (孔子)

I also hope I can make connections with like-minded individuals, and those who encourage to have the freedom to choose my own reality based on what aligns with my soul. 🙏

PS: Don’t you think we live in the world only one thing really matters? Are most people *really* going to think like Buddha in the end? When is the real end?

Fushimi Inari Taisha, Kyoto, Japan. May 2023.

Fushimi Inari Shrine (伏見稲荷大社, Fushimi Inari Taisha) is the head shrine of Inari, the god of rice, sake, and prosperity and patron of business, merchants, and manufacturers.
It is famous for its thousands of vermilion torii gates, which straddle a network of trails behind its main buildings. The trails lead into the wooded forest of the sacred Mount Inari, which stands at 233 meters and belongs to the shrine grounds.

That old man who paints the calligraphy alone on the wood pillar of one of torii gates captured my eyes. I could guess he must have quite a calligraphy skill although he painted the calligraphy simply on top of carved calligraphic surface there.

I used to write calligraphy when I was a kid, and I still love it a lot in both doing and appreciating it. Most people no longer write calligraphy nor value it in east Asia. Probably Japanese are most active in calligraphy still. Lucky to have very rare and remarkable encounter in Japan.

… The old man and calligraphy

Ha Long Bay, Vietnam. December 2022.

“Nobody ever figures out what life is all about, and it doesn’t matter. Explore the world. Nearly everything is really interesting if you go into it deeply enough.” — Richard Feynman

Agree with him? What do you think?

Principles for the Development of a Complete Mind:

1) Study the science of art.

2) Study the art of science.

3) Develop your senses, especially learn how to see.

4) Realize that everything connects to everything else.

― Leonardo da Vinci

I came across this snippet of lyrics about Don Quixote — “The Impossible Dream” from musical “Man of La Mancha”.

This musical was premiered in Broadway in 1965, which was inspired by Miguel de Cervantes and his 17th-century novel Don Quixote.

I was a child when I read Don Quixote very first time in Korean translation. I remember even a textbook has the excerpts from Don Quixote, also in Korean translation, during my elementary school.
Lately, I came across these contents of Don Quixote, and I realized immediately that it was too early for me as a child to understand what this book is really about. I’m not sure why it was included ambitiously in the textbook targeting elementary students in South Korea in the first place.
Don Quixote is often depicted as an eccentric, unrealistic, and ridiculous character. Surely we might think of him as just a crazy idealist who tries to reform the world without knowing the weight of reality, obsessed with ideals, or as a person who insists on a theory that is not accepted as common sense in the world because of his own fantasies.
But now, after few decades of my various life journey, I do think he is a real optimistic contrarian, not a conformist, who is the rarest breed in our world who can change the world. Very smart people tend to be weird and anti-social from the eyes of commoners.

The meaning of Don Quixote as a classic is that it makes people to think about the reason for existence and the value of life as well as the class problems, democracy, and religious oppression. Don Quixote’s ridiculous side was the mask Cervantes wore to avoid censorship.

Probably now is the right timing to truly appreciate this classic masterpiece in many senses!

What is your dream?

What is your quest?

That feeling when you finally have space to breathe…

Image Credit: Jaxson Pohlman Photography

The Milky Way above White Sands National Park in New Mexico.

Wherever you are, at any moment, try and find something beautiful.

Look at the sky.

Look at trees.

Appreciate happiness when it is there.

Live. Love. Let go.

Hana road in Maui. May 2022.