How to live without being deceived by myself and the world,
13 years of study records from the head of the Seonbang!

This is a collection of writings by Wonje, a monk who became a monk in 2006 and has been posting his practice on his blog and Facebook since 2011, generating fresh responses and sympathy.
When the author was majoring in religious studies in college, he had many questions about life because the world seemed fake.
After wandering so badly that he was on the verge of self-harm, he chose the path of a Buddhist practitioner.
Strict self-discipline and the intense life of a sailor were a process that opened up countless questions.
At the end of that question, what answer did the author seek?
Life is lived to the extent that one knows.
So, on the one hand, I try to endlessly expand what I know.
But that knowledge actually hinders life.
This book, "When Questions Stop, Answers Come True," is a record of the author's study of the essential knowledge that penetrates all questions about life.
Through the conflicts, reflections, and moments of enlightenment experienced during the process of practice, readers will experience understanding and complete acceptance of this 'unknown life.'

I am a monk who has left home and lives in a temple.
But that's not all.
I am a son to my parents, a long-time friend to some, a teacher to some scholars, a world traveler, a computer game enthusiast, and a writer in my spare time.
Not only are there many lives in the world, but even a single individual has many different life forms and roles.
If you don't try to fixate on an answer, the answers are already diverse.
I have confirmed through my 'playing games' that if you don't insist on staying in just one role, you can smoothly and smoothly carry out multiple roles simultaneously without any obstacles.
--- From "Entering, 'People and the world are already the answer'"

There is something more expensive, more splendid, and more precious than this diamond.
What is that?
That's light.
Without light, a diamond is nothing more than a small, useless rock.
Because of light, diamonds shine, become gorgeous, and become expensive gems.
But light itself has no value.
Because it is colorless and transparent, it has no flashiness, and because it exists naturally, it has no rarity as an object that can be compared.

More precious than diamonds, don't be fooled by diamonds, look at the light.
This light, which cannot be seen or caught, is the priceless true treasure.
That which is priceless is truly expensive, that which is without flashiness is truly gorgeous, and that which is without rarity is truly precious.
You have to see this light that cannot be seen.
--- p.14

What I keep in mind most when I write is my life experiences.
I try to write about my own experiences as much as possible.
Sometimes I write after hearing someone's experience.
I try not to write explanations of concepts or principles as much as possible.
I read such articles occasionally, but usually I don't.
It's not fun,
Because I have no inspiration.
But we need to look back carefully.
The principle is this, the concept is this, but what is my life like?
Is the life unfolding before my eyes right now in accordance with the truth taught in Buddhist scriptures?
Doesn't that contradict that?
Does that truth unfold in accordance with life experience?
Is my thinking really that adjusted?
Is the presence of another person really that approachable?
--- p.59

Try to erase one by one the objects that I am concentrating on and that I am obsessed with.
What if there were no one I cared for or cared for, no social issues, no work to do, no object to focus on? Can I be content and happy without needing any object? Can the world be filled with my existence alone, without relying on any object? Can I be free, unhindered by any object? --- p.62

Even after that, for about a year, an old man would occasionally come to me in my dreams and massage my thighs again, but after I suddenly got angry and spoke to him firmly, he stopped coming.
You can just take this experience and think, 'I guess that's what the world could feel like.'
However, this should not be taken to mean that such a world ‘exists.’
If you like that world and approach it, that world will 'come to exist'.
The Buddha said to only talk about the law and not to talk about ghosts.
If you like the world of ghosts and approach the world of ghosts, then the world of ghosts will exist.
And if I accept that world of ghosts, I will become a ghost myself.
--- p.106

Sometimes I think, 'Come whatever you want.'
But that's not the kind of confidence that says you can face and overcome anything.
Since I have nothing to take, I am confident that I can give anything.
Come whatever you want.
I'll send them all.
There is also this kind of confidence.
--- p.130

“Should all the truth be revealed?”
"no."
“It’s true, but why?”
“The question is not whether it is true or not, whether it is revealed or not, that is not the case.
The question is whether I can properly handle that truth.
Even if it is true, if you are not ready to accept the truth, it can actually harm you.
If you're not prepared enough, it might be better not to know.
“It is difficult to properly face, properly digest, and properly let go of that truth, and there are not many people who can do that properly… .”
This is a question and answer from a friend who saw the movie [Perfect Strangers].
The truth is, of course, precious.
But more importantly, I need to ask myself carefully whether I am truly ready to accept that truth.
If you are ready, you will live by the truth, but if you are not ready, you will live by being tormented by the truth.
--- p.67

Some people try to find a love that will last forever.
I'm looking for someone who will love me only.
But that is both futile and impossible.
Because the heart of the person seeking such love is constantly changing and turning.
There is no need to fear that the other person's mind will change.
I just need to make it clear to myself that my mind is changing.
But if my heart is one, then there is no need to seek eternal love.
Because I can love with that consistency.

Love is not something you seek.
Love is possible.
--- p.66

'Do not deceive yourself.' It is easy to know when others are deceiving you.
It's not that hard for me to try not to deceive my heart.
But it's hard for me not to be deceived by myself.
It's very difficult.
It's not that other people are deceiving me.
I am lying to myself.
It is difficult to know this right away, difficult to escape from it, and even to write about myself afterwards is a long and difficult journey.
--- p.69

Studying takes courage.
Courage in the world means not yielding to circumstances or objects, and standing up for yourself or your own will.
Courage is the ability to fight and overcome something.
But courage in practice is completely different.
Because the object is not directed outward, but returns directly to myself.
It is the courage to doubt myself and the courage to let go of my obsession with small houses.
It is the courage to let go of all the notions of 'this is me,' of 'knowing something,' of 'having some value that I pursue.'
It is courage to abandon comfort and instead enter into ignorance and anxiety.
--- p.100

When I turn on the lantern, of course the path before my eyes becomes brighter.
The path is clearly visible and even the rocks you might trip over are clearly visible.
But we don't light the lanterns because the moonlight falling on the mountain is bright enough.
That's why when I turn on the lantern, it actually feels darker.
Because only the light right in front of my eyes becomes too bright.
And if you just follow those unusually bright eyes, the entire surroundings will become dark and you won't be able to see them.
A place that was not originally that dark becomes much darker because of the light from the lantern.
--- p.109

If you look closely at the clicker (zombie) appearance, you will see that the zombie does not have any evil personality or do any evil deeds.
It was just reacting to stimuli.
Of course, that reaction is a reaction to maintain one's own life.
The goal is not to harm the other person right away.
So there is no suffering or pain for the clicker.
No living being, which merely reacts to stimuli, suffers from the self-created suffering and desires that we humans do.
Humans are the only beings who create the causes of suffering and desire, become attached to them, and accept the consequences of suffering.
In a way, aren't we worse than the clickers we find so disgusting? --- p.121

There are two main lives in practice.
One is a life of seeking answers, the other is a life of doubt.
A life of seeking answers involves continually searching for something and accumulating what is found.
Never satisfied with what we have accumulated, we keep moving forward.
But a life of doubt looks back on what has accumulated and empties out what is doubtful.
Instead of moving forward, we look back at this very place.
So the two lives produce different results.
A life that seeks will still go outward, and a life that doubts will immediately stop in its tracks.
Answers are never something to be sought.
It is revealed by stopping.
As the seeking stops, all of these things are revealed as answers.

--- p.137