“It must have been hard.
Yes, dealing with people is the hardest part.
“That’s what made me decide to become a monk.”
"yes.
“Will you accept me, monk?”
“It is not I who must accept it, but the Buddha who must accept it.
Please pray to the Buddha in the temple starting this evening.
“Please accept me as your disciple.”
That evening, I walked up to the temple following the path opened by the white snow flowers.
The Buddha greeted me with a bright smile.
I knelt down silently, put my hands together, and prayed.

“Buddha, please accept me as your disciple.”
--- p.26

The head-shaving ceremony began as we sat on a wooden chair in a corner of a small temple in a mountain valley where sleet was falling.
The hair was cut off.
Long, black hair fell from the branches like snowflakes falling from the ground.
The dark brown hair that had been carefully grown for 21 years fell to the ground for a moment and was blown away by the wind.

--- p.35

Just as a tree needs to be pruned to grow into a large tree, 'meditation' is about reducing worries and useless things, simplifying one's surroundings, and immersing oneself in one's own meditation.
This is also very good for your mental health.
The world we live in is vain and lightning-like.
We are just travelers who come and go for a short time on this planet called Earth.
Therefore, in order to practice ‘clear poverty,’ one must first live a life of meditation.
--- p.59

If I keep thinking that I am unhappy
Bad things come to you
If I keep thinking that I am happy
Every day brings something fun.
Because the mind creates everything.
From now on
I think I am a happy person.
Something good will definitely happen to you.
--- p.65

They say that humans live according to a predetermined fate.
But no one knows their own fate.

Who knows my fate when I don't even know myself?
Just live diligently as the water flows and as given.
Life expectancy also increases automatically.
--- p.97

Some people say that even if their wife, children, or parents are sick, they are happy just by looking at the numbers in their bankbook.
Such a person does not spend money even when he is sick.
Even when he dies, he only remembers that number.
Isn't that funny?
Surprisingly, there are many such people around us.

--- p.131

Shakyamuni Buddha said:
“Just as water does not cling to a lotus leaf, humans should not be stained by greed.” The lotus flower shows the path of ‘constant purity without polluting oneself’, which blooms as a pure flower even in the mud of a pond or swamp.
It is in line with the true nature of a practitioner who has escaped the murky world and is striving in a remote mountainous area solely to achieve Buddhahood.
--- p.188

In this world
The most unfortunate person is
Why do you live?
He is a person who doesn't even know the reason.

--- p.217

In a drop of morning dew
The whole universe is contained within it.
Inside one red apple
It contains sunlight, wind and air.
This is the truth of the world.
Enlightenment is the preciousness of small things.
It starts with knowing.

--- p.263

The existence of a country is nothing more than a speck of dust in the universe.
When you die, you can't take anything with you.
No matter how much wealth, high reputation, or good children you have, they are all useless.
Therefore, when we get old, we must think about how we will spend the rest of our lives.
That is the path to enlightenment.

--- p.288

Even if you feel like slandering and gossiping about someone, think three times.
Then, the resentment will gradually subside and disappear, and you will think, “Oh! I see how the other person feels,” and you will have the mental space to forgive generously.

--- p.309