제 몫을 다 하고, 더는 바라지도 요구치도 않는 빈 지게처럼 인생은 허허로운 것.. 육잠 스님의 삶 | 자연의 철학자들 35부 빈 지게처럼 허허롭게 (KBS 20221125 방송)

Natural Human Documentary: Philosophers of Nature - Episode 35, "Like an Empty Carrier", Aired November 25, 2022 ■ A Life of Moderation in Nature Here is a monk who has been practicing seclusion in a deep mountain valley for 38 years. He is Monk Yukjam, who, fearing the world's blind pursuit of civilization, sought refuge in nature as a form of resistance. After spending 20 years in a remote mountain village in Geochang, North Gyeongsang Province, without electricity, telephone, or running water, he moved to Yeongyang, North Gyeongsang Province, where he built a small hermitage measuring just over 10 pyeong (33 square meters) and continues his quiet meditation. This has been his tenth year. He became a monk in 1982 and became the head monk in his twenties. He is an extraordinary artist, possessing numerous exhibitions of poetry, calligraphy, and painting. However, he finds his greatest joy in a simple and humble life in nature. Washing one's face in the sunlight in the morning, warming one's face by a campfire under the moonlight at night, walking through the rustling autumn forest, and admiring the simple flowers is also a joy. Monks live each day, savoring the emptiness and fullness that seems insufficient, yet is never lacking, within nature. ■ Seon-nong-ilchi (禪農一致), Farming is the cultivation of the mind Monks grow all their food except rice by hand. From cabbages to radishes, pumpkins, peppers, perilla seeds, and deodeok (deodeok), they plant and harvest only what they can eat. However, farming is not simply about obtaining food. Witnessing the sprouting shoots, they learn the wonder of life, and facing fields devastated by inclement weather, they learn to adapt to nature. Farming is the cultivation of the mind. This is what is meant by Seon-nong-ilchi (禪農一致), farming is practice. When darkness falls, the monk puts down his hoe and takes up his brush. Quietly, he grinds ink, writes, and paints. They say that since you farmed with your body during the day, you should farm with ink at night. Monk Yukjam believes that if you become obsessed with the desire to excel at both farming and calligraphy, you will never succeed. Today, he continues to cultivate his mind and pursue the Way. ■ Life and Death: Be Diligent While living in the mountains may seem leisurely, mountain life demands diligence, making it difficult to fully experience even a single season without diligence. Winter, in particular, demands countless days of battling temperatures as low as -20 degrees Celsius and grappling with frozen water. Having endured those winters, the monk became known as a "pilgrim." His daily routine involves carrying a pilgrim's back up the mountain to find daily sustenance and gather firewood. He also carries earth on his back, repairing the rugged mountain paths. With the determination to earn his keep, this is the way and the way for a mountain monk to make a living, so he moves diligently, over and over again. That's why the monk Yukjam always ponders the phrase "生命不息" (生命不息), meaning "living things never rest." If you don't move, you'll starve, but if you keep moving, you'll easily get through another day. This is life, and the role of the living, he naturally learns. ■ Simple and unpretentious, so carefree "The world is beautiful with flowers, and it is through that beauty that life can be nurtured on this earth," says the monk. The gourds he planted to see the white gourd blossoms become precious food, and the hollowed-out gourds are made into gourds, which he uses as valuable utensils. Having been a monk for 40 years, he has only two sets of monk's robes. When they wear out, he patches them, and then patches them again. Even the lattice windows, where the strong wind blows in and out, remain unchanged. Every fall, they renew their window paper, living just as they always did. Everything in the monk's hands lasts for ten years. He doesn't need much household goods. If there's nothing, it's nothing; if there's inconvenience, it's inconvenience. Living in nature, the monk believes, doesn't necessarily require much. The simpler and more humble one becomes, the more liberated one's heart becomes. Even a single carrier can be a source of abundance. Like an empty carrier that has fulfilled its purpose and no longer wants or demands anything, life is fleeting. Monk Yukjam speaks to this through his life in nature. #PhilosophersofNature #Practice #Farming