Introduction
✨ In this reflective teaching, Master Woo Myung draws a powerful comparison between the journey of immigrants seeking a better life and the deeper journey of humanity seeking Truth.
Just as immigrants leave their homeland and travel to a new place where they believe they can succeed, people must also seek the place where they can become Truth. According to Master Woo Myung, the true purpose of human life is not merely survival, wealth, or worldly success, but the transformation of the mind into Truth itself. 🌌
Observing the lives of immigrants working tirelessly to make a living, he reflects on how the modern world has come to value money more than people. Yet despite all the effort spent pursuing material success, human life continues to pass quickly.
Through this teaching, Master Woo Myung emphasizes that the greatest journey a person can take is not toward wealth or status, but toward the place where one becomes free from greed, selfishness, and attachment, living instead for the well-being of the whole world. 🌿
ORIGINAL WRITING BY MASTER WOO MYUNG
An Immigrant Must Go to the Place Where He Can Become Truth, Man Must Go to the Place Where He Can Become Truth
The land is as wide as wide can be,
but only a few people live here in the Americas.
It was inhabited by Indians in the past,
but now it is mostly populated by European immigrants
who have settled here.
It is not a densely populated place.
There are birds and creatures here that I do not recognize,
rare mountains and plains that I have never seen,
and many different kinds of tropical fruit.
But life here is not so different from the East –
people here also eat and live.
Having come from a small country,
I am envious of the wide land.
The majority of the Koreans who have immigrated here
have their own businesses, from which they make their living.
In South America you can find the Andes mountains,
the Iguassu Falls, the Amazon river, the Southern glaciers,
and countless scenic spots along the coastline.
People work hard to make a living
for they arrived without any money or connections;
many made successes out of their businesses,
but there are also many who failed, and have nowhere to go.
They all would have left their homes far away
with the intentions to succeed,
but there are still those that struggle.
They strive so that they can eat and survive,
but at a time in the world when money has become the highest,
nothing can be done without it.
It is now held in higher regard than people
so it dictates people’s happiness and sorrows,
although man existed long before there was money in the world.
If it is winter in Korea, it is summer here in South America,
and all of the beautiful nature here has grown and ripened.
It is also a place where day by day,
the people become more hard-hearted and pitiless,
but as if to mock man who is heartless,
nature continues to do its work silently.
It is man who reaps the benefits,
because the fruits of nature enable him to eat and survive.
Do we eat to live, or do we live to eat?
Such words arise from the weariness of life.
The purpose behind man’s life is to become Truth
and he will be able to properly fulfill his role
when he becomes Truth and detaches himself from the material world.
What this means is when man changes from his greedy selfish mind,
when he no longer has the evil human mind,
his mind can become that of the whole,
and he can live for the whole.
That is, he will live for the people of the world,
and live to make the world a great place –
a place where the conceptions of your country and my country do not exist.
Namely, the world will become one;
it will become a paradise.
The best education is one that transforms false man into Truth
and when the world becomes a place where everyone lives as one,
it will be a great, great place to live.
It is a pity that even when the ultimate method exists –
one that can make the world a joyful place –
the people of the world live lives that place money over people.
Although there will surely come a time when the whole world will become true,
it is such a pity people are not putting in any effort to become true.
Having become Truth, I find it a shame, such a shame,
that man does not know he must go towards eternal life
and he continues to live holding onto the affairs of the world.
Although it is death if one does not become true,
a person who has not become true does not know he will die;
instead only those who have become true finds this pitiful.
While one chases money, life passes by and disappears.
Whether one earns money or not, it is all useless
because he ends up dying and is not able to live.
— Woo Myung
🌿 Reflect at Santa Clara Meditation
At Santa Clara Meditation, practitioners reflect on teachings from Master Woo Myung that highlight the deeper purpose of human life.
Through meditation and self-reflection, individuals begin to see how attachment to money, status, and material success can distract from the true purpose of existence.
🌠 When people shift their focus from personal gain to the well-being of the whole and align their lives with Truth, they can move toward the vision described in this teaching — a world where humanity lives together as one community in harmony and peace.
