Introduction
✨ In this reflective piece, Master Woo Myung explores the nature of memories and how they shape human identity. Through a quiet rural scene filled with the sounds of frogs and the fading light of sunset, he paints a picture of everyday life and the passage of time.
As people complete their daily work and gather together, life seems simple and familiar. Yet as the years pass, the places and people once known begin to change or disappear. When one revisits a place from the past, it often feels different, and the warmth of earlier times may no longer remain. 🌙
Through this experience, Master Woo Myung highlights a deeper insight: much of what humans call their identity is built from memories stored within the mind. These memories form the sense of self that people carry throughout life.
This teaching encourages reflection on how memories, though meaningful, can also be fleeting illusions, reminding us that true understanding lies beyond the attachments formed by the past. 🌿
ORIGINAL WRITING BY MASTER WOO MYUNG
Memories
The sun goes down over the western hill,
and the crescent moon is in the sky.
Frogs in the field croak tirelessly.
After a hard day’s work,
everyone returns to their homes to have supper;
exhausted, they sleep.
Adults gather together
and talk about the crops and farming.
Young people gather together.
Those of similar age and friends gather together,
and some lads and lasses meet in secret.
After years had passed, I visited a place from my past.
No one from the past is there.
All have left,
and even the place has changed.
Thoughtless dogs in the village bark,
and though I meet an old acquaintance,
the geniality of the past has gone; he has just become old.
Only young people who I do not know notice me,
only as a visitor.
The memories remain within me,
but they are futile illusions.
Humans live off their memories;
their past memories become their selves,
and they live off the memories they have stored in their minds.
— Woo Myung
🌿 Reflect at Santa Clara Meditation
At Santa Clara Meditation, practitioners reflect on teachings from Master Woo Myung that reveal how memories shape the sense of self.
Meditation allows individuals to observe how the mind continuously revisits the past, building identity from experiences and memories that no longer exist in the present moment.
🌠As these accumulated memories are gradually released, individuals can move beyond the illusion of the past and begin to experience life with greater clarity and freedom.
