✨ Introduction
🌿 In this deeply reflective and emotional piece, Master Woo Myung shares a journey from ordinary human life—filled with loneliness, nostalgia, and temporary comfort through drinking—to a life devoted entirely to Truth.
This writing captures the contrast between fleeting relief found in the world and the enduring purpose found in living for Truth.
🍶 Moments of warmth, alcohol, and companionship once eased pain and longing. Yet, they were temporary—fading as quickly as they came.
✨ Master Woo Myung reveals that true fulfillment does not come from escaping suffering, but from transcending it and dedicating one’s life to Truth and the awakening of others.
📖 Original Writing by Master Woo Myung
Drinking
Mountain birds and field birds are chirping.
In the midst of silence,
only the birds are chirping
on the solid frozen river and ground.
Strong winds blow, and sands from the river scatter.
I yearn, but for what I do not know;
there is a yearning in my heart,
maybe, due to this mood of nature.
I drop by a pub.
A drunken farmer tilts his glass against his mouth
and repeats the same story over and over again.
My cold body melts in the warm cloud of cigarette smoke,
and my glass is filled with makkolli (rice wine),
and I have some kimchi on the side.
I gulp down the makkolli all at once
and breathe a sigh of delight, “Ah!”;
I have a bite of kimchi and feel refreshed.
Without a purpose, I sit by the stove and warm my hands;
with one hand, I pour more makkolli into my glass.
I drink and pour, drink and pour,
and eventually the jar of makkolli is empty.
A bit tipsy, I order another jar
and begin to get drunk.
My frozen heart melts, I become more confident,
and my tense heart is no more; my mind opens.
I strike up a conversation with the matron behind the bar.
Trivial stories about this and that
and complaining about my tough life;
all the while my anguish disappears with drink.
My pain also disappears, and I feel good.
My confidence appears when I drink.
But as soon as I become sober,
that confidence and good feeling disappears,
I become silent again, and my anguish and pain return.
Back then, I appeased my regrets with drink.
And the people who spent their days in the bottle
have all passed away.
And one day I said goodbye to alcohol.
The drinks that once melted my body and mind,
the drinks that cleared my anguish and pain,
I miss them when the weather is cold.
People who I once shared a drink with are no longer here;
those moments have become yearnings.
I feel empty, and age has crept up on me;
without a word, my youth has vanished.
When I wandered here and there as a traveler of the world,
there was drink everywhere I went.
But I am no longer the free, nameless wanderer
who could sit and drink at that shabby pub;
I have become one who tries to please people
and speaks about Truth.
Since there are many who follow me,
I am no longer a free man;
yet even among the many, I am a lonely wanderer.
I am no longer that person who used to drink,
instead I only speak about Truth.
My only wish is to try my best to let people understand Truth.
I speak only of Truth because I am Truth itself.
Grieving for those who do not have Truth within them,
I repeat the same story over and over again
and teach them how to become Truth.
The days when I wandered drinking as an ordinary man
have become a faint memory,
and those days are now my nostalgia.
Amidst the difficulty of living a lonely life among the crowd
and grieving for man who has not become Truth,
I yearn for the freedom of those past days
as the weather is cold.
There is a song that goes, “I am like a bird with no name,
I wish I could become a bird and fly away,
to that place where no one lives.
And I want to live as a bird with no name…”
I used to sing this song in the mountains.
There was one person who heard me singing this song,
and he must have understood how I felt;
he was sorry because he knew I wanted to be free because
people could not follow Truth well.
I have helped people cleanse the ghosts within them.
However, such ghosts betray Truth,
maybe they have yet to be completely cleansed of their ghosts;
among those who practice becoming Truth,
I have yet to meet a righteous person
who is courageous enough to tell me that
they are sorry for having betrayed Truth.
It seems that it is not easy for humans
to become the perfect Truth.
People are ghosts
who try to become Truth only for their self-centered selves.
Even though I wanted to fly away like a nameless bird,
I have continued to protect Truth for over ten years.
I will continue until my body passes away,
until all people live in the kingdom of Truth.
I will protect Truth and live in that kingdom forever.
– Woo Myung
🌠 Reflect at Santa Clara Meditation
At Santa Clara Meditation, this story becomes insight into our own lives.
🌿 Through meditation:
- One sees the difference between temporary comfort and true freedom
- Understands the root of loneliness and longing
- Moves beyond cycles of escape and suffering
✨ True peace is not found in forgetting pain,
but in becoming Truth itself, beyond all suffering.
