INTRODUCTION ✨
In this personal account, Master Woo Myung describes his journey to enlightenment and explains the practical path of becoming Truth. After years of searching and intensive meditation on Gaya Mountain, he discovered that the way to true awakening is to discard the self — repeatedly and completely — until Truth reveals itself. His teaching emphasizes direct experience: ordinary life transformed by sincere practice and rebirth as Truth, after which one’s life is dedicated to guiding others on the same path. 🌟
ORIGINAL WRITING BY MASTER WOO MYUNG 🕊️
How To Become Truth
Ever since I was a child, I had given much thought to the questions of where we come from, why we live, and where we go, but all to no avail. My father passed away when I was nine, and so, it seems, my fear of death had led me to think about these things. I continued to ponder about these questions later on in my life, but there seemed to be no way to find the answers. In my thirties, I delved deeply into religious literature, but this, too, did nothing to satisfy my questions. So I decided I would meditate on them by myself someday. At the time, I was running a private educational institute so I made up my mind to make some more money and, in a year or two, have a nice building constructed, and then afterwards, I would go to the mountains, build a cottage near a stream, and seek enlightenment on the questions of our origins, why we live, and where our destination lies.
Around the end of December 1995, I set off to Gaya Mountain. I planned to stay there until the beginning of the next year, hoping to abandon the life I had lived. Up to that point, my wife had shown no interest in such ponderings. But she had witnessed my struggling on the subject and had thus asked to come along with me on my trip. I refused, telling her that I myself had yet to become complete and that going there together may be a distraction. But my wife was relentless despite my constant refusal. In the end, after giving the matter much thought, I realized that there would be no harm in her coming along. After all, what we were doing was seeking a way to become saints.
Even though I had been meditating for three months prior to arriving at Gaya and continued to do so at Gaya, I had yet to reach enlightenment. My wife, on the other hand, was able to reach enlightenment after three days and three nights. She was staying in the room adjacent to mine, and I could hear her joy. But she tried not to show it, in case I would be distracted by it. Initially, I did not feel very good about the whole situation, but then I thought it was great that at least one of us had achieved what we had come to achieve. It was then that I looked back on the life I had lived; I thought to myself that there could be no one more sinful than I and that the notion of a horrible person like me becoming a saint would be laughable to the world. So I meditated diligently, ruthlessly eliminating my self again and again.
Then, one day, Truth appeared; I realized that this Truth was me and I was able to meet the Jesus and Buddha of Heaven, as well as the many saints; I realized that because I was Truth, it had become my fate to teach this Truth to the people of the world.
So in June 1996, I gave up my business, and starting in November of the same year, I turned my attention solely to teaching people Truth. At first, I met with people once a month. Gradually, more and more people joined, and so our meetings became twice a month, then later, four times a month. To date, over a hundred thousand people have become enlightened of Truth through discarding their selves.
– Woo Myung
REFLECT AT SANTA CLARA MEDITATION 🌿
Master Woo Myung’s story shows that enlightenment is not just study or belief but a lived transformation achieved by intensive meditation and the practice of discarding the self. At Santa Clara Meditation, practitioners follow this method—letting go of karma, habits, and false identity—so that Truth can manifest within. The result is not only personal liberation but a calling to teach and help others awaken. 🙏
