🔹Ven Pomnyun’s Dharma Q&A

session at Bethesda Chevy Chase Regional Service Center inWashington D.C. (September 18, 2019)

🔹Question: Hi. I have a question about what you, from your perspective, what would you quantify as success in life, if not materialistic things, maybe career success and these kinds of ways to measure success? What do you personally, how do you quantify that?

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🔹Ven Pomnyun’s Dharma Q&A

Selection from a Dharma Q&A session in UCLA (Nov. 16,2014)

🔹Question: I recently listened to your lecture about careers. And I thought about my job in jewelry industry which in a way allures people to spend money to show off and put emphasis on outer beauty. But I really love my job and my goal is to become a jewelry designer. Whether my designs are for fashion jewelry or high jewelry, it still can mislead people. SoI was wondering about how I should view my career.

🔻Jungto Dharma School(Introduction to Buddhism):https://www.jungtosociety.org/jungto-dharma-school-online-course/

🔻 All Jungto Society’ssocial platforms: http://linktr.ee/jungtoint

🔹Ven Pomnyun’s Dharma Q&A

Selection from Casual Conversation with Ven. Pomnyun Sunim (November 14, 2020)

🔹Question: Hello Sunim, I’m very happy to be here and talk to you. I was actually in South Korea for seven years. I worked at Samsung Electronics, then I finally moved to America in Seattle, Washington. So the first time I watched your dharma talk was in 2014 when you gave a talk at Google. From then, because of you, I got interested in Buddhism and understanding Buddhist Principles. So my question today is about how to make good choices using Buddhist principles. Even today, in the introduction you've talked about taking responsibility for the choices so this might be repetitive. I recently had two choices and one choice was to work for company A and the other choice was to work for company B. Before committing to a choice, I want to understand how do we apply some of the Buddhist principles and evaluate which choice to make. This kind of making choices happened to me many times, like choosing Seattle versus California, or choosing America versus South Korea. So before we make a choice, what things we have to go through in our minds?. That’s my question, how do we make choices and evaluate choices?

🔻Jungto Dharma School(Introduction to Buddhism):https://www.jungtosociety.org/jungto-dharma-school-online-course/

🔻 All Jungto Society’ssocial platforms: http://linktr.ee/jungtoint

🔹Ven Pomnyun’s Dharma Q&A

2022.2.4

🔹Question: It's a real pleasure to see you again, Sunim. I have two questions. The first question is last week you've responded about being in the death bed, diagnosed with acancer and still being grateful. How can I start training myself today so I can get to that state of gratefulness?

🔻Jungto Dharma School(Introduction to Buddhism):https://www.jungtosociety.org/jungto-dharma-school-online-course/

🔻 All Jungto Society’s social platforms: http://linktr.ee/jungtoint

🔹Ven Pomnyun’s Dharma Q&A

Selection from Live Dharma Talk with Ven. Pomnyun Sunim(March 6, 2022)

🔹Question: Hello! It's nice to meet you in person. I'm Catholic and about to graduate from medical school. I am pro-choice and believe in using contraception. It's something thatI will recommend to my patients if medically necessary. Is it okay to be Catholic and have conflicting values with my religion?

🔻Jungto Dharma School(Introduction to Buddhism):https://www.jungtosociety.org/jungto-dharma-school-online-course/

🔻 All Jungto Society’ssocial platforms: http://linktr.ee/jungtoint

🔹Ven Pomnyun’s Dharma Q&A

Selection from Live Dharma Talk withVen. Pomnyun Sunim (March 6, 2022)

🔹Question: It seems like if I'm not mistaken, Russia's claim is they don't want Ukraine to join these western forces, which is like NATO, and Ukraine leader, including their president, is trying to protect their independence. So in that situation, ofcourse, the citizens are dying daily. So do you think that, like in this kind of situation, a country like Ukraine should try to give up the fighting against Russia for citizens and should they stay neutral? That was my first question. And then the second question is do you see the possibility of the new cold war between NATO countries, western countries and maybe possibly Russia, China, and North Korea, joining forces together?

🔻Jungto Dharma School(Introduction to Buddhism):https://www.jungtosociety.org/jungto-dharma-school-online-course/

🔻 All Jungto Society’s social platforms: http://linktr.ee/jungtoint

🔹Ven Pomnyun’s Dharma Q&A

Selection from Casual Conversation with Ven. Pomnyun Sunim(October 17, 2021)

🔹Question: During the past year I took your online Buddhism and Sutra classes. I gained a good understanding of original Buddhism and its teaching as a spiritual practice. Iwork as a mental health and addiction counselor. I’ve been applying what I’ve learned from Sutra and Dharma talks to my patients. Most of my patients suffer from prolonged drug use and as a result, have experienced a lot of loss in their life, loved ones, housing, jobs, and their hopes and some become very suicidal. My question has two parts, first what’s the Buddhist perspective on suicide? And second, how can this perspective help my patients and manage my own anxiety while helping them. Thank you.

🔻Jungto Dharma School(Introduction to Buddhism):https://www.jungtosociety.org/jungto-dharma-school-online-course/

🔻 All Jungto Society’ssocial platforms: http://linktr.ee/jungtoint

🔹Ven Pomnyun’s Dharma Q&A

2023. 9. 18

🔹Question: Hi, thank you for the opportunity to ask a question. I'm actually a neurologist. I decided to go to a rural Florida to work in the community, thinking that I wanted to build a Parkinson's and movement disorder program from scratch. So, I was brought in and I received no support. It's because of the tight budget in the hospital. I thought that if I started it there, they'll give more support, but in the end, I didn't. So, I decided to leave the hospital. I'm in between deciding whether I want to go into a private practice or look for a hospital that would be more supportive. The one hospital that I found that actually is very supportive is located in another rural setting away from Asian community. And now I'm thinking about going to private practice in Atlanta, Georgia, possibly thinking that I want to be close to an Asian community. The reason is that I have elderly parents turning close to be 80s now, and I don't know how long I will have them. And I do miss the amenities that a city offers, as well as the Korean community, the Asian community that I missed because I'm pretty isolated in this rural Florida. There is a part of me wanting to serve this area just because there's no other Parkinson's neurologist within a 3-hour radius and I have established my reputation. So, I want to be here and practice because it will be easy for me. And yet, my personal other happiness not having access to an Asian community is going to be a disadvantage. If I were to go to Atlanta, yes, it's a new start, and building a program from ground zero is a pretty daunting process. It's not easy. A lot of effort goes into it. It's either that or do I just go to a supportive hospital and not worry about building a private practice. I fly to the city to be close to the Asian community whenever I have a break. So, I don't know which path would be the right one.

🔻Jungto Dharma School(Introduction to Buddhism):https://www.jungtosociety.org/jungto-dharma-school-online-course/

🔻 All Jungto Society’ssocial platforms: http://linktr.ee/jungtoint