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hello. Today is the day I return to Korea from the Philippines.
The plan is to take a night flight to Korea. After arriving at Manila Airport in the Philippines at 1 am, I took a short break before boarding the plane.
The monk departed from Manila Airport in the Philippines at 2:50 a.m. and arrived at Incheon Airport at 8:10 a.m. Korean time after flying for 4 hours and 20 minutes. I spent the whole night sitting on a chair in the sky.
As soon as I landed at Incheon Airport, I quickly left the departure hall and headed to Jeongto Hall in Seoul.
We were supposed to have a live Buddhist service for all members starting at 10 o’clock, but due to traffic congestion during rush hour, it was unclear whether we would be able to arrive before the live broadcast started.
Fortunately, we got through the traffic jam at the last minute and arrived at Seoul Jeongto Center at 10 o’clock sharp. I immediately read the lyrics and jangsam and sat down in front of the camera in the broadcast room.
The Buddhist monks who entered the video conference room asked the monk to give a sermon with three bows. The monk began his sermon by sharing the news of his attendance at the 65th Magsaysay Award Ceremony over the past four days.
“The 65th Magsaysay Award ceremony was held the day before yesterday. I won the award in the peace and international understanding category in 2002. I attended because I was asked to give a keynote speech on behalf of past award winners. It is a program in which all 45 past award winners participate, and a large event is also held to compile the speeches and photos of the 348 winners so far and publish them as a book, so I took the time to attend. While visiting the Philippines, I gave an impromptu lecture for Korean residents and also held a sermon for Jeongtohoe members at the Jeongto Buddhist Temple in Manila, Philippines.
In the meantime, Jeongtohoe has developed a lot, and as a result, the content has also increased. In addition, as Korea develops and the Korean Wave spreads around the world, Jeongtohoe also spreads around the world, creating a synergistic effect. In that respect, the role of the Jeongto Association will likely grow bigger in the future. Seeing how many requests are coming in not only domestically but also overseas, I think my role will grow bigger and bigger.
We cannot solve all the problems that occur in this world. There are only a few things we can solve. “It can be said that it is our choice as to which of them we will do.”
Next, I was asked a question. One person requested a question in advance, spoke with the monk, and then continued the conversation by receiving an impromptu question on the spot. Five people pressed the raise hand button and talked to the monk. One of them asked for advice from a monk, saying that after discussing how to solve the microplastic problem, social action was at a loss.
“Yesterday evening, while participating in Unification Volunteer Corps activities, we spent time discussing and studying the problems of plastic and microplastics. The general opinion gathered later was that to solve this problem, individual action alone was not enough and social action should take priority. “While I completely agree with that point, I am also at a loss as to how I can carry out social practices in reality, so I am seeking the monk’s advice.”
“Personal action is when an individual understands the seriousness of the problem and implements improvement measures. Social practice is about getting many people, not just me, to act together. Among social practices, there are practices that the public participates in, and there are practices that the government improves through policies. Carrying out campaigns on the streets and informing people in the neighborhood to take action together are social actions, but such activities are only done by people who agree with the cause. To fundamentally solve this problem, government policy must change. To significantly reduce the frequency of plastic use, the government can implement policies to prevent people from using single-use plastic. Individuals must practice the movement to avoid using single-use plastic in their daily lives, and the government must issue an enforcement order for each business office to prevent the use of single-use plastic as a policy.
For example, in the case of the issue of disposable cup use, the government established a policy to prevent the use of disposable cups, but because it would be confusing if implemented immediately, it was decided to go through a one-year guidance period. So, it was almost time for implementation, but the government suddenly changed the policy to allow the use of disposable cups. On the 7th, the Ministry of Environment announced management measures that effectively abandon regulations on disposable products such as paper cups, plastic straws, and plastic bags. This is because as the election approaches, more and more people are complaining that washing dishes is inconvenient due to the ban on disposable cups. If there are many people who value environmental practices, you will get more votes if you come up with a policy of not using disposable cups. However, this happened because the people who had such thoughts were a minority, and the people who thought it was inconvenient became the majority.
Social action means ensuring that all citizens take environmental action in an institutional manner. The goal is to spread the environmental movement that I was practicing first through campaigns so that many people can participate. During elections, we must convey the importance of environmental movements to candidates for the National Assembly or heads of local governments and make suggestions to them so that they can fulfill their pledges to protect the environment. Otherwise, we will have to keep making proposals while pressuring them not to support their candidates. Social practice is to regulate corporate activities that destroy the environment and impose restrictions on people’s lifestyles by formulating individual environmental practices into policies.
This kind of social action is a much more influential and fundamental activity, but in order for it to become a policy, many people need to join the movement. As for personal practice, I alone need to avoid using environmental pollutants. However, in order to take social action, we need to make many people understand the need for environmental movement and get them to participate. Many people must join forces and make demands together, not alone. Even if you make a request alone, you must persistently raise issues and persuade them. This creates many difficulties due to conflicts with people with different interests, but the effect is much greater.
When implementing a policy, it must be uniformly applied at all stages, from production and use, collection and separation of environmental pollutants, to reuse and recycling. Only then can we effectively reduce the amount of environmental pollutants. Compared to the past, our country is also seeing a lot of institutional improvements. For example, in the past, plastic used for farming was collected and burned, but these days, if you collect waste vinyl, the county office collects it all. If you collect used seedbeds, the government will pay 50 won each to collect them. Because they can earn even tens of thousands of won, more people bundle things up and put them out on the street, allowing for more recycling. Creating these changes is all social action. Environmental pollution can be fundamentally reduced through institutional change.
In order to bring about such institutional change, we must first provide continuous education so that the public can become aware of the need for environmental action. Only then will those in politics or administration make a pledge saying, ‘I will implement that policy’ in order to get elected. When the people elect that person, the policy changes.
To solve environmental problems, such social action is necessary above all else. However, in order to bring about such change, it is very difficult to bring about the will of many people. You have to submit a complaint to the mayor, submit a complaint to the district office, propose a campaign during the election, and make a request to the government. This requires a lot of effort.
I completely agree that this is not just an individual problem, but needs to change institutionally. This is different from politics to gain power, but it is also politics. We must take political action for social change. However, people hate everything about politics. To prevent an environmental crisis, all citizens must have political awareness. Preventing the environmental crisis is not the job of the ruling party, the opposition party, conservatives, or progressives. It is different from the concept of political strife because it is about protecting our health and the global environment. But it can also become a political battle. Because there is a conflict of interest. If a political party’s interests coincide with the interests of companies producing disposable cups and the convenience of doing business by consuming disposable cups, that party will take that side. It can be said that the reason environmental policies retreated this time was because they were conscious of the votes of those people.
If the public’s level of awareness of environmental practices is high and anti-environmental policies lose more votes, environmental policies will never retreat. However, it does not matter whether the level of public awareness is one way or another, but if one side is united by interests and makes strong demands, the government will have no choice but to listen to their demands because it has to resolve civil complaints.”
“What are some social practices that go one step further from the perspective of Jeongtohoe members?”
“First, we need to launch a campaign targeting citizens. This can be seen as the first step toward social practice. Second, we need to discuss this issue with politicians close to us, such as city council members or county council members. You could go to city council members and county council members who are environmentally conscious and make a suggestion, saying, ‘The environmental problem is serious right now, so it would be nice if it were reflected in the city ordinance.’ Running a campaign and making suggestions to city council members are relatively easy tasks. To change national policy, you must ask candidates or political parties to include environmental campaigns in their pledges during general elections. “These things are only possible when the will of the majority of the public comes together.”
“Yes, I understand.”
The questions continued. By the time we finished talking, it was 12 o’clock. After finishing the sermon at Sahongseowon, the monk immediately got into his car and headed to Dubuk Training Center.
We left Seoul at 1 PM and arrived at Dubuk Training Center at 5 PM after driving on the highway for 4 hours. As soon as he arrived at Dubuk Training Center, the monk looked around the rice fields. While I was in the Philippines, I checked to see if there was any damage to the crops as the temperature dropped below freezing. In the Philippines, a monk contacted the farming team and had them light a fire to heat the greenhouse containing the peppers. Luckily he didn’t suffer any major damage.
In the field at the bottom of the mountain where barley had been planted two weeks ago, bright green sprouts were already blooming. The monk said with a happy expression.
“Hey, now that it has sprouted, I can live.”
The cabbage and radish planted in the lower field were growing well in the cold.
The branches were still opening. I picked a few to make as a side dish and left the field.
After the sun set, at 7:30 p.m., a live Buddhist service was held for the evening class members. As all of the Buddhist monks entered the video conference room, the monk gave a greeting.
“Now I’m down to Gyeongju. We are meeting you at the Dubuk Training Center for the evening Buddhist service. I’m broadcasting from a classroom in an abandoned school, and it’s very cold and dreary. You may have experienced this a lot when you were young, but classrooms are naturally cold. So, in winter, it is a little difficult to live at the Dubuk Training Center.” (laugh)
Next, like a morning Buddhist service, I shared the news of my attendance at the Magsaysay Award ceremony and began the conversation. Even in the evening, five people pressed the raise hand button and chatted with the monk. One of them said that meetings often feel inefficient and wondered how the monk runs the meetings.
“We hold meetings every week, but I think the way the meetings are conducted is very inefficient. Although it is a meeting with many people, there are times when discussions take place one-on-one, which increases the time, or there are times when the meeting ends after just sharing for an hour and a half, and there are times when some members end the meeting without even being able to express a single opinion. This is a problem I feel the same way not only at this meeting but also when I participate in other meetings. “It would be nice to have meetings efficiently, but I am curious about how Venerable Beopnyun conducts meetings.”
“I don’t really have any ideas about how to run a meeting. This is because it varies depending on what content the meeting is about, what kind of people are gathered together, and under what conditions the meeting is held. If it is a meeting where it is important to narrow the conflict between people and unite their minds, that is, if the goal is to bring people closer together, then there is little point in having an efficient discussion. In such cases, you will be able to achieve your goals better if you conduct the meeting as if you were sharing your thoughts. In order to run the event efficiently ahead of an event, the meeting should not be held in a mind-sharing manner, but should be centered around the program, such as who will be responsible for each role. In this way, it can be seen that the way the meeting is conducted must vary depending on the situation and conditions.
It is also not necessarily true that everyone in a meeting has to say something. We all have the same thoughts, so there is no need to add our opinions. There is no need to assume that you are dissatisfied just because you did not say something. There are many cases where people agree with the opinion of the person who expressed the opinion even though they do not say it. Of course, some people who don’t speak up may do so because they are dissatisfied with something, but if you keep burying that situation, the number of people participating in the meeting will decrease.
So, we have to look at the cause on a case-by-case basis. Everyone has their own opinions, but if some people are silent because they talk too much, the facilitator should ensure that everyone has the opportunity to speak evenly. We need to regulate one person so that he or she does not speak too exclusively, or ask the opinions of those who do not speak, etc., so that everyone can enter the conversation on an equal footing.
However, if it is a meeting to run an event, there is no need for everyone to speak. In such cases, a talented or experienced person may draft the draft and express most of the opinions alone. The remaining attendees can check the draft to see if there are any problems, and if they decide there are no major problems, they can express their agreement. Just because a meeting has to be conducted democratically, giving equal speaking time is not the right way to do it in this case.
Depending on what the meeting is for, the way it is conducted must vary. If the questioner asked a specific question about how efficiency decreases when holding a meeting on a certain topic and for whom, I could give a specific answer, but since he simply asked how the meeting should be conducted, my answer was ‘There is no set meeting method. There is none. It is the law of non-existence. Depending on the kind of people gathered at the meeting and deciding on the topic, the meeting method can be divided into several types.
There are many well-organized materials on how to conduct basic meetings. “I think it is better to familiarize yourself with the basic format and then proceed with the meeting according to your circumstances, rather than deciding that it must be that way.”
“thank you. I was most impressed by the statement that the way a meeting is conducted varies depending on what kind of people gather together and discuss what topic. I think I was looking for the right answer to see if there was a secret to meeting well even after learning the method of non-entity. “I feel at peace now that I know it was a foolish idea.”
The questions continued. By the time we finished talking, it was well past 9 p.m. Today was a long day of traveling from Manila, Philippines to Seoul and from Seoul to Gyeongju.
Tomorrow, we will guide Namsan Mountain in Gyeongju for the graduates of Jeongto Buddhist University who are working at the National Park Service all day, and we will have an impromptu talk session.
2023-11-15 20:48:16
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