Why Do You Eat Every Day?

Finding true purpose in life

The Human Route
Coming empty-handed, going empty-handed that is human.
When you are born, where do you come from
When you die, where do you go
!ife is li"e a floating cloud which appears.
#eath is li"e a floating cloud which disappears.
The floating cloud itself originally does not e$ist.
!ife and death, coming and going, are also li"e that.
%ut there is one thing which always remains clear.
&t is pure and clear, not depending on life and death.
Then what is the one pure and clear thing - 'n ancient (en poem
If you had asked me twenty-five years ago if I
would ever consider becoming a Buddhist monk,
I would have looked at you strangely and thought
that you were drunk, a bit crazy, or both. I was
devoutly atheist and studiously avoided any form
of religion, believing it to be the opiate of the
masses. I think that I could only admit to
worshipping the god of money and finance.
hilst working in !ong "ong in #$$%, my
friends managed to persuade me to attend a talk
by "orean &en 'aster (eung (ahn. I went with great reluctance, only because I wanted to
have dinner and en)oy myself with them afterwards.
I had no idea that he was a *reat &en 'aster who had attained enlightenment at the age of
%%. +o be honest, if I had known, I wouldn,t have cared. I wasn,t interested in &en, I wasn,t
interested in any religion - I was only interested in my career and work. (teeling myself, I
anticipated two hours of boring, obscure preaching on Buddhist philosophy.
I was wholly unprepared for the impact that &en
'aster (eung (ahn made on me. . bright faced
stocky man with a /uick laugh, he had an air of
authority and a total self-conviction in his beliefs.
!e had a vibrant personality, spoke with great
energy, using a form of 0nglish that I would later
come to know as ,"onglish,, a hybrid of "orean
and 0nglish grammar. !e was very down to
earth, spoke about our human life with great
compassion and wisdom.
I found myself nodding in agreement to all he
said. !e made such an impression on me that the unthinkable happened - I got religion,
or more specifically, &en. In my gut, I completely believed in what he said but I needed
some time to get my head around it. I resolved to find out more and very /uickly, I found
myself drawn into practising &en meditation regularly at the centre.
0ven after practising &en meditation for a number of years, the thought of entering
monastic life was as remote to me as finding life on the moon. 1espite completing two
intensive ninety day winter &en meditation retreats in "orea in the mid-#$$2,s, my view
was unchanged.
.fter all, I had nothing to complain about in my life - I en)oyed my work, was well paid
with good career prospects and I was in a stable relationship. I even took the bold step of
starting to pay for the mortgage on a flat. 3eeling pretty much safe and secure, I felt things
were working out /uite well for me.
+hen something started to change. It began imperceptibly - a gnawing feeling that
something was not completely right with life. 'y life. I often felt a certain emptiness, even
within moments of happiness. 'y work and life,s mundane normality filled me with a
sense of /uiet desperation that I could not shrug off. I could not name what was bothering
me e4cept that it seemed shrouded in an impenetrable grey fog.
*radually the fog began to clear, and with it, /uestions surfaced, forcing me to face them.
as the life I was leading - work, money, relationships - all there was to it5 ould
getting married, having kids, buying a flat be it5 hy did I see so much suffering around
me that many others did not even notice5 as there a bigger meaning to my life - one that
I had yet to discover5
'any other similar /uestions appeared - none of
which I could answer with any certainty. 6et I plodded
on with my everyday e4istence, certain of only one
thing7 whatever my life,s purpose, the one I was living
wasn,t it.
I continued with my meditation practice, sometimes
in fits and starts, but always at the local &en 8entre. It
gradually dawned on me that I wanted meditation to
be the central pillar of my life. 9ust how that would
happen came a little later.
&en 'aster (eung (ahn would visit a few times a year from "orea to teach and give talks.
:n one of these visits, he invited me to share his lunch table with some other monks.
1uring lunch, he asked me, 1o you have any brothers5
;o, I replied.
.hhhh, he said, then become monk not easy.
.s soon as I heard that, a thought shot into my head7
Why not I spent the rest of lunch in silence,
turning that short conversation over and over in my
head. In time, hy not5 became I can and I made
the decision to become a monk with &en 'aster
(eung (ahn as my teacher.
I left for "orea and ended up staying for seventeen
years, mostly at 'u (ang (a, an international &en
monastery on *yeryong mountain. In the "orean
monastic tradition, the accepted wisdom is that it takes about seven years after ordination
to fully embrace monasticism and be completely comfortable in your new life. .s your
practice continues to mature, your mind rela4es and your life direction becomes much
clearer7 it becomes one to )ust help others. 0ven moments of frustration are more than
compensated by moments of )oy7 )oy in the Buddha, )oy in the 1harma and )oy in the
(angha.
.s .sians living in .sia, the region promises great opportunities for economic and material
success. It is possible to attain a standard of living and wealth far greater than that of our
forefathers through hard work, sheer effort and persistence.
!owever, as human beings sharing this planet with
billions of other beings, we need to attain the true purpose
of our human life. 3inding the correct direction in our life
is crucial to our continued e4istence and to our ability to
live in peace and harmony with each other. If we do not,
we are like a rudderless ship, drifting on the ocean at the
mercy of life,s pernicious currents.
+o find our life direction as human beings, we need to
answer this simple, important /uestion7 hy do you eat
every day5
It,s a /uestion that all &en students are asked as they begin
kong-an practice at our centres. If we attain the correct
answer to this /uestion, then we truly get our life,s purpose.
If we answer, I eat because I,m hungry, I eat to have energy or I eat because it,s
necessary for my survival, then we are no different from dogs, cats or other animals. +hey
eat for the same reasons. But we are clearly different from animals. e are human beings
with the potential to realize life,s higher purpose.
(o, hy do you eat every day5
If we practice meditation consistently, our mind becomes
clear and the answer appears very simply in front of us. It
arises naturally from our innate wisdom.
!ere,s a hint - when you eat, is it ,for me, or ,for others,5 If
it is not clear, please find a nearby &en 8entre, practise
meditation and a good answer will soon appear.
+his article was originally published in the .pril %2#< issue of #andelion, the magazine of the =niversiti
(ains 'alaysia (tudents, Buddhist (ociety.

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