Moon’s Zen Moment…
My father, who was born into a poor family in Korea, grew up with a lot of hardships. Being the first of 7 children with enormous responsibilities and raised during two brutal wars, he was just a victim of a difficult environment. I can say with certainty that he was never happy with his life. I love this picture of my father because it was the only few times in his life where he looked genuinely peaceful and happy…
My father passed away on June 7, 1998 of a heart attack — more than 15 years ago. While he was the ultimate atheist, shunning away any religious zealots who would show up at our door, my father ironically passed away at a Korean Buddhist temple named “Won Kak Sa” in upstate New York. They rushed him to the hospital, but to no avail, he could not be revived. I know that God wanted him to pass away in such a sacred temple to bring him back to a spiritual place where his troubled soul can find peace…
My father had his first heart attack in his early 50’s and, subsequently, had a triple bypass heart surgery. After the surgery, my father’s cardiologist told my mother, in confidence, that my father’s negative personality and outlook on life was a big contributing factor to his heart disease, and, as sad as that was, we all knew it was true. Stress and unhappiness were also the cause of my sister Sun’s early death, which I talk about often because Sun was my inspiration for creating Ying & Yang Living.
So, on this Father’s Day, I reflect with some measure of sadness on my father’s less-than-happy life, and how he could have changed it with self awareness and spirituality. No matter what circumstances we have been placed as a child or as an adult, we are all given the power of choice: to see the glass half full or glass half empty. And with this power, we can actively change our lives for the better. Our happiness is in the destiny of our own hands…
In passing on, I believe that my father’s soul will reincarnate into another body to learn the lessons he never learned in his previous lives. I also believe that the real purpose of our existence is to be educated or enlightened about our true Being and our relationship to this magical Universe so we may serve it well. In his next life, I am hopeful that my father will choose the prisms of a glass half full.
To all of the great father souls out there, Happy Father’s Day….
