JUNGTO

Jungto Society

Let us listen to Pomnyun's own words about Jungto Society.
This is from his speech in 2002 when he received Magsaysay Award in the Peace
and International Understanding category.

Jungto Society first helps individuals who are suffering. People are tired from life, want to be loved and recognized. They need to be cared for. We teach them to turn their outward-looking eyes inwards. It is very difficult at first. However, we help them practice intensively for days or one hour everyday persistently so that they can finally get to know themselves better and find the source of their problems. Once they themselves lighten up and become happier, they will start helping others who are suffering.

They will donate money to Jungto Society. These people will also participate in helping children in North Korea or India, or take part in environmental movement. Sometimes they will face opposition from their families or the society. In such a case, the daily practice gives them courage. They can scale up their participation by actually doing some volunteering. It can be one or two days a week. Sometimes they will be more enthusiastic, but sometimes they will burn out. Then, they need help and guidance. Daily cultivation really gives them the energy to persist in their volunteer activities.

An individual can govern one's own mind so that one can be happy (Clean Mind). Interpersonal relationships should not be based on competition or conflict but on harmony and balance so that they can be friends and build a peaceful society (Good Friends). Nature is not something to conquer but something we should work to preserve because it is where we live (Pure Land). Jungto movement is making this world a better place, we can call it the Pure Land that is what Jungto means.

All Jungto members practice for over an hour every day, donate more than one dollar every day, and do a good deed more than once every day. We consider whatever happens in earth as our own affair, so we will do whatever we can to fix even the smallest problems.

We want to live our lives with a mind that is pure, light and happy, a body that is healthy from clean air, water, and simple food, and relationships that are caring and giving. We keep the five precepts of not harming living beings, helping others, being frugal, speaking the truth, and not taking any intoxicating substances. Such life is good for oneself and others. We should live simply, and if there is anything in excess, we should share it. Then, don't harm the planet.

Based on these perspectives, we built six organizations. Jungto Cultivation Centre is dedicated for practitioners. Jungto Retreat Center is dedicated to various retreats that help people practice. Ecobuddha carries out initiatives to protect the environment. JTS works to fight poverty, disease, and illiteracy. Good Friends promotes peace, human rights, and supports North Korean refugees. The Peace and Reunification Movement (the Peace Foundation, the Righteous People for Korean Reunification, and Ad Hoc Committee on Reunification) aims to establish a permanent peace on Korean peninsula and reunify the two Koreas. Finally, Jungto Dharma Center is a place where members practice, donate, and volunteer together. Jungto Society is made of people who try to bring a positive change in this world based on the power of practice and self-reflection.

If we realize that everything in this world is interconnected, that they are one, everything happening in this world becomes our business. There are no enemies. People should be good friends and live in harmony with both people and nature. Herein lies true peace. Jungto Society is a group of people who strive to bring about such a world.

A person who h as a dream is h appy. When dreamers come together, they are h appier. A life pursuing such dream together is the h appiest.