Seoul and Dog Poo

Two weeks ago, I was on a lightning trip to Seoul to visit a writing camp organised by the Bay Area Writing Project (BAWP). I have known about the BAWP from my postgraduate days at UC Berkeley and was keen to see what programmes they were offering. Unfortunately, I landed in Seoul on the morning of the storm-of-the-century and was caught in a four-hour traffic jam getting to the hotel.  Our very resourceful taxi-driver worked hard, taking every short cut he could think of. Otherwise, we could have been in the jam for a much longer period. With no English newspapers, it took me a day or more before I discovered the extent of damage in Seoul from the rains that fateful day.

Our three-day trip was spent in the camp and during our free time, we were in a mall to escape the rain. Sadly, I am in no position to say much about Seoul from this trip. But I was most impressed by Incheon airport and learnt a bit more about the art of kimchee making.

                                 A "royal" procession at Incheon airport, staged to entertain tourists.

Back home, I spent the Sunday attending the Buddhism and Science Symposium, where experts spoke about the link between scientific research and Buddhist practices like meditation.  Here are some of the ideas I took away from that day:

1. The map is not the territory. Our perception of the world is just that- a perception, and not the real thing. We should not use our perceptions of people and of the world to measure or judge people or events because ours is only one view.  A timely reminder.

2. Life is not about being good. It’s about being real. CG Jung.

3. We have 5 dreams per night and 1825 per year. We all dream but each dream is unique and particular to the dreamer.

4. Here’s an exercise that Dr Marke Greene suggested. Try it.

      Close your eyes. Imagine a person who is very difficult. Choose someone of the same gender. Think of a word that describes what makes this person difficult.
Chances are that the word you chose to describe the person also describes you. I tried this and it took me a while to understand and accept that the word also described me. That was humbling and enlightening.

      5. The Ven Chuan Guan gave a lively talk during which he told a story about dog poo. Here’s a paraphrase of what he said: When we are out and about, and we step on dog poo, what do we do? We try to get rid of it immediately, either by wiping our shoes on some grass or with tissue. We don’t pick the dog poo up, put it in a bag and tie it up neatly to take it home. And when we get home, and we are asked what we did outside, we don’t take our pack of dog poo out, unpack it and share it with our family. Nor do our family members share the dog poo they've inadvertently stepped on with us. 

The Venerable’s message is this: Don’t take home your emotional dog poo and share it with your loved ones. Leave the dog poo outside where it belongs. Making your loved ones deal with your dog poo is not a loving gesture. 

I thought this was an interesting metaphor and a good story to share with everyone. Like itor not, we are all a little guilty of unloading dog poo on our loved ones every now and then when we get home from a stressful day at work. Perhaps it’s time to rethink this habit.

So, it was a Sunday well spent and after that I had a week of work and fought the flu at the same time.  National Day came and went.  At one point, it was bad enough for me to cancel yoga and all physical exercises and although work went on as usual, I never really got better. Today, I still have a bad cough after having consumed a whole bottle of cough syrup.  Ah well.  Thank goodness it’s Friday!