If Fate Is Predetermined, What’s the Point of Making an Effort

Hello. Morning has dawned in Delhi. Today’s schedule includes giving a lecture at the National Institute of Technology (NIT) in the morning, attending an international forum at the Vivekananda International Foundation in the afternoon, and then traveling to Gaya by night train.

After completing his morning meditation and practice, Sunim worked on manuscript editing. After having a piece of toast for breakfast, he departed for the National Institute of Technology (NIT) at 8:30 AM. This marks the third year since Sunim began lecturing at this school.

When Sunim arrived at the school at 10 AM, Kang Hye-jeong (강 혜정), who has been handling the practical arrangements for lectures in India, and Kim Mi-seon (김 미선) from the International Division, who serves as interpreter, were already there.

“The faculty and students are running a bit late, so they’d like to delay the lecture by about 30 minutes.”

“Yes, let’s do that. We also waited about 30 minutes at Delhi University.”

Sunim replied with a smile. After greeting the local professor who arranges the annual lectures, he spent some time in the waiting room. During this time, several professors came to greet Sunim.

At 10:30 AM, they moved to the lecture hall. About 60 students had gathered in the auditorium. Sunim began the dialogue by sharing his childhood dream of becoming a scientist and explaining how Buddhism, like science, can be approached with an attitude of inquiry that constantly asks “why.”

“My childhood dream was to become a scientist, and I liked things that were factual and rational. So what religious people said seemed somewhat far-fetched to me and was difficult to accept. Yet here I am now, having become a religious person myself. When I study Buddhism, I approach it with a scientific perspective like you do. A scientific perspective means always asking ‘Why is that?’ and ‘What is the reason?’ while exploring what the cause might be. It means not taking anything for granted and not blindly following any authority. Just as I did, you can ask any questions you’d like. As scientists, you probably don’t know much about Buddhist philosophy. So before we begin our dialogue, let me briefly explain the unique core characteristics of Buddhism.”

He then explained in detail what the Middle Way (중도) and dependent origination (연기) discovered by the Buddha are, and using the molecular structure of water as an analogy, he explained how the core Buddhist concept of ‘non-self (무아)’ is not a religious belief but aligns with scientific facts.

“The core teaching of Buddhism is that ‘no existence in this world has a permanent essence, nothing is eternal. Everything is interconnected, and these relationships are constantly changing.’ This is fundamentally different from ancient Indian philosophical thoughts like the Upanishads. Moreover, it differs from any philosophy in the world. Rather, it has many similarities with natural science. That’s why some people say Buddhism is a science.

The Buddha’s Teachings from a Scientific Perspective

Since you are people who study science, let me explain using water as an example. If you divide water into smaller and smaller pieces, it’s still water. That’s why some ancient philosophers said water was the source of all things. In other words, they thought there was some fixed, unchanging substance called water. However, scientific investigation has revealed that water has no inherent substance. The smallest unit of water, the water molecule, is composed of hydrogen and oxygen bonds. If hydrogen and oxygen separate, the property of water disappears. Therefore, water has no inherent substance. We can say that while water exists, there is no essence of water. Then do the oxygen and hydrogen atoms that make up water have inherent substance? Atoms also have no substance (실체). Atoms are made up of subatomic particles smaller than atoms. Do subatomic particles (소립자) have substance? Subatomic particles are made up of even smaller quarks. In this way, nothing has inherent substance. This applies not only to material existence but also to living organisms and humans. Life is a highly complex material combination formed by genes. We also think our mental processes have a substance called ‘I.’ This is called ‘Atman.’ However, the Buddha said that Atman has no substance. Today I want to talk with you not about Buddhism as a religion, but about Buddha Dhamma (the Buddha’s teachings). I hope you will understand the Buddha’s teachings not as religion but on a common-sense level. The topic of our dialogue today will be about life’s anguish. We’ll talk about the various stresses and sufferings we experience in life. However, I want to mention that at the very foundation of our dialogue lies the fundamental Buddhist thought of the Middle Way and dependent origination.”

Next, anyone could raise their hand and ask Sunim questions. For an hour and a half, four students asked Sunim about their curiosities and engaged in dialogue.

One of them wanted to know how the teaching of the middle way works in real life and asked what teaching of the middle way had brought the greatest change to Sunim’s life.

**You Suffer Because You Try to Accomplish in Three Attempts What Should Take Ten
**

“What teaching of the middle way has been most transformative in your own life?”

“There is no such thing as ‘which middle way.’ Have you ever seen a tightrope walker? You know, someone who walks on a long rope while maintaining balance. How can they walk on the rope without falling? They don’t lean too much to one side or the other. It sounds simple when you say it. But when you actually try it, it’s not easy. If you lean to one side, you fall that way. If you try not to fall, you end up falling to the opposite side. So is it impossible to maintain balance? No, it’s possible. But not everyone can do it. So what should you do? You need consistent practice. Through countless failures of falling to one side and then the other, it eventually becomes possible. Think about when you’re doing research. You fail countless times. But failure is not failure. Through failure, we are moving toward discovering principles. Let’s assume we need to conduct an experiment about a hundred times to get the desired result. When the experiment doesn’t yield the desired result, are we continuously failing? No. Having many failures means we’re getting closer to the desired result. This is how we progress through practice. We often despair or feel frustrated when we fail. Is that frustration and despair because of failure? No. Failure is the path that continues toward success. We feel frustrated or despair because we greedily want to succeed quickly. When you do research, you’ll experience many failures. The failure itself doesn’t bring frustration. Frustration comes when you try to succeed in two or three attempts what should take ten attempts. Therefore, you must be persistent. The middle way is about setting a goal, adjusting direction according to that goal, and practicing consistently. Do you have a girlfriend?”

“No.”

“When you date a girlfriend in the future, it’s the same. If you get too close, she’ll dislike it. But if you become too distant, she’ll go elsewhere. You need to adjust appropriately. You should practice getting a bit closer, then stepping back when she says ‘no,’ and when she tries to go far away, getting closer to hold on. This attempt might end in failure. But with this experience, you can adjust better next time. Thinking ‘Women don’t like me. I’m not good at dating’ is not the right attitude. Just because I like a woman doesn’t mean she must like me. Dating might be possible, or it might not be.

It’s the same when you’re solving research problems. After numerous experiments, sometimes you give up thinking ‘This won’t work.’ This is not failure. We can try again with a new challenge. With the perspective of the middle way, we just do what we do without suffering. That’s how we can discover new things. In other words, we need to adjust what is biased. At first, we lean to one side, then to the other, and gradually the range narrows – this is the middle way. And it’s not important to know this intellectually, but to experience it directly yourself.”

“Thank you. I understand well.”

Questions continued to follow.

I’m convinced that the peace and enlightenment I’ve experienced within myself are absolutely necessary for society. How can I spread this experience quickly and effectively to society?

I’m curious about the meditation practices Sunim practices in daily life. Which practice is most helpful for maintaining equanimity and enlightenment?

As the lecture was coming to an end, one last student raised their hand. They asked Sunim what meaning there is in working hard if destiny is predetermined.

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If Destiny Is Predetermined, What’s the Point of Making an Effort?

“There is a belief in destiny — that everything we are meant to accomplish in life is already predetermined. If that is the case, is there any point in making an effort to achieve something? On the other hand, if nothing is predetermined, and we may not get the results we want, then why do we work so hard?”

“Some people believe destiny is predetermined, and others believe it’s not. It’s not about which is right – it’s just different beliefs. If you believe destiny is predetermined and think about it like the questioner does, there’s no need to make an effort. Because things will happen as they’re destined to. That’s why Buddha said that the idea of predetermined destiny doesn’t make logical sense. I originally wanted to become a scientist. But now I’ve become a monk. Seeing this, everyone might say, ‘You were destined to become a monk, so no matter how much you tried to become a scientist, you were ultimately destined to become a monk.’ They can say this. This is a retrospective interpretation. But Buddha pointed out this contradiction. In fact, we make choices. We choose whether to work hard or not. In other words, there is no inherently predetermined life that says ‘you must live this way.’ If that’s good for you, you can create and live that way. But if it’s not good, you don’t have to live that way. That’s your freedom. However, we cannot decide our lives alone. Parents are involved, teachers are involved, and friends are involved. When you marry, your spouse also influences your life. All sorts of things in the world are involved. We live in such relationships and situations. So rather than living our own lives, we more often react to and follow the stimuli, atmosphere, sensations, and feelings that arise from our surroundings and relationships. Living this way, we think, ‘Ah, this must be my destiny.’ You can think that way. But as Buddha said, destiny is not predetermined. However, it’s not easy to escape the influence of our environment. Just like when you have a habit, it’s not easy to break free from it. But it’s not impossible. I just explained with the analogy of a tightrope walker – it’s the same. Walking a tightrope is not easy. But it’s not impossible either.

What choice to make is ultimately each person’s life. For example, one could say that my teacher forced me to become a monk. But if you look closely, I chose to live this way within those circumstances and environment. Let me give you another example. Let’s say this professor sitting in front values his cell phone very much. He won’t give it to me even if I ask for it. But if someone comes with a gun, points it at his head, and says ‘Give me your phone!’, he will eventually hand it over. Later, the professor might say ‘My phone was taken from me.’ But if you think about it, that’s not the only way to describe it. At that moment, he had to make a decision between his life and his phone. No matter how precious the phone is, it can’t be more precious than his life, so he chose his life. That’s why he gave up the phone. So who made this choice? Ultimately, he did. Therefore, there’s no need to regret this decision. Nothing in this world is more precious than life. In that sense, he made the right choice. However, from a social perspective, this incident needs to be reported to prevent others from falling into such danger again. But what do we do? We only suffer from losing the phone, but rarely report it. However, suffering won’t bring the phone back. Suffering won’t solve this social problem either. When we realize that we made the choice, it brings peace of mind. And for world peace, we need to take necessary improvement measures in a peaceful manner.”

“Thank you. I understand well.”

As Sunim concluded his lecture, thunderous applause erupted. The professors and students took a commemorative photo together, promising to meet again when Sunim visits India next time.

After finishing the lecture at 12:10 PM, Sunim immediately moved to the Vivekananda International Foundation.

The Vivekananda International Foundation is India’s leading public policy think tank, established in 2009 in Chanakyapuri, New Delhi. Covering security, diplomacy, and public policy fields, it has been conducting international dialogues on conflict resolution and peace through its Hindu-Buddhist dialogue program called ‘Samvad’. Today, they hosted an international forum inviting Buddhist leaders and scholars from five countries including India, Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, and Cambodia to discuss Buddhist approaches to contemporary social issues.

After a preliminary tea session at 2 PM, the forum began at 3 PM. The moderator asked for Sunim’s views on the topic: “What role can Buddhism play in our rapidly changing modern society, and how should it approach social issues?”

Sunim spoke about solutions to the most important problems facing humanity: peace, climate crisis, and poverty. He first brought up the changes in world order. He pointed out that the framework of international cooperation maintained since World War II is shaking, and that Western values alone cannot solve the problems. If the view of nature as an object of conquest has led to the climate crisis, then we need to find new solutions from the Eastern perspective that sees people and nature as interconnected and coexisting.

He also mentioned the issue of cooperation among Buddhist countries. In particular, he urged awakening, noting that neighboring Buddhist countries are not helping each other with their difficulties, while Western countries are coming to help.

Why Do We Turn Away from Our Neighbors’ Suffering While Speaking of Compassion?

“There are many people on this earth living in absolute poverty. This problem is concentrated in Asia and Africa. Yet those who help them are mostly people from Western countries. Why don’t neighboring Buddhist countries help with the difficulties of Buddhist countries, but Christian countries come to help? This is the question of why Buddhism, while speaking of compassion and love, turns away from the suffering of neighbors. As a result, while helping is good, that help sometimes ends up destroying traditional culture and communities. I’m not saying we should reject Westerners. I’m saying we should awaken ourselves. Let’s cooperate a little more and solve our problems ourselves. Most of Southeast Asia consists of Buddhist or Hindu countries. So I hope our dialogue will focus on ‘How can we cooperate to solve problems of peace, environment, and poverty?’ Also, while we should respect traditional culture, when it comes to issues of discrimination, we should overcome that discrimination and aim for equality. In other words, issues like women’s education and social activities, and education for people with disabilities and ethnic minorities should not be ignored in the name of tradition. These things don’t necessarily pursue equality based on Western thought – Buddhist thought also contains many values such as gender equality and human dignity. Democracy didn’t necessarily come from the West. There are many democratic operating methods in Buddhist Sangha operations as well. I’m not particularly insisting only on our culture. However, there are many good traditions within our own heritage. The question is how we can revive them. In the new world that will unfold, the era of solving problems by simply imitating someone else has passed. We need to solve problems with new ideas. I think these problems arose from Western values, so it’s difficult to solve them with Western thought. That doesn’t mean we can solve them immediately, but I think we should challenge ourselves to solve these problems from a new perspective. So I hope we can have the perspective of creating future civilization.”

Sunim then shared his impressions from visiting Indian universities over the past few days.

“In the past few days, I visited three universities – Nehru University, Delhi University, and NIT – and had conversations with students. I heard that these students are the most talented in India. I asked them whether they would use all their talent just to make money, or also to solve the side effects that come from making money. Shouldn’t at least 10 percent of people play the role of cleaning up when someone makes a mess, for the world to be maintained? I wish everyone in the world would reduce consumption and live loving peace, but I think it’s difficult in reality. However, I think this earth can only be sustainable if some talented people like you participate in solving problems related to loving peace, helping those in need, and caring for the environment. That’s why I came here to find such people, and I’m visiting various places having these conversations. To fundamentally solve these problems, we need to do more research and practice. We don’t yet know what methods might exist, or even if they exist, whether we can actually implement them. But we can certainly find ways to address these problems. So I hope you will play such roles. I hope we can work together to find not just current development, but also how to solve the side effects that occur after this development.”

During the subsequent Q&A session, discussions continued on a wide range of topics including peace on the Korean Peninsula, the relationship between religion and state power, and the balance between nuclear deterrence and Eastern philosophy.

Sunim said we need to solve current problems with Eastern wisdom, but in reality there are world leaders like Kim Jong-un (김 정은) who has nuclear weapons or those in power who want war. How can we diagnose and respond to such realistic problems with Eastern wisdom and ancient thought?

While Hinduism and Buddhism are religions closer to ways of life and are not organized, other religions that receive state support are systematically organized and spread the superiority of their religion. How can unorganized Buddhism and Hinduism provide alternatives to these religions?

In a reality where major powers ignore the rights of smaller nations, India has responded to external threats with nuclear deterrence, while Indian philosophy opens space for dialogue that considers even the opponent’s perspective. How can we find the right balance between realistic nuclear deterrence and the dialogue principles of Indian philosophy?

Sunim said that dialogue must continue for any problem in the world, even if there are conflicts. He concluded the dialogue by emphasizing that even if we cannot solve problems immediately, we must at least prevent situations from getting worse.

After finishing the forum at 4:20 PM, they took a commemorative photo and had a separate meeting with the Chairman of the Vivekananda International Foundation. Then Sunim had dinner at a nearby restaurant with Mr. Harsha, Chairman of INEB (International Network of Engaged Buddhists), and Mr. Moo, the Secretary-General, who also attended this forum.

After dinner, they arrived at Anand Vihar Railway Station at 9 PM. Sunim spent time proofreading manuscripts in the waiting room.

At 10:45 PM, they boarded the train and departed for Gaya.

They will arrive in Gaya tomorrow afternoon and proceed to Sujata Academy.