Sun Oct 26 7:30pm. Deokhee and I visited Ann Arbor for a talk by Pomnyun Sunim. The photo was blurry. I'm working on getting a new one. I bought 4 books (pictured in my left hand below). Even better: We also saw my son John!
I asked Pomnyun Sunim the question: "What is practice?" I explained I saw a pamphlet about his Jungto Society which talked about the 100-day practice, the 1000-day practice and the 10000-day practice. I assumed that by practicing (whatever that means) I could relieve myself of preoccupation. Specifically, I am working on tenure and on my PhD. When I am planning courses which are important for tenure, I think about my PhD; when I am writing my PhD dissertation I think about my courses. I am preoccupied so I feel I am not doing my best on either activity. So I wanted to know how I can practice to clear this baggage from my mind. Pomnyun Sunim asked me which is more important, the PhD or the job. I answered, the PhD. He said if I really wanted to do the PhD there would be no conflict. Upon later reflection I contemplated the possibility that I want the PhD to be done but I don't want to do it, at least not the last "writeup" part. When I started my PhD I had ambitions of a wonderful insight. Instead the result is a quite small contribution to the field that few will notice. It seems anticlimactic considering how much work was involved! |
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