transreligion

LINK: transreligion

What can you learn from other religions?

Prompt snagged from: NY Times

There’s actually a lot. As a Korean, I grew up with a blend of Shamanism, Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism, and Christianity. It’s like a cultural cocktail that also makes me feel like I’m having an existential crisis at times, but I think there’s something beautiful about it all. Each of these adds a layer of how I see the world.

When I was a small child, my dad used to tell my brother and I shamanistic stories about 귀신 (ghosts) and goblins. They terrified me, but looking back it was a way of keeping us in line and it taught us that the world is bigger than what we see. Spirits, ancestors, and unseen forces were woven into my daily life. It also taught me intuition, symbolism, and the idea that not everything is meant to be rationalized. This helped with poetry and writing but not so much in chemistry and mathematics.

Confucianism was in the air we breathed at home. Filial piety wasn’t an option, it was a must. Respect my elders. Take care of the family. Understand my place in the hierarchy. Be a moral person. Don’t embarrass the family or the group. It taught me loyalty, responsibility, and the importance of community over my own fragile ego. Don’t worry, I’ve embarrassed my family tons and they’ve never let me forget it. Especially my brother and my mom.

Buddhism is always in the background. I’ve stayed at temples, meditated at dawn, chanted to what I felt was enlightenment, and spent hours bowing until my legs felt like jelly. I can say with the utmost confidence, this was probably the most healthy I’ve ever been. There’s nothing like being in a temple in the mountains surrounded by nature and monks, in silence. When I see pictures of Hazel’s animals and her lush landscape, I can’t help but feel a bit envious because I remember how it felt being there at the mountainside of Korea. Buddhism taught me detachment, compassion, and the idea that life is cyclical. That there’s always another chance, another life, another version of myself. I may not be in the multiverse with variants of me living their lives in alternate timelines but I do believe that I can reinvent myself and be a better version of myself… if that makes any sense.

Taoism was ever so present in the Korean culture. It’s the way elders talked about there being a balance, flowing with circumstances and being flexible like Gumby, and keeping things simple. I don’t force things that aren’t meant for me. I tend to shy away from drama but when push comes to shove, I can be the villain. I may be passive but I’m not stupid.

Taoism fun fact: if you look at the Korean flag, it displays the yin-yang symbol in the middle. There are trigams (three lines that are either broken or unbroken):

• ☰ (Geon / 건) – Symbol: heaven. Element: sky, air. Traits: strength, creativity, leadership.
• ☵ (Gam / 감) – Symbol: water. Element: rain, river. Traits: depth, wisdom, adaptability.
• ☷ (Gon / 곤) – Symbol: earth. Element: ground, land. Traits: nurturing, receptivity, stability.
• ☲ (Li / 리) – Symbol: fire. Element: sun, flame. Traits: clarity, intellect, passion.

And then there’s the church. My grandparents and parents were deeply involved, and my dad served as a deacon while my mom was a church elder. We were expected to learn the Bible inside and out. It gave me structure and taught me service and kindness. I would like to say that it shaped my moral grounding but witnessing the hypocrisy of the churches I attended pretty much ruined it for me.

Mixing all these together, it creates this strange sort of weird but meaningful mosaic. They’ve given me the foundation of respect, wonder (trust… I wonder excessively), duty, peace, compassion, intuition, responsibility, and reflection that I use now as an adult.