I went to Lake Powell recently, my favorite place for meditation, for the first time in a long time. At Lake Powell, the mystery of the earth lives and breathes, and its primeval beauty is preserved unchanged.

There, I could exist as nature itself, as an Earth Human. The earth’s message came into my soul as if in a dream. This is the message I heard.

Dreaming at Lake Powell

Beneath a blue sky, a lake of emerald,
red rocks like painted screens
with various beautiful, majestic faces
surround me.

Here I stand in Pace Canyon,
a place of indescribable
mystery and divine sacredness.

I lie in the lake.
The lake is me, and it is a very big bed.
In the beautiful sky,
and in each mysterious, majestic screen of rock,
I see extraordinary forms and images like sculpture.

How long has it been
since I last forgot myself and merged with nature like this?

The moment I became Nothingness,
I spread my wings and took flight through the sky,
liberated from the various
memories and emotions tied to this world.

When I met a cloud, I became a cloud,
when I met the wind, I became the wind,
when I met a mountain, I became a mountain,
when I met a rock, I became a rock,
when I met a flower, I became a flower,
and when I met a butterfly, I became a butterfly.
I soar up into heaven and become ten thousand things.

This moment, how long has it been
since I last returned to the origin of all life?

Leaving the human body
and returning to nature in its purest form
I reach a state of freedom,
not bound to any place in this world.

Here, there are no gods, nations, success,
differentiation between you and me,
or the discernment of good and evil
spoken of in the human world.

There is solely the seat of the Tao,
the one place to which everything ultimately returns.

I feel my physical body.
My heart is beating.
A physical body without a soul is incomparably lonely.

Should I remain here,
or should I go back to my body?
The choice, of course, is mine.

The reason I came to the earth
is because the 21^st century earth
wanted me desperately.

For the earth who is all alone
and human beings who have lost their direction,
shouldn’t I give everything of myself if it is needed?

Let us bring about a world of spiritual completion,
and herald an era of spiritual civilization,
to form a world where all people are happy.
With the true spirit of Bokji Daedo (the Great Way of Welfare),
let us create a path of complete welfare.

Herein lies the reason why I was born on this earth.
If this is my destiny,
I must go to the end of the path, no matter how harsh and difficult it may be.

Of all the life in this world, human beings are the most precious.
Now I must return to my physical body that awaits me,
and fulfill my destiny and my mission.

And if it means that I can save humanity and this earth,
I choose the path of hardship once again.

Early in the morning on Saturday, October 23, I met with about 2000 people who offer early morning classes for free in parks around South Korea. As we all gathered on the grassy field of the Han People Historic and Cultural Park in Cheonan City, South Korea, I realized it will probably be the last time this year that all of us will be able to get together in one place.

Even though it was an unusually chilly autumn morning, the passionate cheers of so many volunteers was powerful enough to blow away the cold and wake up the mountains around us.

That day I taught two new kigong (qigong) styles to the instructors gathered that they can then teach to their students–Jukbi Kigong and Yulyo Kigong. A jukbi is a short bamboo stick split down two-thirds its length so that it makes a loud clacking sound when tapped on something. Buddhist monks and meditators use it to direct themselves into the proper meditation posture, and in recent years it’s also been used as a percussion instrument. “Yulyo” refers to the basic never-ending rhythm that pervades all of life and the universe. One of the walking sticks I like to use is also a flute and a compass. I call it a “yulyobong” because I use it in many ways to help people feel yulyo. In the two new kigong forms I’ve developed, the jukbi and yulyobong are used like a staff.

Like other forms of kigong, these two forms help you feel and direct the energy of life. As you move the jukbi or yulyobong, your body, mind, and spirit unite, and that’s when the power of Tao flows out of you. This power comes from the universal energy inside you. When you tap into the Tao inside you, you are able to feel and listen to your conscience actively, and have the desire to work for the good of everyone. Then you easily manifest what’s in your heart.

When these dedicated instructors go out early every morning and teach kigong to many people, they are developing their Tao power. I hope they can practice kigong and develop a lifestyle based on a consciousness that deeply experiences oneness, that acts with conscience, and that uses the power of Tao. Then they will be masters of their body and mind, and actively share their love for humanity and the earth.

One day I was out on a walk when I noticed this very unique pine tree. I stopped and contemplated it quietly for a minute.

At some point, the trunk of this pine tree had been cut. Afterward, a part of the tree that used to be no more than a branch became the trunk. It grew and produced many smaller branches, which grew leaves and bore pine cones.

What do you feel when you look at this pine tree?

When I look at it, I feel all of life embodied in it.

This tree’s particular situation reminds me of the principle of how love is passed on and grows. Most of the time, we first learn love from our family. Even if we weren’t born to a particularly loving family, the absence of love still teaches us lessons about love and faith.

Like the original trunk that grew the tree, our parents began our family firmly rooted in the earth. With willpower and love, they worked hard to build a solid foundation, and did their best to give us what they could and teach us what they knew. Because of everything they did, even if the trunk of the family is cut, the rest is able to live on and grow. We make our own families based on the foundation our parents gave us. We may feel a sense of responsibility for carrying on our family. And the next generation blooms even more.

As our lives bloom, we may feel compelled to go one step further than our parents. From the foundation of family love, wider love can develop. Just like branches on a tree, our love can grow to encompass our community and nation. Eventually, it can extend to the entire earth—the physical planet, and all of the life on it. Once we can truly love everything, we will have achieved a state of spiritual awakening and completion. That’s the meaning of Tao. Tao is divine love—unconditional love for everything.

To reach a state in which Tao fills your awareness and you express it in every part of your life is actually the purpose of most spiritual traditions, even if they use different words. Because of this ultimate love, we take care of our families, we do good work in our communities, we serve our country, and we strive to help the earth. That divine love is what helps us to move beyond differences in nationality and culture, and recognize that we are all Earth Citizens—at the same time both loyal parents, and loyal children, of the earth. In a state of Tao, we recognize that the same life is embodied in everything, and so deserves our reverence and respect.

Knowing Tao is the ultimate gift we can give to our children. Through our example, and what we teach them, we can feed them the love of Tao so that their lives can bloom abundantly and widely. Just like the tree I met that day, each generation can take one step further in love and consciousness, and still be supported even if the trunk is cut. Then one day, when our collective consciousness and love grows large enough, enough people will be giving back to the earth all of the love it gave us to grow, and the path of humanity will shift to a brighter future.