Beginning, Middle & Zen : Tales from Canada to Korea and Back Again: Tales from Canada to Korea and Back Again

By Choi, Glen, Shakwon

Book Id: WPLBN0100301909
Format Type: PDF eBook:
File Size: 0.7 MB
Reproduction Date: 5/15/2019

Title:	Beginning, Middle & Zen : Tales from Canada to Korea and Back Again: Tales from Canada to Korea and Back Again
Author:	Choi, Glen, Shakwon
Volume:
Language:	English
Subject:	Non Fiction, Religion, Korean culture, Buddhism
Collections:	Biographies, Authors Community, Favorites in India, Education
Historic Publication Date:	2019
Publisher:	Smashwords

Member Page:	Glen Choi
Citation APA MLA Chicago Shakwon Choi, B. G. (2019). Beginning, Middle & Zen : Tales from Canada to Korea and Back Again. Retrieved from http://self.gutenberg.org/

Description
Glen Choi has a simple request for the universe – help him find his one true passion in life. He moves from Canada to his ethnic homeland of South Korea to find it. There, Choi encounters cultural challenges and unexpected turns in careers. With hope fading, his experiences culminate in a Zen-inspired insight into impermanence and the discovery that what he was looking for was never that far away.

Summary
Glen Choi has a simple request for the universe – help him find his one true passion in life. He moves to the opposite end of the world, to his ethnic homeland of South Korea, to find it. There, his request soon turns into a quest: Choi navigates through several challenging, and sometimes divergent, career paths, from academia to the Buddhist monkhood to even traditional Korean opera. With hope fading and desperation mounting, his life experiences culminate in a Zen-inspired insight into "emptiness" and the discovery that what he was looking for was never that far away. Along the way, Beginning, Middle & Zen weaves together stories that bring to light – and life – the cultural differences between East and West, namely Korean and Canadian culture. It is also a meditation on the dueling universal themes of utopia vs. reality, the individual vs. the collective and the journey vs. the end result.

Excerpt
I cemented the pain into a noun when it was a verb. The Korean language was right: It should simply be "love" - not "I love YOU."

Table of Contents
1. Layers 2. Stardust 3. Go East, Young Man 4. Fiery Baptism 5. The Alpha Male 6. Parentally Yours 7. A Mantra is Born 8. Wanted: Enlightenment 9. Monastic Myths 10. Abstractions 11. Imperfect Pitch 12. In the Trenches 13. Pins and Needles 14. A Fresh Start 15. Ph.D. = Permanent Head Damage 16. Ebb and Flow 17. Emptiness 18. No Self 19. Road Less Traveled 20. Passion 21. Full Circle 22. Kitty 23. The Collective Epilogue Notes