When a storm comes, it is the trees that get uprooted. Be as humble as the grass and nothing can touch you.
If I have any talent at all, it is not for doing but for being.
My outlook was so limited that I assumed that all deviates were openly despised and rejected. Their grief and their fear drew my melancholy nature strongly. At first I only wanted to wallow in their misery, but, as time went by, I longed to reach its very essence. Finally I desired to represent it. By this process I managed to shift homosexuality from being a burden to being a cause. The weight lifted and some of the guilt evaporated.
When asked to give advice, I do of course give it, because I give whatever I am asked to give.
The absolute nothingness of death is a blessing. Something to look forward to.
One should always be wary of anyone who promises that their love will last longer than a weekend.
The trouble with children is that they're not returnable.
Any time the country is split 5050, the leader is wrong.
The United Nations has been in the Great Lakes Region and Sahel for 50 years, mostly investing in peacekeeping. NOW is the time to invest in young people!
Meditation is the life of the soul: Action, the soul of meditation; and honor the reward of action.
Ko Un's poems evoke the open creativity and fluidity of nature, and funny turns and twists of Mind. Mind is sometimes registered in Buddhist terms - Buddhist practice being part of Ko Un's background. Ko Un writes spare, short-line lyrics direct to the point, but often intricate in both wit and meaning. Ko Un has now traveled worldwide and is not only a major spokesman for all Korean culture, but a voice for Planet Earth Watershed as well.