■ 'Untangodo (運炭高道)' at the foot of Mt. Hambak, over 1,000m above sea level. If you climb the cliff road that was used to transport coal in the 1960s, you will see a small hut in a deep mountain valley. Five years ago, Jisan Seunim built a small earthen house on the highest mountaintop in the village. Jisan Seunim, who became a monk in his 20s at a large temple in Busan and once lived as a 'great monk' at a large temple, came into the deep mountains and nature after his old age, which was a kind of 'second monasticism'. Even when he lived as a 'great monk' at a temple in the city, his practice was different. He practiced diligently for over ten years, making friends with 'children's innocence' who had lost their parents, nearly 100 of them. But there was no electricity or communication! In the place where he went on his second ascetic journey, the monk's only friend is the mountainous terrain, 'nature', which 'talks to him without saying a word'. The Baekdudaegan Mountain Range, which can be seen far away up to the peak of Bonghwa, Gyeongbuk, spreads out like a folding screen, and along its ridge, clouds float in the sky, letting themselves be carried by the wind. That mysterious scenery is the front yard that Jisan Seunim watches over, the daily life of nature. On the rock in the clouds, he also becomes a part of nature, and Jisan Seunim, who is still practicing today, conveys his philosophy of life filled with humor and satire. Because he lives in a high valley, there is no electricity or communication in Jisan Seunim's residence. The only way to communicate with the world is a cell phone hanging in the air at the entrance to the temple. It is said that the cell phone works only there. If the wind blows and shakes it left and right, even that is cut off. Jisan Seunim's mountain hut is filled with things borrowed from nature, and each day passes by. Jisan Seunim is rushing to prepare firewood to survive the cold winter. Preparing for winter is the hardest time of the four seasons, but the monk lives with nature and the ‘fun of playing’ that gives him endless work even in the middle of winter. When he carries abandoned weeds in the deserted Untango Island, all kinds of delusions and distracting thoughts disappear, so that is also a form of training for the monk. The only sounds are the crackling of firewood in the hearth, the sound of wind chimes swaying in the wind, and the sound heard in the quiet night. It has already been five years since he spent his days like that. Did the monk find the path he wanted to take? Across a valley from the monk’s hut, a vast 8,000-pyeong sorghum field unfolds. A neighbor’s field ready for harvest. Helping the harvest in the rural areas, which are short on workers due to COVID-19, is also an act of charity for the monk. Helping neighbors is also one of the Zen meditations of mountain life. From the time they started growing seedlings until the time they harvested, they helped out whenever their neighbors called without any compensation. “Why do you suffer in a valley like this when you are in a big temple?” the monk answers, “If each grain of sorghum is helpful to everyone, isn’t the sorghum field also a place of training?” The monk laughs at the farmer’s humor telling him to keep coming and help with the farm work, and the humorous conversation between the two people blends with the purple sorghum grains to create a beautiful natural landscape. The autumn foliage in the deep mountains of Gangwon-do is not flashy but gentle. The Taebaek Mountains, which used to be colorful along the mountain ridges, have shed all their leaves and entered winter, when the green of the four-leafed trees stands out. The sudden downpour at Jisan Monk’s hut serves as a seasonal alarm. It is winter, when food is scarce, but the monk is not worried. He picks the berries of the mountain ash tree that grows in the highlands and makes tea with them, and makes soybean paste stew with the shepherd’s purse that has sprouted on the frozen ground. And this winter, he plans to use solar energy to solve the inconvenience of not having electricity. Having lived in a temple for decades, he has no idea how to use solar cells, but he also plans to ask for help from the monk's closest neighbors, the owners of the one-room cabin just over the mountain, 'Maria Bosal' (the monk added 'Bosal' to Maria's baptismal name, a devout Catholic) and her husband. The monk's pace follows nature's timetable, so even in the bitter cold, it is peaceful. 'If I can eat and sleep as nature gives me, wherever the wind blows, with the sun as my friend, and have a place to avoid the rain, isn't this paradise?', the composed melody of Monk Jisan flows quietly through the winter mountain temple. Natural Human Documentary Philosophers of Nature - Like Clouds, Like the Wind Please protect 'public broadcasting' https: