Earth, one hundred and fourteen thousand years BC. One
morning, from the direction of the rising sun, a black dot appeared.
Flickering, what was once a black dot, approached a big mossy rock. Three blooming
white lotus flowers stand gracefully in the middle of the pond, accompanying
the reflection of the big mossy rock. They asserted that the presence of the living
rock was a sign of the guardian spirit of the place, a valley surrounded by
several rocky cliffs and mountains.
…
This opening paragraph is a picture of my imagination at the
moment of happiness with my darling, Sung-Kyun Kim in the early winter of 2015
when we were in a valley, 봉유동천 (鳳遊洞天), Bongyudongcheon Nujeongwon, our paradise garden
located in my darling’s homeland, in Mungyeong-si, South Korea. At that time, I
was like my habit since childhood, if I was in the middle of an open, airy and
cool space, jumping up and down happily as if flying in the sky. My darling
immediately perpetuated my joy while joking in between his happy laughter, "Nita,
you look like a phoenix about to fly." Then he continued, “Maybe you were
a phoenix in your previous-previous life.” I continued my imagination into a
love story…
Not long after, the flapping creature that emerged from the
sunlight was getting closer, and its shape and color became more and more
visible. A phoenix with long, colorful feathers, dominantly red on the head,
wings and tail. After circling the valley seven times, the phoenix landed on a
slab stone at the pond bank.
On the slab stone, the phoenix stared silently at the mossy rock
as it was indeed waiting for her arrival. Sunlight makes the feathers’ colors
of the Phoenix look more beautiful, shiny and
seductive. The Mossy-Big-Rock smiled and greeted the beautiful Phoenix. The
atmosphere is shrouded in mystical beauty. Suddenly an azure dragon appeared
from behind the Mossy-Big Rock, a dragon with a burst of fire accompanying its
breath. The atmosphere turned dramatic, mixed of shocking, frightening, and
astonishing. However, there was not any slightest bit of fear in the Phoenix.
Instead, a tempestuous energy arose between the Phoenix and the Dragon. They
stared at each other for a long time without blinking. They were also lost in
the mystical beauty that shook their every nerve node respectively. Then, the
world belongs to only the both of them.
On the slab stone, the Dragon and the Phoenix played the
game of love. They unite all desires and happiness in the breath of life, fuse
all the differences in their forms and origins. The sun, the Mossy-Big-Rock,
the three blooming white lotus flowers, and all the surrounding life in the
place bear witness to this glorious union.
Several months later, the Phoenix released three eggs from
her womb. When they hatched, two of the eggs gave rise to two human babies, a
girl and a boy. This pair of humans grew up and became lovers of each other.
From living together, they have a family that was getting bigger and bigger,
generation after generation. Until, how many hundred generations later, a pair
of them experienced a truly tragic moment.
The tragedy happened to a pair of Kims, while the two of
them were enjoying the sunset in the garden pavilion where they lived. Kim the
husband was killed in a sudden attack by a group of black crows that came from
the direction of the setting sun. Kim the wife was so sad and lost her zest for
life because of the death of her beloved lover.
Days and even weeks the wife drowned in her sadness. Until,
one sunny morning came a phoenix that caught her attention. The beauty of the phoenix
intrigued her, and she followed the phoenix until it stopped, perched on a tree
branch in a certain place. The tree with very beautiful blooming flowers, now
known as the odongnamu or paulownia tree (Paulownia coreana). At that
place, the phoenix signaled that the woman should meditate, focusing all her
attention, thoughts and feelings on her beloved husband, so that he could come
back into her life, by merging and uniting with her in the physical body.
Kim the wife, whose husband had died, reunited with Kim the
husband again. In her Self, resides also the husband, exactly on the hundredth
day since the tragedy. A pair of Kims were in the woman being. Her zest for
life, her spirit of life has recovered.
With happiness and gratitude, the Kim couple in the form of
a woman built a Buddhist temple in the place indicated by the phoenix. The
temple was named Yunpil-am. The temple is the symbol of the Kim couple's glorious
love. The temple was then dedicated to the people, as a place of meditation,
self-healing, and self-restoration. Anyone can come and stay in silence, tranquility
and peace in the temple to restore his or her zest for life.
The Kim couple as a woman being became known as the Goddess
of Love. The Kim couple's contribution to the people by building the Love temple
was officially recorded at a local government agency in Mungyeong-si, South
Korea. The location of this Yunpil-am temple is regionally, in Gyeongsangbuk-do
Province, Mungyeong-si City, Sanbuk-myeon District, about one kilometer from
the slab limestone near the lotus pond, where once the Azure Dragon and Red Phoenix
were playing the game of cosmic love.
Six centuries since the establishment of the Yunpil-am
Temple, on the seventh day of the lunar new year in 1956, the first baby boy of
another next Kim couple was born, not far from the Korean Buddhist temple. The
baby boy was one of the 33rd generation of the Goddess of Love. The baby who
was eagerly awaited was named Sung-Kyun, in full Sung-Kyun Kim, in Korean
characters 金晟均
or 김성균.
Sung grew up in his beautiful homeland with several
traditional Korean gardens. The understanding of gardens in the Korean
tradition, is an open space with beautiful natural landscapes organized
visually and conceptually, the limit is as far as the eye can see from the
observation point. The traditional Korean garden is called 樓亭苑 (nujeongwon).
Sung's passion for enjoying landscapes gave birth to his talent, namely landscape
drawing and painting. Sung made many scenic landscapes, nujeongwons in his
homeland, Mungyeong-si. His passion for enjoying the beauty of landscapes
prompted Sung to study landscape architecture. So, at a very young age, Sung
already has a clear vision and purpose in his life.
In the course of his life, at a fairly young age, which is about
when he started his study at university, Sung was able to have his own
nujeongwon. It was a valley that the Mossy-Big-Rock had guarded for hundreds of
thousands of years. And, as soon as Sung started using it as a place to heal
and to restore himself, the Mossy-Big-Rock began to reveal himself as a smiling
Buddha. Sung named it the Buddha Rock. Sung loved so much the garden guarded by
the Buddha Rock. He named the place Bongyudongcheon, which in Korean, 鳳遊洞天,
means “beautiful valley where the Phoenix plays and rests.” Sung was so proud
of Bongyudongcheon Nujeongwon. Sung captured many sights, in the form of
photographs of the valley’s beauties, especially those showing the Buddha Rock.
Sung showed the photos of Bongyudongcheon Nujeongwon to
everyone with his pure pride and joy. Sung didn't care whether the people he
showed the photos to were impressed or uncaring, or just making small shallow
talk. Until one Monday, January 20, 2014, on one occasion for a lunch in
Jakarta, the capitol of Indonesia, he showed photos of Bongyudongcheon
Nujeongwon to a woman named Nita whom he just met for the first time that day.
Sung and Nita met very firstly in the morning of that day. They met each other
during a field visit with other observers of the Ciliwung River, in a
settlement on the river banks.
Unlike other people who were shown the photos of
Bonyudongcheon Nujeongwon, Nita was very enthusiastic and caring. Nita, like
her character who is thirsty for knowledge of natural phenomena, asked some curious
questions. Sung looked radiant, his eyes sparkling with happiness, and said to
Nita, "One day, if you can visit Korea, I can show you my Bongyudongcheon
Nujeongwon, Nita."
The communication between Sung and Nita was intensified,
their relationship become closer and closer. They were connected so well. Nita
and her son moved from Jakarta to Bali in early March 2014. In mid-September
2014, Sung and Nita met again in Ubud, Bali. They enjoyed a day walking around
Ubud and stopped many times to capture the beautiful sights of Bali cultural
landscape.
On that occasion, Nita and Sung talked about traveling. They
then planned to enjoy a trip together. Sung seemed a bit curious about Nita's
origins, and he wanted to visit Nita's homeland.
According to their together plan in Ubud some month before, then
in January 2015, Sung and Nita enjoyed a trip together. They visited several
places in South Sulawesi Province, Nita's homeland.
In September 2015, Sung and Nita were together again, in
Lombok and Bali, Indonesia. And, a few hours before Sung flew back from Bali to
Korea on September 13, the couple confirmed their love relationship in a very
simple, traditional Balinese ceremony. According to Balinese religious belief, Sung and Nita are a couple whose union has been
recognized by the Universe, both by skala and niskala. It means Sung
and Nita are a couple whose union is in the way of tangible and in the way of
intangible, or you can say, by physically and by metaphysically.
In late autumn, early winter, November 27, 2015, when the
moon was still full, Nita and Sung arrived at Bongyudongcheon Nujeongwon. The
atmosphere is beautiful and majestic, faintly plastered, the valley with the
Buddha Rock was lit only by the light of the full moon. After dinner in the wooden
cabin that also as a the garden pavilion, Sung and Nita stand on the terrace,
enjoying the cool air and moonlight.
The atmosphere is so quiet and tranquil. Suddenly, Sung
shouted loudly, “Niiitaaa, I love youuu!” Nita also shouted loudly, “Sung-Kyun
Kim, I love you too, Yeobooo!”
Just before leaving Bongyudongcheon Nujeongwon on November
29, 2015, Sung offered to take some pictures of Nita. The main focus is Nita's
closeness to the Buddha Rock. So Nita was posing as if she was meditating on a
slab stone, with the Buddha Rock background. After that, Nita then jumped up
and down with joy as she usually does when in an open and airy space. Sung also
took lots of pictures of Nita jumping up and down. Sung commented, “Nita, you
look like a phoenix about to fly.” Then he continued, "Maybe you were a
phoenix in your previous-previous life," he said jokingly with free laughter.
Bongyudongcheon Nujeongwon is a form of traditional Korean
garden, which is a garden that applies the principles of Pung-su. Sung
adhered to and practiced the principles of Pung-su which he also called
mystical ecology. The park became a kind of main place for Nita and Sung
whenever Nita visited South Korea.
In February 2019, Nita and Sung enjoyed this
self-restoration place while celebrating Valentine, the day of Love, two nights
and three days, from 14 to 16, before the symposium event in Seoul. Nita and
Sung applied the “Zen Buddha” rule in this garden, which is that everyone has
to work first before getting their lunch. Nita and Sung together tidied the
wasabi plant stands in the green house, cleaned the lotus pond and trimmed the
weeds at the pond bank near the Buddha Rock.
Two nights and three days, two people, a true lovely couple,
a true lovers, Nita and Sung enjoyed their togetherness in the valley, the place
where phoenix, the firebird, rests and plays. What a beautiful togetherness.
The next day, on the 17th, Nita and Sung immersed themselves
in Sung's office space at CALS (College of Agriculture and Life Sciences), at
Seoul National University. Sung prepared his key lecture material, and makes
sure everything for the APELA Forum symposium was in order. Nita, in the same
room, was more engrossed in reading some books from the shelves on the walls
and in the middle of Sung's rather crowded office. Sung's book spaces looked
more crowded than the library in the Architecture department where Nita
received her undergraduate education.
The IFLA CLC Symposium, an acronym for International
Federation of Landscape Architects, Cultural Landscape Committee, took place
one day on February 18, 2019, to coincide with Sung's 63rd birthday. The dinner
was to celebrate the birthday of the Professor, Sung-Kyun Kim. The next day,
February 19, they, Sung and Nita returned to visit the sacred Korean garden,
Bongyudongcheon Nujeongwon, with the symposium participants of course.
The group also visited a group of indigenous people who were
celebrating the first Full Moon of the Lunar (pig) year at that time, Nita
joined the dance, and Sung recorded a video with his cellphone camera. And
furthermore, the IFLA group with members from various countries visited several
more cultural landscape sites in the area of Sung's home city, namely
Mungyeong-si.
February 19, 2019 was the last day Nita was in their lovely
garden. But there is something in Nita that keeps coming back to convince herself
that Bongyudongcheon Nujeongwon is a shared paradise home of them, Nita and
Sung. Bongyudongcheon Nujeongwon is their true paradise garden in this
universe.
Sung spent his time with Nita in Indonesia from February 15
to March 12 in 2020. Sung had given lectures at Jakarta Provincial office and
at three universities in the period. Sung, Nita and two other Indonesian
friends had enjoyed 5 days tour in Tana Batak, North Sumatra. Sung stayed in
Bali for 12 days before flew back to Korea.
Because of the pandemic, Sung gave lecture of Landscape
Plants virtually with zoom. The lecture lasted almost four months, every Wednesday
morning. Nita also always attended the lecture via zoom. The last lecture was
on May 27, 2020. The next Wednesday, June 3 was the test, and the next
Wednesday, June 10, 2020, Sung visited the college to meet with his Landscape
Plants students about 30 minutes. He said the students wanted to see the
professor.
The next day, Sung checked his health at the university
hospital. He had a serious problem with his digestive system, so he needed to
be hospitalized for a day or two. Nita and Sung were still communicating via whatsapp
and facebook messenger until June 17, 2020. Then, Nita experienced three days
full of questions and confusion, because there was no communication back from
Sung. Until, on the 21st before dawn, Nita received news from Keunwoo (Sung's
PhD student), that Prof. Sung-Kyun Kim passed away on the afternoon of Friday,
June 19, two days ago.
Nita in Bali, can only contemplated the changes in the story
that were so fast. Like a kaleidoscope show, Nita's memories of her time with Sung
and the stories that Sung had told her appeared one after another and kept on
repeating. Nita immersed herself in long meditation in the room she hoped would
be her sleeping room with Sung, her lover.
…
Now, I see the big picture of our fairy tale. Nita was, and
will be the Phoenix who picks up her soulmate, her twinflame, Sung. Nita
repeated the story of the Goddess Kim, to reunited with her true lover, and to
live together until the end of time, at the end of her life as a woman being.
Nita and Sung have fused, and live together until the end of their time as a human
being. They will reach their true ultimate perfection at the moment. To return
to the beginning of all the beginnings of their beings, as well as the end of
all the ends of their beings. Both of them, in their union in form of a woman
will return to the Existence, light upon light.
Their union, Nita and Sung, will exist as a 니타성
(NitaSung) star, will exist as a brilliant source of light in this universe,
which has no beginning and no ending. Existing in nirvana as the center of a
solar system, surrounded by beloved family members, as the members of the solar
system, who also live in a higher dimension of consciousness. Existing in
nirvana as the center of a galaxy with beloved relatives and friends, in a
certain unlimited space and at a time for millions of light years. Until the
time for the 니타성 star wills to repeat the cycle of the enormous
life. The Greatest Existence!
#사랑해여보사양꾸💚💙
by Anita Syafitri Arif (Anetha Athena)
It's about our Past, Present, and Future...
#NitaSung
translation of
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