[Heartfelt Essay] “Cabbage Must Die Five Times to Truly Become Kimchi” 🥬🌶️
Hello. Looking at the kimchi on my lunch table today, I was reminded of a touching story I heard a long time ago.
Did you know that inside this common kimchi we eat every day, there lies a deep philosophy of life?
“For cabbage to become kimchi, it must die five times.”
They say cabbage must endure five deaths before it is finally reborn with a new life called ‘Kimchi’. Today, I would like to share the meaning these five deaths bring to our lives.
The first death of the cabbage is when its roots are pulled. When it lets go of the hand it held tightly with Mother Earth and is uprooted, the cabbage experiences its first pain. It is the pain of ‘challenge’ and ‘farewell’, leaving behind a place of comfort and settlement.
🔪 The Second Death: Separation Before the Blade
The second death is when the cabbage’s belly is split by a knife. The plump and solid cabbage accepts the sharp blade and is split in half. It is a moment of ‘self-reflection’, where one breaks their stubbornness and ego to reveal their inner self to the world.
🧂 The Third Death: Being Salted
The third death is when it is pickled in salt. The stiff leaves meet the salt, lose their breath, and wilt. It is a time of ‘humility’, where the pride that held its head high is broken, and one lowers oneself. Miraculously, however, the salted cabbage becomes soft but does not break easily. It is a process where flexibility becomes strength.
🔥 The Fourth Death: Meeting the Spicy Seasoning
The fourth death is when it is smothered in spicy chili powder and salted seafood. It must lose its original color and become one with the red seasoning. It is a stage of ‘harmony’ and ‘fusion’, where I abandon ‘myself’ to mix with different beings (garlic, green onion, sauce) to become ‘us’.
⏳ The Fifth Death: Waiting in the Dark Jar
The final, fifth death is when it is buried in a cold underground jar. It must endure the time of fermenting alone in the dark, cut off from the air. This is the time of ‘patience’ and ‘maturation’.
✨ And, The Single Rebirth
The cabbage that has died five times like this is no longer just a vegetable growing in the field. Only after passing through these five deaths is it reborn as a completely new existence called ‘Kimchi’, which revives people’s appetites and protects their health on the dinner table.
Our lives resemble kimchi in so many ways.
Sometimes we feel a sense of loss as if our roots are being pulled out, We get hurt as if our pride has been cut by a knife, And we feel a sense of helplessness when things don’t go our way, as if pickled in the world’s salty hardship.
But perhaps those painful times are not times that kill me, But a process of maturing me into a deeper, more flavorful person.
Are you perhaps going through a time of being ‘salted’ right now? Or are you spending a stifling time as if trapped in a dark jar?
Do not be too sad. You are not collapsing right now; You are passing through the most important time of transforming from cabbage into kimchi.
Stiff cabbage rots as time passes, But kimchi that has died five times and become humble becomes Mukeunji (deeply aged kimchi) that develops a deeper flavor over time.
Today, why don’t we try to kill a bit of the stiffness inside us And become someone who gives off a more mature and deep scent?
💬 When was your time of being ‘salted’? Please share your story in the comments.
댓글 남기기