written by Kim, Jang Seong / illustrated by Lee, Yoon Hee

Now and then, people often talk about ‘luck’. When someone gets successful, we say, “He’s lucky!” When another one does good favor to others, we say, “You’ll get lucky some day.” Or, we also say, “He’s running out of luck,” when someone fails in what he does. We blame ‘luck’ when we cannot achieve what we want, and we also wish ‘luck’ when we desire to get what we wish.
However, does this ‘luck’ ever exist in reality? If so, can we change our luck, or make it even better? This story is created based on our curiosity and wish for luck. We all doubt that someone would go on a journey to find ‘luck’ in reality, but anything can happen in the story. A man bravely went on a journey to look for luck, and he confirmed the existence of luck with ‘luck book’ shown by Buddha. However, it was really shocking that the luck was just a half bowl of rice! He was frustrated with how to survive with just a half bowl of rice. But, he never gave up his hope. He learned lessons and developed his virtue during his journey, and finally got ‘luck’. The story gives us the lesson that even if we are born with just a little bit of luck, we can meet much bigger luck while developing virtue. In this world of jungle these days, this old story sends us the message that if we help each other even in difficult circumstances, we can finally have a good day for all of us some day. It is the power of ‘A half bowl of rice’.