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Ven. Hyun Gak says he leaves corrupt Korean Buddhism

Posted July. 30, 2016 07:12,   

Updated July. 30, 2016 07:19

한국어
Ven. Hyun Gak (see photo), a 52-year-old Harvard graduate monk, has posted a Facebook message indicating he would leave Korean Buddhism.

“I’ve been a monk for 25 years and a foreign monk in Korea is only a decoration of the Jogye Order. This is what I've experienced for 25 years. I have no choice but to leave,” he said on his Facebook page on Wednesday. “I will make an official visit to Korea in August to visit my mentor (Sungsan)’s pagoda in Hwagye Temple and attend some events. Then, I’ll prepare for a farewell. Though I won’t return to secular life, I’ll live in Europe or the U.S. so that I can help people study genuine Zen.”

The American Zen monk said he leaves Korean Buddhism because Zen Buddhism degenerated into a belief wishing for blessings that are money. “Korean Buddhism degenerated Korea’s Zen Buddhism, the open place that used to spread to the world and helps you look at your genuine nature, into a religion praying for blessings. Blessings=$. That’s sad,” he conveyed his thoughts.

“The Gyeryongsan (Sungsan) International Meditation Center is a place with a life as a real monk, reasonable education, an environment without any Confucian practices, no discrimination based on gender or nationality, praying but minimizing wishing for blessings, and a together-practice that does not misuse believers," he said while indirectly criticizing the opposition movement in Korean Buddhism.

“For the recent few years, seven to nine foreign monks returned to secular life,” he said. “I can never recommend my student monks in Europe to live in the Jogye Order (which provides an old education, just like the one from the Joseon Dynasty).”

Ven. Hyun Gak became a monk in 1991 after he listened to Ven. Sungsan when he was a Harvard graduate student. He served as the head of the Hwagye Temple International Meditation Center and runs his Zen room called Bulyi in Munich, Germany. He got famous when he published a book about his own story of becoming a monk and practicing, “Manhaeng: From Harvard to Hwagye Temple.”



서정보기자 suhchoi@donga.com