Hey, Robert, how many foreign monks reside in Korean temples affiliated with the Jogye order?
Why, 87, of course.
A survey by Korea’s largest Buddhist sect revealed that as of June 19-23, 87 foreign monks from 28 countries were residing at the order’s temples, studying Korean Buddhism, attending to the spiritual needs of the migrant worker community, and otherwise doing what monks do in Korea (hopefully minus the go-stop/hwatu/hanafuda).
By nation, 13 were from Sri Lanka, 11 from Bangladesh, 10 each from Nepal and the United States, four each from Poland, Israel and Taiwan, three from Russia and India, two each from Cambodia, China, Hungary, Lithuania, Malaysia and Canada, and one each from Argentina, Austria, Mongolia, France, Myanmar, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Switzerland (probably been relegated to cleaning the monastery’s toilet), Australia, Serbia, Singapore, the Czech Republic, and the United Kingdom.
Seoul’s Hwagye-sa would be your best bet for sighting a barbarian monk—the temple’s International Zen Center hosts 28 foreign monks. Ganghwa Island’s Lotus Lantern International Meditation Center is home to 11 (who knew?), and Namyangju’s Bogwang-sa* has nine.
*Bogwang-sa, last time I checked, is in Paju. Bongseon-sa, on the other hand, is in Namyangju, and it wouldn’t surprise me if there were a foreign monk or two there. Point being, I’m not sure whether it’s the town or temple that’s mistaken.
4 Comments
My question, Robert: How many foreign monks who reside in Korean temples affiliated with the Jogye order does it take to screw in a light bulb?
Wow, Paul Muenzen (Hyun Gak’s name in the days yore before he became a celebrity) got his “gae” the same ceremony I got mine. The Whalers, Paul Muenzen–this Blog is a personal time machine for his prematurely old man.
What’s next? There’s going to be a retrospective on Jo Yong-pil?
There were a bunch of them at 松廣寺, between 광주 and 순천. Beautiful place. Dunno whether they still have some there.
Songgwang-sa was the original place that accepted foreign monks, back in the early 1980s, under the late Meditation-Master Gusan. I doubt that any still reside there. By the 1990s the focus shifted to Hwagye-sa in Seoul (under the late Seungsan-seunim) and the Lotus Lantern Center (under the late Wonmyeong-seunim).