A bit of sad news: the Ven. Beop Jeong has passed on at age 78.
UPDATE: Commenter “omatty” writes:
His is a legacy that is hard to match. A man of letters, a practicing monk, a mountain hermit, and ecumenical spiritual leader (he had a great relationship w/ Korean Catholics, including Cardinal Kim and Sister Claudia Lee Hae-in, who is also now suffering from cancer) – what a life! And a great final wish, too: “You will absolutely not kill any precious trees for any great cremation ceremony, and don’t waste money on new cloth for new burial clothes. There’s leftover firewood that I already gathered at my mountain hut. Cremate me there by the rocks where I used to meditate. Scatter my ashes on the ground where the azaleas graciously bloomed each spring. That will be my final recompense.”
His death, too, offers quite the teaching. Here we have a man who lived among the healthiest of Korean lives – lots of physical activity, no smoking, good but meager food, fresh mountain air – and then dies of lung cancer. There are no guarantees.
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Thank you kindly for noting his passing. His is a legacy that is hard to match. A man of letters, a practicing monk, a mountain hermit, and ecumenical spiritual leader (he had a great relationship w/ Korean Catholics, including Cardinal Kim and Sister Claudia Lee Hae-in, who is also now suffering from cancer) – what a life! And a great final wish, too: “You will absolutely not kill any precious trees for any great cremation ceremony, and don’t waste money on new cloth for new burial clothes. There’s leftover firewood that I already gathered at my mountain hut. Cremate me there by the rocks where I used to meditate. Scatter my ashes on the ground where the azaleas graciously bloomed each spring. That will be my final recompense.”
His death, too, offers quite the teaching. Here we have a man who lived among the healthiest of Korean lives – lots of physical activity, no smoking, good but meager food, fresh mountain air – and then dies of lung cancer. There are no guarantees.
It’s a dream of mine to one day find his Gangwon-do mountain odumak and tend the little garden he leaves behind.
A great Korean, a grand human being.
He’ll be missed, but he won’t miss…
Seongbul-hapshida!!
Probably not a corporate apologist, either. The world needs more of his kind.
Although it was hard to follow his wise words on everyday life for the ordinary people like me, his words on every book always been silver lining.
R.I.P. 법정스님.
You did have a true Beautiful Ending!
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