⑨Activist abbot Venerable Myeongseon “When you get angry, you should flee, even if you have to trick your own mind”··· - 경향신문

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During the interview, I noticed something written on the back of the left-hand thumb of Venerable Myeongseon, abbot of Gilsangsa in Gwangju. I wondered whether a tattoo tradition seen in parts of the Thai Buddhist world also existed in Sri Lanka. He smiled at my ignorant question and replied, “It’s not a tattoo, it’s a memo. I have to make a remark at today’s meeting, and I thought I might forget, so I jotted it down.” The back of his hand read, “In our neighborhood, we begin now a gathering where we share today and build tomorrow.” Just before the interview, he had stopped by a meeting at the Residents’ Autonomy Center in Wolgok 2-dong, Gwangsan-gu. He serves there as a committee member representing immigrants.

The 21st marks exactly one year since Myeongseon took office as abbot of Gilsangsa. He became the first foreign abbot at a temple in the Honam region. Serving on the autonomy committee is one of several activities he has carried out over the past year. We met at Gilsangsa on the 28th of last month and heard his story, from his recent work back to when he entered the monastic life at age 12.

Venerable Myeongseon constantly reflects on how Koreans and foreignerspeople of different nationalities, religions, and culturescan come together. He also participates actively in the local community. During the photo shoot for this interview on the 28th of last month, he held up the name tag he had used just earlier at a residents’ autonomy center meeting, ‘Immigrant Representative Rahula.’ He sometimes uses the dharma name he received at his first ordination when engaging in community work. Gwangju | Kim Jong-Mok

Myeongseon is also an ‘activist.’ He is a member of the neighborhood disaster response team that mobilizes when a disaster occurs. He teaches Korean to immigrants and migrant workers who do not speak the language well. He is a devoted listener and counselor for those tormented by life. He has obtained certifications as a Level-1 psychological counselor, Level-2 childcare teacher, and Level-2 social worker. Upon his inauguration last year, Myeongseon declared he would make Gilsangsa a ‘multicultural temple’ that transcends nationality, culture, and language. He also sought to create a daycare and a templestay space. Lacking money and people, these remain aspirations for now. The ‘multicultural temple’ has also not unfolded as he envisioned. This area has many Protestants, so not many Buddhists come to the temple. Buddhists of various nationalities tend to seek out monks from their own countries with whom they share a language. Myeongseon seemed unfazed by such hurdles. From morning services to attending meetings, he simply carries out what is before him each day as if in practice.

People often come to him for matters other than ‘Buddhism.’ “Even if their religion is different or their nationality is different, when they are in difficulty they come asking for help,” he said. What he mainly does is counseling. Many come struggling with depression, suffering from family problems, or carrying trauma. Myeongseon’s healing is Buddhist: offer a cup of tea and ‘listening.’

“When you feel depressed, or when things do not go as you wish, you feel stifled and angry. Guilt arises and you end up hating yourself or someone else. Telling people ‘do Seon meditation, pray’ does not make it happen. As we talk, people all know what it means to live well, how they should act, how they should think. In counseling, I keep trying to draw that out. I pull the right answer from that person’s own mouth and then I help them affirm it.”

This Q&A is also practice. That is because it is the act of looking into the meanings, teachings, and nature deep within one’s own mind.

For those who carry a lot of anger, he said he also keeps asking, “Why are you angry, for what are you getting angry, must you? Is that what matters?” He added that anger is not simply something to be suppressed and held onto. “Sometimes your heart loosens when you get angry. If you shout, the energy of anger can drain out and you feel refreshed. But even if you do get angry, you should make sure it does not harm anyone, and also that the harm does not come back to you. The standard is that the anger disappears without causing harm to me or others. When anger arises, you should flee from it, even by deceiving your own mind, and avoid it. Yielding a little and taking a little loss is also a way.”

He also urged people to face suffering head-on. “We practice to overcome suffering. You have to know what that suffering is in order to move on to the next step. And human connections are linked across the entire universe; you have to understand these connections to understand the Buddha’s law.”

He emphasizes precepts as well. “To keep the precepts means to live by one’s own awakening and rules so that people do not become more pained or fall into danger. Living within those rules allows the mind to concentrate. When you do not do bad things, your mind is at ease. Only with an easy mind can you think deeply. For the mind to be at ease, you have to act well, and acting well is exactly keeping the precepts.” He said, “Being tormented by a complicated mind is like the dash of a car racing ahead without even knowing where it is going.”

Many of his counseling cases involve the exploitation of migrant workers. “Immigrants and migrant workers are socially weak because communication does not work well. They cannot raise their own voices or convey their intention properly. The other side has power, so they do as they please.” There are also visa issues. “Because they need to extend further, they have to stay in the boss’s good graces. They have to endure, doing as the boss says. Some bosses say, ‘I spent a lot of money to bring you,’ and do not even pay wages. Even when they suffer like this, even if they face disadvantages, they cannot even hire a lawyer because the fees are high. Because of labor law and immigration law, they cannot move to another workplace. Now there is nowhere to go…”

Myeongseon said not all Korean bosses exploit. “Migrant workers are people who help your business grow. They earn you money. If you pay wages properly, feed them well, and provide Wi-Fi, they will be happy and work hard. Most live and work like this.” He added that, based on what he hs seen and heard, “about 10~20%” of migrant workers suffer exploitation and the like.

He sees exploitation as a human problem. He said, “It is not necessarily because they are immigrants or migrant workers; it is because they are socially weak that they suffer. In any society, the socially weak suffer.” “Such things happen in Sri Lanka, in the United States, in China. They also happen in Korea among Koreans,” he said, and added, “With society’s laws full of gaps, you cannot achieve a complete cure. You have to solve the human problem.”

Myeongseon is always seeking solutions. He ponders how immigrants and longtime residents can mingle. In November last year, he carried out an alms-round with several foreign monks. It also embodied a will to transcend nationality and language, religion and culture. It is a practice of trying to communicate with Korean residents. His constant effort to embrace those of other religions, nationalities, and views is also practice.

On the 28th of last month at Gwangju’s Gilsangsa, Venerable Myeongseon speaks about practice and his activities. He answered with a smiling face throughout the interview. Gwangju | Kim Jong-Mok

Alms-round is a practice method in the Theravada (so-called ‘Lesser Vehicle’) Buddhist tradition. Having first ordained in Sri Lanka’s Theravada and re-ordained in Korea’s Mahayana, Myeongseon seeks to bring Mahayana and Theravada together under the “Buddha’s law.” His master’s thesis, written in Korean and submitted to Dongguk University in 2022, is titled <‘Cheongjeongdoreon’ Study of Dhutanga Practices>. ‘Cheongjeongdoreon’ is a Buddhist practice treatise compiled by the Sri Lankan monk Buddhaghosa around the 5th century. It examines precepts, morality, and the dhutanga. “The book is a guide that leads along the pure path. It teaches how to practice and cultivate the mind.”

The thesis contains Myeongseon’s central theme concerning ‘Mahayana and Theravada.’ In Sri Lanka, the Theravada tradition is strong. “There are monks who strictly keep the precepts, and there are monks who work with the public. There is conflict. I wanted to say that dhutanga alone is not the only form of practice.” Dhutanga refers to practice methods that reduce or remove attachment to comforts and conveniences. Alms-round is one such practice. There are also extreme methods such as fasting, practicing on a rock with no roof overhead, or meditating in a cemetery. In this thesis, Myeongseon explored whether and how such practices can be applied in modern society.

The more he studied, the more he realized that “to distinguish between Theravada and Mahayana is merely the ego; the Buddha’s law is the Buddha’s law.” He studied and studied again. “The Buddha’s law is the same. People accept this same law too much only in their own way. If you learn only Sri Lankan Buddhism, you say what is taught there is the only right way and that the Buddhisms of other countries are wrong. It is a culture and tradition that has continued for over 2000 years, so it does not change easily. I had a strong conviction that you have to learn it to know whether it is wrong or right.”

He came to Korea to learn Mahayana properly. At first, he did not even know there was Buddhism in Korea. While studying Buddhist philosophy and international relations at the University of Kelaniya in Sri Lanka, he learned Japanese, Chinese, Russian, and French. He wanted to study another foreign language, but when the class times did not fit, he chose the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) Korean class. As he learned Korean, he also came to know Korean Buddhism. He visited Korea for two weeks in 2008 as part of a Kookmin University exchange program.

Around that time, he also interpreted and translated for Korean monks who visited Sri Lanka. He set his sights on studying Buddhist studies at Dongguk University with a scholarship, but missed the application period. “Around then I met Venerable Doje, who later became my mentor, and he said, ‘If you really want to learn Korean Buddhism, you have to become a Korean monk.’”

At his mentor’s suggestion, he came to Gilsangsa in 2011. The following year he became a postulant at Songgwangsa in Suncheon. He graduated from Songgwangsa’s monastic college in 2017. After graduating, he re-ordained. He also received the dharma name ‘Myeongseon.’ “Venerable Doje gave it to mean I should work hard at Seon meditation and practice,” he said. When the Covid-19 crisis broke out, he went to Sri Lanka and returned to Korea six months later. He completed the master’s program at Dongguk University.

After completing his doctoral coursework, his resolve grew stronger “to advance toward the Buddha’s teachings without distinguishing between Mahayana and Theravada.” “Monks all over the world should go forward under the same name of the Buddha and Buddhism. Only then can we engage with people across generations and around the world. Unlike before, today, thanks to the development of science, everything is connected. I want to play a role in bringing Buddhism together in one place.”

This role does not look easy. “When Sri Lankan monks see me at a temple, they say, ‘You’ve become a Mahayana monk; you betrayed us,’ and even in Korea, even when I am wearing the Jogye Order robes, some people say, ‘That guy is a Theravada monk.’” Myeongseon said, “If a dispute over Theravada versus Mahayana arises in people’s hearts, we cannot share Buddhism together. Both sides must learn from each other.” On the issue of migrant workers, he also said that “we must look from both sidesthe Korean and the foreigner, the boss and the worker,” a view that seemed of a piece with his conviction to embrace both Mahayana and Theravada.

His doctoral dissertation topic is ‘propagation methodology.’ “In Sri Lanka, monks have carried out various forms of propagation for 2,500 years. They have written many literary works. Some are included today in middle school, high school, and university language curricula. To make the Dharma easy to understand, they unfolded people’s thoughts and proverbs into stories. By reading stories and studying Buddhism, they serve as a kind of mirror for looking into oneself. I am writing about such methods of propagation.” He laughed and added, “Because of various commitments, I have had no time to write, so I keep putting the dissertation off.”

At age twelve, when he first ordained, delivering a Dharma talk at a temple in the Sri Lankan village of Makuladenna (left), and a photo taken with his younger sibling before ordination. Provided by Venerable Myeongseon

We also asked about his childhood. Born in 1985, he grew up in the mountain village of Wellangahawatta-dong, Rattota District, Matale in Sri Lanka’s Central Province, and attended a kindergarten at a nearby temple as a child. “Whenever I touched the monks’ robes, I felt happy for some reason,” he said. He says he even thought of ordaining because he disliked his father, who often scolded him. In Sri Lanka, monks visit each household to receive alms and deliver teachings. One day, as soon as a monk who had come to their home said to his father, “If there are children who want to ordain, bring them to me,” the boy standing next to his fatherMyeongseonsaid, “I will go.”

His father hesitated. “He seems to have thought it dangerous to raise at home a son who hung out late with bad friends, did not listen well, and climbed trees and fell.” He ordained at a temple in Kuvaloruwa-dong.

After deciding to ordain, he was happy at first but soon regretted it. “I felt I could not return to my previous relationship with my mom and dad, and that everything ended here. I wondered whether I had made a mistake. Until I put on the robes I thought, ‘I can do it,’ but once I put them on, my thoughts became terribly heavy. Life became heavy too. When I came out before the public in robes, tears came on their own. I also felt, ‘I must not live as before.’”

For months he kept thinking about kicking open the temple gate and running out. “Even amid that, I felt a nameless stirring about ordination,” he says. He chose to continue with ordination and practice.

The dharma name he received at his first ordination was Rahula, the name of Siddhartha’s son before renunciation. There are several interpretations, and Myeongseon explains it this way: “It is a name pointing to ‘Rahu,’ the darkness that eclipses the moon or sun. As Siddhartha was about to renounce, a son was born; it also carries the sense of a barrier or bond that could block renunciation.” He says he liked it because many renowned Sri Lankan elders have used this dharma name. In Korea, he sometimes uses the name Rahula. He also uses this name at residents’ autonomy center meetings.

Venerable Myeongseon speaks at a meeting of the Residents’ Autonomy Center in Wolgok 2-dong, Gwangsan-gu, Gwangju. He serves as a neighborhood autonomy committee member. Provided by Venerable Myeongseon

He spent his childhood picking fruit from trees and swimming in the valley. “Thinking back now, I lived such a fun life,” he said with a smile. There was also a period when he suffered from violence perpetrated by government forces and police. The May 18 Democratization Movement in Gwangju resonates with him. “There were many such incidents in Sri Lanka too. We lived anxious lives. May 18 was a movement that arose to save democracy. In Sri Lanka too, the government did the same to silence the people’s voices. I know what ‘Gwangju’s pain’ is.” Gwangju, where he first settled in Korea and has lived for over 10 years, is his “second hometown.”

He always keeps his first hometown in mind as well. This January, he delivered donations to Sri Lanka after typhoon damage. He now hopes to create a good educational environment for the school in his home village.

He wore a smile throughout the interview. Beforehand, Muwihaeng (Yang Eun-jung), the lay administrator who volunteers at Gilsangsa, said, “Our abbot is happy all the time. When I asked him why he is happy, he said, ‘I have no greed and nothing I want.’” When I relayed this, he smiled and replied, “How could there be nothing I want? It is just that if I have it, it is good, and if I do not, that is fine too.”