“When you are angry, you should run away, even if you have to trick your mind”···⑨Activist abbot Venerable Myungseon - 경향신문

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During the interview, I noticed something written on the back of the left hand near the thumb of Venerable Myungseon, abbot of Gilsangsa in Gwangju. I wondered whether the tattoo tradition found in parts of the Thai Buddhist world also existed in Sri Lanka. Smiling at a question born of ignorance, he answered, “It is not a tattoo, it is a memo. I have to make a remark at today’s meeting, and I thought I might forget, so I wrote it down.” The back of his hand bore this line: “In our neighborhood, we are beginning now a space to share today and to make tomorrow.” Just before the interview, he had stopped by a meeting at the Wolgok 2-dong Resident Autonomy Center in Gwangsan-gu. He serves there as a migrant representative on the autonomous committee.

The 21st marks exactly one year since Myungseon assumed the abbacy of Gilsangsa. He became the first foreign abbot at a Honam-region temple. Serving on the 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 spoke about everything from his recent work back to his ordination at age 12.

Venerable Myungseon constantly thinks about how Koreans and foreigners, people of different nationalities, religions, and cultures can mingle. He also takes an active part in the local community. During the photo shoot on the 28th of last month, he holds up the name tag ‘Migrant Representative Rahula’ that he used at the preceding Resident Autonomy Center meeting. He sometimes uses the Dharma name he received at his first ordination when doing community work. Gwangju | Kim Jong-mok

Myungseon is also an ‘activist’. He is a neighborhood disaster-response team member who mobilizes when a calamity occurs. He teaches Korean to migrants and migrant workers who are not yet comfortable with the language. He is a careful listener and counselor for those tormented by life’s suffering. He has earned Level 1 Psychological Counselor, Level 2 Childcare Teacher, and Level 2 Social Worker certifications. Upon taking office last year, he said he would make Gilsangsa a ‘multicultural temple’ that transcends nationality, culture, and language. He also hoped to create a daycare and a templestay space. Lacking both funds and people, these remain only in mind for now. The ‘multicultural temple’ vision has not gone as intended, either. This area has many Protestants, so not many Buddhists visit the temple. Buddhists from various countries often seek out monks from their own country with whom they can share a language. Myungseon seems unfazed by such obstacles. 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’. He said, “Even if their religion is different or their nationality is different, when something is hard, they come asking for help.” What he mostly does is counseling. Many come struggling with depression, suffering from family issues, or carrying trauma. Myungseon’s approach to healing is Buddhist: he serves tea and ‘listens’.

“When you are depressed, or when things do not go your way, you feel stifled and angry. Feelings of guilt arise and you come to hate yourself or someone else. Simply telling people ‘Do seated meditation, pray’ does not work. As people talk, they already know what living well is, how they should act, and how they should think. In counseling, I keep trying to draw that out. I draw the right answer from the person’s own mouth and then I affirm it.”

This question-and-answer is also practice. Because it is an act of looking into the meanings, teachings, and nature deep within one’s own mind.

For those with much anger, he said he also keeps asking, “Why are you angry? For what are you trying to get angry? Must you really get angry? Is that what matters?” He added that anger is not simply something to be suppressed and held onto. “There are times when, by getting angry, the mind loosens. If you shout out loud, the energy of anger can drain and you feel relieved. But even if you get angry, you must do it in a way that harms no one, and in a way that the harm does not come back to you. The standard is that the anger dissipates without harm to me or to others. When anger arises, you should flee from it, even if you have to trick your own mind, and steer clear of harm. Yielding a little and taking a little loss is also a way.”

He also tells people to face suffering head-on. “Practice is undertaken to overcome suffering. You must know what that suffering is to move on to the next stage. And human connections stretch across the universe; you must understand these connections to understand the Buddha’s Dharma.”

He also emphasizes precepts. “To keep the precepts is to live by one’s own awakenings and rules so that one does not fall into greater pain and danger. Within those rules your mind can also collect itself. If you do not do bad things, your mind is at ease. Only with an at-ease mind can you think deeply. For the mind to be at ease, behavior must be right, and acting rightly is precisely keeping the precepts.” He said, “Being tormented by a tangled mind is like a car racing ahead without even knowing where it is going.”

Among the counseling cases, many involve exploitation of migrant workers. “Migrants and migrant workers are socially vulnerable because communication does not go smoothly. They cannot raise their own voices or properly convey their intentions. The other side has power, so they do as they please.” There are also visa issues. “Because they need an extension, they have to look good to the boss. They have to obey and endure. Some bosses say, ‘I spent a lot of money to bring you here,’ and then do not even pay wages. Even when this happens and they suffer disadvantages, they cannot hire a lawyer because fees are expensive. Because of labor and immigration laws, they cannot move to another workplace. Now there is nowhere to go...”

Myungseon said not all Korean employers exploit. “Migrant workers are the people who help grow their businesses. They are the people who earn them money. If you pay wages properly, feed them well, and provide Wi-Fi, they work happily and hard. Most live and work like this.” He estimated that “migrant workers who (by what I have seen and heard) suffer exploitation and the like are around 10~20% of the whole.”

He views exploitation as a human problem. He said, “It is not necessarily because they are migrants or migrant workers; it is because they are socially vulnerable that they suffer. In any society, the socially vulnerable suffer.” “Such things happen in Sri Lanka, in the United States, in China. They happen to Koreans in Korea as well,” he added. “With social laws full of gaps, you cannot cure this completely. You must solve the human problem.”

Myungseon is always seeking solutions. He thinks about how migrants and longtime residents can mingle. Last November, he carried out an alms round with several foreign monks. It also embodied a will to transcend nationality, language, religion, and culture. It is a practice of trying to communicate with Korean residents. Embracing those who always have different religions, nationalities, and ideas is also a practice.

On the 28th of last month at Gilsangsa in Gwangju, Venerable Myungseon talks about his practice and activities. Throughout the interview, he answered with a smiling face. Gwangju | Kim Jong-mok

Alms round is a practice method in the Theravada (Hinayana) Buddhist tradition. Ordained first in Theravada Sri Lanka and reordained in Mahayana Korea, Myungseon seeks to bring Mahayana and Theravada together under the ‘Buddha’s Dharma’. The master’s thesis he submitted in Korean in 2022 at Dongguk University is titled <A Study of Dhuta Practices as Presented in the ‘Visuddhimagga’>. The ‘Visuddhimagga’ is a treatise on Buddhist practice compiled in the 5th century by the Sri Lankan monk Buddhaghosa. It examines precepts, morality, and the dhuta practices. “The book is a guide that leads along the path of purification. It teaches how to practice and to polish the mind.”

The thesis contained Myungseon’s central question about ‘Mahayana and Theravada’. His first ordination was in Sri Lanka, where 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 dhuta alone is not the only kind of practice.” Dhuta denotes practices that reduce or remove comforts and attachments. Alms round is one such dhuta. There are also extreme methods such as fasting, practicing on a bare rock without a roof, or meditating in a cemetery. In the thesis, Myungseon 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 nothing but ego; the Buddha’s Dharma is the Buddha’s Dharma.” He studied and studied again. “The Buddha’s Dharma is the same. Yet people accept this same Dharma far too much only through their own ideas. If you learn only Sri Lankan Buddhism, you say what is taught there is right and that other countries’ Buddhisms are wrong. Culture and tradition have continued for more than 2,000 years, so they do not change easily. I had a strong sense that only by learning can you know whether something is wrong or right.”

He came to Korea to learn Mahayana Buddhism properly. At first, he did not even know that Korea had Buddhism. While studying Buddhist philosophy and international relations at the University of Kelaniya in Sri Lanka, he learned Japanese, Chinese, Russian, and French. Wanting to learn another foreign language, but with the class times not fitting, he chose the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) Korean class. In learning 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 worked as an interpreter and translator for Korean monks who visited Sri Lanka. He decided to study in the Department of Buddhist Studies at Dongguk University, where he could receive a scholarship, but he missed the application window. “Around then I met Venerable Doje, who later became my preceptor, and he said, ‘If you really want to learn Korean Buddhism, you should become a Korean monk.’”

At his preceptor’s suggestion, he came to Gilsangsa in 2011. The following year he became a postulant at Songgwangsa in Suncheon. He graduated from the Songgwangsa Sangha College in 2017. After graduating, he was reordained and received the Dharma name ‘Myungseon’. “Venerable Doje chose it to mean that I should apply myself earnestly to meditation and practice,” he said. When the COVID-19 crisis hit, he went to Sri Lanka and returned to Korea six months later. He completed his master’s program at Dongguk University.

After completing his doctoral coursework, his resolve grew stronger “to go forward by the Buddha’s teachings without distinguishing Mahayana and Theravada.” “Monks across the world should go under the same names of the Buddha and Buddhism. Only then can we engage with people of all generations and all the world. Unlike before, now, thanks to scientific development, everyone can communicate. I want to play a role in bringing Buddhism together in one place.”

This role does not look easy. “When Sri Lankan monks see the temple, they say, ‘You have become a Mahayana monk; you have betrayed us.’ And even in Korea, sometimes, even when I am wearing the Jogye Order robes, some people say, ‘That guy is a Theravada monk.’” Myungseon said, “If disputes arise in people’s minds over Theravada versus Mahayana, we cannot share Buddhism together. Both sides need to learn from each other.” On migrant worker issues, he also said, “We must look at the stances of both Koreans and foreigners, of employers and workers,” a thought that seemed of a piece with his conviction to embrace both Mahayana and Theravada.

His Ph.D. topic is ‘methods of propagation’. “In Sri Lanka, monks have engaged in many forms of propagation for 2,500 years. They have written many literary books. Some are included now in middle- and high-school or university language classes. To make the Dharma easy to understand, they unfolded people’s thoughts and proverbs into stories. In reading stories, people also learn Buddhism, and it plays a mirror-like role for looking into oneself. I am writing about such methods of propagation.” He laughed, saying, “Because of so many tasks, I have had no time to write the dissertation, so it keeps getting put off.”

Left: Giving a Dharma talk at a temple in the village of Makuladeniya, Sri Lanka, at age twelve when he first ordained; right: a photo taken with his younger sibling before ordination. Provided by Venerable Myungseon

We also asked about his childhood. Born and raised in 1985 in Wellangaha Watta, a mountain village in Rattota Division, Matale District, in central Sri Lanka, he attended a temple kindergarten nearby as a child. He said, “I do not know why, but I felt happy whenever I touched the monks’ robes.” He even thought about ordaining because he disliked his father, who often scolded him. In Sri Lanka, monks go to households to receive alms and give teachings. One day, as soon as a monk visiting his home said to his father, “If there are children who wish to ordain, bring them to me,” Myungseon, who was next to his father, said, “I will go.”

His father hesitated. “He seemed to think it was dangerous to raise at home a son who stayed out late with bad friends, did not listen well, and climbed trees and fell.” He ordained at a temple in Kuvaloruwa.

After deciding to ordain, he was delighted, then soon regretted it. “I could not return to my prior relationship with my parents, and it felt as if everything would end here. I wondered if 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 grew very heavy. Life grew heavy as well. Coming before the public in robes, tears flowed on their own. I also felt, ‘I must not live as I did before.’”

For months he kept pondering whether to push open the temple gate and leave. “Even in that, I felt a stirring of emotion that I could not explain about ordaining.” He chose to continue ordination and practice.

The Dharma name he received at his first ordination was Rahula, the name of the son born to Siddhartha before his renunciation. There are several interpretations, and Myungseon explained it this way: “It is a name that points to ‘Rahu,’ the darkness that eclipses the moon or sun. For Siddhartha on the verge of renunciation, having a son also carried the meaning of a barrier or bondage that blocks ordination.” He liked it as many renowned Sri Lankan elders had used this Dharma name. In Korea, he sometimes uses the name Rahula, including at Resident Autonomy Center meetings.

Venerable Myungseon speaks during a meeting at the Wolgok 2-dong Resident Autonomy Center in Gwangsan-gu, Gwangju. He serves as a neighborhood autonomous committee member. Provided by Venerable Myungseon

He spent his childhood picking fruit from trees and swimming in mountain streams. “Looking back now, I lived so joyfully,” he said with a laugh. There were also times when he suffered because of violence committed by government forces and police. The May 18 Democratization Movement has special meaning for him as well. “There were many such incidents in Sri Lanka, too. We lived insecure lives. The May 18 movement arose to save democracy. In Sri Lanka, the government did the same things to silence the people’s voices. I know what the ‘pain of Gwangju’ is.” Gwangju, where he first settled in Korea and has lived for more than ten years, he calls his “second hometown.”

He always keeps his first hometown in mind, too. In January this year, he delivered relief funds to Sri Lanka, which had suffered typhoon damage. He now hopes to help create a good educational environment at his hometown’s school.

He wore a smile throughout the interview. Before the interview, Mu Wui-haeng (Yang Eun-jung), the lay administrator who volunteers at Gilsangsa, said, “Our abbot is happy every day. When I asked why he is happy, he said, ‘I have no greed and nothing I desire.’” When told this, he replied with a laugh, “How could there be nothing I desire? If it is there, it is good; if it is not, that is fine as well.”