[From the Scene] Seon meditation front and center for Jogye leader

People try seon meditation at the Korean Culture Training Institute in Gongju, South Chungcheong Province on Saturday. (Choi Si-young/The Korea Herald)

GONGJU, South Chungcheong Province -- Templestay programs are usually light on message, focusing instead on enabling participants to experience Buddhist routines like prostrations and early morning chants.

The latest templestay program held from Saturday to Sunday capped an eight-week teaching by the Ven. Jinwoo on practicing seon meditation. The president of the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism, the largest Buddhist sect here, rallied participants to not only follow the Jogye style of meditation, but assimilate it, showing that this templestay was far from the norm.

“As seon meditation spreads with more followers, mankind will find salvation,” Jinwoo said at the opening of the two-day stay at the Jogye-run Korean Cultural Training Institute in Gongju, South Chungcheong Province.

“All of you have to be at the vanguard of this campaign where seon meditation becomes a daily routine worldwide,” Jinwoo added, noting he hoped to see his in-person weekly lecture on the topic help build momentum. The series started on June 25.

Some 150 templestay participants, most of whom had made it to the eight weeks of lectures, followed their pre-assigned monks who were to elaborate on steps to achieve seon meditation. Monks Kumgang, Hyeju and Haemin each laid out what they thought was one way to deliver the Jogye way to meditate.

Monk Kumgang encouraged participants to “really look into the mind” before starting meditation -- a “mindfulness exercise” made easier with slower and steadier breaths. Breathing too rapidly and shallowly blocks the path to inner peace, said the monk, who is the chief architect behind launching Jogye’s templestay in 2002.

“Try to think of moments of love and kindness,” Monk Hyeju said in another room filled with participants sitting cross-legged, ready to seize on the monk’s instructions. “Sit in whatever position you feel comfortable, because if we don’t feel physical comfort, the mind will never be at ease,” Hyeju noted.

Monk Haemin stressed that everything is the way it is because it is meant to be. The seemingly defeatist approach to life is not self-destructive after all, the monk explained, saying those embracing the mindset correctly would lead to freedom like never before.

“It is tricky to absorb all that in one day,” said one participant in the room with Haemin. The 51-year-old participant, who asked to be identified by her surname Kim, said she became a Buddhist because a Christian life had not served her well.

“Consolation, I think, is one of what I had sought out from a religion, and I’ve been reading up on Jinwoo’s teachings lately on YouTube and from the in-person lectures,” Kim said of her trip to Gongju from her hometown in Jinju, South Gyeongsang Province.

For Kim, a parent of two daughters in their twenties, a meditative life is her everyday pursuit and she hopes her daughters will follow suit.

“It’s not just my daughters. Youngsters today are addicted to smartphones, and I think that’s the real disconnect from society we all should be concerned about," Kim said, suggesting seon meditation could help the young reconnect, exercise compassion and grow into more productive citizens.

In an announcement Tuesday, the Jogye Order said it will hold the 2024 Seon Meditation Summit on Sept. 28 at Gwanghwamun Square, the highlight of a series of events ending Oct. 1 that demonstrates how the meditation is carried out.

Jogye expects about 30,000 participants in attendance.

By Choi Si-young(siyoungchoi@heraldcorp.com)