World's meditation masters to visit Korea to participate in International Seon Meditation Summit

Ven. Jinwoo, President of the Jogye Order, holds a press conference for the \

Roshi Joan Halifax, a medical anthropologist and pioneer in end-of-life care, Thupten Jinpa, Dalai Lama's longtime English interpreter and renowned compassion meditator, and Chade-Meng Tan, a former Google engineer turned world-renowned meditator…

The world's “meditation masters” are traveling to Korea to participate in the International Seon Meditation Summit organized by the Jogye Order. Ven. Jinwoo, President of the Jogye Order, held a press conference at the Korean Buddhist History and Culture Memorial Hall in Jongno-gu, Seoul on September 20 and announced that the International Seon Meditation will be held from September 20 to October 1.

The Jogye Order has been promoting Seon meditation as a “people's peace of mind movement” this year, and has been working to develop and distribute the program. Starting with the “Five-Minute Seon Meditation,” in which 25,000 attendees will meditate in silence for five minutes at the opening ceremony at Gwanghwamun Square on September 28, the event will feature lectures by international celebrities at temples across Korea, a DJ performance by “NewJeansNim,” a comedian Yoon Sung-ho who dresses as a monk with a shaved head, and an international conference on Seon meditation.

Celebrities from overseas will also participate in the summit. Joan Halifax, who has been called the “master of American engaged Buddhism,” founded the Santa Fe Upaya Zen Center in New Mexico and created the “Living with Death” project for medical staff and people caring for dying patients.

Halifax has a deep connection to Korea, where she was a student of the late monk Seungsahn in the 1970s. She was later taught by Vietnamese monk Thich Nhat Hanh. Her books, such as "Being with Dying” and “Standing at the Edge,” have been translated in Korea. Halifax will give a special lecture on the topic of death meditation at Beomeosa Temple in Busan on the 30th.

Thupten Jinpa is a compassion meditation expert who helped develop the compassion meditation program at Stanford University in the U.S. As a Tibetan exiled to India, he became a monk at the age of ten, and by chance, he became the Dalai Lama's English interpreter and he spent 30 years interpreting Dalai Lama's lectures and translating his books. His book, “A Fearless Heart," was published in Korea. He will give a special lecture on Seon meditation at Bongeunsa Temple in Seoul on the 29th and at Joong-Ang Sangha University in Gimpo on the 30th.

Chade-Meng Tan, a former Google engineer turned world-renowned meditator, worked as an engineer at Google Software and developed the meditation program “SIY (Search Inside Yourself)” for Google employees. He is the co-head of the “One Billion acts of Peace” Campaign, which was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, and his books “Search Inside Yourself” and “Joy on Demand” have been translated in Korea. On the 29th of this month, he will hold a Seon meditation concert at Seogosa Temple in Jeonju.

Monk Phap Luu served as a meditation leader at Plum Village, a Buddhist community established in France by monk Thich Nhat Hanh, and also received teaching from monk Seungsahn.

He has organized the “Wake Up” movement for young people and has worked to spread mindfulness among university students. Jigme Phuntsok Rinpoche strives to educate and guide the meditation and philosophy of Tibetan Buddhism, and established the “Palmo Center for Peace and Education” in 2013.

Seon Meditation, a project promoted by Ven. Jinwoo, and the purpose is to allow ordinary people to gain the benefits of meditation in their daily lives based on Ganhwaseon, a traditional Buddhist practice. He suggests a “five-minute meditation” as a way to “stop first” to avoid being swayed by emotions and suffering. “If you “stop first” by meditating for five minutes every day like doing daily stretches, you will stabilize your mind and reduce unnecessary conflicts, thus reducing social costs,” said Ven. Jinwoo.

“When someone swears at you or acts hostile toward you, you recognize it in 0.2 seconds, and respond to it in 5 seconds. If you do “stop first,” you can deal with it without feeling bad. You can step up from 'five-second meditation' to 'five-minute meditation,' and ultimately to Ganhwaseon meditation that can lead to enlightenment.”

To make it easier for people to practice meditation in their daily lives, the Jogye Order will also release a “Five-Minute Meditation” app, guidebook, and website. An international conference "Peace, Meditation that Challenges the Era,” featuring Ven. Jinwoo and foreign celebrities will be held on October 1. Monks of the Jogye Order will travel to the U.S. for a talk with Jon Kabat-Zinn at Yale University, founder of the “Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)” program on October 5. They will also visit the United Nations to propose the creation of a “World Meditation Day.”

※This article has undergone review by a professional translator after being translated by an AI translation tool.