An American Buddhist monk in Korea

[rug]

When people think of a foreigner in Korea, they usually think of an English language teacher, a soldier or a professor. However, there are several people out there in the foreign community in Korea that contribute a lot more to Korean society than you might imagine.

I’ve been very lucky that in my time in Korea, I’ve met a lot of interesting and inspiring people, but none more so than the Buddhist monk Chong Go Sunim. By chance, he discovered my blog, and ever since then we have been emailing each other back and forth.

To let you know a bit more about Chong Go Sunim, he’s an American Buddhist monk who has been living in Korea for the past 17 years. He had been practicing Buddhism in the U.S. for many years on his own; but according to him, he wasn’t making much progress. Eventually, he met and listened to the Korean monk Daehaeng Kun Sunim.

And as he describes it, ``It was as if I’d been looking at a dirty painting, with only a small clean spot in the middle. When I began listening to Daehaeng Kun Sunim, it was as if the clean spot had suddenly become much larger and I could see what had been hidden. What she showed me seemed exactly what should have been there, but I had been unable to see it for myself.”

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/opinon/2011/08/137_92006.html

[drokhole]

1. Interesting read, thanks. For me, Alan Watts has helped to not only clean the painting...

...but to peel the paint away to reveal the light behind it. I've been making my way through his books, but here are a few of my favorite YouTube clips of him:

Life Is a Dance
What Is It To See?
The Way of Waking Up
Discusses Nothing

[rug]

2. Good stuff. He had a varied life.

Thanks for the links.