American Buddhist Net

North Korea refused to accept a group of South Korean Buddhists for a visit on the same day that the South’s government authorized the trip.

The move is something of an about-face for the North, which had not earlier discouraged such trips.

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The Ven. Beopjeong, who passed away yesterday, did not seek the post of abbot at his Buddhist temple let alone a high-ranking position in the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism, the largest of its kind in Korea. He was instead a great man who left a significant mark on Korean Buddhism. Though he lived a humble life in propagating the spirit of “non-possession,” he left a vast legacy to the Korean people.

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The government approved the planned visit by a group of Buddhists to North Korea later this week to discuss the holding of a rally for Buddhists from the divided halves in the North, an official at the Ministry of Unification said Thursday.

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Seoul - South Korea's largest Buddhist order said Thursday it had asked the country's football governing body to stop Christian players from making prayer gestures after scoring a goal.

The Jogye Order has urged the Korea Football Association (KFA) to ban the practice especially during nationally televised games, an official of the order said.

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The Venerable Beopjeong, a much-respected Buddhist monk and author of top-selling essay collections, died from lung cancer yesterday. He was 77.

Beopjeong, whose most famous book is "Without Possession," maintained a frugal and secluded life while preaching the virtue of possessing nothing, a soothing message to Koreans tired of chasing their possessive desire in vain.

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UCLA Center for Buddhist Studies Numata Colloquium Series Presentation by Professor Lewis Lancaster (UC Berkeley) and Mr. Howie Lan (UC Berkeley). Thursday, February 18, 2010 from 3:00 PM - 4:30 PM. Visualization Portal, 5628 Math Sciences UCLA Los Angeles, CA 90095. Free.

A demonstration of a new method of search and retrieval of word occurrence that displays results in abstract visualization. This system developed with support from the National Science Foundation and the Luce Foundation by Professor Lancaster and Mr. Howie Lan is based on the digital version of the Korean Buddhist canon. The interface system will provide a new approach to the study of the 13th century Haein Sa printing blocks content.

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The most venerable Ja Seung, head of the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism, will visit North Korea, according to the biggest Buddhism sect Thursday.

He will leave Saturday for a four-day visit along with other high ranking monks.

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The 20th century was a difficult time for Korean Buddhism. Over the hundred years, Korea saw the rapid rise of Christianity while Buddhism was in retreat. This vulnerability of the traditional Korean religion has many explanations, most of which are essentially political.

From the 1890s the Japanese supported Buddhism in Korea. They were emulating the contemporary policies of the Western powers who enthusiastically supported the spread of Christianity in their colonies.

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Was it a case of the personification of karma or an act of Buddhist salvation for others' sins?

Perhaps the answer may now be irrelevant but the fact remains.

Cho Se-hyung was called many names ? the Korean Robin Hood and Hong Gil-dong, the main character of the first Korean novel, to name a couple ? for his high-profile burglaries and donation of some of his spoils to the underprivileged in the 1970s and 1980s.

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Korea will celebrate the 1,000th anniversary of the "Palman Daejanggyeong," or "Tripitaka Koreana," one of the world's oldest and most comprehensive collections of Buddhist scriptures in Chinese characters, through a 45-day Buddhist cultural festival in 2011.

South Gyeongsang Province, where the festival will take place, launched an organizing committee for the event Tuesday at the South Gyeongsang Development Institute in Changwon. The committee is headed by South Gyeongsang Governor Kim Tae-ho.

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Dec 12, Colombo: Senior Adviser to the President and parliamentarian at the Presidential Secretariat recently met a 45-member Korean business/religious delegation who traveled to Sri Lanka along with Sri Lankan Ambassador to Korea Asitha Perera.

During the meeting MP Basil Rajapaksa presented the deeds of a land to build a Korean temple to the Most Ven. Seok Myeong An. The Korean Temple is to be built at the International Buddhist Centre in Piliyandala at a cost of 100 million rupees.

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In April 1909, the vice governor of the Japanese colonial government in Korea, Sone Araske, and his delegates had a photo taken sitting on the knee of a Buddha statue at the Seokguram Grotto in Gyeongju, South Gyeongsang Province. This is the oldest known photo of Seokguram, which was designated World Cultural Heritage in 1995.

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A Buddhist monk was given a suspended one-year-prison term Wednesday for posting articles and video images praising North Korea on the Internet.

According to the Seoul Central District Court, the monk was identified as Seo and he lived from day-to-day on handouts from people who weren't affiliated with any temple.

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...After receiving a Ph.D. in history in France, Park began working at the national library in Paris in 1967, where she discovered the dust-covered "Jikji Simche Yojeol." The book, printed by the Buddhist monk Baekun in 1377, is an anthology of the teachings of the Buddha for meditation. At a global symposium of Asia experts in 1972, Park proved that it was printed 78 years earlier than Johannes Gutenberg's 42-Line Bible printed in 1455. Her findings gained international recognition.

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Jikji Simche Yojeol: The world's oldest extant movable metal print book

The Jogye Order, Korea’s largest Buddhist sect, elected the Venerable Jaseung as its new administrative leader on Oct. 22. The newly elected leader is 55 years old, 18 years younger than outgoing leader Venerable Jigwan.

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Ven. Jaseung, a relatively young and progressive Buddhist priest who chairs a scholarship foundation, was elected as the new head of South Korea's largest Buddhist order of Jogye on Thursday, garnering over 90 percent of support from his colleagues, according to Yonhap News.

Jaseung, 55, will hold the post for four years, administrating 2,501 Buddhist temples nationwide, 13,860 priests and an annual budget of some 30 billion won (US$25 million) belonging to the religious order.

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SEOUL (UCAN) -- More than 70 percent of Buddhist monks and nuns who responded to a recent survey say that antagonism between their religion and Protestantism is a serious problem.

Many also said that Protestantism is the most influential religion in the country, followed by Catholicism and Buddhism.

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The ritual performance, which involves sacred chants and elaborate dances, was almost lost under restrictions imposed during Japanese colonialism in the first half of the 20th century.

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It was a cold December afternoon on the roof of the administration building of the Jagwang-Sa temple compound in Daejeon, South Korea. The monk stood to one side, meditating, with his arms tucked in his robe. It was time to beat the Beomjong temple bell. In Korean Buddhism, the ceremony rids a person of earthly desires and helps prepare for meditation.

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With skin as white as snow and dimples that show when she smiles, it’s hard to believe she’s already 50 years old. When asked if she gets her good looks from eating only temple food, the monk smiles and waves her hand modestly, saying no.

The Buddhist monk Daean is the head of Baru, a restaurant opened by the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism last June to popularize temple food. Public interest in temple food has increased in recent years, as knowledge of its benefits as a healthy, vegetarian diet has become more widespread.

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Pyongyang, October 13 (KCNA) -- A north-south joint Buddhist mass praying for national reunification was held at Singye Temple in Mt. Kumgang on Tuesday on the occasion of the second anniversary of the restoration of the temple.

Present at the mass were office-bearers of the Central Committee of the Buddhist Federation of Korea, priests and believers at the temple and priests and believers of Jogye Order from south Korea.

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A Center for Buddhist Studies Numata Colloquium Series lecture by Professor Hwansoo Kim of Duke University. Friday, October 09, 2009, 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM @ 10383 Bunche Hall UCLA, Los Angeles.

The attempt of the Wonjong of Korean Buddhism to form an alliance with the Japanese Sotoshu in late 1910 is a moment that lives in infamy in traditional Korean Buddhist historiography. The Korean monks who headed up the initiative have been portrayed as traitors and collaborators, while their Japanese counterparts have been characterized as imperialists trying to conquer Korean Buddhism on behalf of their colonial government. All the key figures?Yi Hoegwang, Takeda Hanshi, clergy from the Wonjong and Sotoshu, and colonial government officials?are portrayed as villains in the traditional histories. But the story of the alliance is actually more complex.

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Imagine having to live your life strictly adhering to 348 precepts ? think you're up to the challenge?

In daily life, bhikkhunis, or Buddhist nuns, abide by nearly 100 more regulations than monks, who follow roughly 250 laws. Women who practice the religion are subjected to different laws at times, but Korea may be one of the more accepting countries for Buddhist females to live.

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...Six other friends and I decided to travel to Busan to attend a Temple Stay. Basically we arrived at Beomeosa Temple, which is one of the most famous and largest Temples in S. Korea and devoted ourselves to learning and living the Monk traditional lifestyle. As soon as we got there they made us change into informal Monk clothing.

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A Hangeul copy of an ancient Chinese book that contains the notes of the Joseon Kingdom (1392-1910) scholar Kim Si-seup has been discovered.

The book was originally written by a Buddhist master from the Tang Dynasty (618-907) and dates back to the 16th century.

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By studying the deep-rooted influences of Buddhism, alongside Confucianism, one can discover their lasting imprint on Korea's culture and arts, as well as its contemporary society. Korean Buddhist temples are in many ways like ``living museums'' because of their historical, cultural and architectural values.

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ODAESAN NATIONAL PARK, Korea — The brochure promised peacefulness, a chance to relax, meditate and find serenity in a Korean Buddhist temple.

I’d spend 24 hours living among dozens of monks, nuns and a few other curious folks like me who’d reserved a slot in South Korea’s increasingly popular “temple stay” program.

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The Supreme Court ruled "samboilbae" -- a Buddhist way of wishing for something by repeating the process of taking three steps, kneeling and bowing -- on the carriageway is not in breach of the traffic law, overturning a lower court's ruling, officials said Monday.

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An unidentified monk, 47, was apprehended for allegedly beating a female Buddhist, 42, to death, police said Monday.

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The Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism, the biggest sect in Korea, held a rally Thursday to demand that temple grounds stop being designated as natural parks.

More than 1,500 monks and 2,000 Buddhists attended the gathering at Tongdo Temple, South Gyeongsang Province, with Ven. Ji Kwan, the head of the Jogye Order in attendance.

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