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🇰🇷 South Korea /Culture & Society

You Chose What Was Right Beyond Narrow Factions, and You Loved People

From Hankyoreh · () Korean

Translated from Korean and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

In-depth Named sources Outcome reported
  • An essay remembers Buddhist monk Myeongjin as a reformer who stood with people affected by social injustice and challenged entrenched practices within Korean Buddhism.
  • The writer recalls Myeongjin’s personal warmth, his friendships across political divisions and his generosity despite financial hardship after his expulsion from the Jogye Order.
  • The essay compares Myeongjin’s life to the epitaph of Greek writer Nikos Kazantzakis: “I wanted nothing, I feared nothing, I am free.”

Myeongjin, a Buddhist monk remembered as a “free spirit,” left behind a life that crossed religious, political and social boundaries. His cremation ceremony took place on August 25 at Beopjusa Temple in Boeun County, North Chungcheong Province.

Born in Dangjin, South Chungcheong Province, in 1950, Myeongjin entered the Buddhist order at Haeinsa Temple. In 1985, after hearing the truth about the May 18 Democratization Movement from a student hiding at the temple, he stepped out of the monastery and into the lives of ordinary people. He built his religious outlook around the belief that “when sentient beings suffer, the Buddha suffers too,” seeking out the places where society hurt most.

When sentient beings suffer, the Buddha suffers too.

— MyeongjinThe Buddhist belief the essay identifies as guiding his decision to stand with people suffering from social injustice.

As head of Bongeunsa Temple, one of Seoul’s prominent temples, he introduced reforms including transparent financial management. He later left the post after criticizing the Lee Myung-bak government and was expelled from the Jogye Order while campaigning for fundamental reform in a Buddhism he believed had been tainted by power and money. A court subsequently ruled that the expulsion was unjustified.

Professor Son, people around me are making a fuss.

— MyeongjinHis joking remark about criticism of his friendship with Son Ho-cheol, whom his associates viewed as a left-wing figure.

The writer, Sogang University emeritus professor Son Ho-cheol, says he became close to Myeongjin during the Sewol ferry protests more than a decade ago. He remembers the monk as informal and unrestrained, and especially recalls his singing of “The Departing Boat.” To Son, the song went beyond technique. It expressed emptiness and freedom, carrying what he describes as the voice of a Buddha.

Myeongjin also maintained friendships beyond political factions. He joked that people around him were alarmed by his closeness to Son, whom they regarded as a “left-wing monster,” and the two laughed together. Even after his expulsion left him without basic financial security, Myeongjin continued sending good food from around the country to progressive groups. The essay ends by invoking Kazantzakis’s epitaph: “I wanted nothing, I feared nothing, I am free.” It presents Myeongjin as someone who lived those words fully.

I wanted nothing, I feared nothing, I am free.

— Nikos KazantzakisThe epitaph cited at the end of the essay as a fitting description of Myeongjin’s life.
About this summary

Originally published by Hankyoreh in Korean. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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