Located at the foot of Cheonbosan Mountain in Yangju City, Gyeonggi Province, the Hwaamsa Temple is rewriting the history of Korean Buddhism. Last September, the 34-year-old Indian-born monk In was appointed as the temple head for a four-year term as the abbot of Bongheonsa Temple, the main temple of the 25th Jogye Order, was appointed as an exception.
This is the first time that a foreign monk has been appointed as a formal inspector of the Jogye Order. The decline in the number of monks has triggered a debate on whether foreign monks should be introduced. “Hwaamsa Temple is a royal temple of the Joseon Dynasty and has four treasures,” the monk said.
“Monk Hushan believes that we should give him the opportunity to pray, learn Buddhism, and speak Korean fluently to create a young Buddhist temple.”
Currently, there are four foreign monks in the temple, including two monks. Last year, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts in the United States donated and preserved Jigong, the sloppy prehistoric sari.
Throughout the interview, he spoke in perfect Korean, and believers said he was “better at Korean than Koreans.” He is fluent in five languages.
“If you are born in India, your roots are in the nation, the region, Hindi and English. Indians say they are smart.
The environment makes them smart. As the brain grows, it collides with multiple languages and becomes stronger, so even if you encounter other languages, you absorb it like a sponge.”
Born in Tawang, a Himalayan region on the border between Bhutan and China, he practiced in a Buddhist temple in Tibet at the age of eight with 3,000 Korean monks.
Just as Indians recite ninety-nine sutras, the monks also practiced scriptures. “Smart monks recite one or two scriptures, whether it is the Diamond Sutra or something else. I will discuss for hours, and without recitation, the discussion is impossible.”
In 2009, he decided to become a monk for the second time on the recommendation of a Korean monk. He originally planned to study in Korea for only five years.
While studying at Songgwangsa, he overcame the risk of death due to air accumulation in his lungs and was amazed at the level of medical care in Korea. “It was difficult to get treatment in India. I didn’t know how good medical care was in Korea until I got sick.”
Graduated from Gangwon-do and Kuriwon-do, and the Department of Buddhism at Dongguk University, he is currently studying Indian philosophy and postgraduate studies at Dongguk University. When asked what is the core of Korean practice that is different from India, he replied: “The heart”.
“In public places, people eat, sleep, and study in the same space, and consideration and concession are essential. When I had the courage to say ‘I cleaned it more cleanly’, I remembered what my teacher said: ‘My greatest contribution is to clean the dirtiest place.'” I also like to clean the bathroom.
“My eyes cannot see merit or blessings, but thinking about where I live now, I believe that everything I have done so far will be rewarded,” he said.
He recently became a Korean citizen and obtained Korean nationality. “Some things are recognized in Korea, and when I tried to return to India, the seniority of the monks in Dofan was too deep, and I didn’t have the courage to learn.
Later, I wanted to get enlightenment like the Buddha, but I felt that the environment and conditions there had little to do with it.”
In response to the issue of the decline in the number of monks in Korea, he said, “Even if the number of monks decreases, we have no choice but to believe in Buddhism.”
He added, “You don’t have to believe in monks or Buddha. On the contrary, the higher the knowledge and the richer the thoughts, the easier it is to fall into Buddhism. The cause of suffering and the result of happiness are all the answers of Buddhism.” He emphasized.
“Yi Seong-gye was the founding king of the Joseon Dynasty. Why did those who had power, honor and wealth come to this remote temple four times?
When humans have something, they naturally want more. When you get what you want, you naturally get tired of it.
I asked my young friends what the happiness of coming to the temple to stay is, and they answered that it is ‘builders’. That is not happiness. The starting point is wrong. The real happiness is in my heart.
