“Nationwide Monks Competition is held despite controversy over quarantine violations… Jogye Order has impure intentions”

Monk Heo Jeong, who served as the head of the Jogye Order of Buddhist Studies, criticized the Jogye Order, which predicted the ‘National Monks Convention’ on the 21st despite the controversy over violating the quarantine guidelines for the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19). Despite the government’s religious bias policy and Democratic Party lawmaker Chung Cheong-rae’s remarks over the controversy, he criticized, saying, “It’s frustrating because the religious leaders can’t even read the monks’ minds and push them.”

On the 20th, in MBC radio’s ‘Kim Jong-bae’s Focus’, Monk Heo Jeong said, “When I ask the monks around me, no matter how well the justification is, they say that it is not okay to do such (monks competition) in the Corona situation, ‘It is absurd'” .

Referring to Monk Myungjin, who was deprived of victory for criticizing the cult in the past, he opened his mouth, saying, “I also received a three-year disciplinary action in 2018 for insisting on a direct cadre system.

First, he criticized the Jogye Order’s move to hold the National Monks Competition. He said, “With an organization called the Buddhist Solidarity for Justice and Peace, we started a survey on the pros and cons of holding a monks’ convention for monks. is against it,” he said.

On the afternoon of the 20th, near Jogyesa Temple in Jongno-gu, Seoul, attendees hold signboards at the ‘National Monks Contest Press Conference’ hosted by civic groups such as Candlelight Citizens’ Solidarity. The Jogye Order defines religious biases and distortions of Buddhism, such as remarks demeaning the collection of cultural properties by Rep. Chung Cheong-rae of the Democratic Party of Korea, and the government’s support for the Catholic carol campaign, and plans to hold a national monks’ contest at Jogyesa Temple in Seoul on the 21st. yunhap news

According to Monk Heo Jeong, the number of participants increased to 942 as of 11 am, but there was no significant difference with 301 in favor (32.4%), 601 against (64.6%), and 37 abstaining (4%). Heo Jeong emphasized, “As I expected, I felt that I did not want the monks’ competitions in which monks harm others in the era of Corona.”

Dissatisfaction with Buddhist distortions and religious biases of the Jogye Order erupted when, at a state audit last year, Rep. Chung Cheong-rae referred to the entrance fee for cultural assets at the temple as a ‘toll tax’ and compared the temple walking to ‘Bongi Kim Seon-dal’. In addition, the controversy grew when the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism supported the Catholic Church’s ‘Carol Campaign’ ahead of Christmas last year.

This led to an apology from the Democratic Party leadership and Democratic presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung, Rep. Jeong’s expression of regret, and Culture Minister Hwang Hee’s apology. About 30 Democratic lawmakers, including Rep. Jeong, visited the Jogye Order on the 17th, raised 108 times of repentance, and apologized again to the leadership of the cult, but the monks’ convention decided to proceed as it is.

Earlier, the Jogye Order announced that at 2 pm on the 21st, at Jogyesa Temple, the headquarters of Korean Buddhism, a national monks competition to eradicate religious bias and protect the sovereignty of Korean Buddhism was held. The event is expected to be large in scale, with about 5,000 people participating in major temples nationwide and the Korean Association of Buddhist Orders, a consultative body formed by 30 denominations. Accordingly, it is expected that controversies regarding violations of the current quarantine guidelines will be inevitable.

The current quarantine guidelines allow up to 299 people to participate in religious events if they consist only of those who have been vaccinated against COVID-19.

“The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism’s ‘Carol Campaign’ is religiously biased, but…”

Former Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun (third from left) and lawmakers including Democratic Party floor leader Yun Ho-jung visited Jogyesa Temple in Jongno-gu, Seoul on the morning of the 17th and worshiped at Daeungjeon before meeting Wonhaeng, head of the Jogye Order. Parliamentary photojournalists

Regarding Rep. Jeong’s remarks, Monk Heo Jeong said, “The issue of entrance fees to cultural assets has been a problem for a long time. In fact, we do not use the entrance fees for maintenance and management of cultural assets, but mostly for household purposes, and the maintenance fee for cultural assets comes from the state separately.” was practically stunted.

He continued, “As Rep. Jeong pointed out, it is a very absurd attitude for us to improve the system first, and to take him to the monks’ convention while treating him as if he was completely wrong because he (Cheong) said one more word in the National Assembly.” criticized the group.

However, regarding the government’s ‘carol revitalization campaign’, he said, “It is true that it was biased towards religion,” but he said, “If the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism came and apologized, we should leave it at that level. “The administration in the office has a lot of errors and feels clumsy,” he pointed out.

In particular, he said, “It’s a time before the presidential election, so we have to show the magic of managing the (monk’s meeting) timing, but planning is very impure and it doesn’t seem to have an honest attitude,” he said. It is not pure to try to lead the public to what they want after arousing anger by exposing the issue of religious bias or religious bias.”

Park Min-sik reporter bemyself@hankookilbo.com