Monk Hyeonbong, Head of Jogye Songgwangsa Temple, Dies: A Look Back at His Life and Legacy

Monk Hyeonbong, head of Jogye Chonglim Songgwangsa Temple, died on the 1st. This is how it looked during an interview with this magazine on Buddha’s Birthday in 2020. / Reporter Kim Young-geun

The monk Bangjang Hyeonbong (75), the highest saint of the Jogye Generallim Songgwangsa temple, died on the night of the 1st. On the 2nd, Songgwangsa Temple said, “Daejong Namdang Hyeonbong, head of Songgwangsa Temple, Jogyejongrim, Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism, has prayed for the whole world, and on May 1, 2568 (2024), 8 pm Samilam Hermitage of Songgwangsa Temple, Jogye Chonglim, Suncheon-si, Jeollanam-do. Monk Hyeonbong was found unconscious due to cerebral hemorrhage on the morning of the 30th and was taken to the hospital, but he never recovered.

Monk Hyeonbong, born in Sacheon, Gyeongsangnam-do in 1949, became a monk at Songgwangsa Temple in 1974 as a mentor to Monk Gusan. When he was a child, he learned Chinese characters from his grandfather, a Chinese scholar, and while he was a student at Jinju Agricultural High School, he stayed in devotion and said, ‘There is one and many are one.’ I had a big question after reading the quote from Master Uisang, “One fine dust holds the whole world. ” He diligently read the Buddhist scriptures and dreamed of becoming a monk after being discharged from the army, he visited the monk Gusan and got shaved.

In his early days as a monk, he followed the Songgwangsa family tradition of unity between Zen and farming, practicing Zen day and night, farming during the day and meditating at night. He said, “I told the elder monks, ‘If Hyeonbong sows it, it will bear much fruit.’ “I used to hear suggestions like, ‘If you had married, you would have had many children,'” he said. After that, Venerable Hyeonbong visited Zen temples around the country, including Haeinsa Temple, Tongdosa Temple, and Bongamsa Temple, and practiced dozens of retreats (three months of intensive meditation) .

He didn’t just live in Zen schools and temples. He was also a ‘new monk’ who went on a backpacking trip in the late 1980s, which is rare in the Buddhist world. In 1989, when he was 40 years old, he took a guidebook called ‘Lonely Planet’ and went back alone for a year to India, Pakistan, Europe, Egypt and Israel. “I wanted to see not only the top of the pyramid, but also the foundation of civilization,” he said. In Pakistan, he visited the Lahore Museum three times to see the ascetic statue of Buddha. He said, “At at the time, I was traveling on a budget of about $200 a month, and I realized, ‘I’ve been living in a Zen room for a long time,’ and I confirmed my sincere desire to practice and spreading the word.” At that time, the postcards sent to Korea were scattered.[逸] find[痕]It was included in ‘Seventy House’, which means ‘Seventy House’.

Graphics = Jeong In-seong

He was the head priest of Songgwangsa Temple (2000-2003), as well as a member of the main sect council of the Jogye Order and a member of the Hogyewon Reexamination and Hogye Committee, serving as both Ipan (sender) and Sapan (administrator). In November 2019, he was appointed head of Songgwangsa Temple, and in October 2021, he was promoted to Daejongsa, the highest Buddhist order of the Jogye Order.

During his time as abbot of Songgwangsa Temple, he restored Gwangwonam, which was destroyed by fire during the Korean War, and used it as a residence and agriculture. preserved, and Sangryangmun wrote personally. Even after he became the head of the room, he was an easy and simple ‘head of work’. The head monk’s car was given as a public car for the senior monks in Songgwangsa Temple, and he personally went around the grounds with secateurs and saws to take care of flowers and trees whenever he had time. Last December, the media reported that the monk Hyeonbong was digging cabbage that he grew himself, along with other young monks.

Monk Hyeonbong, who has published commentaries on sutras and books such as ‘You are another me’, ‘Heart Sutra seen from Zen’, ‘Scent of Pine Wind and Tea’, and ‘Seventy Collections’, has written a method that easy to explain and explain the heart of Buddhism He was also famous. After being appointed as the head of the temple in November 2019, he said, “Songgwangsa Temple has produced 16 national masters and is called a Buddhist monk, but he is not a Buddhist monk before every monk must now be a financial monk.” Regarding the corona pandemic, he said, “Corona is a situation that has shown that ‘I’ and ‘you’ are not different,” and that the spirit of “self-reliance” is urgent to have In an interview with this magazine to celebrate Buddha’s birthday in 2020, he said, “Buddha came to the world to show that “anyone can stand alone. “”. In an interview at a time when everyone was suffering from the coronavirus pandemic, he emphasized, “In difficult times, we must live with a cool head, a hot heart, and hands and hardworking feet.”

The incense burner was set up at Seonjeondae Temple Songgwangsa, and the funeral and funeral ceremonies will be held at 2pm on the 5th. Monk Hyeonbong’s funeral will be held at Jogye Chonglim’s funeral.