Examination of two responses to cope with the Sewol Ferry incident: The ways of traditional Korean Buddhism and the Jungto Society

 Examination of two responses to cope with the Sewol Ferry incident: 

The ways of traditional Korean Buddhism and the Jungto Society 

Hyekyung Jee, Ph.D.

Thank you, Professor Kang. Thank you everybody for attending this session. It is an honor to give my presentation here with scholars sharing similar interest. I hope my presentation could contribute to remember the victims and to console the bereaved families. As the video and other panel described, Sewol Ferry incident was very a shocking disaster for the Korean people. Buddhists and their institutions grieved together and joined together on the path to healing. Their ways were mostly similar but there were subtle differences between traditional Buddhist organizations and teachers, and the Jungto Society and the Buddhist monk Pomnyun (1953~ ). Their distinctions are derived from their different emphasis on the aspects of Buddhist causation. In this paper, by contrasting their different responses to the Sewol Ferry incident, I will consider what the proper boundary for Buddhist engagement in social disaster is. 

Before we discuss today’s topic, let me explain some basic differences between the traditional Buddhist organizations and the Jungto Society. You might have heard the name of the monk Pomnyun and attended one of his talks, “Conversation with Pomnyun (JeukmunJeuksul, 卽問卽說). The Jungto Society is the laity-centered practitioner community established by Pomnyun in 1988. The organization is both a religious community and a social activist group. It is managed by lay practitioners and is more focused on its followers’ education and practice than on performing rituals for them. on the other hand, the traditional form of Buddhism in Korea follows the traditional monk/nun-centered monastic system in which a monk/nun is a priest as well as a practitioner and the lay people are believers and patrons. The Jungto society blurs the boundary not only between monks and lay people but also between religious activities and social activities. The Jungto Society demonstrated this characteristic in its response to the Sewol Ferry incident.

When the Sewol Ferry incident happened, Buddhist orders and institutions in Korea actively offered material aid, emotional condolence, and spiritual services based on such teachings as the field of merit (福田: Kr. Bokjeon, Ch.Futian), charity (報施: Kr. Bosi. Ch.Baoshi ), beneficial practices (福德:Kr. Bokdeok, Ch.Fude), and compassion (慈悲: Kr. Jabi, Ch.Cibei). Buddhist lay people supported the activities with volunteer work, prayer, and charity. Buddhist monks carried out relief activities by visiting the families of the victims, performing special rituals for them, providing a place of prayer at temples and near the rescue headquarters, and delivering messages of consolation. Buddhist teachers also led repentance prayer due to their interconnected world view. In Buddhist teaching, everything exists interdependently and interpenetrated. This teaching supports the teaching of compassion as well. That direct physical aid and emotional support was the basic response from other religions as well as Buddhist organizations. 

However, the approach to understand the Sewol Ferry incident was slightly different between traditional Buddhist teachers and Pomnyun, though all their comments are based on the principle of causality, or cause and effect. Traditional Buddhist teachers follow traditional interpretations of the principle of cause and effect. According to them, all disasters, including the Sewol Ferry incident, happen because sentient beings did something that caused the disaster. They blame man’s greed living in capitalism society, which causes disregard for life, and the disappearance of the community’s spirit and of concern for each other. They stress the individual’s responsibility as a member of the community which shares common karma together. 

The monk Pomnyun approached the Sewol Ferry incident in a slightly different way. In a sermon on Buddha’s birthday on May 3rd 2014, he made a distinction between因果應報 (retribution in accordance with cause and effect/ causation : Kr. YinGuaEungBo, Ch. Yinguoyingbao), and 因緣果報 (cause, condition, effect and result: Kr. YinYeonGuaBo, Ch. Yinyuanguobao). Both terms indicate the principle of causality in Buddhism.(1) Heretofore, these terms have been used synonymously in Korean Buddhism. Even “retribution in accordance with cause and effect” has been used widely to refer to bad consequences following bad behavior in the context of Korean culture. Pomnyun directly pointed out that “retribution in accordance with cause and effect” implies “punishment,” while “Cause, condition, result and effect” neutrally represents the principle of the world. 

Pomnyun’s differentiation between those terms clarifies the neutral aspect of the Buddhist causation. Pomnyun understands the concept of Buddhist causation to mean, “Cause, condition, effect, and result,” which aligns four terms. Cause is the direct reason and condition is a circumstance. Effect is the follow-up to cause, and result is the outcome from condition. According to a famous Buddhist analogy of a seed, cause is a seed and condition is the circumstances allowing the seed to sprout, such as light, water, and soil. The effect is the fruit from the seed. The result is the product decided by circumstance, such as the size of the fruit, the time when the fruit is born, and so forth. 

With that neutral perspective on Buddhist causation, the Korean people can now view social disasters in three different ways. First, a disaster is a mere incident happened by cause and condition. It is not a punishment by some sacred principle or divine power. From the punishment-centered perspective of causality, individuals can easily blame themselves or the community’s Karma. However, the neutral perspective advises people to see an incident as it is, without involving excessive guilt. This understanding leads suffering people as well as the greater community around them to move on to the “acceptance stage” of healing. 

Second, when disasters occur, circumstance plays an equally important role as the cause. The punishment-centered causality and the arguments of community Karma prevent people from seeing the problems of the social system. Soon after the Sewol Ferry incident happened, major newspapers and many religious leaders began to blame the Korean people’s wrong behavior and community’s Karma. However, Pomnyun’s understanding of causation avoids ignoring the importance of social condition. 

Third, present action could stop the recurrence of social disaster. The principle of causality is a double-edged sword. When it emphasizes the result of past behavior, it can easily mislead people into a passive fatalism. However, if it emphasizes present action as the cause for the future, it can lead to active reform. Pomnyun’s idea reinterprets the principle of causality as more future-oriented than past-oriented. This future-oriented causality supports the active social engagement of Pomnyun and his followers. In the sermon of Buddha’s birthday, he stressed that people’s present action can make the victims’ death meaningful. 

These subtly different teachings, those of traditional Buddhist teachers and the monk Pomnyun, led to different response from their organizations to the Sewol Ferry incident. Just after the incident happened, all Korean Buddhist organizations practiced charity and compassion. However, after the bereaved families demanded that the government conduct a rigorous investigation into the truth of the incident including the responsibility of government itself, only a small number of monks and lay people actively stood up for the families of the victims. In contrast, Pomnyun and his Jungto Society actively joined a petition for a special bill concerning the Sewol Ferry incident. on July 8th, Pomnyun submitted a petition with 1,400,000 signatures to the bereaved families and he did this only 18 days after his organization join the petition movement. This was one-eighth of the goal of the petition and the largest number collected by any one organization.(2)

 

The Jungto Society’s active engagement in the petition movement can be interpreted as an extended form of compassion. That active petition movement contributes to fix the social condition causing suffering. Compassion is a fundamental practice of feeling empathy with the others’ sorrow and suffering. Charity and being together is most common compassion practice for all Buddhist. The members of the traditional Buddhist organizations also sincerely practice compassion in detailed way. For example, several monks and lay people who belong to the Labor Committee of the traditional Buddhist orders joined with the bereaved families at their stage protest in Seoul and have participated in a full body prostration protests constantly since they joined.(3) Meanwhile, the monk Pomnyun practiced compassion in different way. on the first day of 2015, Pomnyun visited the bereaved families who staged protests, though other Buddhist leaders did not. At that time, the government had finished the search operation in November and was ignoring the bereaved families’ voices. His actions called the Korean people’s attention to the Sewol Ferry incident again and indirectly appealed to them to support the bereaved families. Pomnyun and the Jungto Society version of compassion focused more on active engagement in changing society than being with the bereaved families. 

Overall, both the responses from traditional Buddhism and the Jungto Society contributed to help the Korean people, the families of the victims, and their followers in coping with the Sewol Ferry disaster. The traditional Buddhist teacher’s response emphasized the responsibility of each individual as a member of the community while that of Pomnyun led to active social engagement by his followers. The traditional response could be criticized in that it diminishes the responsibility of the government. Pomnyun’s response could be accused of being overly political. These two different responses of Buddhism to the Sewol Ferry incident question what the appropriate response of Buddhism should be to console people when disaster strikes. In this context, we will further question whether the role of religion in healing people will remain the same as most established religions have traditionally done, or whether the role will be active engagement in social change as some new religious movements are attempting. 

(1) The Jungto Society temple, Washington D.C., May 3rd, 2014. 

(2) It is said that the largest Chogye Order obtained under 400,000 signatures. From an interview with the head of the Labor Committee in the Chogye Order. 

(3) In Nov. 5th, there was 5th full body prostration protest for the right of the deceased the temporary teacher.

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