 | ||
Died 11 March 2010, Seongbuk-dong, Seongbuk District, South Korea | ||
Bŏpjŏng (or Beopjeong, Korean: 법정 스님, 法頂, born Park Jae Cheol) (November 5, 1932 - March 11, 2010) is a Buddhist monk as well as a writer of South Korea.
Contents
Biography
Bŏpjŏng Sunim is widely known for the musoyu (Non-Possession, 무소유) spirit and he propagated his philosophy through many of his publications, which have been loved by many Koreans. “Beop Jeong is well-known for his ability to communicate widely with the general public in Korea. Of course, he is a devoted Buddhist practitioner, but he also excels at couching Buddhist teachings in a modern context in his writing.”
Born in 1932 in Haenam, South Jeolla Province (전라남도), he graduated from Mokpo Commerical High School, and entered Jeonnam University (전남대학교. In his junior year in 1954, he left school and decided to become a Buddhist monk as a follower of Hyobong, a Korean Jogye Seon master. In the 1960s, he served on the committee translating the Buddhist canon into Korean script, as well as being editor-in-chief of a Buddhist newspaper publishing company, and the Director of Training at Songgwangsa. At one time he also devoted himself to the pro-democracy movement. In the latter half of the 1970s, he cast all these things aside and by his own hands established and lived alone at Bulilam, a hermitage set on the mountainside behind Songgwangsa (송광사）. However, because of his fame, many people searched him out, and in April 1992 he left to reside in a remote mountain valley in Gwangwon Province.
On December 14, 1997, Cardinal Kim Su-hwan from Korean Catholic Church attended and congratulated on the opening of Gilsangsa located in Seongbuk-dong, Seoul. In return, he visited Myeong-dong Cathedral on February 24, 1998 and held a special speech, which showed the harmony between religions.
On March 12, 2010, at the age of 78, in the 55th year of his monkhood, he died from chronic lung cancer in Gilsangsa (길상사) in Seoul.
His will shows the very essence of his musoyu spirit: "Don't hold a funeral for me. Don't make a coffin. Dress me in cotton, which I used to wear. Scatter my ashes on the flower garden of the hut where I used to live." In accordance with his will, a simple cremation rite was held at Songgwangsa in Suncheon on March 13. There was no decorated bier or elegies, but thousands of people from all over the country gathered to bid farewell.