Forbidden Temple chooses not to open after internal controversy

▲ This photo, shows the grounds of the Bongamsa Temple. (Yonhap)

▲ This photo, shows Monk Jinbeom of Bongamsa Temple. He said, "Bongamsa Temple will not be opened. After it was advertised that the temple was going to open, people (inside Bongamsa Temple) were panicking." (Yonhap)

SEOUL, Apr. 20 (Yonhap) -- Bongamsa Temple, a special monastery of the Jogye Order, which has not allowed to visit by the general public, was supposed to give the participants of the "Ganhwaseon Daebeophwe" a pilgrimage to the grounds to commemorate the opening of the World Meditation Village, but was withdrawn due to internal controversy.

According to the Bongamsa Temple on the 20th, Bongamsa Temple was designated as a special monastery by the Jogye Order in 1982. During that time, Huiyangsan Mountain in North Chungcheong province, where the Bongamsa Temple is located was about to be designated as a national park when the government designated the area around Songnisan Mountain in Boeun, North Chungcheong province where Temple de Beopju is located, as a national park.

Bongamsa protested against this plan, so they declared a "ban on entry" from the area of the site owned from the temple to the summit of the Huiyangsan mountain. From then on, the entry to the site has been strictly controlled with only those associating with the Bongamsa temple being allowed to enter.

In 1984, Jogye Order decided to use this place for the movement for promoting Zen Buddhism.

Bongamsa Temple was found about 1,100 years ago by monk Jijeung during the time of King Heongang of Silla. As much as many monks including Taego Bou has devoted themselves to this place, it has a deep history as a Buddhist Temple.

It is also the place where monks including Seongcheol and others started the "Bongamsa association"under the banner of "living like the Buddha's dharma" in 1947 right after liberation.

Today, this is still the place where many monks from all over South Korea gather for the three-month training period, even when Buddhism is said to be in crisis these days.

During Haan-geo and Dongan-geo (In Korean Buddhism, vassa is held two times, summer and winter), about 80 monks devote themselves to this place and during Sancheol, the duration between the two vassa, around 40 monks guide the temple.

Bongamsa Temple has opened to the public only once a year on "Buddha's Birthday," to celebrate the birth of Gautama Buddha. Other than this day, the door to Bongamsa Temple is closed.

Bongamsa Temple is said to have agreed on the request for an opportunity of pilgrimage when the World Meditation Village that is located on the site of a nearby temple held a "Ganhwaseon Daebeophwe" to commemorate the opening of the temple.

However, as this news was spread through the media, a controversy arouse internally, and changed their decision to close the entrance of the temple.

"The Bongamsa Temple will not be opened. It has been internally decided," said Monk Jinbeom of Bongamsa Temple in a meeting with the reporters the day before. "After it was advertised that the temple was going to open, people (inside Bongamsa Temple) were panicking."

He continued. "I feel sorry for the people visiting the Meditation village, and it really hurts my heart that Buddhists can't come inside the temple."

Although Bongamsa Temple is not opening as planned, it is conveyed that the temple will do their best to cooperate so that the Meditation Village runs well.

"Bongamsa Temple and the World Meditation Village are indivisible like this," said Monk Jinbeom. "As much as it is happening on the same land of (Bongamsa Temple), we will need to work together and cooperate. Broadly speaking, all of this is Buddha's work anyways."

(This article is translated from Korean to English by Haemin Kim.) 

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