Kānhuà Chán

Participants of the 1st International Conference on Ganhwa Seon discuss on various topics regarding the ancient Buddhist method with a room full of visitors at Dongguk University, Aug. 12. / Courtesy of Dongguk University

By Han Sang-hee

Korean Buddhism has made progress by leaps and bounds in promoting the religion to the general public through various culturally accessible projects including templestays and the annual lotus lantern festival. Yet when it comes to popularizing its methodology, it might as well have been limping along the away. 

Compared to methods based on Japanese Zen and Chinese Chan, those rooted in Korean Seon remain little known outside of Korea, despite its rich history and unique interesting contents. To overcome this lack of awareness, a recent international seminar took place to attract public attention to the ancient methods of Seon. 

Dongguk University held the 1st International Conference on Ganhwa Seon, the primary Seon method in Korea, on Aug. 12, inviting noted scholars, including Robert Sharf, distinguished professor of Buddhist Studies at the University of California, Berkeley; James Robson, associate professor at the department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations at Harvard University; Great Master Jinje, member of the Council of Elders, Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism; and Master Hyeguk, spiritual director of Geumbong Seon Center at Sukjong Temple. 

Under the title “Ganhwa Seon, Illuminating the World,” the conference included seminars, speeches and also debates by famous monks, researchers and scholars. Numerous monks and Buddhists gathered at the halls of the event venue, some with pens and memo pads in hand, while others were busy taking photos and reading booklets on Seon. 

With the exception of Robert Buswell, director of the Academy of Buddhist Studies at the university, most of the scholars have mainly studied Buddhism in China and Japan. Korean Buddhists may argue that Korea is the only place that properly practices the Ganhwa Seon Buddhism, but despite its rarity and importance in the Buddhist scene, it is unfamiliar to the rest of the world, including even the Buddhist world. 

“As a living tradition in Korean Buddhism, the technique of Ganhwa Seon is ardently debated among monastic practitioners, with a variety of independent approaches and teaching styles advocated,” Buswell said.

“Ganhwa Seon has been the subject of an ongoing initiative within the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism, which has sought to present Ganhwa Seon as a distinctively Korean Buddhist meditative tradition. For these reasons, Ganhwa Seon is an especially promising topic for scholarly examination,” he added. 

Master Hyeguk gave a speech with the title of “The Origin and Practice of Ganhwa Seon.”

“We think we have an independent, substantive self, which is also the limitation of sentient beings. The special characteristics of Ganhwa Seon are that the pathways of language are cut off and mental activity ceases; it is a special transmission outside the scriptures that has no dependence on words and letters. Ganhwa Seon helps us directly see that we are Buddhas,” he said. 
In Buddhism, unloading possessions and earthly desires are of foremost importance, and according to the Buddhist master, this is exactly what everyone should keep in mind in order to realize true happiness. 

“Eternal happiness and true peace cannot be attained by filling in what’s lacking. Only when we keep emptying ourselves until there is not even a single shed of desire will there come eternal happiness and true peace. Ganhwa Seon is not a path for gaining anything, but a path for emptying everything. It is a path to sudden awakening. Sudden enlightenment is the stage where nothing can be removed,” he said. 

Although the speeches may have been a bit long and difficult for those who are not yet acquainted to the religion, the conference marked a meaningful and interesting start, inviting famed scholars and allowing them to interact with one another to discuss ideas, share studies and come up with ways to further push Korean Seon into the international Buddhism scene. 

“Ganhwa Seon is actually not perfectly defined in Korea either. However, such an international event is necessary in exploring and further introducing it to the world,” said Chun Ock-bae, a participant of the seminar and also a researcher at the International Association for Buddhist Thought & Culture.