Buddhists Angered Over Budget Cut

By Jaeyeon Woo

After their recent heated brawls in the National Assembly, Korean lawmakers may need to find some inner peace and calm.

One way to do that in South Korea is to take part in the “Temple Stay” program, which lets locals and tourists stay over at Buddhist temples and join in such practices as meditation and tea ceremonies.

It’s open to everyone. Or at least it was before the nation’s biggest Buddhist group on Thursday banned ruling Grand National Party lawmakers from visiting their temples around the country.

Associated Press

Jogye Temple, Seoul

The Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism issued the order after the GNP cut the state budget for the Temple Stay program.

The budget, which was originally around 11 billion won but was then raised to 18.5 billion won due to strong complaints from the Buddhist group, was subsequently cut to 12.2 billion won.

In an angry statement, the Jogye Order said the move can “never be tolerated.” The group took aim at President Lee Myung-Bak, a devout Christian, for what it called his “biased religious position and distorted ideas towards the national culture.”

“We deny entry to our temples by the Lee government and GNP lawmakers,” it said.

It’s not the first time Lee has drawn heat from Buddhist groups. When he was Seoul mayor in 2004 he was criticized when video footage of him saying he would dedicate the city to God was widely circulated online.

And in 2008, Buddhists staged a protest in downtown Seoul attended by around 50,000 people and rallied against perceived religious favoritism by the government. There are roughly 10.7 million Buddhists in South Korea, about 13 percent more than Christians of 8.6 million.

However, the latest incident may yet be a storm in a teacup.

The GNP said the budget cut seems to be a “mistake,” and the party is investigating why it happened.