Non-attachment - Ven. Dr. Thich Thien-An

Ven. Dr. Thich Thien-An

One of the most important teachings of Zen Buddhism is non-attachment. The teaching of non-attachment may be easy to understand, but it is not easy to practice. Nevertheless, it is very essential to cultivate non-attachment if we are to live a serene and happy life in a world of constant change; for this reason it is introduced here. Our world is a world of desire. Every living being comes forth from desire and endures as a combination of desires. We are born from the desire between of our father and mother. Then, when we emerge into this world, we become infatuated with many things, and become ourselves well-springs of desire. 


Through desire we give rise to attachments. For every desire there is a corresponding attachment, namely, to the object of desire. For example, we are most conspicuously attached to our bodies. When someone threatens the body, we grow anxious and try to protect it. We relish physical comforts and the enjoyment of the senses. Thus, we are strongly attached to the body. But if we consider this attachment, we will see that it is a potential source of suffering. For the body is constantly changing. We wish we could remain alive forever, but moment after moment the body is passing from youth to old age, from life to death. We may be happy when we are young and strong, but we contemplate sickness, old age and the ever present threat of death, anxiety overwhelms us. Thus, we seek to elude the inevitable by evading the thought of it. 


The lust for life and fear of death are forms of attachment. We are attached not only to our bodies but also to our possessions. We continually weave a net of clinging around our clothes, or car, our house and our wealth. We loath to part with these things and always try to accumulate more of them. We are also attached to memories concerning the past or anticipations of the future. Many people write diaries because they cannot part with their experiences, but wish to preserve them in such a form that they can always recollect them. When explorers climb a high mountain peak, what do they do? They leave their name on a rock trees. When the astronauts landed on the moon, they left their footprints ant the American flag. These attachments are based on the egocentric point of view, with its offspring, the notions of ‘me’ and ‘mine’. Even spiritual experiences may become objects of attachment. Through meditation we may gain some unusual experience or even satori; then we become attached to these attainments. This is another form of attachment. 


Zen Buddhism teaches us to extinguish attachment in order that we may discover the state of absolute freedom which is rightfully ours. The path to freedom is difficult to follow, but if we have sufficient determination, we can do it. The Zen teaching of non-attachment is very similar to the teaching of Taoism. The Tao Te Ching an ancient Taoist classic says: “When the sage walks, he leaves no footprints behind.” What does this mean? It does not mean that when the Taoist sage goes for a walk one would never be able to find the imprints of his feet on the ground. The sage is human like us, and so he has footprints. What the statement means is that in his journey through life the sage leaves no traces of desire and attachment clinging to him as he lives from moment to moment. Life is following, always changing, and the sage never looks back to the moment which has sped by, nor does he look forward to the moment which lies ahead. Rather, he lives in the present, flowing along in harmony with the rhythm of life, appreciating each moment for what it is worth and allowing it to pass on quickly to be replaced by the next. 


The Greek philosopher Heraclitus said that nobody can step into the same river twice. We may think that the river we step into tomorrow is the same river we stepped into today, but this is just an illusion. The river is always flowing along, so we can never step into the same water twice. Another saying famous in the West holds: “Nobody can say that today I live, and tomorrow I will live.” In our minds we may have plans not only for tomorrow but for next year, and for ten years in the future, but no one can be certain that he will even live through the night. Recognizing the radical impermanence of life, Zen Buddhism suggests that we should not be too strongly attached to life, for if we are, we will find ourselves buffeted against the sharp rocks of change. Instead of living in the past and future, we should learn to live in the present as fully as possible. This moment, at least, we are alive, while we cannot be sure we will be alive tomorrow. 


The secret of non-attachment is revealed in the philosophy of Chuang-Tzu, the great Taoist sage. According to Chuang-Tzu, life and death are two sides of the same coin, so there is no reason to be attached to life and afraid of death. As Chuang-Tzu says in a poem: 


There is the globe, 
The foundation of my bodily existence. 
It wears me out with work and duties, 
It gives me rest in old age, 
It gives me peace in death. 
For the one who supplied me 
with what I needed in life, 
Will also give me what I need in death. 


When Chuang-Tzu’s wife died, his friend the philosopher Hui Shih went to his house to console him and found him not weeping and wailing as one might aspect, but laughing and singing. Asked how he could be so ungrateful to his wife, the sage replied: “When she has just died, I could not help being affected. Soon, however, I examined the matter from the very beginning. At the very beginning, she was not living, having no form, not even substance. But somehow or rather, there was then her substance, then her form and then her life. Now by a further change, she has died. The whole process is like the sequence of the four seasons – spring, summer, autumn and winter. While she is thus lying in the great mansion of the universe, for me to go about weeping and wailing would be to proclaim myself ignorant of the natural laws. Therefore I stop.” 


From this story we learn that the key to happiness is non-attachment, and the secret of non-attachment is right understanding. If we cling to the desire for things to be permanent, then we will develop strong attachments, and because of attachment we will suffer. This is the second of the Four Noble Truths taught by the Buddha in the first sermon after his Enlightenment: “All suffering arises from desire.” As a consequence, if we recognize rightly that all phenomena are subject to change and transformation, and then there will be no room in our hearts for fear and worry. We can accept anything, even death, with a peaceful, cheerful mind. The accomplished Zen man and woman can face all the vicissitudes of life and death without fear. 


There are some Zen masters who know the time of their death several days in advance. When their time for departure comes, they gather their disciples together, give them final instructions and a gatha embodying the essence of their teaching and then quietly pass away, often sitting in the lotus posture. One Vietnamese Zen master named Tran-Nhan-Ton left the following gatha for his disciples at the time of his death: 


All things have no beginning; 
All things are without cessation; 
If you understand this, 
All the Buddhas are there. 
So how can there be any coming and going? 


The spirit of non-attachment is beautifully illustrated by the life of the life of the Buddha. When he was still a prince, married to a lovely wife and the heir to his father’s throne, what did he do? He renounced his family, wealth and power and fled to the mountains to meditate upon the way of truth. After his Enlightenment, the Buddha continued to exhibit the attitude of non-attachment. Whereas most of the founders of other religions have claimed themselves to be the way, the light and the truth, the Buddha claimed to be the man who points the way. The Buddha is the wayfarer, the supremely enlightened guide along the path leading to the truth, but he does not claim to be himself the path of the truth. This is a very humble attitude, is it not? Since it is a man who shows the way, there can be many ways which men may follow. 


Therefore we find a great deal of freedom and tolerance in Buddhism. The path which is right for one man may not be right for another. There are 84,000 Dharma-doors that lead into the inner chambers of the Awakened Mind, and every Buddhist is free to practice those Dharma-doors he feels are best suited to himself. We find in the same spirit that Buddhists are not too attached to their own particular beliefs, even when they accept them with deep faith. In this respect, they follow the advice of the Buddha, who urged his disciples not to become angry when others spoke critically of his teachings and not to become elated when others spoke in praise of it, but to maintain an equal, open mind in the face of both criticism and praise. For forty-nine years the Buddha wandered over India preaching his doctrine and instructing disciples, yet on the last day of his life he could say: “In these forty-nine years I have not said a single word.” Why did he say this? Because he did not want his disciples to become attached to his teaching. He wanted them to practice the teaching and realize the truth for themselves rather than grasp upon his own verbal and conceptual formulations of the truth. 


He compared his doctrine to a raft which is used to cross from his shore of ignorance and suffering to the other shore of Enlightenment and Nirvana. The raft is to be used rather than carried around on the head, just as the Dharma is to be practiced and realized rather than merely studied. In Japanese Buddhism a Buddhist monk is usually called un shui. Un means cloud and shui means water, so a monk is a ‘cloud and water’ man. Why is he called so? Clouds are fleeting and insubstantial, and water is constantly flowing. So the Buddhist monk is to be like clouds and water, wandering from place to place to help and to teach people without abiding anywhere permanently. He has no attachment to anything and to no property. In Theravada Buddhism a monk owns just three robes, a bowl, a razor and some small utensils. The purpose of this is to eliminate attachment. The Buddhist sits loose and travels light. While we may feel that it is possible to own many things without being attached to them, still it is easier to be unattached with few possessions. Therefore, a Buddhist monk is not supposed to own more than what he needs. He is supposed to rise above all attachments, not only to his personal possessions, but to nation and family as well. A Buddhist monk does not think that only a particular group of people related to him by blood is his family or that a particular country is his nation. 


He regards all sentient beings as his family and every place as his home. He is a universal man devoted to the welfare and the happiness of the whole world. The role of non-attachment in Zen Buddhism is very far-reaching. In fact, it may be said that the aim of Zen is to root out each and every point of attachment until there is not even a speck of dust left for the mind to grasp. This means that not only such coarse forms of attachment as the passions and desires must be left behind, but also the more subtle threads of intellectual attachment. Even such notions as Buddhahood, Nirvana and Enlightenment must be pulverized and scattered to the winds until only the Void remains, and even that must be cast away. This is the meaning of the Middle Way – the Way that rises above the duality of ‘this’ and ‘that’. As long as one bears the concept of Nirvana or Enlightenment in mind, that concept is a barrier to his meditation. For this reason some Zen masters teach their students: “When you meditate do not wish to become a Buddha.” Why do they say this? Because if one wishes to become a Buddha, then he is attached to the notion of Buddhahood. He makes Buddhahood an object and himself a subject, thereby constructing a false dualism once again. We must let go of everything, high and low, exalted and debased, pure and impure, existent and non-existent and the mind will become calm and pure by itself. From this calm, pure mind we can begin to cultivate the wisdom that will grow into Buddhahood. 


When we cease to discriminate between subject and object, the two become one and we find that from the beginning our very mind is the Buddha. All men seek happiness. It is a universal trait of human nature. But men differ very much in their views about how happiness is to be achieved. One Vietnamese Buddhist writer compares happiness to a butterfly. He says: “Happiness is something very beautiful, just like a butterfly. On warm summer days the butterfly darts back and forth above the green grass and the colorful flowers, looking very beautiful. But one must not try to catch it, for when the butterfly is caught in the hand, it becomes no more than an insect.” This means that we should let happiness come and go just like a butterfly. When it comes, we should just enjoy it and not try to grasp after it. And when it goes, we should watch it go calmly and peacefully; then it will come back again. If we try to grasp happiness and hold on to it forever, it will die in our hands. We must let its beauty come and go and enjoy it while it lasts. That is the way of life and the meaning of life too. This is the way of non-attachment. This concept of non-attachment in Zen Buddhism is revealed in a short poem by a Vietnamese Zen master: 


Swallows fly in the sky, 
The water reflects their images. 
The swallows leave no traces, 
Nor does the water retain their images. 


METHOD OF PRACTICE 


A common method to help the student lessen his attachment is the koan method of Rinzai Zen. The koan is a philosophical topic given to a Zen student for meditation by the Zen master. It may consist of a single word, a phrase, a sentence or a short passage. A most famous koan is called “the sound of one hand clapping.” Everybody knows what the sound of two hands clapping is like, but what it the sound of one hand clapping? That is the koan. The student meditates on it until he can hear the sound of one hand clapping. Many of us have heard the sound of silence. If we can hear that sound, then we can hear the sound of one hand clapping also. This koan does not stop with hearing of not hearing, but goes further. If we can hear the sound of one hand, why can we hear it, and how can we hear it? If not, why not? Where does the sound come from, and where does it go? What is the nature of the sound, and what is the nature of the sound, and what is the nature of hearing? If their koan is solved, the meditator may consider that he has experienced kensho. 


Source: Zen Philosophy, Zen Practice, Dharma Publishing, College of Oriental Studies, 1975, PP104-112.

Karmic Connections from the Past

Ven. Dr. Ananda, Ven. Dr. Thich Thien An, Zen Master Seung Sahn, Maezumi Roshi and Kozan Roshi.

We have recently taken over the operations of the Buddhist Studies Institute – Los Angeles from its previous parent organization the International Buddhist Meditation Center. The Buddhist Studies Institute - Los Angeles was founded in 1973 by Venerable Dr. Thich Thien-an as the International Buddhist Training Institute, at the International Buddhist Meditation Center in Los Angeles, California. As an autonomous division of the University of Oriental Studies, the International Buddhist Training Institute was conceived with the specified purpose of offering Western style seminary training to Buddhist Monastics from around the world, whilst not neglecting the inherent experiential nature of Buddhist monastic training, in favor of secularly slanted academia.

  

Following the passing of Ven. Dr. Thich Thien-An in 1980, the University of Oriental Studies suspended its classes, and the International Buddhist Training Institute was consequently reorganized in September of 1983 as the College of Buddhist Studies - Los Angeles under the leadership of Ven. Dr. Havanpola Ratanasara and Ven. Dr. Karuna Dharma (a.k.a. Thich An Tu).

In November of 2004, Ven. Dr. Karuna Dharma charged Ven. Dr. Kelsang Chitta Karuna with restructuring the program as the Buddhist Studies Institute – Los Angeles, transitioning the program into a primarily online educational facility. Moving beyond the confines of a brick and mortar institution, BSI-LA now provides accessibility to a greater number of students from around the world, whilst carrying on the original mission and vision of Ven. Dr. Thich Thien-An.

In the course of some research to bring to life some the history of this Buddhist University, I discovered that the founding President of the University was a man by the name of Leo M. Pruden, PhD. That name seemed somehow vaguely familiar to me so I began to do some research.

News From The Dharma Realm

Scholar and Translator

In January the Sino-American Buddhist Association had the opportunity to welcome Leo M. Pruden, Professor of Religious Studies at Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, to Gold Mountain Monastery.  Professor Pruden was accompanied by Mr. Lee Haeng-won (Zen Master Seung Sahn) with whom he is currently sponsoring the Providence Zen Center, an organization which is introducing Buddhist to the East Coast. Professor Pruden has traveled widely and studied in Asia, and is very much concerned with the translation of Buddhist scriptural material from Asian languages into English.

On a recent trip to the West Coast he stopped in San Francisco to visit Gold Mountain and pay his respects to the Venerable Abbot and members of the Sangha. He looked into the Monastery’s varied and intense schedule of activities, and discussed the importance of cooperation among the Sangha and lay community, regardless of nationality or sectarian affiliations, in order that the Buddhadharma might flourish. Professor Pruden praised the work being done by the Association, especially the Vajra Bodhi Sea Publication Society, and said that he hoped scholars of the Sangha and lay community can work together on translation projects in the future so that the Buddha's teachings might be quickly and accurately brought to the West.

Then I came across this article.

Seung Sahn Sunim came to America in 1972 at the invitation of Yu Young Soo, a friend and Dong Guk University alumnus. He started Zen teaching in Kingston, Mass. to a group of college students whom Professor Jong Sun Kim brought. The number of followers grew and he soon moved to Providence, Rhode Island. On October 10, 1972, he established the first Providence Zen Center and the KBC (Korean Buddhist Chogye Order) Hong Poep Won in Providence. This organization oversaw Buddhist groups under his direction. Chung Jung Dahn Sunim joined him briefly in Providence. He met Dr. Leo Pruden at Brown University, who came to his aid and provided the translation for his Dharma talks. By 1975 three other Zen centers were established in New York, Cambridge and New Haven all under his leadership. By 1979, five more Zen centers had formed under his direction.

Then on the Wiki Page for the Providence Zen Center.

The Providence Zen Center was established by Seung Sahn in October 1972 on Doyle Avenue in Providence, Rhode Island as the first practice center for his American students. The center came to be after Brown University professor Leo Pruden had invited Seung Sahn to give talks on Buddhism at the university, with several of the students thereafter coming to him for teachings. After relocating in 1974 to 48 Hope Street, the PZC came into possession of a 50-acre (200,000 m2) plot of land in 1978 located in Cumberland, Rhode Island.

I always knew there was a connection between Dr. Thich Thien-an and Zen Master Seung Sahn, but I never understood the valuable link that Dr. Pruden had played in helping Seung Sahn create the beginnings of the Kwan Um School of Zen and in helping Dr. Thien-an start the Buddhist Studies Institute. In addition, all of this was occurring at the same time.

There are so many deep-seated connections between all these initial pioneers of the Dharma that it may take many many years to discover their true depth. I only know that there were a lot more interactions between sanghas back then than there are today.

Dr. Thich Thien-an, Zen Master Seung Sahn and Maezumi Roshi

Kong-an Blues

Zen Master Seung Sahn and Zen Master Su Bong in Korea

(from Dropping ashes on the Buddha) 

March 4, 1975

Dear Soen-sa-nim,

Enclosed you will find an assortment of letters I have written and never mailed to you, so here they are. My practice is I don't know what. It is neither good nor bad, I guess, but still I don't know what. It seems I don't know what about anything, which seems different from I don't know what.

Tell me about shakuhachi practice. It is my ego that wants to play well. How can I just play? As I watch my playing I sense today that all things are like those music notes on the page. It says: move third finger. How can I learn to live each moment as when each note directs me and fulfill that request as best I can? I don't really know what I am saying but I must write you and I hope I mail these letters to you.

See Hoy (aka: Zen Master Su Bong)

March 5, 1975

Dear Soen-sa-nim,

I am very confused. Since you are not here I go to sit with Venerable Hearn and sometimes Dr. Thien-An. Venerable Hearn is here only once a week for dokusan and will be leaving for the Asian countries at the end of the month. Once, soon after you went to Providence, I went to visit with Roshi Kozan Kimura. Here are a list of kong-ans given to me:

From you: "What am I?"

"Why does Bodhidharma have no beard?"

From Venerable Hearn: "What is the sound of the flute with no holes?'' One day he said to me, "Now show me your understanding of this," and gave me the kong-an, "Can you drive a nail without a hammer?"

Dr. Thien-An: "Where do you find Buddha-nature?"

My answer: "Galloping through, it is all around. How could it leave a trace?"

He said: "Go work on it some more."

Kimura Roshi said I should decide on one Master. I told him you were not here. He told me I should follow you around and go to Providence. He said he likes me to come and sit Zen with them but would not give me dokusan lest he interfere with another's kong-an. Last night I went to sit with him and had no dokusan. Tonight I went to sit and went to dokusan. He said I should only work on one kong-an and asked me to meditate on "When were you born?" After all others were finished with dokusan, I went back and answered with, "Since there is no trace, how should I know?" We then talked and he asked me what other kong-ans I had and which I worked on. I told him I work most on "What am I?" He said it is too hard for beginners and I should work on "When were you born?"

Please advise me, because when I sit Zen I can only ask -rather, I like only to ask-"What am I?" and even at other times only "What am I?" I do not know what to do. Shall I just go and sit with Kozan but have no dokusan? Shall I come to Providence? But here I have so many attachments and even to you attachment.

Sometimes I remember you asking "What am I?" and can even get angry with you for giving me such a thing. Even now I am attached to "What am I?" and the thought

of "When was I born?" makes me want to vomit, because all these things are puzzling my head. I will sit more zazen tonight and only think "What am I?" Please help me because I think only you can take "What am I?" back.

Please answer me soon, but you probably won't, huh? Anyway, I'd like to tell you to go fuck yourself.

Respectfully, and hope to see you soon,

See Hoy (aka: Zen Master Su Bong)

March 22, 1975

Dear See Hoy,

Thank you for your two letters. I have been in New York since the beginning of the month, so I didn't receive them until a few days ago. That's why my answer is so late. I am sorry.

You say that you don't know what your practice is, that you don't know anything. But then you say that you are confused. If you keep a complete don't-know mind, how can confusion appear? Complete don't-know mind means cutting off all thinking. Cutting off all thinking means true emptiness. In true emptiness, there is no I to be confused and nothing to be confused about. True emptiness is before thinking. Before thinking, everything does not appear and does not disappear. So the truth is just like this. Red comes, there is red; white comes, there is white. When you close all the holes of the shakuhachi, there is no sound; when the holes are open, there is a high sound. Only like this. The shakuhachi is a very good teacher for you. If you don't understand, just ask the shakuhachi. Just enter the sound of the shakuhachi, and the shakuhachi will explain to you what enlightenment is.

Dr. Thien-An, Song Ryong Hearn, and Kimura Roshi are all good teachers. I think you can take your questions and problems to any of them and they will teach you well. You have many kong-ans. But a kong-an is like a finger pointing at the moon. If you are attached to the finger, you don't understand the direction, so you cannot see the moon. If you are not attached to any kong-an, then you will understand the direction. The direction is the complete don't know mind. The name for "like this" is "don't know." If you understand "don't know," you will understand all kong-ans

and you will soon understand "like this."

You have many problems in your kong-an work. "What am I?" -do you understand this? Your answer is, "I don't know." "When were you born?"-do you understand this? Your answer is also, "I don't know." If you are not attached to words, the don't-know mind is the same. All kong-ans become the same don't-know mind. Your don't-know mind, my don't-know mind, all people's don't-know minds, the "What am I?" don't-know mind, the "When was I born?" don't-know mind-all these are the same don't-know. So it is very easy. Only keep don't-know. Don't be attached to words. This don't-know is your true self. It is nothing at all. It is very easy, not difficult.

So you must keep only don't-know, always and everywhere. Then you will soon get enlightenment. But be very careful not to want enlightenment. Only keep don't-know mind.

Your situation, your condition, your opinions-throw them all away.

I think it would be very good for you to learn with Kimura Roshi. I hope you also listen to what your shakuhachi is teaching you and soon get enlightenment. At the end of your letter you say, "Go fuck yourself." These are wonderful words that you have given me, and I thank you very much. If you attain enlightenment, I will give them back to you.

Sincerely yours,

SS

A Five Mountain Update

Buddhist Seminaries in Korea (Kangwŏn) offer students both basic and advanced education in the Dharma as well as in the Sutras (Kyo), Kangwŏn students must also work their Kyo Teacher to resolve any misunderstanding that may appear in their understanding of the doctrine. 

Likewise, meditation practice is done in the meditation hall as well as the work in the fields and the temple, all in conjunction with face-to-face meetings with their Sŏn Teacher (K. Sŏnwŏn).

One is not to be perceived as superior to the other; they are merely similar paths leading to the same aspiration of discovering the great “I” (Daea) that is earned through awakening to liberate the small “I” (Soa) outside of our thinking life. 

Some in Korea practice Kānhuà Chán, others keep a single Huàtóu, while some follow the scholarly path of Sutra or Huáyán study, while those with a bent towards service lean towards the Pure Land practices of engaged community practice. Why should we place any of these above the other? I don’t know. Therefore we do not do this in our order.   

There is obviously a lot of cross-fertilization going on in Korean Buddhism, which has been guided by the brilliance and insight of Sŏn Master Jinul who founded the Jogye Order over nine hundred years ago. The diversity of Korean practice transcends many other forms of Buddhist Practice by allowing Pure Land, Sutra Study, Huáyán Study, and Zen to co-exist in each and every temple.

Diversity lies at the heart and soul of the Five Mountain Zen Order, and we aspire to follow in the path of those great innovators who have gone before us. As my teacher always said, “soft is always better, as water wears away granite even though it is the most yielding substance in the universe.” It does not mean there is no commitment to a path or direction; it simply means that we do not have to all try to wake up in the same way.

We will get shit from the puritans out there, as we have continued to all along. However, I have practiced long enough to realize that I do not have to pay attention to the flies that buzz about sometimes during practice. They too can be great teachers of how not to act in the world.  Seung Sahn often quoted Bojo Jinul, “Your evil tongue will lead you to ruin, keep the stopper in the bottle.” As Laozi said, “if you seek for the approval of others, you become their prisoner.” The test is how clear are those in the organization, and I stand by my students and their wisdom and insight.

South Korea's Buddhists monks tackle modern challenges

By Lucy Williamson, BBC, 27 June 2012
South Korea's Buddhists monks tackle modern challenges

Seoul, South Korea -- Sitting in the study at Seoul's main Jogyesa Temple, the Venerable Sungjin wraps his wide grey tunic around him, as his round face cracks into a broad smile.

South Korean Buddhists march with lanterns during the Lotus Lantern Festival in downtown Seoul, 19 May 2012 Buddhist communities have been holding events to try to engage the public

Twenty years ago, he tells me, he was a student activist in South Korea's turbulent new democracy. Running from police one day after a demonstration, he took refuge in a temple, and began chatting to the Zen master there.

The rest, as they say, is history: Ven Sungjin is now head of administration at the Jogyesa Temple.

But the question of why people become monks is a pertinent one in South Korea at the moment.

Last month, the country's main Jogye Order was hit by scandal after video footage showed several of its monks drinking, smoking and gambling in a hotel bedroom.

It was a PR disaster for South Korea's ancient national religion, already struggling to remain relevant in the face of thriving Christianity and capitalism.

Allegations of un-Buddhist-like behaviour - gambling, corruption, even paying for sex - have circled the Joyge Order, fuelled by internal divisions over the organisation's leadership.

The man who leaked the recent video footage, Ven Seongho, told me the order was like "a patient with cancer - it's about to die, and we don't have the doctors who can fix it".

Many South Koreans dismiss that as hyperbole. But the recent scandal has raised new questions about the role Buddhist monks play in modern-day Korea.

Interest declining

In an age of sex, smartphones and social freedoms, what motivates people to give up many of life's pleasures and spend their lives isolated from the world in quiet contemplation?

"There's usually a moment," the smiling, accidental Ven Sungjin told me. "A turning point, when someone decides to become a monk.

"It could be house burning down, the death of a loved one. A moment when they realise that nothing lasts forever. It's a very personal response."

But, he says, the number of people making that choice has declined.

"Compared to when I became a monk," he said, "there's been a reduction of maybe 50-70% in people coming in."

"I mean, look at this!" He holds up his bat-like sleeves.

"When life is so convenient, when there's so much to enjoy in modern life, why would you want to shave your head, wear clothes like this, and spend time with a 70-year-old Zen master in the mountains?"

Ven Sungjin spend ten years meditating in a temple in South Korea's mountains, before moving to Seoul.

"Few want to bear the great responsibility of being a monk," he says, "when even the smallest mistakes have huge consequences."

Korea's Buddhist monks sign up for life - something that can create added pressures, says Ven Daejin, an American who's lived here as a monk for almost 30 years.

"People have a different attitude about Buddhism in Korea," he told me. "For example, in Thailand, you can go to be a monk for 3-6 months, and then return to society. But in Korea it's not that simple. Korean people believe you have to give your life to it. So when they see monks squabbling over petty things, they feel sad."

'Feisty'

As a result of the recent scandal, the leaders of the Jogye Order announced 100 days of repentance, and a series of reforms designed to bar monks from running the financial or day-to-day affairs of temples without help.

Bringing in financial advisors to do the accounts, they said, would not only prevent wrong-doing, but would confine the monks to their key tasks of meditation and spiritual practice.

But it's not the first time scandal has hit South Korea's main Buddhist order. Just over a decade ago, TV pictures showed monks rioting in Seoul, over internal conflicts within the order itself.

I asked the American Ven  Daejin  whether Korean monks' reputation for being a bit hot-blooded was deserved.

"They are a bit feisty," he said. "And part of that reputation is that they're willing to fight for what they believe is truly good, and helps the Korean people. But of course if things like this recent scandal carry on, they'll lose that good image."

During earlier Japanese and Chinese invasions of Korea, the monks came out of their monasteries to fight the invaders. But with no military invasion to head off in 21st century South Korea, how does a closeted, meditative order remain relevant now?

"I think it's facing a challenge," says  Daejin , "because Buddhism is trying to satisfy a need for scientific learning. But trying to adjust the needs of Buddhism to the needs of this age is not so easy."

There have been attempts, he says, to combine Buddhist teaching with counselling, and to hold street festivals and cultural events to engage the public.

But he says, at the same time "we as monks have to recognise that not everyone's ready to live like we do. And it's the monastic mind that's very interesting to a lot of people."

Ven Sungjin agrees. Buddhism was banned and repressed in Korea for centuries, and it still survived, he said.

"The decision to become a monk isn't something that can be blown off course too easily," he says. It's about wanting to fill the empty mind.

And for someone to be affected by the recent events? "I don't think they would have been willing to take that decision in the first place."