Just in Case you thought that Only we in the West have Issues

Infighting at Somang Church and Bongeun Temple

A fistfight and allegations of political interference have led both groups to call for resignations of their respective leaders

By Lim Ji-sun “Reverend Kim Jie-chul, step down!” This was the chant of around ten elders gathered at the chapel of the second Somang Church education building in Seoul’s Gangnam District around 9 p.m. Wednesday. Somang is a megachurch that President Lee Myung-bak also attends, and from which many of his appointments are made. That day marked the holding of the first church session since a violent incident on Jan. 2 between head Pastor Kim Jie-chul and two vice pastors. The church session, a conference in which the church’s pastors and elders gather to handle important matters, was supposed to be held on Jan. 5, but was delayed because of the incident. Kim, who has avoided the press since the incident, said that he was “sorry to have shocked the church session members, believers, and Korean churches and society due to a violent incident that took place within the church at the beginning of the new year.” In response, elder Gang Sam-hong stood up and delivered a statement on behalf of “all praying elders” in which he charged that “the head pastor issues improper orders to vice pastors and forces them to fall in line.” “He must take responsibility for this situation,” he continued. Around ten elders stood up and repeated chants demanding the head pastor’s resignation, after which they departed the meeting. The session resumed around twenty minutes later. Kim said that day that believers had requested suspensions and bars to church access for the two vice pastors who caused the violent incident at the Korean Presbyterian Church and submitted that request for a vote. However, no vote took place due to objections from the congregation. “Venerable Jinwha, head of Bongeun Temple and Jaseung must step down immediately!” Members of the Laypeople’s Association, a believers’ group at Bongeun Temple in Seoul’s Gangnam District, distributed 700 copies of a statement at 1 p.m. Thursday. In it, they said that “the designation of Bongeun Temple as subject to direct management and the departure of Venerable Myeongjin are lamentable actions that sell out all believers.” “Secretary-general of the Jogye Order Jaseung and Venerable Jinwha, who now seeks to gag believers, must step down,” the statement said. The calls from Buddhists grew fiercer after Bongeun Temple shut down its web site on Feb. 11. The temple explained that it was a “temporary suspension of service due to reorganization work,” but believers countered that “the unilateral closure of a Buddhists’ forum for communication is an attempt to shut their eyes, ears, and mouths." After the objections from believers grew more strenuous, the temple partially resumed service for the web site Friday morning. However, posts from prior to Thursday criticizing management of the temple by its head monk had been deleted in their entirety. Bongeun Temple announced that it would “delete writings that damage the harmony and order of Bongeun Temple” from the new bulletin board. In response, a Laypeople’s Association member said, “Ever since Venerable Jinhwa arrived as head monk, people who were close to Venerable Myeongjin have been shut out of the temple’s operation.” “If the biased operation of the temple continues, we will wage a campaign for the head monk’s resignation and a refusal to make offerings,” the member added. A previous scandal unfolded around Bongeun Temple among allegations that then-GNP floor leader Ahn Sang-soo (now chairman) placed outside pressure on a Buddhist leader to put the Bongeun Temple under the direct management of the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism. Bongeun Temple, located in the wealthy Gangnam District, was previously led by Venerable Myeongjin, an outspoken critic of the Lee administration. The scandal abruptly subsided with the sinking of the Cheonan. Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]

Sexy Sadie is Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

Considering the recent bevy of posts regarding Spiritual Teachers and impropriety I came across an interesting bit of info that up until now I was not aware of. "Sexy Sadie" is the name of a song by The Beatles, written by John Lennon in India and credited to Lennon/McCartney. Lennon originally wanted to title the song "Maharishi", but the Beatles changed the title to "Sexy Sadie" at George Harrison's request. Lennon was disillusioned after Maharishi Mahesh Yogi had allegedly made a sexual advance at one of the female members attending the course Maharishi was teaching at his ashram. Harrison, Paul McCartney, and Cynthia Lennon later said that they thought the story, which had come from Alexis Mardas, had been fabricated. Lennon once said of the song: "That was inspired by Maharishi. I wrote it when we had our bags packed and were leaving. It was the last piece I wrote before I left India. I just called him, 'Sexy Sadie,' instead of 'Maharishi what have you done, you made a fool...' I was just using the situation to write a song, rather calculatingly but also to express what I felt. I was leaving the Maharishi with a bad taste. You know, it seems that my partings are always not as nice as I'd like them to be."

After returning from India, Lennon scratched the lyrics into a piece of wood, with the original title "Maharishi". The recorded version changed only after Harrison insisted that if the song was used he wanted the name changed and persuaded Lennon to change the title to "Sexy Sadie". Harrison recounts the event in the directors cut of the anthology film. Derek Taylor remembered Lennon fiddling about scratching the wood in the Apple offices. The wood ended up in the possession of Maureen Starkey and was ultimately sold to a Beatles collector.

Sexy Sadie what have you done

You made a fool of everyone

You made a fool of everyone

Sexy Sadie ooh what have you done.

Sexy Sadie you broke the rules

You layed it down for all to see

You layed it down for all to see

Sexy Sadie oooh you broke the rules.

One sunny day the world was waiting for a lover

She came along to turn on everyone

Sexy Sadie the greatest of them all.

Sexy Sadie how did you know

The world was waiting just for you

The world was waiting just for you

Sexy Sadie oooh how did you know.

Sexy Sadie you'll get yours yet

However big you think you are

However big you think you are

Sexy Sadie oooh you'll get yours yet.

We gave her everything we owned just to sit at her table

Just a smile would lighten everything

Sexy Sadie she's the latest and the greatest of them all.

She made a fool of everyone

Sexy Sadie.

However big you think you are

Sexy Sadie.

Korean Buddhist monk vanishes in faith crisis

Venerable Su Kyung after finishing a pilgrimage

By John Choi, Seoul

A leading Buddhist environmentalist and monk has disappeared after leaving a note describing a crisis of faith.

Venerable Su Kyung, head monk at theHwagyesa Temple, Seoul, and one of the country’s best known environmental activists, left the temple on June 14. His whereabouts are still unknown and his mobile phone and email accounts are closed.

The monk left a letter behind at the temple, which is Korea’s foremost Zen Buddhist center. In his letter, he vowed to follow a purely spiritual life and renounced all his titles, both Buddhist and secular: his position as head monk at the temple, his membership of the Buddhist Jogye order and his presidency of the Buddhist Environmental Solidarity.

He said he was deeply affected by the death of a colleague, Venerable Munsu, who immolated himself in protest at the government’s controversial Four Rivers project last month.

“After Munsu’s offering,” he wrote, “I could see my problem clearly. I’m afraid of death and I cannot solve the riddle of my life and death. As a Zen Buddhist, how can I live like this?”

He also lamented his years in the environmental movement, saying they were too much concerned with the pursuit of power. “I cannot live the hypocritical life of a respected monk,” he said.

“It’s a pity he is not with us now, while there is such a strong wave against the river project,” said Myeong Gye-hwan, of the Buddhist Solidarity. “We will try even harder to save the life of the rivers, following his will,” he added.

Venerable Su Kyung was appointed head of the Solidarity in 2001. In 2003, he completed 310 kilometers of a “three-step-one-bow” protest against a land reclamation project.

Last year, along with with Father Paul Moon Kyu-hyon, he made a similar pilgrimage of 400 kilometers for the life and peace of South Korea.

He concluded his letter by saying that he “hoped to die on some warm winter day, while dozing beside a rock”.

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