______________________________________________________ EUROPEAN NETWORK OF BUDDHIST CHRISTIAN STUDIES ______________________________________________________ N e t w o r k I n f o - M a g a z i n e ______________________________________________________ (c) by ENBCS June 2000 ______________________________________________________ Editors: Br. Josef Goetz : josef.ottilien@t-online.de Martin Roetting: roetting@iol.ie Internet: www.buddhist-christian-studies.org ________________________________________________________ Content ________________________________________________________ 1) Editors Note 2) Congratulations to Dr. Perry Schmidt-Leukel 3) News about the Lund-Confernce 200 4) Personal Encounter by Ven. Jinwol (Zen Master of Korean Buddhist Chogye Order) -------------------------------------------------------- 1)Editors Note -------------------------------------------------------- Dear Friends, please take my apologise that this NetworkInfo is too late, but the here it is! I was just to bussy the last weeks. The new homepageadress is www.buddist-chritsian-studies.org and will be updated soon! All the best, Yours Martin Roetting -------------------------------------------------------- 2)Congratulations to Dr. Perry Schmidt-Leukel Position: Professor of Systematic Theology -------------------------------------------------------- Congratulations to Perry!!! Since May this year Perry is Professor at the Chair of World Religions for Peace. He moved from Munich in Germany to the University of Glasgow. His Research Interests are: Theology of Religions, Inter-Faith-Studies, Christian-Buddhist Dialogue, Christian Systematic Theology in a World Religions Perspective. Address: University of Glasgow Faculty of Divinity 4 The Square Glasgow G12 8QQ United Kingdom Tel.: 0044-141-330-2501 (office) Tel./Fax: 0044-141-6330293 (home) E-mail: P.Schmidt-Leukel@arts.gla.ac.uk Congratulations and all the best to You, Perry! In the name of all friends and members of the Network, Martin :-) -------------------------------------------------------- 3) News about the Lund-Confernce 2001 -------------------------------------------------------- A the meeting next year we will finalise the programme by September 15th and distribute the programme by the end of that month. As we still are in negotiations about accommodation we plan to send out information at the same time. The programme has worked out according to plans. Aasulv lande -------------------------------------------------------- 4) Personal Encounter (by Ven. Jinwol,Zen Master of Korean Buddhist Chogye Order) -------------------------------------------------------- Personal Encounter By Ven. Jinwol (Zen Master of Korean Buddhist Chogye Order) I would like to share my experience of my pilgrimage to Buddhist-Christian dialogue. I was born in Uiwang City of the southeast part of Seoul metropolitan area. My parents were farmers and had lived in a small agricultural village where have been lived descendants of Imyong, the fourth prince of King Sejong of Choson Dynasty, Korea. The national creed of Choson had been Confucianism, contrasting with Koryo's Buddhism. Choson took over Koryo by force of the Neo-Confucian group who disliked Buddhism. Therefore this Confucian government suppressed Buddhism and other religions including Christianity which was introduced in the late Choson period. Accordingly, my family name is Lee, the same to the founding king of Choson Dynasty and I am the eighteenth generation of King Sejong, the fourth king of Choson. Sejong is known as the best king in the history of Korea. He had been a sincere and ideal Confucian but changed his religion to Buddhism after his mother and wife passed away, though his subjects severely protested his spiritual change. However, religious tradition of my family has been mainly Confucianism. Nevertheless I have been grown up without particular religious education and devotional training. When I graduated from a high school and visited Haein monastery, I wanted to stay there with special feeling as homecoming from a long journey. In fact, it was the fist time I visited there but I got a great inspiration to attain the enlightenment. Since I became a monk, I had taken the regular courses of traditional Buddhist seminary there. During the period, I worked several months as a temple guide to the Tripitaka Koreana that is recognized and designated as the cultural heritage of the world by UNESCO. Therefore, I met so many visitors including Christians who came from not only around the country but also around the world. It was my first stage to have some interreligious dialogue with Christians of monks, nuns and lay people. After I spent about six years for practice meditation at monasteries or hermitages in mountains, I came down to Seoul to share my experiences with people in the society. In 1980, concerning the youth for the future world and understanding what they study in college, I entered into Dongguk University that was established by Buddhists about a hundred years ago. In 1983, I had a chance to join a youth seminar that included a tour for various religious sites in many countries. During that tour I visited in Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Istanbul, Munhen, Rome, Assisi and other religious and cultural sites. I heard the history and culture of Christianity from guides of the monasteries, churches and sacred places including Roman Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant tradition. I saw many monks, nuns and followers of Christianity and got a good impression. From 1984 to 1986, I studied world religions at Sogang University that was founded by the Society of Jesuits. I was welcomed by Jesuits and other Christians there and used to have talks with them. I studied with the faculty of Catholic Fathers and nuns as well as Protestant professors and lecturers. I learned Christian theology and occasionally participated in their ritual services. Since I had been invited by a Korean temple in Honolulu to teach its congregation, I went to Hawaii in 1986 and spent about six years there. During that period, I met a number of Christian leaders of Korean-American. Sometimes we got together to hold religious ceremonies for the Korean community. I took the master courses of religion at the University of Hawaii, Manoa. I learned much of world religions through lectures, seminars and interfaith events there. My major advisor was Prof. David Chappell who was a Christian pastor and got Ph.D. from Yale University by his dissertation on a Chinese Buddhist master. He got nickname as a "living Bodhisattva," because of his selfless service to the Buddhist community there. He was a founding member of the Society for Buddhist-Christian Studies and known as a champion of Buddhist-Christian dialogue. The other advisor was Prof. Michael Saso who was a Jesuit and taught Buddhism and Taoism. Another was Prof. Young-ho Choi, a historian and Christian but very humble and open-minded. I remember that I took some religious seminars with Christian pastors and Catholic nuns. My MA thesis was about a work of Hyujong, a famous Korean Zen Master. It is about the Three Religions (Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism) in harmonious spirit and practice. I wrote it to make people know Hyujong's interreligious spirit. My thesis was included in the Journal of the Society for Buddhist-Christian Studies in the volume 12 (1992) and 15 (1995). Since I became a member of the Society for Buddhist-Christian Studies in 1992, I have been more engaged in activity of interreligious dialogue through academic and practical efforts. In 1992 I moved to Berkeley and got in the Group in Buddhist Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. I used to go to the library and events of the Graduate Theological Union near the university campus. I took parts in the Buddhist-Christian Conference in Switzerland in 1994, and traveled religious and cultural sites around Europe including Russia. I visited churches, universities and museums. I learned a lot of Christian spirit and culture. In 1996, I participated in the Inter-monastic Dialogue at Gethemane, Kentucky. We spent five days together at the monastery with talking about commonness and meditating together. I was moved by the friendship between Dalai Lama and Thomas Merton. A week later, I took parts in the 5th International Conference of the Society for Buddhist-Christian Studies in Chicago. I read a paper on the cultural approach to Buddhist-Christian relations between Choui, a Korean Zen Master and Yakyoung Chong, a Korean Confucian-Christian, in the late Choson. I was invited to join the United Religions Initiative (URI) in 1996. Since then, I have participated in the monthly committee meetings until 1998 and annual Global Summits from the second to the forth. URI is a growing global community dedicated to promoting enduring, daily interfaith cooperation, ending religiously motivated violence and creating culture of peace. Since the June of 1996, thousands of religious people have shared their visions and worked together for global good rooted in shared religious wisdom and values. Seven years ago, in June 1993, in connection with preparing an interreligious service to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the signing of the United Nations Charter, a San Francisco group, led by Bishop William Swing, proposed the creation of United Religions (UR). Since exploring resources of UR, through many meetings of interreligious leaders, three years passed. Then, in the first Global Summit for the UR, held in San Francisco in June 1996, and the United Religions Initiative (URI) itself was launched. In the summit, sixty leaders from various religions and global organizations gathered to create a plan of action to move toward a preliminary Charter-Writing Conference in June 1997. The opinions, suggestions, and commitments-to-action from these gatherings and other outreaching efforts over the years inspired the charter-writing process. In the second annual Global Summit for the URI, held in San Francisco in June 1997, about 200 people of different faiths from around the world worked "Toward a Charter of the United Religions: Building a Worldwide Commitment." The participants included not only leaders from all the major world religions, many spiritual movements, and indigenous faiths, but also leaders from the business, the arts, the science, the environmental groups, the peace and social justice movements, the academia, the media, and the youth. The third Global Summit for URI was also held in San Francisco in June 1998, to discuss a draft charter. More than 200 delegates from various faiths around the world joined and reviewed the first draft. The fourth summit was held in San Francisco in June 1999, to finalize the charter and 72 hours peace project that would be functioned from December 31, 1999 to January 2, 2000. So far about 50 different religions in 50 countries of 5 continents join the URI movement. The URI Charter has been fixed in February 2000 and will be signed at the Global Summit in Pittsburgh on June 26, 2000. I participated in the process of writing and fixing the URI Charter. Some parts of the Preamble of the Charter says "We believe that our religious, spritual lives, rather than dividing us, guid us to build community and respect for one another…… We unite to support freedom of religion and spritual expression, and the rights of all individuals and peoples as set forth in international law. We unite in responsible cooperative action to bring the wisdom and values of our religions, spirtual expressions and indigenous traditions to bear on the economic, environmental, political and social challenges facing our Earth community." The Purpose states "to promote enduring, daily interfaith cooperation, to end religiously motivated violence and to create culture of peace, justice and healing for the Earth and all living beings." And the Principles guide "We are a bridge-building organization, not a religion. We respect the sacred wisdom of each religion, spiritual expression and indigenous tradition…... We encourage our members to deepen their roots in their own tradition…" I believe that the spirit of the Charter could be applied to all interreligious activities including Buddhist-Christian dialogue. For my doctoral dissertation I wrote about Ch'oui Uisun (1786-1866), a liberal Zen Master and an engaged artist in late Choson Korea. He has been known not only as a great Zen Master and Vinaya Master but also as a perfect poet, caligrapher and painter. Moreover, he has been recognized as the best tea master and revived tea culture in Korea. Among his many friends, the friendship with Yakyong Chong and Chonghi Kim was well known. Chong was a prominent Confucian scholar-official but became a member of Catholic students when Christianity introduced to Korea. So he was persecuted with excile by the government. However, Ch'oui sympathized with Chong and keep their relationship well under the difficult situations. I have thought that Ch'oui's open-minded and interreligious spirit is needed in Korea and around the world. Ch'oui is one of my religious and cultural models to exercise the interreligious works. After I received a Ph.D. degree from UC Berkeley in spring 1998, I came back to Korea soon. Then I made commitment to establish a chapter of URI in Korea. Therefore, I met various religious leaders and friends including people from Christianity and indigenous religious traditions, to found the interreligious organization. In May 15, 1999, people from 7 major religions in Korea including Buddhists, Christians and Confucians created URI Korea. I was elected as the President and have been in charge to manage all aspects of the organization. I invited Christians to the Executive Board such as Dr. Jin Kim (Protestant), Dr. Hyeyong Choi (Catholic nun) and Fr. Antonio (Consolato monastery). I suggested to the Steering Committee and General Assembly to form an advisory group for consulting and getting wisdom of elders or experts. We asked and got an agreement from the well-known religious leaders and scholars of different denominations. Among them eminent Christian leaders are joined, such as, Rev. Wolryong Kang (Co-President of WCRP and Honorary Chairman of Korean Christian Academy), Fr. Chongsu Kim (General Secretary of the Central Catholic Council and Bishop's Council), Rev. Tongwan Kim (General Secretary of Korean National Council of Churches), Fr. Mongun Kim (Former President of KCRP), Dr. Kyongjae Kim (Prof. of Hanshin Univ.), Dr. Seunghye Kim (Prof. of Sogang Univ.) and Dr. Okhee Shin (Prof. of Ehwa Univ.). For the 72 Hours project of URI, on December 30, 1999, I held an opening gathering at Imjingak near Panmunjom, where it is the Joint Security Area between North and South Korea. About 200 people from various denominations had an interreligious prayer for peaceful reunification of Korea. On December 31, 1999, I held an interreligious repentance ceremony for religious violence during the 21st century at Chogyesa, the head Buddhist temple in Seoul, and a peace bell ringing ceremony at the midnight there. On January 1, 2000, I held an interreligious prayer meeting at Myongdong Cathedral for the world peace. On the next day, I also held another interreligious meeting at Suunhoegwuan, a main quarter of Chondogyo, for religious harmony and cooperation. All of these events, I worked with Christian and other religious leaders through dialogue. On the other hand, the Pontifical Office invited me to the Interreligious Assembly "on the eve of the third millennium: collaboration among the different religions." I participated in the meetings at Vatican City from October 24 to 29 in 1999, and met Cardinal Roger Etchegaray and Francis Arinze, Bishop Fitzerald, and other religious leaders. We had a final ceremony with Pope and Dalai Lama at St. Peter's plaza. Then as an Assembly Member, I attended at the Parliament of World's Religions in Cape Town from December 1 to 8 in 1999. At the assembly, we passed "Call to Our Guiding Institutions" which includes religion and spirituality. I presented "Peace Building Project" in Korea to the assembly. It aims to create bridges of understanding among religions throughout Korea. Through URI Korea, meetings will be held at Buddhist temples, Christian churches, schools and other venues, and consisted of forums, workshops, seminars and informal talks centering on interreligious encounter and understanding. The meetings will be publicized and open to all interested persons, no matter what religious tradition they follow. The goal of the project is to have different cultures and religions learning and sharing with one another. During the events, I met many Christian friends as well as other religious people there. We talked about interreligious cooperation for world peace and better future. I have opened URI Workshop at my temple, Pobanjongsa, for the interreligious dialogue, meditation and prayer. It has been held every Saturday afternoon since the April of 2000. I plan to have an interreligious quarterly forum for sharing religious wisdom and to promote spirit of understanding and interreligious cooperation. I also plan to offer an interreligious youth camp for the younger generation. It might be held in the school break time in summer or winter, targeting college students. Through the process of the events Buddhists and Christians could have open dialogues and experience interreligious networking and cooperation. I have joined some activities of KCRP (Korean Conference for Religion and Peace) which is a local chapter of WCRP and consisted of seven major religions in Korea. Sometimes I gave a lecture to the youth group and participated in the seminars organized by them. I also have taken parts in activities and events of Christian Academy that has been a leading group of interreligious dialogue in Korea. Recently I wrote an article about my experience of interreligious dialogue with Christians and other believers in Korean to be included with other religious writers and published by the Academy. I have been working as a researcher of the Institute for Catholic Religious Culture, aiming to promote interreligious cooperation for the society. I have also been invited as a researcher of the Institute of Religion and Theology. Since leaders of all these Christian organizations would like to talk and work with me, I have been doing my best for our common good. We respect and trust each other and share our ideas and spiritual energy together. Many of them expect me to be a bridge between Buddhists and Christians. Since I was asked to prepare a panel for Buddhist-Christian relationship in Korea by the organizer of the Sixth International Conference of the Society for Buddhist-Christian Studies, I would attend at the conference in Tacoma from August 5 to12, 2000 and present a panel consisting of two Buddhists and two Christians. Since some Christian extremists burnt down several Buddhist temples and destroyed many Buddha images around Korea for recent years and reported the facts to the world, many Christians have wanted to know what is going on around Korea. There have been a lot of changes, for instance, at the last Christmas, Head Quarter of the Korean Buddhist Chogye Order, the traditional and biggest Buddhist Order in Korea, displayed a placard on the street in which said "Merry Christmas" in Korean. And on the last Buddha's Birthday, Catholic bishops and Protestant pastors issued a public statement for celebrating Buddha's Birthday. On the other hand, a Christian painted a cross mark on the Buddha image at Dongguk University campus recently. So we can say there are two different religious trends in Korea: one seems to be positive or cooperative, and the other to be negative or fanatic. Anyway, I would like to share my information and ask people to work together for the peaceful world not only in Korea but also around the world. To sum up, I can say it will be hopeful that Buddhist-Christian relationship in Korea is going well in mainstream, though some extremists are making troubles. I believe that the better relationship between Buddhists and Christians in Korea could be attained through interreligious dialogue and cooperation. Therefore, I will keep going my pilgrimage to Buddhist-Christian dialogue including other religions, and I would like to be a bridge-builder for the interreligious harmony and peace in Korea. To promote interreligous dialogue and cooperation, I will do my best to use my official capasity and carry out my duties such as, a Zen and Dharma master to give talks to Buddhist congrigation, a lecturer of universities to teach students, President of URI Korea to lead interreligious activities and the Vice-Chairman of Committee for International Relationship of the Chogye Order to join international affairs. --end-- (This article will be part of a book on korean buddhist christian dialogue ) Greetings to readers: I would like to extend my hartful greetigs of peace and love to brothers and sisters in Europe. In the west, it seems that religions and culture of Korea are not represented and recognized well, as they deserve. Therefore, I believe that this book gives readers a opportunity to get information about religious situations in Korea and to understand a part of Korean culture. Anyway, we live together in the global village as interdependent people. I hope we can share our cultural heritage and resourses more with wisdom and compassion for all to make better world. Sincerely, Ven. Jinwol Pobanjongsa, 907-2, Mok 5 dong, Yangchon-gu, Seoul 158-055 Korea Tel: 822-2264-8260, 822-2642-0363 Fax: 822-2264-8261, 822-2642-0363 E-mail: jinwol@dgu.ac.kr, urikorea@chollian.net http://www.URI-Korea.org ____________________________________________________________________________ The Networkinfo-Magazine is a free quartal published email magazine of the EUROPEAN NETWORK OF BUDDHIST CHRISTIAN STUDIES ____________________________________________________________________________ To SUBSCRIBE or UNSUBSCRIBE this magazine, fill our networkinfo/form in the hompage: www.buddhist-christian-studies.org click NETWORKINFO at the menue bar or send a mail to roetting@iol.ie subject> subscibe magazine or unsubscribe magazine (c) June 2000 by European Network of Buddhist Christian Studies ============================================================================