Seongcheol


Seongcheol was a Korean Seon master. He was a key figure in modern Korean Buddhism, being responsible for significant changes to it from the 1950s to 1990s.
Seongcheol was widely recognized in Korea as having been a living Buddha, due to his extremely ascetic lifestyle, the duration and manner of his meditation training, his central role in reforming Korean Buddhism in the post-World War II era, and the quality of his oral and written teachings.

Biography

Early life

Born on April 6, 1912, in Korea, Empire of Japan under the name of Yi Yeongju, Seongcheol was the first of seven children of a Confucian scholar. He was rumored to have been an exceptionally bright child who read constantly, having learned to read at the age of three, and being proficient enough to read such Chinese classics as Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Journey to the West by age ten. His enthusiasm for reading was such that he once traded a sack of rice for Immanuel Kant's Critique of Pure Reason as a teenager.
Having read numerous books on philosophy and religion, both Western and Eastern, he reportedly felt dissatisfied, being convinced that these could not lead him to truth. One day, a Seon monk gave Seongcheol a copy of Song of Enlightenment, a Seon text written by Yongjia Xuanjue in the Tang dynasty. Seongcheol felt as if "a bright light had suddenly been lit in complete darkness," and that he had finally found the way to the ultimate truth.
Immediately, he started meditating on the "Mu" gong-an and started ignoring all his responsibilities at home. Deciding that his parents' house had too many distractions, he promptly packed his bags and went to the temple Daewonsa. After obtaining permission to stay in the temple, the young Seongcheol started to meditate intensively. Later in life, he would say that he attained the state of Dongjeong Ilyeo at this early point in his life in only forty-two days.
The rumor of a lay person meditating so intensely naturally spread to the main temple of Haeinsa. Under the recommendations of renowned Seon Masters Gim Beomnin and Choe Beomsul, the young Seongcheol left for Haeinsa in the winter of 1936. At the time, Seon Master Dongsan was the spiritual leader of Haeinsa, and recognizing Seongcheol's great potential, he recommended he become a monk. But Seongcheol refused, stating that he had absolutely no intention of becoming a monk and that only intense meditation was important. But Dongsan master's dharma talk during the following retreat season changed his mind:
In March 1937, Yi Yeongju received his dharma name of Seongcheol, forsook all relations with the outside world, and became a monk, writing this poem:

Enlightenment

In the tradition of Korean Buddhist monks, Seongcheol wandered from one temple to the next after each meditation retreat. In the summer of 1940, he went into deep meditation at the Geum Dang Seon Center and attained enlightenment. Having become a monk at the age of 25, he had attained his true nature in only three years. He went on to write his enlightenment poem:
Having attained enlightenment, Seongcheol began pilgrimages to various temples in order to validate his experience and to examine other monks and their levels of attainment. But he was frequently disappointed, noticing that inka was given too carelessly, thereby falsely recognizing many monks as having fully attained enlightenment. During his retreat at Songgwangsa, he was also dismayed at Jinul's theory of Dono Jeomsu, and how it was the widespread theory during the time. Later during the 1980s and 1990s, his contribution to the revival of Hui Neng's traditional theory of Dono Donsu would have a significant effect on the practice of Seon in Korea, China, Japan, and other countries where Seon/Zen is practiced.

Growing reputation and recognition

Seongcheol's reputation soon began to spread. Numerous factors contributed to his growing recognition.
One of the more famous anecdotes is Seongcheol's Jangjwa Bulwa. Literally translated as 'long sitting, no lying,' it is a meditation technique that some monks employ to intensify their practice. Sitting meditation is equivalent to most other practices, except that the practitioner does not lie down to sleep, but stays in the lotus position even during sleep, with the intention of minimizing sleep through the position. Seongcheol was known to have practiced this for eight years after his enlightenment. He reportedly never once laid down and denied sleeping at all.
Another anecdote recounts how while Seongcheol was staying in Mangwolsa in Dobong mountain, an old monk by the name of Chunseong refused to believe this. He wanted to catch Seongcheol dozing off to sleep, so spied on him secretly throughout one night. But having witnessed the truth of the rumor, Chunseong was struck with amazement and himself started employing the technique. It is said that the stress of the practice and the old age at which he started the technique caused all of his teeth to fall out later in life.
Seongcheol's reputation for intensive practice was not limited only to his meditation per se. He was also known to be completely indifferent to the outside world, focused intently only on meditation and guiding fellow monks to enlightenment. His indifference was so thorough that he even refused to see his mother when she visited him at Mahayunsa in Mount Kumgang. "No need to see her" was reportedly his reply to her visit, to which his fellow monks burst out in anger, stating that although they were monks devoted to asceticism and meditation, refusing to see his own mother was too extreme an action. Afterwards, Seongcheol accompanied his mother, showing her the sites of Mount Kumgang.

Reformation of Korean Buddhism

Bong Am Sa

On August 15, 1945, Japan surrendered unconditionally, thereby ending World War II and the occupation of Korea. The events offered an invaluable opportunity for the reformation of Korean Buddhism, which had been severely oppressed during the Japanese occupation. As an emerging leader of Korean Buddhism, Seongcheol joined the nascent discussions on the emerging plans to reform the religion. Forming a partnership with Jawoon, Cheongdam, and Hyanggok, the future leaders of Korean Buddhism chose Bong Am Sa temple of Heui Yang mountain. There, they formed a pact to live strictly according to the Vinaya, the Buddhist code of ethics. The members agreed upon rules of conduct and required strict adherence to it amongst themselves:
  1. To follow the Vinaya and practice the teachings of the patriarchs in order to attain the great enlightenment.
  2. With the exception of the Buddhist teachings, no personal opinions or philosophies will be tolerated.
  3. The necessary items for daily living should be obtained on his own, without dependence on lay people, including daily chores of field work, firewood, etc.
  4. Absolutely no assistance from the lay people in terms of cooking, clothing, alms, or gifts.
  5. To eat only gruel in the morning, and to not eat at all after noon.
  6. The monks' sitting order follows the dates of ordination.
  7. To only meditate and be silent in the rooms.
The reformation movement started around a small group of monks centered on Seongcheol, but quickly grew by reputation, attracting monks all over the country who were also intent on bringing back the Korean tradition of intense meditation, strict celibacy, and study of sutras. Among these younger generations were Weolsan, Ubong, Bomun, Seongsu, Dou, Hyeam, Beopjeon, etc. Not only did this group become the future leaders of Korean Buddhism, but produced two Supreme Patriarchs and three chief administrators of the Jogye order.

Post-Bong-amsa

Unfortunately, the Bong Am Sa experiment ended prematurely in 1950 when the Korean War broke out on the peninsula. With constant bombing raids and the presence of soldiers of both sides around the temple, it was impossible to continue the strict monastic life of Bong-amsa.
Some of the reforms that occurred during this period were:
  • unification of robes, including the color, cut, and seasonal variants
  • rectification of the Jogye order's bylaws
  • unification of Buddhist services
  • instatement of the monastic educational curriculum
After the war, the reformation gained momentum and significant changes were set in motion, although it would be years until they were solidified. Central to the reformation was the issue of celibacy. While all the Buddhist canons emphasized the celibacy of monks, Japanese Buddhism had undergone significant changes during the Meiji Restoration, most notably the end of monastic celibacy. During the Japanese occupation, Korean Buddhism was severely oppressed and the Japanese style was advocated, thereby converting most Korean monks into little more than monastic residents officiating over ceremonies, married, with a business and income. Seongcheol and the new leaders were very critical of the Japanese style of Buddhism, maintaining that the tradition of celibacy, hermitage, poverty, and intense meditation were not only central to Korean Buddhism but to the true spirit of Buddhism as a whole. Korean post-war sentiments towards Japan could not have been worse at this time, and with the help of the populace and president Syngman Rhee, the traditional Korean style began to take hold and became the dominant form of Buddhism by the 1970s.
Seongcheol insisted on giving away all monastic assets to the public and reverting to the original Buddhist way of wandering and begging for alms while investing all energy into meditation. He contended this was the only surefire way for true reforms to take place, warning that otherwise, full-scale conflict could ensue between bikkhus and married monks fighting over temples. The leaders of the reformation refused to follow, stating that his assertions were too extreme. Seongcheol's predictions, though, did come true and Korean Buddhism has had numerous conflicts between monks over temple jurisdiction ever since then up to the present day, many of them escalating to violent measures by both sides. Many ordination restrictions were loosened by the bikkhus in order to increase their numbers in their efforts to assume control over temples such that men of questionable social standing were ordained as bikkhus, leading to more violent fights amongst monks. A particularly embarrassing chapter in Korean Buddhism was in the late 1990s when monks fought over Jogyesa, the main administrative temple in Seoul, by not only employing gangsters but joining the fight themselves using weapons, including Molotov cocktails, to violently subdue each other.