Oct 20, 2024 – Second Day of Youth Gyeongju Unification History Tour, Group Facilitator Public Hearing
Hello. Today is the second day of the Youth Gyeongju Unification History Tour.

Early in the morning, youth members went to the East Sea to visit King Munmu’s Underwater Tomb and the Gameunsa Temple Site. With this, the youth have now met all the key figures who led the unification of the Three Kingdoms by Silla: General Kim Yu-sin, King Taejong Muyeol, Queen Seondeok, and King Munmu. Now, the bus carrying the youth is heading towards Bulguksa Temple.

Sunim arrived at Bulguksa Temple at 9:30 AM and met with the youth.

“Did you sleep well?”
“Yes.”
“Did you have a good breakfast?”
“Yes.”

“Did you enjoy the seaside view?”
“Yes.”
“Did you listen well to the explanations about King Munmu’s Underwater Tomb and the Gameunsa Temple Site?”
“Yes.”
“You’re answering so well!” (laughter)

In front of the One Pillar Gate of Bulguksa Temple, Sunim gave a detailed explanation about the founding legend of Bulguksa and the Buddhist worldview embedded in each building.
“Bulguksa Temple was built about 80 years after the unification of Silla. As it was constructed when Silla’s national power was at its peak and its culture was most developed, the architectural style is still very impressive even today. That’s why it’s registered as a World Heritage site. ‘Bulguk’ in Bulguksa means ‘Buddha’s land’.”

All the youth members gathered in front of the Blue Cloud Bridge and White Cloud Bridge after passing through the One Pillar Gate and the Four Heavenly Kings Gate. Sunim explained the significance of the stone masonry techniques and the staircase construction methods of Bulguksa, highlighting the meticulous design that incorporated the Buddhist ideal world into the architecture.


He then explained about the Nine-Square Lotus Pond, and gave an interesting talk about the “Mosaic Buddha” represented by the way the retaining wall was built.


While listening to Sunim’s explanations, the group toured the Daeungjeon Hall, Dabotap Pagoda, Seokgatap Pagoda, Museoljeon Hall, Gwaneumjeon Hall, Birojeon Hall, Sarira Stupa, Nahan Hall, and Geungnakjeon Hall in order. They then took commemorative photos by group affiliation (Buddhism Course, Sutra Course, and Special Youth Division) in front of the Lotus Bridge and Seven Treasures Bridge.




Together, they walked out through the Gate of Non-Duality and went to their accommodation for lunch.


At 12:50 PM, they boarded the bus and headed to Bunhwangsa Temple. When all the youth members gathered, Sunim began explaining about Bunhwangsa. He first explained about the artifacts in this place, such as the Mojeon Pagoda, the Stele of National Preceptor Hwaejeong, the Stone Well, and the Standing Stone Buddha of Medicine, and then talked about the life of Master Wonhyo, who is known to have stayed at this temple the longest.

“We have arrived at Bunhwangsa Temple. This temple is most famous for being the place where Master Wonhyo stayed for a long time. Wonhyo was originally from a noble family, but his parents died early, so he grew up with his grandparents. He became a Hwarang of Silla and had continuous victories in wars. One day, his very close friend was killed in battle. When his friend died, Wonhyo wanted to take revenge. So, in front of his friend’s grave, he stuck his sword and vowed, ‘I’ll avenge you tomorrow!’ He thought about the enemy who had killed his friend. That person was probably receiving awards in his camp for killing an enemy general. But Wonhyo had also killed an enemy general and received an award before. At that moment, he suddenly realized, ‘When I was happy, they were sad, and when I was sad, they were happy!’ He realized how transient and futile winning and losing in this world is, and right there, he cut off his hair with his sword and became a monk.
Wonhyo didn’t go under any monk to be ordained; he cut his own hair and became a monk himself. He turned his house into a temple, named it ‘Chogaesa,’ and practiced there. Buddha also cut his own hair. For ordinary people, cutting their own hair to become a monk can easily lead to becoming a pseudo-monk. But when one becomes a monk after such a great realization, it’s different. When ordinary people become monks, they often struggle with desires, saying things like ‘eating is hard,’ ‘sleeping is hard,’ ‘living is hard.’ But when one becomes a monk after gaining some enlightenment like this, worldly desires simply disappear.

Everything Depends on the Mind
After becoming a monk, he studied intensively and became an outstanding scholar. He read all the Buddhist scriptures available in Silla at the time but was not satisfied. So, just as today’s college students go to study in the United States, he decided to study abroad in Tang Dynasty and set off with Master Uisang. Wonhyo became a monk late at age 28 and was about five or six years older than Uisang, but they were close friends. At that time, Silla had occupied the Han River basin, which was Baekje territory, so there was a place to board a ship to Dengzhou in Tang China in what is now Hwaseong City, Gyeonggi Province. They walked there, but since ships didn’t depart daily, they had to wait. It happened to rain while they were waiting, so they took shelter in a cave-like place on a dark night. During the night, he became very thirsty and, feeling around, found a bowl-like object and used it to drink water. However, when he woke up in the morning, he realized that the bowl he had drunk from was actually a skull. He had drunk so sweetly during the night, but upon seeing the skull in the morning, he immediately vomited. As he was throwing up, he had this realization:
‘The bowl is the same bowl, and the water is the same water. Why was it sweet yesterday, but today I’m vomiting? This is the mind. When one thought arises, all phenomena arise; when one thought disappears, all phenomena disappear.’

This is the Buddhist principle of ‘all things are created by the mind.’ He realized that everything depends on the mind. But was this the first time he learned this fact? This concept actually comes from the Avatamsaka Sutra. He knew it intellectually but hadn’t experienced it. He came to this realization while vomiting. If he had truly understood that everything is created by the mind, he shouldn’t have vomited. The fact that he did vomit shows that mere knowledge was useless, and only through the physical experience did he truly understand. With this sudden realization, he understood that the truth was in his own mind, not in China or in books. He realized there was no need to go to China or India, and that simply reading books wouldn’t suffice. So he returned to Seorabeol (present-day Gyeongju). Meanwhile, Uisang went to study in China as originally planned. In modern terms, we could say Wonhyo was domestically trained while Uisang was internationally trained. Uisang met Zhiyan, a famous Huayan Buddhism master in Tang Dynasty China, studied under him, and returned to establish the Hwaeom school in Korea. Metaphorically speaking, he studied in America, became the Korean representative of an American sect, and established a branch in Korea. In contrast, Wonhyo attained enlightenment on his own and established his own school. The school Wonhyo founded is sometimes called the Bunhwang school because it was proclaimed at Bunhwang Temple, but it’s now known as the Beopseongjong (Dharma Nature school). Its teaching is that ‘the nature of dharma is emptiness.’

As a result, Wonhyo’s writings became extremely famous, and he quickly became a renowned monk in Silla. Among Wonhyo’s writings, one received the title of ‘treatise,’ which indicates sainthood. This was the ‘Treatise on the Diamond Samadhi Sutra,’ specifically the ‘Ten Approaches to the Reconciliation of Doctrinal Controversy.’ At that time, there were over ten Buddhist schools in China. Schools like Huayan, Tiantai, Vinaya, and others, totaling about thirty, competed with each other, claiming to represent the Buddha’s teachings. Wonhyo read all of these and integrated them into one. He examined the core principles of each school and realized that they were all essentially saying the same thing: become a Buddha. Even if you read all of the Buddha’s 84,000 sutras, they all convey the message of becoming a Buddha. When someone asks for directions to Seoul, the answer varies depending on where they’re standing – east, south, or west. But the destination is always Seoul, just as the goal is always to become a Buddha. So there’s no need for dispute. The reason for different expressions is due to different starting points. For instance, someone from Incheon needs to go east to reach Seoul, while someone from Gangneung needs to go west. There’s no need to argue about east or west. We should look at the core message rather than just the words. By opening ten doors to dispute, we can achieve harmony by penetrating the essence. This is the “Reconciliation of Doctrinal Controversy” philosophy. It’s the same as Buddhism’s traditional ‘Middle Way’ philosophy. When people in Tang China read this, they evaluated it as ‘This level of insight can only come from the perspective of a Bodhisattva,’ and thus it became known as the Ten Approaches to the Reconciliation of Doctrinal Controversy.
After this, Great Master Wonhyo disappeared from historical records. However, his traces can be found everywhere in Korea. At any cave, people say, ‘Wonhyo practiced here,’ and at temples, it’s said, ‘Wonhyo first established this.’ It seems there must have been a thousand Wonhyos. These legends arose because he traveled invisibly throughout the country. This is called manifestation.

The young people listened intently, ears perked up, to the old stories Sunim was telling.

“This is the temple where I became a monk.”
“Wow!”

The youth members exclaimed in surprise and admiration.
“The high school I attended, Gyeongju High School, is about 300 meters from here. I went to middle school and high school in Gyeongju. During middle school, I attended Beopjangsa Temple in downtown Gyeongju. In high school, I met the great monk Bulsim Domun, who was the chief monk of Bunhwangsa Temple, and became a monk, half willingly and half reluctantly. (Laughs)

Originally, I had no intention of becoming a monk. My dream was to become a scientist. But I became a monk somewhat forcibly, and after doing it for a long time, it’s not bad. Now, why are you all complaining when you’re doing what you wanted to do? I didn’t become a monk because I wanted to. Looking back now, do you think it would have been better if I had become a scientist? Or was it better that I became a monk?”
“Becoming a monk was better.”
“If my mother had heard that, you all would have been scolded. (Laughs) My father used to lament, ‘All my sons were rumored to be good students when they were young, but how come none of them even became a town clerk?’ All my brothers grew up to become social activists. That’s what parents are like. No matter how much people praised me, my father would say, ‘Even weeds have seeds, what kind of person doesn’t leave any offspring?’ So, always listening to your parents isn’t necessarily right. When you’re young, parents play the most important role in your life, but when you grow up, sometimes parents can be the biggest hindrance.” (Laughs)

After finishing the explanation, Sunim examined the grounds of Bunhwangsa Temple in detail.
“When I was in high school, I used to spread a straw mat here in the courtyard of Bunhwangsa Temple and perform 3,000 prostrations. My knees would get scraped and bleed profusely.” (laughs)

Sunim toured the standing statue of Bhaisajyaguru Buddha enshrined in Bogwangjeon Hall, the portrait of Great Master Wonhyo, the national treasure Brick Pagoda, the stele commemorating Great Master Wonhyo’s achievements, and the well called ‘Samryongbyeoneojeong’ said to have been used since the Silla period, before heading to Hwangnyongsa Temple site.

Upon leaving Bunhwangsa Temple, a vast empty field appeared where Hwangnyongsa Temple, once the largest temple in the East, had stood.

Sunim moved with the youth members to the sites of the lecture hall and golden hall, explaining the origins and construction process of Hwangnyongsa Temple.

“The entire area from the left to the right that we’re passing through is the Hwangnyongsa Temple site. It’s said to be the largest temple site in the East. The reason this temple site was initially planned to be so large is that it was originally intended to be a royal palace. During King Jinheung’s reign, as Silla’s national power suddenly grew, Banwolseong Palace became too small. So they decided to build a new palace here. This area was slightly marshy, so they filled the land to prepare the palace site. However, a large yellow snake appeared, which is called a ‘hwangryong’ (yellow dragon). People then said, ‘Where a yellow dragon appears is not a place for humans to live. Only Buddha can subdue this land.’ So they changed the palace site into a temple. That’s why this temple site was planned on such a large scale.”
As we listened to the explanation, we arrived at the “Yonggung” well, where the yellow dragon was said to have lived.

“According to records, Hwangnyongsa Temple was located south of Yonggung, and Bunhwangsa Temple was north of it. So this Yonggung serves as the reference point.”
After passing the lecture hall site, we arrived at the golden hall site where Sunim continued his explanation.


“This is the largest golden hall site in our country, measuring about 380 pyeong. This stone is called a pedestal. It’s the pedestal that supported the Jangyukjonbul (Great Buddha statue). Since the statue was so large and heavy, it would have sunk if placed on a wooden floor. So they used this large stone as a pedestal to secure the statue.”
Beyond the golden hall site, the nine-story wooden pagoda site was visible.

“The large square site you see in front is the nine-story wooden pagoda site. Try counting how many foundation stones there are. One, two, three, four, five… there are eight in total. If you multiply 8 by 8, there are 64 foundation stones in total. The scale is enormous, isn’t it? This was the nine-story pagoda of Hwangnyongsa Temple. It was a wooden pagoda with nine stories. Its height was about 67 meters by today’s standards. 67 meters is over 20 stories high. Such a large pagoda stood here.
Hwangnyongsa Temple also adopted the outer pagoda temple layout with a single pagoda in the center. The temple was built during King Jinheung’s reign, but the nine-story wooden pagoda was constructed during Queen Seondeok’s reign. When Master Jajang went to study in China, he prayed, ‘Please protect Silla which is in difficulty.’ A sage appeared and said, ‘Your country’s ruler is wise but lacks authority because she is a woman. So neighboring countries look down on her. You need to build a nine-story pagoda at Hwangnyongsa Temple to show authority.’ At that time, Silla didn’t have the technology to build such a large structure. So they brought 200 craftsmen, including Abiji, from Baekje to build the nine-story pagoda.

When I was young, this entire area was farmland and villages. Only the nine-story wooden pagoda site and the Golden Hall site were preserved. These two places couldn’t be leveled because they were on higher ground. So, they were used to tie up cattle by driving stakes into the ground. The rest has been excavated and new stones have been put in place. The lecture hall site was all farmland. The name of this neighborhood is Guhwang-dong, and these ruins remained in the middle of the village.”
Sunim moved with the group to the site of the nine-story wooden pagoda. Standing in front of the foundation stones where iron pillars were once driven, he continued his explanation.


“This is the central foundation stone of the pagoda. A hole was drilled in the center of this stone to drive in a 67-meter-high iron pillar. The nine-story wooden pagoda was built around this iron pillar. The iron pillar served as the central support.
However, during the 9th Mongol invasion, they set fire to this Hwangnyongsa Temple. That’s when the massive nine-story pagoda of Hwangnyongsa was destroyed. Also, there was a great bell at Hwangnyongsa that weighed 480,000 geun. The Emille Bell weighs 120,000 geun. The Hwangnyongsa bell was four times larger than that, but it was also lost when the temple burned down, either melted or destroyed somehow.
A Vow Made in Youth
When I was in high school, living at Bunhwangsa Temple, I made a vow to restore this nine-story pagoda and the Golden Hall of Hwangnyongsa. I have about 10 years left to live, do you think I can accomplish this restoration? If I can’t do it, you all will have to do it. (Laughter)

I made another vow, which was to restore the great bell of Hwangnyongsa. So, in high school, to restore the great bell of Hwangnyongsa, I would pull a handcart every weekend, collecting scrap metal and continuously gathering it at the temple. How much scrap metal do you think I needed to collect to make the great bell?
Back then, if you dug in these fields, you would find countless tile fragments. These tile fragments were like stones, interfering with farming. So people would collect the tile fragments and pile them up along the edges of the fields. Many of these tiles were blackened by fire. For those with nice patterns, I would clean them with a brush and ran a campaign to send them to each household. I wrote verses like this and distributed them to people.
‘What is the most precious thing in this world? Is it gold and silver treasures? No, it’s the spirit of our ancestors. This tile fragment contains a thousand years of our ancestors’ spirit. So, please keep one of these tile fragments, which holds our ancestors’ spirit, in the wardrobe of each household.’
This is how I conducted the tile distribution campaign. Nowadays, doing something like this would be punished as damaging cultural properties. Back then, there were no such regulations. I collected an enormous amount of tile fragments at Bunhwangsa Temple in this way.
Now, this might sound like a far-fetched dream of childhood to you, but it was because of such vows that I have been able to engage in many social practice activities until now.

Praying That War Never Breaks Out Again on the Korean Peninsula
“Just as the people of Silla dreamed of unifying the three kingdoms when building the nine-story pagoda at Hwangnyongsa Temple, when the Korean Peninsula faced a crisis of war in 2017, Jungto Society members also prayed for peaceful unification here with Venerable Bulshim Domun to prevent war. We chanted mantras and performed the Munduru ritual with the great monk. Perhaps that’s why war didn’t break out then. The situation on the Korean Peninsula is now so precarious that war could break out at any moment. Shall we pray again? In the current situation, everyone needs to come together in heart and mind to prevent war from breaking out.”
After finishing the explanation about Hwangnyongsa Temple site, Sunim gave closing remarks to conclude the two-day Unification History Tour.

Not Hating Others Is a Way to Cultivate Yourself Gracefully
“Students of the Buddhism Course are still beginners, so practice diligently. Students of the Sutra Course should now not only study but also do some volunteer work. Jungto Society members who have graduated from the Sutra Course should now become mosaic Buddhas and take on one role.
Don’t get too caught up in your personal life and worry excessively. It would be good to live a little more intensely. Don’t cry because you broke up with someone you were dating. Think positively like, ‘Thank you for leaving. I can meet someone better.’ There’s no need to curse the person you broke up with. Cursing the person you broke up with ends up being cursing yourself. If you lived with such a bad person for three years, who’s the fool? You’re the fool. So when you break up, always accept it by saying, ‘Thank you for being with me. You are wonderful.’ This way, you can say you’ve dated a wonderful person. You should always think positively like this. Understood?”
“Yes!”

“Not hating others is a way to cultivate yourself gracefully. Don’t cry when you lose your job either. You can go somewhere else, so what’s the big deal? This doesn’t mean you should live recklessly. I’d like to suggest that you step a little out of your personal life and take an interest in and participate in issues such as social justice, environmental action, promoting human rights, working for peace, or helping those in need. I’m not saying you should give up everything and live for social justice, but I hope you can become healthy citizens who take a little more interest and participate in social justice while working your regular jobs.”
Finally, after reciting the Four Great Vows, the Youth Gyeongju Unification History Tour came to an end.

The young people gathered in groups to share their thoughts, while Sunim headed straight to a funeral home.


Sunim briefly paid his respects at the funeral of the mother of someone who has been working hard for the restoration of Cheonyongsa Temple site.


After paying respects, Sunim returned to Dubuk Retreat Center after 5 pm. As the sun set, from 6 pm, a public hearing for group facilitators was held for the development of Jungto Society. Sunim participated online from the broadcasting room of Dubuk Retreat Center, while about 700 group facilitators of Jungto Society entered the video conference room from their homes.

First, Sunim introduced the purpose of today’s public hearing.
“Jungto Society has been growing steadily, even if slowly, for 30 years, but there has been a diagnosis that it has stagnated for the past five years. So I think we need to create new growth engines or find opportunities for further development. Of course, we could evaluate that ‘this level of achievement is already a great success.’ After the COVID-19 pandemic, most civic group activities have been significantly reduced, but Jungto Society has maintained its current status, so we could say we’ve done well. If that’s the case, there’s no need for special measures. However, since Jungto Society was created in anticipation of these changing situations, we shouldn’t evaluate ourselves as doing well compared to other organizations. Jungto Society set out with the vow to save the global environment in the era of climate crisis, to achieve peace and unification on the Korean Peninsula in the era of division, to eradicate hunger, disease, and illiteracy in the global village, and to widely spread the Buddha’s teachings for individual happiness. Because we started with the aim of creating alternatives for future society, it’s not appropriate to evaluate ourselves as doing well compared to existing organizations. To solve the problems raised in modern society, we need to carry out more active activities and find new methods.

What We Can Do Now for the Advancement of Jungto Society
Over the past month, through joint meetings and the Leading Members’ Assembly, many new proposals have been made, and long-standing grievances have been voiced. One of the main issues raised was that leading members are overwhelmed with work. This has led to members quitting their activities and a stagnation in the growth of leading members. Concerns were raised about the increased workload due to the transition to online activities and the subsequent addition of offline events. There were also complaints about the rushed preparation for the next semester immediately after one Buddhism course ends. A suggestion was made to extend the academic period of the Buddhism Course and Sutra Course to one year. However, these issues cannot be thoroughly discussed in a short time. We need to conduct surveys and have in-depth discussions about these matters. We should also experiment with changing the Buddhism Course duration from six months to a year. Making changes requires experimentation first, which takes considerable time. Therefore, proposals to revitalize overall Jungto Society activities or make significant changes should be addressed by the 2nd 1000-Day Practice Preparatory Committee when it is formed.

Therefore, we have narrowed down today’s discussion to two main topics. The first topic is how to revitalize the Jungto Social and Cultural Center in Seoul. The second is who should be the driving force behind this initiative.
If we focus on revitalizing offline activities at the Jungto Social and Cultural Center in Seoul, it will likely energize both evening and daytime sessions, with the latter potentially seeing more growth. This could also lead to the emergence of full-time volunteers. Please feel free to share your thoughts on this. You’re welcome to offer counterarguments if you think this approach isn’t ideal. Let’s begin the discussion.
Following this, anyone could press the raise hand button to share their opinion.

“I hope access to the Jungto Social and Cultural Center becomes more open.”
“It would be great to conduct Weekly Dharma Assemblies offline and livestream them.”
“Before training full-time volunteers, it might be good to expand the number of part-time volunteers.”
“The organizational structure became complex after moving online. It would be nice to simplify it to three levels.”
“To expand the online Jungto Society, we need to vitalize group activities that correspond to on-site activities.”
“After moving online, meetings and tasks have increased. It would be good to reduce the overload of work.”
“We should actively establish a system to find and discover people who can work full-time.”
“If we run an offline Jungto Dharma School at the Jungto Social and Cultural Center, it might increase the number of volunteers.”
“It would be good to reorganize the structure so that branch leaders can manage personnel, even if it means reducing the number of groups within branches.”
“Given the reluctance to travel long distances post-COVID, we need a pilot program to see if offline Jungto Dharma Schools can succeed.”
“It would be good to lay the foundation for volunteer training through programs like one-day Chulga, overnight Chulga, and 8-day Chulga.”
“It would be helpful to create a system where each department can share their needs for full-time staff and volunteer work.”
“In addition to conducting Jungto Dharma Schools and Weekly Dharma Assemblies offline, it would be nice to open up Sunday Dharma talks at the Jungto Social and Cultural Center.”
“It might be good to rediscover people who stopped their activities after the online transition, despite being active for a long time.”
“When graduates of Jungto Dharma School and Jungto Sutra Course become members, it would be beneficial to have a program where their group leaders attend Weekly Dharma Assemblies with them for a certain period to help them settle in.”

Many suggestions and opinions were shared. Whenever a contentious point arose, Sunim had the 700 or so participants use the raise hand button to indicate their agreement or disagreement, allowing him to gauge the overall opinion of the group.

It was decided that the proposals from today would be well-organized and further discussed in depth during a two-day intensive discussion next weekend, attended by branch and division leaders. Originally scheduled to end at 10 PM, the group facilitators’ public hearing concluded 30 minutes early at 9:30 PM.

Tomorrow, Buddhist guests will visit the Dubuk Jungto Retreat Center to share meals and engage in conversations throughout the day.