Monk Myeongjin to Be Honored With Buddhist, Civic Funeral

The Venerable Myeongjin, former abbot of Bongeunsa temple who died in Seogwipo, Jeju, on the 22nd, will be honored with a joint Buddhist and civic funeral.

According to people close to Myeongjin on the 23rd, his body, currently held at Seogwipo Medical Center, will be moved to Bongeunsa temple in Seoul's Gangnam district later that day once administrative procedures, including consent from the bereaved family, are completed.

No autopsy will be conducted, as the body showed no notable external injuries and there was no suspicion of foul play, according to those close to the monk.

A memorial altar will be set up at Bongeunsa, where the monk served as abbot from 2006 to 2010, and the funeral service has been tentatively scheduled for the 25th.

A funeral committee is expected to be formed soon, led by the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism, Beopjusa temple where the monk was ordained, and civic groups connected to him, to finalize the funeral schedule and procedures.

Given the monk's wide-ranging activities inside and outside religious circles during his life, the committee is expected to include figures from other religions, the arts and culture sector, and politics.

The monk was rescued from waters near Haye Port in Haye-dong, Seogwipo, Jeju, at 9:38 a.m. the previous day, found floating, and was taken to a hospital, but was pronounced dead at around 10:28 a.m.

The monk had been training in freediving in Jeju for several years, and was wearing equipment including a mask, snorkel, diving suit and fins at the time of the rescue.

However, Yoo Byung-moon, a lay disciple of the monk who handled matters following the accident the previous day, said, "Given that he was found near the shore, it appears he was not diving in deep water but suffered cardiac arrest while sea swimming."

Born in Dangjin, South Chungcheong Province, in 1950, the monk was ordained at Baengnyeonam hermitage at Haeinsa temple in 1969 and received the novice precepts under his teacher, the Venerable Tanseong, in 1974. He led reform of the Jogye Order in 1994 and served as an 11th-term member of the order's Central Council and as its vice chairman from 1998 to 2002.

After serving as abbot of Bongeunsa in Seoul from 2006 to 2010, the monk continued to criticize the leadership of the order's central administration through interviews and Buddhist services even after his term ended, amid conflict with the administration over issues such as turning Bongeunsa into a directly managed temple. He was stripped of his monastic status in 2017.

He subsequently won both the first and second trials in a lawsuit seeking to void the disciplinary action, and the matter was concluded early this year when the Jogye Order and Myeongjin agreed not to appeal to the Supreme Court. His monastic status was restored.

Ahead of the recent election for the 38th head of the order's central administration, the monk pointed to fundamental flaws in the current election system and called for a shift to a nomination-based process, as factional strife within the order and disputes exposing past misconduct intensified.