“Hahaha, since the Buddha is there, isn’t there paradise there?”
On the 9th, when I met the head monk Seonggak (professor emeritus of Dong-eui University) at Mangwonsa Temple in Namhae, Gyeongnam Province (Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism), and asked, “Why do monks draw childlike minds?” he answered as follows. Seonggak is a master of Korean Seon calligraphy and painting (禪書畫), who has been drawing the world of Seon (禪) for over 40 years. He is the only intangible cultural asset in the Seon calligraphy category in Korea (holder of the skill to produce Seonhwa, an intangible cultural asset of Busan), and the National Heritage Administration is currently reviewing whether to designate Seon calligraphy and painting as a national intangible cultural asset. Mangwonsa Temple, where he resides, is also a hometown where he has continued and blossomed the tradition of Korean Seon calligraphy and painting for the past 40 years through his creative activities, exhibitions, and training of future generations.
Seonhwa (禪畫), also known as Seonhwa, is a painting that freely depicts enlightenment through Seon practice without being restricted by painting methods, brushwork, or even the subject of the painting. Monk Seonggak said, “Seonhwa is a tool for spreading and transmitting Seon dharma,” and “the work of painting is the path of practice and the process of attaining enlightenment.” For this reason, meditation before picking up a brush is essential. Monk Seonggak used the tip of his brush to capture the life he had realized through his lifelong practice in his paintings.
There are no restrictions on the subjects he can express with his calligraphy, but he mainly focuses on the smiles of children. One of his representative works, “Smile of Eternity (photo),” is said to have well expressed the innocence and smiles of children with restrained brushwork and concise flow.
“There is a saying among the koans, ‘One-faced Buddha (日面佛) and one-faced Buddha (月面佛)’. It means ‘Buddha with the face of the sun, Buddha with the face of the moon’. Everyone knows what it means. However, if you don’t actually see the One-faced Buddha and the Moon-faced Buddha, the koan won’t become yours. But where can you see the Buddha with the face of the sun and the Buddha with the face of the moon? I see it in the faces and smiles of children. That’s why I draw childlike innocence.”
Seonggak Seunim said, “No matter how beautiful the smile of the Buddha in the golden Buddha statue and paintings of Daeungjeon is, can it be more beautiful than the bright smiles of children?” He added, “As a practitioner, drawing childlike innocence is both a way to pursue Buddha’s enlightenment and a way to send a message to myself, ‘How should I live?’”
He is a Zen monk who uses calligraphy and painting as a tool for practice, but he said that monks should not stay in temples. He said that practitioners should actively engage in sharing and devotion because they want to attain enlightenment in order to save sentient beings. For this reason, he held a joint exhibition with artists from the developmentally disabled artist group (Easy Together) in June of this year, and is also working hard to foster local talent as the chairman of the nearby Jangmok Arts Middle School (Geoje, Gyeongnam). He has also been a member of the Ministry of Justice’s correctional committee for over 30 years, giving sermons to inmates in prisons and detention centers.
“It is often said that it is worse to commit a crime knowingly than to commit one without knowing. However, the Buddha said that it is worse to commit a crime without knowing. If someone knows that what he has done is a bad thing, even if he has committed a sin now, he can change someday if he is taught and disciplined. However, not knowing means not trying to know what a bad thing is, so the nature of the crime is worse.”
Monk Seonggak said, “Even if I attain Buddha’s enlightenment, what’s the point of that enlightenment if I don’t use it to save people but to paint pictures?” He continued, “I wanted to let at least one person know what a bad thing is, so I went around for one or two years and time passed like that.”
Reporter Lee Jin-goo [email protected]
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2024-09-12 13:43:43