Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Darkness]

I was flipping through the TV channels the other day, and to my surprise there was a Buddhist monk, who was white teaching about Buddhism in English!

I was curious if anyone knew when this show was on again, or if there is a website where I can watch English Buddhist teachings?

[aldershot]

yowsers! dude, i think even christians don't like televangelists. buddhavangelists? shear yourself and go to thailand.

p.s. i saw this guy once... was he wearing glasses? bald? screaming? send him money and you will become... ENLIGHTENED

[RACETRAITOR]

I think I saw him once. He was on a high channel, up in the crazy 60s.

By the way, I've heard from Koreans that they still have actual televangelists who call out people in the audience and do the ol' demons-out routine. I'd get a kick of bringing a radio scanner to one of their churches and exposing how they do it.

[europe2seoul]

I saw some buddhist monk who is white speaking and preaching in Korean.

I also saw some XYZ Christian in Jongno-3-ga area holding a cross with a speaker and standing on that big intersection next to Insa-dong. He looked very bored doing it.

I also saw bunch of Jehova witnesses, be it Korean or imported from US, harassing people.

I know there are many people like this that are Korean since this is Korea, but where do this crazy forginers come from? OMG

[Yaya]

You probably saw the Venerable Hyon-gak, an American who has been a monk in Korea since 1993. He's a mini celebrity in Korea and gives dharma talks in both English and Korean.

He wrote his autobiography From Harvard (where he studied Eastern philosophy) to Hwagye Temple and it was a bestseller in Korea. He's also edited several books with the teachings of the late Zen master Seung Sahn.

Hyon-gak has his detractors, mainly for his aggressive speaking style and the publicity he generates. I've been to a few of his talks and he had a few good points to say. I don't know about the donation part, but temples do rely on donations to keep going, just as churches and non-profit organizations do.

[Darkness]

He was just teaching about calming the mind.

I just thought it was really interesting, I mean at home you dont get that kind of stuff on TV, and to be over here and to see it in English. I thought it was great.

Just wondering if anyone knew more about it, any links or anything.

[RACETRAITOR]

[Yaya]

[Darkness]

Any links?

[Yaya]

[Darkness]

Thanks!

[TroySantos]

I believe this is Buddhist Television Network. I don't watch TV but when I first arrived in Korea I flipped through the channels and saw BTN but it was only in Korean. Nice to know there are Buddhavangelists. I'm a Buddhist myself so I am - as I suspect you and Yaya are - pleased to see people using TV to spread Dharma. I'm way down on Jeju where it's less cold!

Anyway, there's a website that perhaps you don't know about. It's

www.koreanbuddhism.net

I searched BTN and got this result. Seven Dharma Talks by this guy. I have no idea who he is. I haven't watched them. But here you are just the same.

http://www.koreanbuddhism.net/search/search.asp?search_part=archive&unity_search_value=BTN

By the way, do you know of any Tibetan Buddhist temples or organizations or anything of the sort here in Korea? Someone recently contacted me saying she plans to come here next year to teach and would like to get involved with others with a similar practice.

Also, she's asking where there are lots of temples. I can only think of Seoul as being the best place for foreign Buddhists, but only because of certain temples there like the International Zen Center.

[Chamchiman]

[Boodleheimer]

i watched the Venerable Hyon-gak on tv once. seemed like he had a chip on his shoulder or something-- didnt' like his style at all. most of the white people in the audience didn't seem to like it, but the Koreans seemed to really enjoy it.

[CGully]