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New to Buddhism

Posted: Fri Jun 07, 2013 10:54 am
by micah
I am a GI in Korea stationed in Camp Carrol near waegwan Korea. I joined army to protect my country but instead I have done things that I cannot forget. So I tried to pray to Buddha. My family is devout christian but I was searching my path. I know little of buddhism but what I do know is what I do. I have entered many times to the small temple in waegwan but no buddhist seem to be there. Now I have learned my grandma died and while I still do not know the proper ettiquette I wish to pay last rites. I cannot go home I do not speak korean. I left note with korean words I looked up and number. can somebody please help I want to practice the teachings. But I no nothing

Specialist Micah Lavigne

Camp Carroll Republic of Korea

Re: New to Buddhism

Posted: Fri Jun 07, 2013 12:09 pm
by Astus
There are some communities you could contact in Korea and they speak English (or at least some of them):

http://www.hanmaum.org/eng/
http://wakeupandlaugh.wordpress.com/
http://www.bels.kr/
http://www.korea4expats.com/article-bud ... seoul.html

Re: New to Buddhism

Posted: Fri Jun 07, 2013 2:35 pm
by Grigoris
Have you checked whether there is a Buddhist chaplain based with your unit, or a unit nearby, that you can talk to?

Re: New to Buddhism

Posted: Fri Jun 07, 2013 7:48 pm
by kirtu
micah wrote:Now I have learned my grandma died and while I still do not know the proper ettiquette I wish to pay last rites. I cannot go home I do not speak korean.

Specialist Micah Lavigne
Hi Micah - looking for a Buddhist Chaplain is a good idea if possible. One thing you can do is to recite the Heart Sutra for your Grandmother if you wish.

Kirt

Re: New to Buddhism

Posted: Fri Jun 07, 2013 11:23 pm
by micah
There are no buddhist chaplains in the us army that i have seen. and what is heart sutra?

Re: New to Buddhism

Posted: Fri Jun 07, 2013 11:39 pm
by kirtu
micah wrote:There are no buddhist chaplains in the us army that i have seen. and what is heart sutra?
There are now a few Buddhist Chaplains in the US military and most of them are in the US Army. Here is a blog fir Buddhist servicemembers run by one of the Buddhist Chaplains.

The Heart Sutra is an expression of enlightenment that is the condensation of a very large sutra. It is very difficult to understand intellectually. It is recited in almost all Mahayana Buddhist traditions, esp. in the Zen/Chan/Seon traditions. after a person dies the Heart Sutra is often recited in the Zen traditions for the person who died because they could benefit from it and now could understand it more easily. I personally like this version of the Heart Sutra more than others in large part because my former main Zen teacher took pains to create a more lyrical (or at least more chantable) version than is often seen.

Kirt

Re: New to Buddhism

Posted: Sat Jun 08, 2013 3:17 pm
by icylake
sorry for late response. Wae gwan belongs to Chil gok county. there is Chil-gok branch of Youngmnam buddhist school Kwan um sa(http://tvbuddha.co.kr/engsite/ ).
it's famous for it's education programs for lay people in Youngnam area (Kyung sang nam do, Kyung sang buk do, a independent institution of Jogye order) but it would not provide english program I think. and Kyung sang do province is notorious for it's hard dialect. many Koreans live other areas can not fully understand their dialect.

if you don't bother to go to Daegu city, you could find many opportunities I think. there is one of the main Korean zen monasteries, Dong hwa sa temple (http://www.donghwasa.net/ )
and there is Daegu branch of Hanmaum zen center( http://www.hanmaum.org/startpage) there is english page on the right.

in fact, there are several citizen cen centers run by zen manasteries which their main monasteries are located in mountains. but I don't know if there are English programs.

and there are many traditional zen monasteries in Kyung sang do area. in fact that area is the spin of Korean zen, brought out countless zen masters, but ALL of those temples and hermatages are deep in the mountains, and Too traditional. I suggest you to try the two above.(Young nam buddhist school Chil gok branch or Daegu main temple, Hanmaum zen(seon) center Daegu branch) Chil gok and Daegu is very close as you know. good luck!
:namaste:

Re: New to Buddhism

Posted: Sat Feb 07, 2015 9:53 am
by timmy113
There is now a active duty Buddhist chaplain. If you good the term Buddhist Chaplain he will come up.