Tricycle | Awake in the World

Power Plays in Korea

For months, images became increasingly bizarre. Shaven-headed monks in yellow construction helmets. Opposing monks in gray robes and combat boots. Barricades, firebombs, burning furniture, bodyguards, bulldozers, praying mothers, a melee. At issue: leadership of Korea’s largest Buddhist sect, the Chogye order, with opposing factions attempting to gain control of an annual budget of $9.2 million, property valued in the millions, and the appointment of 1,700 monks to various duties, including head monks at 24 parish temples. An estimated 10 million followers (approximately one fourth of South Korea’s population) belong to the Chogye order, which emphasizes meditation and dates back to the early Koryo period (917-1392).