Meeting of the MIDK Commission at Deawon-sa
2021 Report of the Korean Commission of DIM•MID (MIDK)
In 2021, the second year of its existence, the Korean Commission of DIM•MID was able to organize only a few interreligious activities because of the COVID pandemic. The Commission met three times on Zoom. One of the actions taken during these meetings was to propose to Abbot Blasio Park that the Korean Commission be referred to as MIDK (Monastic Interreligious Dialogue in Korea). We also decided to invite a Buddhist monk to our December Zoom meeting for a discussion on monastic life and discipline.
In May, the Commission visited Deawon-sa, a Buddhist temple located in the southwest of South Korea. Six members of the Commission spent two days at the temple, where Abbot Hyunjang was our host and shared with us his understanding of monastic life, the discipline of monastic life at Deawon-sa, and his experience of inter-monastic dialogue. The temple has one museum devoted to Tibetan Buddhism and another devoted to The
Interviewing Fr Thomas Timpte
Little Prince of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, both of which we enjoyed visiting.
The Commission had planned to visit the Islamic Mosque in Busan, but the visit was canceled at the last minute when a confirmed case of COVID was discovered.
Members of the Commission interviewed Fr. Thomas Timpte for a a short video clip they are making to publicize inter-monastic dialogue in Korea. Father Timpte is a German monk who came to St Maur and Placid Abbey in Waegwan in 1962 and has been actively involved in dialogue with Korean Buddhist monks
Finally, this year Sr. Hyoju Kim was elected to a five-year term on the DIM•MID Board of Directors.
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