Voyage au pays du Bouddhism Coreen (Journey to the land of Korean Buddhism)
October 25 to November 9, 2016, in Paris 

Link to the video in Korean: http://www.btnnews.tv/news/articleView.html?idxno=39374 

The Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism held the event titled “1,700-year long Korean Buddhism, its temples and monastic life,” to promote Korean Buddhism with various programs to the public in Paris. At 8pm on October 26, 2016, about 300 guests of honor including the French politicians and cultural figures attended in the dinner banquet prepared by the Jogye Order with the outstanding Korean temple food at the Maison de la Mutualite in Paris.

The highlight of the event was “One day in a Mountain Temple.” It opened with the monastic’s chanting with a hand-held wooden percussion, and playing the four Dharma instruments-Dharma drum, wooden fish, cloud gong, and Dharma bell- that break the dawn. Then, the monastic featured conducting the dawn chanting ceremony in the Seokguram Grotto, cleaning the temple ground and taking the meal with baru (a bowl). Then, Ven. Seoljeong, the head of the Seon meditation hall in Sudeoksa Temple, prayed for the peace of the world and humanity.

“May the humanity be free from threats of war as soon as possible, may all the victimized souls of terrors be reborn in the Paradise, and may the world peace be realized on Earth through the great compassion and wisdom of the Lord Buddha.”

After the one and half-hour long performance, the dinner was served to the attendees. Everybody was surprised and delighted with the Korean temple foods served beautifully. There were about 20 kinds of foods including lotus root porridge, marinated tofu, lotus sticky rice, etc. which kept the flavor of nature. Ven. Seonjae, who was the chef of the event, introduced the food, “The Korean temple food lets you put down the greed for the food, awakes your body, lifts up the energy, and has the respect toward all the sentient beings in the nature.”

All the cooking specialists who attended in the event, including a chef named Benoit Nichola Ferranti, praised, “I had no idea about Korean Buddhist temple food but through the Korean temple food today, I could realize what contains in the Korean Buddhist temple food; the respect for those who contribute to the making of food, and about the relationship between the food and myself. It is very inspirational.” Another commented, “The Korean temple food pursues the organic ingredients and natural seasonings, and it is in line with the global cooking trend. I think therefore the Korean temple food has a high potential of being globalized in the near future.”

Ven. Jaseung mentioned about the meal prayer in his opening speech. “The Korean Buddhist monastic pray before the meal; Where has this food come from? May I be worthy to receive it. May I renounce the unwholesome mind, especially the poison of greed. May I take only food to nourish and prevent illness, And may I accept this food to attain enlightenment." And he added, “We are witnessing the devastating conflicts and hatred in the world. I hope that through the chance of tasting Korean temple food, we all could think of how deeply connected we all are on Earth and how precious every living being around us is.”

Apart from the Buddhist cultural event, the Jogye Order delegates had a meeting with Mr. Jean Vincent Place, Minister of State for State Reform and Simplification, and with Mr. Jack Lang, the former French Minister of Culture, and finally made a visit to the Korean Buddhist temple in Paris, Gilsangsa Temple, to encourage the monastic and lay followers in Paris.