English | 10 Year Anniversary of Government Employee Buddhist Association
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10 Year Anniversary of Government Employee Buddhist Association
The ten-year anniversary dharma service for the Government Employee Buddhist Association was held on October 10 at Naksansa Temple with Ven. Hyechong, the head of the Jogye Order Bureau of Dharma Propagation and over 1000 in attendance.
The Government Employee Buddhist Association was established in 2000 with over 700 government employees from 47 government organizations attending the inauguration ceremony at Woljeongsa Temple. Since then, the association has held numerous dharma services, templestays, and pilgrimages to share friendship and discuss life as Buddhist employees of the government. There are now sub-organizations in all 16 major Korean cities and the membership is over 10,000 from over 160 government organizations.
On this day, members pledged to carry out government work with propriety and efficiency as well as work for the development of the association through continued cooperation and solidarity. Ha Bok-dong, president of the association said, “By the strength of the faith and active participation of the members, we are able to have a ten-year anniversary, which has seen great progress throughout the years. The association will continue to progress through increasing membership, creating more sub-organizations, and maintaining good ties with local temples.”
Ven. Hyechong advised the members to live a life of a bodhisattva such as Kwanseum Bosal. He said that especially since this service is held at Naksansa Temple, one of the main temples for Kwanseum Bosal. Ven. Hyechong said, “We Buddhists must espouse the principle of Kwanseum Bosal’s compassion, which looks after and fulfills the needs of beings. The path to true happiness is to always give to our neighbors, society, and nation. The Government Buddhist Association will surely endure if we follow the association’s motto of doing our government’s work just as Buddha would.”
There were also awards given out to the sub-organizations for outstanding activities. Naksansa Temple also gave a donation for the progress of the association. Each participant also received prayer beads and a book written by Naksansa Temple’s Jeongnyeom Sunim.
