URI KOREA PEACE CAMP 2015:

              URI KOREA PEACE CAMP 2015

On August 3, The Venerable Jinwol, Founding President of URI-Korea, led the opening ceremony of the URI Youth Camp in the Central Church of Chongdogyo in Seoul  where the participants undertook the URI Oath. Thirty delegates participated in the Youth Camp. Twenty-five of the delegates from Vietnam, China, Korea, Sri Lanka and Nepal were all living in Korea, and five international participants travelled from Spain, the United States, Australia, India and Nigeria.
During the week the group visited the Buddhist temple, Yogiesa, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Central Mosque, and the historical Chandeokgung Palace, all of which are located in Seoul. We spent the second half of the week in Gonju where we did a temple stay, visited the Gongju National Museum, made pottery, and practiced in archery. The last day, we had the privilege to go to the border of North and South Korea. The border had a deep impact on the participants. We left the border with an air of concern and uncertainty.

We explored “Leadership for Equality and Compassion”, the theme of the camp, through a process of group presentations.  The group was divided into four teams. Each team worked together addressing issues related to equality and compassion. At the end of the week each group would present their perspective on the topic.

The international delegates observed the formal structure of the group presentations. This seems different than the URI and interfaith workshops we had previously attended where we spoke about these topics by addressing deeply personal questions, drawing knowledge from our own individual experiences.

By the third time our group met, I felt discontented  and experienced the zealous inclination of my group to look up examples of compassion on the Internet. I wanted to know why compassion and equality were important ways of living to my group members, to learn what experiences they had that made them want to come to a “peace” camp and talk about issues such as equality and compassion.

So, I opened dialogue and shared my story of when I was young and went through experience of sexual assault. I explained that I had to learn how to be compassionate with myself in order to offer true compassion to those around me. Then, we heard one young woman’s story of how she felt a gapping disconnect between her and the people she was supposed to be close to. She respected them, but did not understand why. It was not until her breakthrough into Buddhism that she understood deeper notions of the self and non-self and was better able to understand those she loved. She became emotional and was able to be vulnerable and we were able to show  compassion by supporting her.

Our conversation  helped exemplify what dialogue can offer. I was able to open up and talk with my group and we all became aware that we are all deeply wounded and the root of compassion comes from tending to those wounds within ourselves and others. I am very grateful for this time.

The last day at the temple, Jinwol taught us the valuable lesson of the sword: the sword is used to cook and for medicine, but also it is used to kill and for destruction. He said, we are like swords and we have to decide how we will use that power, for peace or for destruction. He also gave us a beautiful lecture on Seon (Zen) meditation and we sat cross-legged and meditated together.

We concluded our final evening with group presentations. Each group contributed a unique perspective of compassion. From parables and stories of compassion from our religious traditions, to economic and political perspectives of compassion and equality, to expressing the issues through art, dance and music, we had a full spectrum of ideas on the topic. After we finished, we felt a sense of accomplishment and a better surface understanding of each other.

Together the international delegates reflected on the realization that interfaith is not only an “inter-religious” endeavor, but it is also an intercultural, and therefore, inter-ideological endeavor. On top of the fact that religious boundaries are becoming more fluid with the growing population of “religious-none’s” as well as all the modern influences on institutional religion, the interfaith movement must also learn how to negotiate cultural boundaries that bring to light differences in approaches to interfaith work. We must take a step back and learn how to take on and off our cultural lenses. If we can do this, we will be one step closer to inter-personal understanding and one millimeter closer to peace.

John Kurakar