會議地點：越南胡志明市；時間：2009.12.18 - 2010.01.03；大會主題：傑出的女性修行者與典範=Eminent Buddhist Women
摘要
As modernity entered the early 20th century, many cultures around the world became fractured and/or mutated by the influences from the hegemonic cultures of the Western colonial powerhouses. Many spiritualities and systems of faith that existed prior to the 20th century in many parts of the world became marginalized as Judeo-Christian thought dominated the global intellectual mainstream. The industrialized West set the tone for modernity and the spiritual practices that fit the modern outlook. Science swiftly seized center stage of the new world order as the yardstick of national and continental power.
Life has become modified, processed, and even engineered – slowly in the beginning, but quickly gaining velocity and scale. Technological advances make possible less human contact and virtual reality replaces reality. Mechanization takes over most human activities of production and consumption. One could argue that our material and physical well-being has improved, but has our spiritual and socio-ethical life kept pace? Science is often regarded as the ultimate cure for all, yet its overdrive has brought tangible and intangible destruction to our lives and surroundings: global warming, depletion of rain forests, pollution, and various human-made health problems and threats. Since mind and body are closely interrelated, the same waves of destruction attack our mental and spiritual space.
In this paper, I share a teaching recently received from Venerable Jamin Sunim, abbess of Hyang Jeok Temple. Such’ô chakchu, “Follow the place, be a master,” means that wherever we go, we should think of the place as our own, to care for. Each individual can return to others what (s)he receives, in order to facilitate healthy exchanges of good will. I attempt to take the meaning of “place” beyond the physical to the social space for a fuller interpretation of her meaningful teaching.
