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Message
7 November B.E. 2561 (2018)

I, on behalf of Taego Order of the Korean Buddhism, would like to extend my heartful
thanks to The WFB HQ and the 29 General Conference Organizing Committee in Japan.
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As a president of Taego Order of the Korean Buddhism, I am very pleased with attending the
conference since B.E. 2521 (1978). Late Lee Namchae, president of Taego Order of the Korean
Buddhism took participation in the General Conference where it was held in Japan in B.E. 2521
(1978). He is my master. So it is great honor to me to attend the 29 General Conference of
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The WFB. The Taego Order, which includes over 10,000 monastics and 4,000 temples. What
distinguishes the Taego Order from other forms of Korean Buddhism like the Jogye Order
of Seon is that it allows ordained priests to marry, although nuns must remain celibate. This
custom of married priests is a remnant of Korea under Japanese rule. However, not all Taego
priests are married. This order also includes traditional monks. Monks tend to remain more
separate from society and live in mountain temples, whereas the married clerics are more like
parish priests, though this is not always the case. Both the Taego and the Jogye use the Brahma
Net Sutra, which contain 10 bodhisattva vows and 48 lesser precepts. Contrary to some
misconceptions, the Taego Order does not use bodhisattva vows as the basis of its ordinations.
The Taego Order formed in the 1970s from the monks left out of the then Christian-dominated
military government's officially recognized group of monks that became the Jogye Order. This
group consisted of 300 celibate Seon practitioners. One result of this split was that the ritual
masters all remained with what became the Taego Order. Today, the Taego Order preserves the
full ritual tradition of Korean Buddhism, including the Yeongsanjae, which is a reenactment
of the Buddha's preaching of the Lotus Sutra on Vulture Peak.

Before B.E. 2488 (1945) the majority of Korean Buddhist monastics were descended from
Taego Bou, especially within the Jogye Order, which was founded at the end of Goryeo. This
unified order continued until B.E. 2497 (1954), when Syngman Rhee and a number of monks
ordered a separation of the order into two parts, one composed of 300 celibate monks and the
other a combination of celibate monks and priests, the latter of which would become the Taego
Order. The group of 300 celibate monks retained the name “Jogye Order” but changed the
color of the kasa, the outer monastic robe worn over the left shoulder and under the right arm,
to brown despite the fact that the traditional color of a Korean kasa was red. This was done to
create a visual distinction between the orders. North Korean Buddhist clergy most often use the
most traditional robes - a red kasa and a dark-blue or nearly black ceremonial robe. After the
separation of the orders, the monastics in the Jogye Order as well as the government suppressed
the group that became the Taego Order, in part by forcing married clergy out of the temples so
these disestablished priests had to establish a new order that would carry the characteristics of the

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RECORD OF PROCEEDING | THE 29 GENERAL CONFERENCE OF THE WFB
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