The Religiosity of Korean Zen (Hwadu) Meditation

Sung-bae Park, Professor of Religious Studies and the founder and director of the Center for Korean Studies at Stony Brook University, delivered this year's Ahnkook Fund for Korean Buddhism Lecture on November 6, 2012. Many Korean Zen Buddhists are now crying out for help. They seem to be in the throes of a crisis, since they are missing the religiosity of Zen (Hwadu) meditation. Their problem is not a neglect of practice, but their attachment to a causal way of thinking. As a result, they see it as a way to get enlightenment, and this means that Hwadu is treated as a method to achieve a goal. In this lecture, Park offered the advice: Please try to realize what "The Religiosity of Zen Meditation" actually is.