Ven. Gagan is a living witness to Templestay who led the program at Songgwangsa Temple for 17 years. I met him at Bonggapsa Temple in Boseong for this interview. Ven. Gagan is also known to have built up the size and influence of Wondangam Hermitage where he served as an attendant to late Master Hyeam, who emphasized the axiom: “Cultivate your practice until death.”

Bonggapsa is one of three temples in southwest Korea whose names end with “-gapsa,” along with Bulgapsa in Yeonggwang and Dogapsa in Yeongam. Ven. Gagan reestablished Bonggapsa on its former site where none of the temple’s original buildings had been left standing. He has prayed for the reunification of Korea at Bonggapsa since then. I asked him about the 6,000 days he served as the guiding monk of Songgwangsa’s Templestay program.

I heard you have a significant connection to Templestay.

After Master Hyeam entered nirvana, I left Haeinsa Temple for the first time in my monastic life, and arrived at Songgwangsa to cultivate my practice. While at Wondangam Hermitage, I never left Ven. Hyeam’s side, and only concentrated on Buddhist projects.
Wondangam originally had three Buddha halls, and I contributed to expanding the hermitage by establishing several more Dharma halls. Still, I departed without any hesitation because my studies with Ven. Hyeam were over. Some people asked me from time to time if I studied at all while devoting myself to many Buddhist projects.

However, attending Ven. Hyeam was study itself and a learning process. I wondered if I would ever be able to undertake such big projects and learn more about the world. I just lived one day at a time with this frame of mind, and before I knew it, 10 years had passed.
I was in a meditation retreat at Songgwangsa Temple when one day, as I was circumambulating the pagoda, I ran into Ven. Jinhwa ^{(former director of the Cultural Corps of Korean Buddhism and former abbot of Songgwangsa)}. He had been my senior at Haeinsa Monastic College. He had invited then abbot and director of general affairs at Songgwangsa and introduced me to them saying, “He took care of all the Buddhist projects at Wondangam Hermitage of Haeinsa Temple.” They then suggested that I serve as the director of Dharma propagation. I declined saying I was not qualified, but the two senior monks of Songgwangsa said I was more than sufficiently qualified just by having been attendant to Ven. Hyeam. That’s how my connection to Templestay began.

I was not well connected in the Buddhist community because I had only worked at Wondangam, but being the director of Dharma propagation at a large temple like Songgwangsa allowed me to meet many other monks. I met many people while working for Templestay. About that time, I registered Bonggapsa as a branch temple of Songgwangsa and initiated some Buddhist projects. At Songgwangsa I began building three more Buddha halls as Bonggapsa reached its current size. It was a big project, and I learned a lot ^(laughing). I had served as the Templestay guiding monk at Songgwangsa for 17 years, and at the same time, I continued the reconstruction project of Bonggapsa. Thus, to me, Templestay was a continuation of the learning process I had begun under Ven. Hyeam.

What do you mean by Templestay being your teacher?

Over 8,000 participants came to Songgwangsa Templestay every year. In total I met over 100,000 people during those 17 years, but in fact I really didn’t know anything about them. At every session of Templestay, I met diverse participants of all ages, genders, and jobs. This caused me continual stress. “What kinds of people will come today? What stories will they tell me?” The moment I first met a new group was always exciting but also stressful. This was because I had only practiced at temples, which left me ignorant about secular matters. These people came to Songgwangsa to forget about stressful things and recharge themselves, and I was never sure if I could help them.

The past 20 years of Kim Seungnyeon’s life, a Templestay staff coach, are like a frank story that has become merged with his Templestay activities.
As a young aspiring writer, a long time ago he bravely knocked on the gate of a mountain temple saying he wanted to write articles for the Buddhist community. He has now become a part of the mountain temple. He has greeted and bid farewell to countless travelers, sharing with them his time with the Templestay program. Now he is a senior staff member and coach who conveys the knowhow he has accrued in the front lines of the Templestay program to other workers at Templestay temples all over Korea. He travels to different mountain temples in Korea to perform his coaching work. The following is one account of his experiences working with and helping improve the Templestay program.

What does a Templestay staff coach do?

In 2012, the Cultural Corps of Korean Buddhism ^{(hereafter “Corps”)} assembled an expert committee comprised of Templestay frontline workers. On-site performance is critical for the Templestay program, so when the Corps planned any project, they first consulted the committee to get feedback on how helpful or effective the project would be.

At the time I had been working as a Templestay staff member for over 10 years, and I was chosen as an excellent frontline worker. That’s how I became a member of the expert committee. My current coaching work can be seen as an extension of that.
The Templestay program began with 30 temples but now has 140. Temples usually have a high turnover rate of workers, and each temple has its own unique operational environment. A Templestay staff coach visits each temple, provides information, a job manual if needed, and gives any necessary support. Actually, I was about to quit Templestay work for a while to rest when the Corps requested that I work as a coach. I thought it would be interesting to visit nationwide temples and work with the staff, so I accepted.

You have been there from the beginning of Templestay. What was your first connection with Templestay?

In 2003, my first connection with temples began when I started to work as editor-in-chief for Songgwangsa’s temple magazine. I always liked to read books and write, and that’s why I chose to pursue writing. I had been working as a reporter for a small newspaper, and when I saw the ad saying Songgwangsa was looking for an editor-in-chief for their magazine, I felt it was destiny.
About two weeks after I started work, Ven. Hyeonbong, then abbot of Songgwangsa and now spiritual patriarch of Jogye Chongnim, asked me one day at a staff meeting if I could take on the Templestay work. I didn’t know what to say because the offer was so unexpected, but suddenly the job was mine. That’s how I started ^(laughing).

Fortunately, Songgwangsa had a tradition of providing an extended 5-day practice program for lay Buddhists which I could benchmark. I delved into all their resources and could condense the original 5-day program into a 3-day program. I also made other necessary preparations. I was worried about what I would do if not enough people applied, but after I put the invitation online, over 30 people applied in no time, much to my surprise.

Templestay then must have been a lot different than now.

At present, each temple has an area exclusively for Templestay programs, but back then the environment was not as good. Back then we just separated the men and women, and assigned about ten people to one room. And Songgwangsa only had a traditional Korean toilet at the time. Everyone had some confused facial expressions when coming back from the toilet… ^(laughing)