Meditation museum seeks harmony with nature

By Chung Ah-young

When millions of cows and pigs were buried alive to prevent the further spread of foot-and-mouth disease, drawing strong backlash from animal advocates and environmentalists from home and abroad, people realized how they have treated animals as just meat rather than living creatures.

The Seon Museum operated by the meditation school Suseonjae is spearheading a move against the ruthless measure and emphasized the importance of harmony between human beings and nature.

For about one month from Jan. 31 to Feb. 20, in the corner of the exhibition hall, the museum offered a separate section to commemorate dead animals. “It is a pity to see the lives of the animals were taken by the standards of human beings. It is the ugly side of modern society that thinks of lives lightly and instead heavily relies on materialistic and industrial values,” Cho Jung-shin, director of the museum’s Bukchon center, told The Korea Times.

The museum was established by Suseonjae in December last year to help people love themselves and prevent suicides through meditation and life and death experiences. Suseonjae provides stretching, meditation and traditional breathing methods that have been passed on for thousands of years in the Korean Zen culture.

The museum has a total of 29 regional centers: 22 in Korea and the others in the United States, China, Japan, Republic of South Africa, Spain, Brazil and Australia.

“We are seeking harmony with nature, the environment and universe through hypogastric breathing and a campaign of love,” she said.

The museum includes a meditation room and a life and death experience section. In the meditation room, visitors can listen to calm music and follow the instructions of meditation for three to five minutes and the experience section gives the opportunity to think with gratitude of life and prepare for death instead fearing it. Visitors can experience a mock death by writing a will and lying in a coffin.

“Many people don’t have an opportunity to think about death as they regard it with fear and want to avoid it. But at this museum, people can think about death and themselves and step back from what we are now,” she said.

The director said that visitors, especially office workers, find peace and stability from their busy daily routines there.

“Some visitors stayed for about one hour and sometimes shed tears in the meditation room. They might wash away their agonies here through meditation. If you have something to confess and pent-up anger, just come to the museum and wash it away. We need an outlet for emotions. Loving yourself is a starting point for loving others and the earth ultimately,” she said.

Roar Sheppard, who lived in Korea for some 12 years, is a loyal member of the meditation society and also in charge of instructing foreigners for both the museum and school.

“When I first came to Korea, I was amazed that the country has such a traditional spiritual thing that other countries didn’t have. I think Korea’s power lies in this traditional spiritual strength,” Sheppard said.

The American instructor looked for a change of lifestyle to escape from mounting stresses of modern living to spiritual peace. He found the answer in a healthy life for the body and mind in ancient Korean traditional meditation.

He said that meditation is good for the mind, body and spirit, using an ancient Korean method to improve the balance between the old and new, and revitalize the body.

“We need a bridge connecting the selfish old mankind to the new mankind who cares more for others and the universe. We are making a new culture to share happiness with others and look around the world instead of caring just for ourselves. It is desperately in need for modern society,” he said.

Sheppard also operates the museum’s overseas branches through online and offline channels. The overseas branches focus more on campaigns for a vegetarian diet and environmental conservation.

“In Australia, we are selling booklets in organic markets. Many Australians really like it as it includes content on how to love the nature and environment through detailed actions,” he said.

The museum offers English and Japanese guidelines for meditation. Foreigners can contact to nukeroar@gmail.com for more information about the museum.