Venerable Myeongjin, former head monk of Bongeunsa, dies

Venerable Myeongjin, a former head monk of Bongeunsa temple in Seoul, died Saturday.

According to people close to the monk, he was involved in an accident while freediving in the sea off Jeju Island that morning. Police are investigating the exact circumstances of the accident. Funeral arrangements are being discussed at Namseonsa temple in Jeju, where he had been staying.

Born in South Chungcheong Province in 1950, Myeongjin entered monastic life at Baengnyeonam hermitage at Haeinsa temple in 1969 and received his novice precepts in 1974. He served as a member of the 11th Central Council of the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism and as vice speaker of the Central Council from 1998 to 2002, before serving as head monk of Bongeunsa temple in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, from 2006 to 2010.

The Jogye Order stripped him of his monastic registration in 2017 after he publicly criticized the order's executive leadership through interviews and dharma assemblies. He filed a lawsuit to nullify the disciplinary action, and both the first and second courts ruled in his favor. The matter was resolved earlier this year when both sides agreed not to appeal to the Supreme Court.

Myeongjin was a veteran of the Vietnam War and was also subjected to illegal civilian surveillance by the National Intelligence Service during the Lee Myung-bak administration.