Yokshim, Meet Empathy
Poster for the Seoul International Buddhism Expo
Somehow, over the past few years, Buddhism got cool in Korea. Seriously, unironically cool. The lines to get into the Seoul International Buddism Expo was huge. Apparently out of the 130,000 or so visitors, 80% were in their 20s and 30s. Buddism merch is cool. The National Museum of Korea held a costume event, the response was intense with many dressing up as statues of Budda. There are official temple stay programs offering surfing meditation, dog-cuddling sessions, and wine foot baths.
From Eight Scenes of Buddha's Life (팔상도) by Yang Kyung Soo (양경수)
Source: https://yangkyungsoo.wordpress.com/buddha-works/
I watched an interview with a Buddist monk named Boman, right around the same week my book club read The Giver, Lois Lowry's dystopian novel about a society that's engineered away pain and, along with it, most of what makes life feel human. If I had read it in the 90s when it came out, I imagine it would've felt radical. Reading it today, in this day and age of AI, it reads less like science fiction and feels much closer to home.
At the book club, someone asked, if you could remove one emotion or human trait from society, which would it be?
I said greed.
Someone pushed back saying, without greed, would there even have been progress? I agreed, we'd probably still be out foraging berries.
That conversation stayed with me. A few days later, it connected with something I'd heard monk Boman say in the interview, talking about the Korean word yokshim (욕심), the word usually translated as "greed." Except, he said, that's only half the translation. Yokshim can also be translated as, the will to accomplish something. For Buddhists monks like himself, it could be the drive toward enlightenment. Yokshim itself isn't the problem, he said. What matters is how much of it you carry, and what you're carrying it toward.
Back at the book club, another question came up. What's the one emotion or quality that everyone should have?
Someone said empathy.
That’s stayed with me too. Because yokshim with empathy would be the energy to build something that makes life better not only for yourself, but for other people too.
Maybe that's the actual formula, whether it’s for Buddhism, meditating, or just for life in general. Yokshim plus empathy. And maybe that’s why Buddhism has struck a chord with so many young Koreans. Maybe they’re not looking for less yokshim or ambition. They’re looking for a better relationship with yokshim.
If you’re curious, you can check out the interview here. It's in Korean, so you might want to turn on auto-translated subtitles.
Vegetarian burger by Hwaeomsa (화엄사 or Flower Garland Temple)
*Hwaeomsa was built in the year 544 and is the head temple of the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism
