"I entered the Buddhist priesthood out of a desire to show the greatest filial devotion to my parents."
Venerable Seonjae, widely known as a master of Korean temple cuisine, unexpectedly spoke of "filial piety" when asked why she chose the path of a Buddhist practitioner. Her answer differed from the common assumption that monastic life is usually chosen after worldly pain or frustration. Meeting with Seoul Economic Daily ahead of Buddha's Birthday at the Seonjae Temple Food Culture Research Institute in Yangpyeong, Gyeonggi Province, Venerable Seonjae said, "I thought that to show filial piety to my parents, I should devote myself to spreading the Buddha's teachings to many people."
◇ A Lecture on the 'Sutra of Filial Piety' That Became a Turning Point
Entered priesthood at 25 to show filial devotion to parents
Realized the meaning of food while living with troubled youth
Venerable Seonjae entered the priesthood in 1980 at the age of 25. At that time, it was a relatively late age. Raised in a strict household, she said, "When I visited a friend's house in high school and saw her interacting with her parents like friends, I was shocked." Later, a lecture on the "Sutra of Filial Piety" that she heard at Yongjusa Temple in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, during her senior year of high school changed her life. "I realized I had been living without knowing my parents' grace," she said, recalling that she asked the monk how she could best repay her parents.
"The monk said there are three kinds of filial piety. Providing good food, clothing, and pocket money is the lowest form. Not causing pain to a parent's heart is the middle form. The greatest filial piety is helping parents let go of attachments and live peacefully. As soon as I heard that, I decided to enter the priesthood."
But her parents' opposition was fierce. Her mother tried to dissuade her, asking, "You have parents, you have money, you haven't been jilted in love—why would you become a nun?" Believing she could not persuade others if she left without her parents' consent, she waited five years. Eventually, she received her father's permission and entered the priesthood.
Venerable Seonjae's connection to food traces back to her childhood. Both her paternal and maternal grandmothers had served as court ladies in the royal kitchens. From an early age, she ate the royal court dishes and temple food her maternal grandmother prepared, and she heard many stories about food. From her father, who had learned medicine and treated villagers, she learned folk remedies and how to heal the body through food.
After entering the priesthood, she said, she came to a deep realization of the meaning of food while engaging in youth guidance activities. Venerable Seonjae provided counseling and temple stays for students who had not adjusted to school life. Children who had caused problems at school began to change as they lived at the temple and prepared and ate meals together. As word spread, students were sent not only from nearby schools but also from education offices nationwide.
"While making tteokbokki together, I asked the children: why do we eat rice cakes both when we are sad and when we are happy? Rice grains scatter on their own, but when made into rice cake, they become one. I explained that we make rice cakes to share both sorrow and joy together."
◇ Health Collapsed... Letting Go of Everything for the Mountains
Sudden cirrhosis diagnosis with one year to live
Miraculous recovery through fermented foods such as soy sauce
Round-the-clock care eventually broke her body. In the early 1990s, she was diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver. Her palms and soles turned yellow, and she had to rest three times to walk a 10-minute distance. A doctor told her she had only one year to live. Venerable Seonjae let go of everything and retreated into the mountains. She farmed by hand, prayed, and researched foods suited to her body. Because she had a heat-prone constitution, she avoided foods like ginseng and gave up wheat dishes and ice cream that she had loved. Instead, she steadily consumed traditional fermented foods such as soy sauce, soybean paste, persimmon vinegar, brown rice vinegar, and grain syrup.
A year later, she miraculously recovered her health. She then immersed herself in the study of temple cuisine. "That was when I realized that all food is medicine," Venerable Seonjae said. "I made temple cuisine my full-fledged path of practice in order to heal people's bodies and minds through food."
The core of temple cuisine that Venerable Seonjae emphasizes is "fermentation." Fermented foods such as kimchi, soybean paste, and soy sauce, she says, revive both body and mind. She added that her recovery from cirrhosis was helped by drinking aged soy sauce mixed with water, which a senior monk had given her.
"Westerners eat vegetables raw or pickled in vinegar, but we season them with fermented sauces or ferment them. The fermentation process also neutralizes heavy metals and toxins. I want to share with the world the wisdom contained in our traditional sauce culture."
Venerable Seonjae said that in Buddhism, food is "spiritual practice." Food is not merely a means to fill the stomach but a medium for healing body and mind, and ultimately for restoring the relationship between humans and nature. "For people to be happy, their bodies and minds must be healthy, and they must possess the wisdom to live in the world," she said. "Temple cuisine is food that contains all of these elements."
She described temple cuisine as "food that contains the life of the entire universe." A single bowl of food, she said, holds the energies of earth, water, wind, and sunlight, the heart and hands of farmers, and the devotion of the cook. "Temple cuisine is what helps us realize that I can be happy only when all the lives of the universe are happy," she explained. The starting point of temple cuisine is nature. "Good food begins with good ingredients, and good ingredients come from clean land, water, air, and sunlight," she said. "Plants grown in polluted environments inevitably become sick, and people who eat them also become sick." She added with concern: "In the past, you could drink water anywhere, but now we buy water. The day may come when we even have to buy air."
Asked about her most rewarding moment, she pointed to "when someone who came to learn cooking said they were learning about life." She said she feels particular joy when she sees chefs change their perspective on food. "One chef told me that he had only been preoccupied with the taste and appearance of food, but after listening to my lecture, he came to be grateful to the ingredients, nature, and farmers, and to make food that becomes medicine for those who eat it," she said with a smile.
In Buddhism, food is a medium for healing body and mind
Use grain syrup instead of sugar; even carrots have natural sweetness
Breakfast is essential, even if it's just rice with kimchi broth
She expressed regret about the eating habits of the younger generation today. She was particularly concerned about the excessive preference for sweet flavors. "These days, every food is sweet," she said. "Sweetness is absorbed quickly, which makes people more impatient." She advised seeking natural sweetness instead of sugar when sweetness is needed.
"I think the finest sweetness in this world is our jocheong (grain syrup). Jocheong is made by fermenting malt produced from sprouted rice or barley. Because it is fermented, it helps break down rice and rice cakes, aiding digestion."
The carrot noodles she made for nutritional support when she was infected during the COVID-19 pandemic also draw out nature's sweetness. "If you sauté carrots well, you can make sweet, delicious noodles without adding any sugar," she said. "Once you decide not to eat sugar, other natural sweet flavors come to mind." She added that picking the acacia flowers now in full bloom in the mountains and making jeon (pancakes) with them also offers natural sweetness.
Asked which eating habit she would most emphasize to modern people, she chose "eating breakfast." She said she usually eats rice and kimchi for breakfast. "Many people skip breakfast these days because they are busy, but breakfast is essential. Even just rice mixed with kimchi broth will do. You have to eat breakfast for your brain to function properly. The old monks said that a lazy person who skips breakfast cannot practice properly either."
Buddhism does not force people to believe
Younger generation seems to feel growing interest and comfort
When asked where her food can be eaten, Venerable Seonjae replied, "The most important thing is for each person to cook with their own hands." She emphasized, "You must know which ingredients and seasonings suit your body and prepare food yourself. You don't need to become a chef, but you must know which foods are important for you." She added, "People study to make money, but they take far too lightly the food that shapes their body and mind throughout their lives. For true happiness, you must look into your own body and study what you eat."
As for the recent rise of interest in Buddhism among the younger generation,
