Ministering Through Compassion
Sitting across the table, Deung Myoung Sunim held a deck of 49 "Mind Cards," each one with a unique colorful drawing and a word. He fanned them out and offered them to me.
"You can choose one or three cards, and we can see what your mind is thinking about," he explained.
Or, he suggested, I could propose a specific question or topic that has been on my mind.
"For example, 'what do I need to become a competent minister?'" he said, providing insight into something that has perhaps been on his mind lately as a fellow with Harvard Divinity School's Buddhist Ministry Initiative (BMI).
He paused, waiting for me. I decided to let the cards guide my mind per his initial suggestion. After selecting three, I flipped them over: family, concord, balance.
"When you look at this picture, what do you feel?" Sunim prompted, gesturing toward the family card. "Let's consult your mind."
Sunim has used these Mind Cards, which were developed by his teacher Venerable Magga, at least 100 times while providing spiritual care to both religious and non-religious people throughout South Korea. Typically, Sunim facilitates his program in small groups of three to five people. This exercise, Sunim said, encourages the speaker to develop self-acceptance and self-compassion through reflection and allows the other groupmates to practice compassionate listening.
Voice meditation is another component of the Mind Card program that Sunim developed. As an example of this, he started to say the word "family," drawing out each syllable into a melodic chant, and invited me to join him.
"When we communicate and resonate with each other through our voices, the energy of compassion is amplified more beautifully," he explained.
Spiritual transformations
After graduating from university, Sunim became a game developer. He was happy in this role, expecting to find satisfaction in the act of creating something. But that was not the case.
"I was craving a sense of accomplishment and other people’s praises, but I couldn’t be satisfied because my craving and expectations also got bigger," he said. "This infinite dissatisfaction was my suffering."
At this time, Sunim self-identified as non-religious but felt like he needed spiritual guidance. Then, when he was 25 years old, his mother, who he describes as a "very religious person," introduced him to Ven. Magga, a monk from a nearby temple. The encounter changed his life.
"Ven. Magga seemed so happy, unhindered, and free," Sunim recalled. He admired Ven. Magga and his lifestyle, wanting to also feel happy and unhindered. On a whim, six months later he decided to make his own wish come true.
"One day, I suddenly shaved my hair without my parents' permission and became a monk," he said. "It felt like I was entering a new world."
He was eager to start his spiritual journey. After shaving his head, he wanted to learn immediately how to get rid of suffering. However, Ven. Magga encouraged him to slow down.
"He told me to let the intention of getting rid of suffering go," Sunim recalled. Instead, Sunim learned how to provide spiritual care to his community, leading rituals, chanting, meditating, and reading scriptures.
"When a member of a layperson’s family dies, I went to their funeral hall and counseled them," he said. But then he started to question the purpose of these rituals.
"For 10 years, I lived an annual cycle of life centered around ritual," he said. "I started to wonder why we keep these rituals. Why do we do the three refuges1? Why should we keep the Five Precepts2?"
He turned to scripture to find answers, often finding contradictions and confusion instead of the clarity he sought. His Sangha—a Buddhist community of monks and lay practitioners—helped him work through these paradoxes, heal, and develop spiritually. It was during these transformative periods of his monkhood that he began to understand compassion as an antidote to suffering.
Providing spiritual care to non-religious youth
While seeking answers to his questions, Sunim became curious how people from different cultures practice Buddhism and found out about HDS’s BMI through a senior monk.
"I wanted to learn what Buddhists from other traditions studied and share what I have studied," he said. "I applied because I knew the space to do that was HDS’s BMI."
Before joining BMI, Sunim always considered reading and thinking about scripture as solitary activities, but by reading scripture with others, he said he has been able to see things he would have otherwise overlooked.
"The different ways of thinking and tools I have learned at Harvard have been very effective in helping me to become more competent in reading scripture without falling into pitfalls," he said. Discussing scripture with his professors and peers has helped Sunim understand it more deeply, and he thinks it will help him when he returns to his temple.
Currently, Sunim is working on several projects, but the main one is developing a program that will provide spiritual care to non-religious people, especially youth.
"In Korea, younger generations don't like to have religion, but they need spiritual care," he said. "I can empathize with non-religious young people because I was so."
In the past, he has used his Mind Card program and led meditation sessions using the singing bowl to reach non-religious youth. He wants to continue developing these programs, in addition to a modern spiritual music program that uses sounds and chants of the Korean Buddhist tradition and other traditions as well.
"Through these programs, we hope to meet them and help enrich their spiritual journey," he said.
When Sunim reflects on his own spiritual journey, he sends gratitude to those who have helped him through times of suffering. He often asks himself what he can do for all the people who have given him love, compassion, and support. He found an answer in ministry.
"I hope that those who travel spiritually within themselves do not get lost in the same contradiction and confusion as I do," Sunim said. "I want to share the skills and thoughts I have learned with such people, and I want them to feel the deep love and compassion I have felt."
—by Toby Cox, MTS '23, HDS Correspondent
1. Many Buddhist rituals start with the recitation of the three refuge vows: I take refuge in the Buddha. I take refuge in the Dharma. I take refuge in the Sangha, a Buddhist community of monks and lay practitioners .
2. The Five Precepts is the basic code of ethics for followers of Buddhism. They include abstaining from killing living beings, stealing, engaging in sexual misconduct, lying and gossiping, and consuming anything mind-altering such as alcohol and drugs.