A Long-feature documentary by Junsung Kim
Director & Producer : Junsung Kim
Executive Producers : Ken-ichi Imamura and Julien Coquet
Genre : Arts and Culture (Food & Meditation), Drama
Length : 55 minutes & 90 minutes
( France & South Korea )
Teaser :
SEONJAE
Temple Food Master, Venerable SeonJae was born in Suwon, South Korea. Her given name was YongJa, which means a son of a dragon, because her father wanted a son. However, she abandoned her given name in her 20’s and didn’t follow social expectations toward women in 1980’s South Korea, where women were expected to get married and have children. Instead, she left home and became a Buddhist nun, ordained the Dharma name ‘SeonJae.’ Meaning a good and kind treasure. Since then Seonjae has practiced as a Buddhist nun for almost 50 years, and now she is the most respected master of temple food in Korea.
Given a terminal diagnosis in her late 30s, SeonJae dedicated her life to temple food, so later she could find a harmonious way to coexist with her illness through temple food practice. In 2016, she was ordained the first-ever master of Korean temple food from Jogye Order of Korean Zen Buddhism.
TEMPLE FOOD
Korean Buddhist temple food has a 1700 years rich history. Temple food is more than just vegan food but is better perceived as an ascetic meditation practice. Some basic formalities of Korean temple cuisine are as follows: the ingredients must be completely seasonal vegan and must not include the five tantalizing spices (garlic, chives, green onion, wild onion, leek) that could stir unnecessary excitement and stimulation in our mind. Temple food stresses the importance of maintaining your body and mind clean and undistracted and it is considered as one of the most important parts of zen meditation practice..
