Thursday, July 27, 2023,  7 pm at Lincoln Memorial

GATHERING OF THE PEACEMAKERS (Pungmul) 

WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION TO THE VIGIL

As Buddhism and Christianity (both Catholic and Protestant) are majority faith expressions in the current southern part of the Korean Peninsula and among the Korean Diaspora in North America, this interfaith vigil will reflect their spiritualities of healing, reconciliation and hope.

OPENING CHANT FOR CENTERING 

오소서, 오소서,  평화의 임금, 우리가 한 몸 이루게 하소서 

O-so-so, O-so-so, pyong-hwa eui im-gum, u-ri-ga han-mom i-ru-ge ha-so-so.,

(Come now, O Prince of Peace, may you make us become one)

평화의 임금,  pyong-hwa eui im-gum (Prince of Peace)

사랑의 임금,  sa-rang eui im-gum (Prince of Love)

자유의 임금,  cha-yu eui im-gum (Prince of Freedom)

통일의 임금,  tong-il eui im-gum (Prince of Reunification)

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AWAKENING THE LIGHT (A  BUDDHIST LAMENT CEREMONY)

Chanted in Korean in a Buddhist liturgical style.

1)  GEOBUL: Paying homage

Pay homage to Permanent Light and Life

Pay homage to Great Compassion

Pay homage to Great Teachings and Guide

2) BOSOCHUNG JINON: Mantra for calling Holy Sages

3) JUNGBEOBGYE JINON: Mantra for purifying the world

4) GWANGMYEONG JION: Mantra for awakening the Permanent Light

5) BEOPSEONG GEI: A Song of Dharma Nature

The Nature of the Dharma embraces everything, there is nothing besides this, 

Hence the manifestations of the Mind are unmoving and thus fundamentally quiet. 

There is neither name nor form; without experiencing enlightenment, you cannot know. Original Nature is unfathomable and sublime; 

it never remains the same, but manifests according to affinities. 

In the One there are the Many; Many are included in the One.

One is the Many; Many are the One. 

A speck of dust swallows the universe; each and every speck of dust is also like this. Countless kalpas are one thought; One thought is countless kalpas.

The Nine Periods, the Ten Periods are like one, but remaining distinct. 

This is mysterious and sublime. The first thought is enlightenment. 

Samsara and Nirvana are not two.  The material world, the spiritual world, is Just-like-this, without discrimination. The ten Buddhas and Samantabhadra Bodhisattva always dwell  in this great state of the Mahayana. 

From the Hae-in Samadhi (Sāgaramudrā-samādhi) of Buddha, unimaginable abilities come forth at will.  

The Dharma, akin to precious treasures, rains upon sentient beings. 

Then depending on the vessel, the individual receives the Dharma accordingly. 

So if anyone wants to relish the original state, without letting go of delusions, 

they will never succeed. Free from past karmic ties saints use wise expedients,

they make each and everyone content in their Original Home. 

Bodhisattvas use this Dhāraṇī like a bottomless treasure chest to decorate

and glorify Dharmadhātu, the palace of the Mind.

Sit down in your Original Place and see that everything is as it is, 

like Buddha of old.

6) SAHONG SEOWON: Four Great Vows

1. Sentient beings are numberless. We vow to save them all.

2. Delusions are endless. We vow to cut through them all.

3. The teachings are infinite. We vow to learn them all.

4. The Way of Enlightenment is inconceivable. We vow to attain it.

                          [Adapted from 석문의 범  by 석찬 스님, 1935]

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CALLING OUT THE NAMES OF THOSE WHO DIED IN THE WAR AND ITS AFTERMATH      

Led by Protestant clergy; a Buddhist Bell will be rung for each category. 

Family members or those with whom you otherwise had a personal relationship

Civilians who died in the bombings

All the fallen soldiers that were sent from 20 countries involved in both sides of the Korean War

North Koreans who came to the South and then had to fight their own brothers and vice versa 

Victims of the NoGunRi massacre—civilians killed by the U.S. military

Victims of Korean sex trafficking by both the Japanese and the U.S. soldiers

Refugees who died while seeking safety

Crying infants, tragically forever silenced by parents or grandparents in hiding, so that the larger refugee group would not be caught

Those who died of untreated illnesses during the war

Separated Family members who died

Family members separated and suspected to have survived, but unknown

Zainichi Koreans in Japan who could not return home

Soldiers and civilians who survived the war, having been traumatized by what they saw and felt forced to do

Faith leaders who sought healing and reconciliation

Koreans of diverse political beliefs who were demonized for their desire for independence and peaceful reunification.

And finally, all those you are holding in your hearts

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PRAYERS OF REPENTANCE

Adapted from a Catholic Mass

(Please read together the lines typed in bold.)

We confess to almighty God, and to you our brothers and sisters, that our nation has greatly sinned - in our thoughts, in our words, in what we have done, and in what we have failed to do.

Though Jesus taught humility and service, we have sinned through national pride, sense of American exceptionalism, and willingness to dominate and rule other peoples. We have sinned in greed and gluttony for resources and power. We have sinned in white supremacy and rejection of Korean self governance. 

Instead of loving our enemies, as Jesus taught, we have sinned in fearful, hateful, and demonizing rhetoric of political enemies. We have sinned by justifying war and crimes against humanity. We have sinned by blessing violence, ironically, invoking the name of Christ, the crucified. 

We sinned in our 1905 agreement with Japan, allowing Japan to annex Korea in exchange for U.S. control of the Philippines, without regard for Korean or Filipino people. We sinned by destroying lives and cities in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, thereby introducing the fear and threat of nuclear war to Korea and the world. We sinned by subverting Korean people’s sovereignty in 1945 and dividing the Korean Peninsula and its people like spoils of war. Leading up to 1950, we sinned through political support for and participation in extrajudicial massacres of many thousands of people in southern Korea. 

After 1950, we sinned in war by civilian massacres, massive and indiscriminate bombing campaigns, sexual exploitation of children and women, and other grievous war crimes. We sinned through environmental degradation of the Korean peninsula with carpet bombing and use of napalm in the active fighting and through our bombing practice, base expansion, and provocative military drills under the armistice. We sinned by introducing nuclear weapons to the Korean Peninsula in 1958 in violation of the 1953 Armistice Agreement. We sinned in our support for murderous military dictators and religious vigilante groups who murdered civilians, red-baited as Communists in South Korea. We sin by stoking fear of North Korea, accusing them of all manner of evil, while excusing our own national sins and our ongoing role in this conflict.  We sin in our interference with South Korea’s internal affairs, while disregarding the human suffering of North Korean people through sanctions, travel bans, and international legal frameworks which further isolate the DPRK. 

We sinned by allowing our nation to collectively forget this war - though it is yet unended. We sinned by breaking our promises in agreements to the DPRK. We sin by profiting from the militarization of Korea, earning money from weapons’ sales through our stocks, bonds, and retirement portfolios. We sin in our indifference to the suffering and humanity of the Korean people. 

We have sinned through our fault, through our fault, through our most grievous fault.

Therefore, we ask the angels, archangels, saints, the blessed departed - and especially those gathered here - to pray for our nation that we may repent, be healed, be purified in our hearts, and transformed in our relationships.

(Silence)

“May Almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and bring us to everlasting life. Amen”

A GRAND SILENCE FOR PEACE AND HEALING        

Together, we are entering into a deep silence.

Allow the ringing of the bell to help sustain and hold the silence.

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READINGS FROM THE SACRED TEXTS 

From the Hebrew Bible:  Ezekiel 37:15-22 

15 The word of the Lord came to me: 16 Mortal, take a stick and write on it, “For Judah [the southern kingdom] and the Israelites [of the northern kingdom]  associated with it”; then take another stick and write on it, “For Joseph (the stick of Ephraim) and all the house of Israel [the northern kingdom]  associated with it”; 17 and join them together into one stick, so that they may become one in your hand. 18 And when your people say to you, “Will you not show us what you mean by these?” 19 say to them, “Thus says the Lord God: I am about to take the stick of Joseph (which is in the hand of Ephraim) and the tribes of Israel [the northern kingdom] associated with it, and I will put the stick of Judah [the southern kingdom] upon it and make them one stick, in order that they may be one in my hand.” 20 When the sticks on which you write are in your hand before their eyes, 21 then say to them, “Thus says the Lord God: I will take the people of Israel from the nations among which they have gone and will gather them from every quarter and bring them to their own land. 22 I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel, and one king shall be king over them all. Never again shall they be two nations, and never again shall they be divided into two kingdoms.  

 (NRSV Updated Edition, an ecumenical Protestant translation)

This is the Word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

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From a Classical Text of Korean Buddhism:  “A Prayer for the Spirits.”  

 Adapted from 영가축원문. Chanted in Korean in a Buddhist liturgical style.

O spirits!

Being born is like a piece of cloud arising in the air, and dying is like a piece of cloud disappearing in the air. The cloud itself has no substance, and the life and death and the coming and going is also like this. However, an object that is not related to life and death, and coming and going, is out of all kinds of names and shapes; it is bright, calm, pure, and clearly revealed; so it is not subject to life and death.

O spirits!

Be sure to know this principle! If you want to know such a dharma, make your mind empty and purify it as if it were an empty space. You will have no hindrance in your mind if you let go of defilements and delusions.

O spirits!

Do you see and hear what I am saying? If you see and hear clearly, contemplate what it is that you can see and hear. The true Dharma body is like a full moon full of mystical wisdom and thousand suns shining brightly. Now you take off your vain and fleeting outer layer and affirm a true body that won’t collapse because it’s as solid as diamond. Since Immaculate Dharmakaya has no inside and outside, the life and death of the physical body is also like a dream last night. Understand this?

O spirits!

The sun that sets over western mountain always rises again in the east, and the moon rising over the east must set to the western mountain.

O spirits!

In the next life, please gain a sturdy body like diamond and fulfill what you could not achieve in this life. The Great Light of the Pure Land is welcoming you today, so please enjoy the joy of Nirvana! We pray for you in the Great Compassion of Permanent Light and Life. We pray with all our heart that all the beings in the whole Dharma realm will enter the world of enlightenment, hold the Permanent light inside and achieve great wisdom, and save all the living beings widely free from the sufferings

Namu Muryangsoo Yeoraebul, Namu Amitabul

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From the New Testament: John 13:34-35, “ the New Commandment”

나는 너희에게 새 계명을 주겠다. 서로 사랑하여라. 내가 너희를 사랑하는것처럼 [사랑한 것 처럼] 너희도 서로 사랑하여라. 너희가 서로 사랑하면 세상사람들이 그것을 보고 너희가 내 제자라는 것을 알게 될것이다.   요한복음 13:34-35   

(from the North Korean translation, which ended up being identical with 공동번역/Common Translation, an ecumenical South Korean translation, except one small phoneme group [noted in bracket] and word spacing, reflecting only the regional variations.) 

34. I give you a new commandment: love one another; you must love one another just as I have loved you. 35. It is by your love for one another, that everyone will recognise you as my disciples.  (New Jerusalem Bible, a Catholic translation)

This is the Gospel of the Lord.

Praise to you, O Christ.

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TONG-SUNG GI-DO  (PRAYING ALOUD ALL TOGETHER)

TongSungGiDo is a distinctively Korean expression of prayer life among many protestant Christians, in which everyone prays out loud simultaneously, thus mounting collective crying out to God on a common theme even though each individual would pray with their own distinctive words and voice.  

Stretch your arms toward Korea for healing and reunification

Stretch your arms toward the White House for their choosing the way of peace and life rather than war and death.

Call on the power beyond, arms upward, for all the powers that can bring about the change and the hope of that which is beyond us, and yet within us, thus giving us peacemakers the agency to bring about transformation.

PRAYER CLOTHS 

We connect the prayers as we connect our prayer cloth strips.

CLOSING SONG: 우리의 소원은 통일 “Our Hope is Reunification”

KIM Dae Joong and KIM Jong Il sang it together at their summit on June 15, 2000. 

우리의 소원은 통일, 꿈에도 소원은 통일

이 정성 다해서 통일, 통일을 이루자

이 나라 살리는 통일, 이 겨레 살리는 통일

통일이여, 어서 오라, 통일이여, 오라.

Uri-eh so-won-eun tong-il, Ggoom-eh-do so-won-eun tong-il

Ee-jeong-seong da-hae-so tong-il, tong-i-reul ee-ruh-jah.

Ee-na-rah sal-li-neun tong-il, ee-gyeo-reh sal-li-nen tong-il,

Tong-il ee-yo, eo-so oh-rah, Tong-il ee-yo, oh-rah. 

Our hope is reunification; the hope even in my dream is reunification.

With all our hearts and souls, let us achieve reunification.

The reunification will revive our people; the reunification will revive our nation

O Reunification, come quickly!  Reunification, come!

GOING FORTH IN SONG AND DANCE

As the song leading group starts singing, everyone joins in, making circles with the prayer fabric, and circle around together as  in GangGangSuelLae (a Korean circle dance). PoongMulPae will lead us.