Korea Journal of Buddhist Studies ISSN:1598-0642(Print) 불교학연구

In the modern history of Korean Buddhism, the Jogye Order has gone through repeated bitter disputes that could be attributed to the centralized administration of the Supreme Patriarch and the Executive Director of the Order’s administration. Based on such experiences, the Reformation Order introduced the decentralization of power in 1994. However, the autonomy of parishes has not yet been established. This study presents the factors hampering the introduction of changes to the system, operations, and mentality, as well as suggestions for improvement. First, the factors hampering the establishment of autonomy in the parishes are examined as follows: in terms of the system, the Jogye Order’s centralized laws have attracted a fair amount of critical attention. In terms of operations, great attention has been paid to the question of the inequality of the power within the parish and the inequality of the power between parishes. In terms of mentality, an air of indifference in the central organizations and in the parishes has received much attention. Next, suggestions for improvement and implementation of autonomy within parishes are presented as follows. In terms of the system, the Parish Autonomy Law should be enacted as the parent law, and all relevant laws of the Order should be revised and improved to achieve power decentralization. In terms of operations, first, the council of the parish should be free from the influence of chief monks at the head temple to bolster the checks and balances against parish administration institutions. Second, lay people’s engagement should be allowed for the transparency of administration. Third, the current 25-parish division system should be revised. In terms of mentality, there should be strong determination from both the executive director of the administration of the Order and the parishes to execute delegation of powers.