Keynote Lecture: Jeongkwan Snim

Please note that a recording will be made available to watch, later.

Jeongkwan Snim (born 1957) lives in the Chunjinam Hermitage at the temple Baegyangsa in South Korea, where she cooks for fellow nuns and monks, as well as occasional visitors.

The fifth of seven siblings, Jeongkwan was born in Yeongju in North Gyeongsang Province and grew up on a farm. She learned to make noodles by hand at age 7 and ran away from home at 17. Two years later, she joined an order of Seon nuns, where she discovered her calling of spreading dharma through vegan cooking.

This lecture introduces the philosophy of Korean Temple Food, which goes beyond a simple plant-based diet to pursue harmony with nature and inner enlightenment. Temple food begins with a deep respect for all living beings and a mindful temperance of desires. It views nature and humanity as a single living entity connected by the four elements: earth, water, fire, and wind. By fully utilizing seasonal ingredients from root to stem without waste, it helps restore harmony and balance to our bodies. This philosophy deeply resonates with the modern values of "sustainability" and "zero-waste" that we focus on today.

As an extension of this philosophy, Jeongkwan Snim introduces the core concept of 'Food Meditation.' She explains it as the mindful process of feeling deep gratitude for the profound effort it took for the ingredients to reach us, and fully observing how the food we consume transforms into energy within our bodies. She teaches that by understanding this mindful approach to eating, we can embark on a wondrous journey of discovering our 'true self.'

The lecture builds on the two-day symposium Artistic Prefigurations, Institutional Becomings, organised within the framework of Institution(ing)s – a European Cooperation Project composed of eight art and cultural organisations that encourage co-creation of innovative institutional models.

Institution(ing)s is a medium-scale collaboration project co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.