Join Durham’s Oriental Museum for an evening talk by Professor Simon Mills of Durham University’s Music Department, entitled Personal Patterns of Enlightenment: the chant styles of Buddhist monks in South Korea.
FREE of charge. Booking essential.
The Jogye Order is the biggest Buddhist sect in South Korea today, administering over 1700 temples spread across the country. In every temple, the daily services are delivered almost entirely through the medium of chant, led by an officiating resident monk. Rather than foster the exact same chant style, the monks tend to develop their own rather distinctive ways of chanting, characterised by certain tempi, musical modes, rhythms, ornaments, and timbres. In this talk, Professor Simon Mills (Department of Music) sheds light on the monks’ diverse personal styles and investigates how and why the monks develop their own preferred ways of chanting – drawing from an ethnographic study encompassing a wide range of temple practices and centring on the monks’ own testimonies.
This event is part of a project generously supported by the National Museum of Korea.
Dear Event Editor,
My name is Buedyel Kim, and I am a curator at the University of Seoul Museum.
I studied East Asian architecture and have a deep interest in the topic of your upcoming conference.
Unfortunately, I am currently in Korea and will not be able to attend in person.
I was wondering if there might be any way to participate remotely — perhaps via Zoom, YouTube, or any other online platform.
If remote attendance is not possible, would it be possible to receive a copy of the speaker’s presentation or a summary of the lecture afterwards?
I would be very grateful for any opportunity to engage with the content.
Thank you very much for your time and consideration.
Warm regards,
Kim, Buedyel (Ph.D, Cultural Heritage Restoration Specialist)
Curator, University of Seoul Museum