Dhamma bell
A workshop is scheduled for July 19th and the 20th to address issues involving the growing number of interracial couples in Korea.
There are reportedly over 100,000 mixed marriages in Korea, and the number is steadily rising, with reports of domestic violence and other related problems also on the rise. To address these and other issues Korea’s largest Buddhist denomination, Jogyejong, is sponsoring an overnight workshop at Jinguansa, located here. The site is in Korean, but you can scroll down to the phone number listed in the middle of the page.
The workshop, titled Speaking Through the Heart, is intended to introduce participants to various means of communication, as this is one of the greatest sources of difficulty between interracial couples. Sessions include music and art therapy, meditation, tea ceremonies and various other programs. In the least, the program’s aim is to bring some peace to what can often be turbulent relationships.
Filed under: Korean Society, buddhism, mixed marriage, religion | Tagged: buddhism, mixed marriage, religion
I am a korean american and have always been concerned about korean culture and issues of relationships and psychological health within such a self-protective inclusive culture. While domestic violence is a problem, there are plenty of korean women who are beaten by korean men. These women are the invisible numbers in your assessment who don’t talk about their problems. Yes, communication is essential for all marriages, whether interracial or not. But I think addressing communication is not a solution to the problem. This violence towards women and pervasive problem with expressing emotions appropriately without shame is a culture wide issue that must be dealth with at its roots with koreans themselves. Koreans have problems with their attitudes towards women which plague both the korean men and women. Foreign women are definitely more apt to report abuses but korean women will be too ashamed to report any problems and will even deny it to themselves. Korean men will deny that they have a problem too out of shame and inability to appropriately express their own feelings. My korean father abused my own korean mother while they lived in the US and though he has finally mellowed out and settled down, I urged my mother to divorce him which she never did. Communication classes is a part of the solution but it is merely plugging the hole in a dam that is probably going to eventually explode at one point or another.