The Cheontae Order's Guin Temple in Danyang, North Chungcheong Province / Korea Times file photo

Human rights agency criticizes Cheontae Sect's seven-decade practice of banning women from entering its temples on Jan. 1 and Feb. 1 of lunar calendar

By Lee Hae-rin

The Cheontae Order, Korea's second-largest Buddhist sect, has come under fire for sexual discrimination.

It bans women from entering its temples on two days of the year.

The Buddhist sect's decades-old sexist tradition has been publicly addressed recently as the case was brought to the National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) for review.

The human rights agency announced that the order's tradition constitutes sexual discrimination, recommending on Aug. 19 that the sect improve the traditional practice, the commission announced Monday.

The Cheontae Order is one of 13 major orders of Chinese Buddhism and was introduced to Korea during the 918-1392 Goryeo Dynasty. After fading from popularity, it was reestablished 70 years ago. It currently has over 2.5 million Korean followers.

The Buddhist sect's discriminatory practice was brought to the human rights agency in March last year by a 40-something woman who was denied entry to Guin Temple in Danyang, North Chungcheong Province.

A temple official told her that only men are permitted and denied her entry to the temple because it was the morning of Feb. 1 on the lunar calendar. She filed a petition to the commission against the discriminatory practice.

Guin Temple is a historic site that contains 12 relics with cultural heritage status. The temple is open 24 hours a day to all visitors, including believers and non-believers. But women's entry into any temples belonging to the Cheontae Sect is denied on two days ― Jan. 1 and Feb. 1 of the lunar calendar ― when ancestral rites take place. The restriction applies to over 150 temples under the Buddhist sect in and outside of Korea.

The two days ― Jan. 1 and Feb. 1 when women's entry is banned ― mark the start of a new year on the lunar calendar and are considered "clean" days, where only men are traditionally allowed to pray and hold memorial services, which the temple's executive board admitted is influenced by patriarchal customs from the time.

When asked whether and why the sect sees women as "unclean" and bars them from entering temples on the two important dates, the temple's monk told The Korea Times on Monday that the sect does not consider women "unclean" and the regulation is "only part of the traditional customs."

He said he is "not exactly sure" whether the order previously upheld an existing regulation to ban women's entry to temples before the sect's reestablishment 70 years ago.

The order said that each religion's philosophies and belief systems could vary and argued it has a right to religious freedom.

The order's documented rules and norms, however, do not contain any specific regulations that distinguish women's and men's use of religious facilities.

The NHRCK criticized the order's practice. It said that the sect's discrimination against women cannot be seen to stem from Buddhism's defining religious doctrine but rather a sectarian tradition, which cannot serve as a basis for the restriction of fundamental human rights.

The commission said that restricting women's entry to temples, regardless of their status within the religious community or their beliefs, is sexual discrimination that hinders equal access to and use of commodities, and thus infringes on equal rights as stated in the country's human rights law.

In response, the Cheontae Order suggested limiting both women's and men's access to the sect's temples on the two dates as a solution. However, the commission disagreed that it resolves the discrimination issue and recommended the sect devise another corrective measure.