Taego Order - Overseas Parish

Overseas Parish

As for foreign clergy, there are a growing number of Taego Order clergy in the U.S., Canada and Europe. According to the Taego Order website (listed below), international clergy (that is, those who are not Korean) can study for ordination from home in a two-year program through the Institute for Buddhist Studies. This is a two-year program leading to ordination as a samanera (though not necessarily with vows of celibacy) or samaneri (requiring a vow of celibacy). The ordinations are carried out in South Korea. Dharma teachers can also be ordained after completing this program. These ordinations appear to be conducted in the West. (It should be noted that graduation from the seminary does not itself guarantee ordination. In addition, the seminary itself does not conduct ordinations - the Korean Taego Order conducts the ordinations.) The website does not clarify the difference between regular clergy and Dharma teachers, however the primary difference is that Dharma Teachers have fewer obligations and cannot be abbots of temples. Dharma Teachers also do not perform ordinations, memorial chanting, the "eye-opening ceremony" (consecrating religious images), nor do they perform the Dharma transmission rite (Inka). In both the Taego and Jogye orders, only monastics are eligible to receive Inka.

The website currently lists more than 40 clergy in the Overseas Parish (everything outside of South Korea), though a few are Koreans living overseas. There are also temples in New Jersey (Bogota and Warren), New York (Staten Island), Georgia (Hampton), Texas (Austin), Michigan (Royal Oak and Grand Rapids), Canada (Brampton, ON), California (Anaheim, Los Angeles, Seal Beach, and Pinion Hills), Idaho (Mountain Home), Missouri (St. Louis), the Washington, D.C. area, Hong Kong, and Germany (Solingen).