The Battle of the Monks

Ever since Korea's crusty old President Syngman Rheer exploded at finding a Buddhist monk living in a temple with his wife and four children (TIME. Jan. 3), 500 celibate monks and 160 celibate nuns have looked forward to casting the 5,000-odd married monks from the best temples.

The government tried to help by issuing an ultimatum: all married monks had to be out of South Korea's 1,276 Buddhist temples by June 30. But the eager celibates concluded that their married brethren were moving as though they thought the government's order referred to their next incarnation. Public protests had helped their cause before, so the celibates decided once again to build a Buddhist fire under things.

One morning last fortnight, 104 of the unmarried monks and 109 of the nuns shuffled into Seoul's Choke Temple to start a hunger strike. Rubbing their prayer beads, softly chanting their sutras. they waited. As night fell, the celibates retired to sleep--all but Sentry Kim Chi Yo, who took up his post at the temple's weathered wooden gates. There was a delegation of married monks in town to protest the government's decree, and rumor had it that the married monks might be looking for trouble.

They were. At 4 a.m., drowsy Sentry Kim heard a suspicious sound. Suddenly, some 200 of the enemy were upon him, swinging clubs. The sleepy celibate monks got to their feet, rushed out to join the fight, but their 20-hour fast put them at an additional disadvantage before the well-planned onslaught of the family men. By the time the police came charging to the temple. 20 celibates were injured, ten of them seriously.

Last week the hunger strike ended (after 152 hours, five minutes) and the battle moved to the National Assembly. A majority of the legislators backed the married monks, passed a resolution demanding that the government let them alone unless there was further bloodshed or property damage. But President Syngman Rhee paid them no mind. The married monks must go on schedule, he decreed: "They are following the Japanized principle of Buddhism." (Some Japanese sects of Buddhism allow monks to marry.)

At week's end the celibates were still unbowed, if a bit bloody. During the fast, an additional 35 had to be hospitalized for starvation. And Sentry Kim Chi Yo was in critical condition from stab wounds self-inflicted, in remorse at having let the married monks get the jump on him.

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