At the end of summer, a meditation festival in the heart of Seoul
At Hagyeoul Station in Gangnam, Seoul, SETEC will open the 7th Seoul International Meditation Expo, “2026 Meditation, Awaken Together”, on 22 August.
It is easy to think of meditation as something you do alone, but the power of practice becomes far clearer when you sit together. That is why this year’s theme, “Awaken Together”, does not read like a mere slogan.
The expo is organised by the Jonghak Research Institute of Dongguk University’s Buddhist Studies Institute and sponsored by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. From 22 August to 18 September, events are divided into four tracks: experience, academics, education and culture. This year, according to SETEC’s hall rental schedule, the order is reversed from previous years: experience programmes open first, followed in September by the academic programme, the Meditation Conference.
35 booths at home and abroad, meditation you can try with your fingertips
At the centre of the event are 35 meditation experience booths from South Korea and overseas. 24 booths from within the country and 11 from around the world will be set up side by side.
In the meditation experience booths, 24 programmes are ready, ranging from breathing meditation, walking meditation and body awareness to mindfulness, meditation counselling and meditation using brain waves, as well as Seonmyeongsang (Sunmyeongsang). All programmes are designed so participants try them with their own bodies under professional guidance. There is a river you cannot cross between meditation you read about in books and meditation you practise with your body. The value of this expo lies in helping you cross that river in a single day.
From ganhwasen (Ganhwaseon) to Ishihasumu, practice traditions that cross borders
The world meditation booths are the most eye-catching space at this event. You can meet, in one place, traditional meditation methods from 11 countries, including Korea’s ganhwasen (Ganhwaseon), and practice methods that reinterpret them in a modern way.
Part of what will be offered was released in advance at a press conference on 10 August. At the session, led by Professor Park Gyu-ri, Ven. Beom-jun demonstrated Plum Village meditation songs and a “Breath In, Breath Out” coaching meditation. The flow is to look at current thoughts and feelings, notice your breathing, and then fill yourself with new energy through stone breathing meditation. Ven. Beom-jun said that Ven. Thich Nhat Hanh valued practising together all the time and gathering the energy of the community.
Ven. Beop-il’s presentation of Ishihasumu meditation, a tradition from the Russian Orthodox Church, is also striking. Ven. Beop-il explained that while prayer styles may differ across religions, all meditation aims to calm a scattered mind and to concentrate by bringing a particular image to mind, which makes it similar to Buddhist 관상명상 (kwanseon meditation). Anapana-sati meditation from Myanmar was also introduced.
The sight of practice methods from different religions and cultures placed side by side under the common language of meditation is, in itself, a message. For those who want to choose ways of caring for the mind that fit their own lives, there are few more efficient opportunities.
The opening ceremony: the healing sounds brought by the gong and the beopgo drum
The opening ceremony takes place on 22 August at 1.30pm. Yong Hee-jin and Kim Hye-jin will showcase the healing sounds of sunyata (gong) using the gong and the beopgo drum. If you have ever experienced the feeling of sound passing through your body, you are urged not to miss this sequence.
The experience events run over two days, 22 and 23 August, from 10am to 5pm. You can join each programme through advance registration, and if there are remaining seats, on-the-day registration is also possible. A welcome gift is provided to all participants, and an event is also arranged through a raffle draw.
In September, a conference where world meditation experts gather
The academic programme runs for two days from 17 September at the Namsan Hall on the third floor of Dongguk University’s main building.
The theme on the first day is “Seonmyeongsang (Sunmyeongsang) in the era of technoscience”. Seonmyeongsang (Sunmyeongsang) reflection and practical value will be examined with the participation of Dongguk University chair professor Su-bul, Professor Minas Kappatos of Chapman University, Emeritus Professor Shizuka Sasaki of Hanazono University, and Emeritus Professor Yu Ki-jun of Sangji University.
The theme on the second day, 18 September, is “The wellness value of Seonmyeongsang (Sunmyeongsang)”. Ven. Yong-ta, chairperson of the Happiness Village Foundation, Rashed Aliyev, assistant professor and director of the Innovation Centre at ADA University in Azerbaijan, Tubten Tendhar, director of the Nonviolence Summer Institute at the University of Rhode Island in the United States, and An Hee-young, director of the Korea MBSR Mindfulness Research Institute, introduce modern ways to apply meditation. It is a session well worth recommending for those who want to see meditation translated into the language of wellness beyond the walls of religion.
At 4.30pm the same day, a Seonmyeongsang (Sunmyeongsang) concert is held at the Namsan Hall. A fusion performance that people of all ages can enjoy and modern meditation music will take the stage.
Final year of a three-year study: meditation read through brain waves
In the education area, results are quietly building too. The Buddhist meditation programme development project that has been under way since last July has entered the final stage of a three-year research assignment. In the first year, it published papers listed in the KCI; in the second year, it presented policy-based application plans. This year, the target is to complete a three-stage Buddhist meditation education programme, “Happy Awakening”, alongside the presentation of a paper analysing pre- and post-changes in the brain waves of participants.
Meditation routine content lasting from three to five minutes, which people can follow in everyday life such as sitting, standing and walking, will also be produced and distributed as short videos. The three-minute threshold may look low, but it is seen as the most practical attempt to reach the goal of popularising meditation.
Why meditation, now?
For the background to this expo, the Jonghak Research Institute pointed to the growing need for mental health and self-care in modern society. Its judgement is that as digitisation, financialisation and hyper-personalisation are advancing quickly, more people are being exposed to stress and psychological suffering.
The Jonghak Research Institute said that based on orthodox Buddhist practice methods, it has developed and rolled out a variety of modern meditation approaches to help people manage stress and strengthen psychological resilience. It added that through the spread of popular, contemporary meditation and wellness content, it is taking the lead in popularising and globalising meditation.
Jonghak Research Institute director Jeongdo Sunim said the institute sets three goals—globalising meditation, living it in daily life, and popularising it—and has spent the past seven years preparing and evolving continuously, adding that many people have worked hard and researched to reach this point.
Seven years is long enough for a single event to roll along on inertia. Even so, looking at this year’s programme composition shows new attempts are still added. Brain-wave measurement, a comparative experience of practice traditions from 11 countries, and even lifestyle meditation videos lasting three minutes. The direction is clear: to move meditation from special people and special occasions into everyone’s everyday life.
Visitor information
Advance registration for the 7th Seoul International Meditation Expo is available via the official website (mind.dongguk.edu) and the official Instagram account. The opening of the meditation experience booths, the Meditation Conference and the Seonmyeongsang (Sunmyeongsang) concert are broadcast live through the official YouTube channel of the Seoul International Meditation Expo and BBS YouTube.
Related information : https://mind.dongguk.edu/front/
