For many people, waking to a smartphone alert and asking artificial intelligence what they need to do that day have become unremarkable parts of the morning. Convenience has grown, yet people are increasingly losing sight of where their minds are in the moment. Meditation practitioners and scholars from South Korea and abroad will gather to explore those questions together.
The meditation conference and Seon meditation concert at the seventh Seoul International Meditation Expo — 《2026: Awakening Together》 — will take place from Thursday 17 September to Friday 18 September at Namsan Hall on the third floor of Dongguk University's main building. The event is organised by the Jonghak Research Institute at Dongguk University's Academy of Buddhist Studies, headed by Ven. Jeongdo, and sponsored by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. Admission is free. Details of the programme and registration are available on the official website, mind.dongguk.edu, and Instagram.
As technology speeds up, the mind keeps falling behind
As artificial intelligence takes over decisions and algorithms anticipate our preferences, people increasingly say they have less time to reflect on themselves. This conference has been organised to create that space again. Practitioners, scholars and experts from South Korea and abroad will examine the meaning and wellness value of Seon meditation in an age of science and technology, while exploring its reach into culture and the arts. They will consider how artificial intelligence and advanced technologies are affecting human judgement and everyday life, and examine how Seon meditation can help people recover self-reflection and peace of mind.
Day one: a question for the AI age
The first day's conference begins at 1pm on 17 September under the theme 'Seon meditation in an age of science and technology'. Ven. Subul, head of Anguk Seonwon and a distinguished professor at Dongguk University, will open the programme with a presentation asking, 'Why ganhwa Seon again in the AI age?' Minas Kafatos, distinguished professor of computational physics at Chapman University, will then address 'The essence of the mind', while Shizuka Sasaki, professor emeritus at Hanazono University, will speak on 'The importance of Buddhism in an AI society'. Ki-joon Yoo, professor emeritus at Sangji University, will also present.
Day two: the language of wellness offered by meditation
From 10am on 18 September, the focus will shift to 'The wellness value of Seon meditation', examining the points where meditation meets mental health, compassion, peace and mindfulness. Ven. Yongta, chairman of the Happiness Village Foundation, will open the presentations with 'The Buddha and Haeo-juui'. Rashad Aliyev, assistant professor and director of the Innovation Centre at ADA University in Azerbaijan, will follow. In the afternoon, Thupten Tendar, director of the Nonviolence Summer Institute at the University of Rhode Island in the United States, will present 'The effects of compassion education for university students'. Hee-young An, director of the Korean MBSR Mindfulness Institute, will speak on 'Asking which way Korean meditation should go'. Both will discuss how meditation can be put into practice in modern life.
A night between sound and silence as the Seon meditation concert takes the stage
After the academic programme ends, the Seon meditation concert will begin at 4.30pm on 18 September at the same venue. Following the journey of practice in search of the ox depicted in the Ox-herding Pictures, Korean traditional music and contemporary sound will meet on a single stage. The audience will not simply listen to the music. By following the sound, they will encounter moments of looking inwards. Designed as an interactive performance that guides people to face their own minds as they move between music and silence, the concert will turn this year's expo theme, 'Awakening Together', into a shared experience.
How to open the door to the mind
All the event's programmes, including the meditation conference and Seon meditation concert, will also be streamed live on the official YouTube channel. Those unable to attend in person can still share the same questions at the same time from the other side of a screen. For anyone who wants to pause briefly in a fast-moving world and speak to themselves, Dongguk University's Namsan Hall in the third week of September may offer a clue to the answer.
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