Venerable Sambo, abbot of Beopheungsa temple in Yeongwol, Gangwon Province [Provided by the Jogye Order]
Venerable Sambo, abbot of Beopheungsa temple in Yeongwol, Gangwon Province [Provided by the Jogye Order]

Venerable Sambo, abbot of Beopheungsa temple in Yeongwol, Gangwon Province, died May 27 at 76, after 61 years as an ordained monk.

According to Buddhist community sources, Sambo entered monastic life in 1965 after visiting Woljeongsa temple in Pyeongchang-gun, Gangwon Province, where he received teachings from Venerable Tanheo and took his vows. He went on to practice at Woljeongsa and Jeongamsa, among other temples.

Sambo later served as abbot of Sangwonsa on Odaesan and of Woljeongsa, and took on institutional roles including board member of Dongguk University's school foundation and member of the appellate disciplinary committee. In recognition of his decades of practice and service, the Jogye Order's Council of Elders elevated him to the rank of Daejongsa — the order's highest dharma title — in November 2024.

His life also included a remarkable chapter outside the monastery. In 1970, Sambo served as a Marine and fought in the Vietnam War, earning the Hwarang Order of Military Merit. In 1980, he was forcibly sent to a Samcheong re-education camp after resisting the Chun Doo-hwan government's crackdown on the Buddhist community.

Sambo was widely known for living a life of austere simplicity. In 2015, he donated 330 million won to the Jogye Order's main temple restoration project and a compassion-sharing fund. In 2020, he gave Woljeongsa his entire fortune of 3 billion won ($2 million) — accumulated largely from a disability pension — saying he wanted the money used "for students who cannot study because of financial hardship."

Sambo came to broader public attention through an EBS documentary series, "Korean Journey — A Mountain Temple That Winter," broadcast in 2020. The program featured him alongside his dog Bori, and a clip of Bori licking the monk's head during an interview went viral online. Bori died in March 2024 at the age of 10.

A funeral ceremony was held at Woljeongsa on May 29, followed by a cremation rite at the temple's cremation ground.

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