Magazine content is available exclusively for TIME subscribers.Religion: Married Monks
Into a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Seoul stumped Korea's leathery old President Syngman Rhee for a quick look around. He peeked into the tile-roofed monk's residence attached to the temple, and was scandalized to find a woman asleep. It was his wife, explained the monk, and there were four children. "I thought," snapped Rhee, "that Buddhist monks are supposed to be unmarried. How long has this been going on?" The embarrassed man muttered the classic excuse: "All the monks are doing it."
Back in Seoul, Methodist Rhee discovered that some 5,000 Korean Buddhist monks are married. This, he decided, was...
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