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Buddhist dancing monk adds 'right moves' to the Eightfold Path

Published: 05 Jun. 2026, 08:00

Venerable Deoksan performs a Michael Jackson-inspired dance move at Jajaeam Temple in Gyeonggi on May 22. [JOONGANG ILBO]

A shaved head topped with a gleaming black fedora. A black armband on the right arm, a black glove on the right hand. One hand grips the hat, the other rests on the hip — and then the hips begin to thrust, forward and back, in a note-perfect recreation of Michael Jackson's “Billie Jean” routine. He is Venerable Deoksan, a head monk of Jajeam Temple on Mount Soyo in Dongducheon, Gyeonggi.

Online, he is known as the “G-Dragon monk” — a nickname he earned after a video of him dancing to the K-pop star's moves at a Buddhist expo in April went viral. Most recently, footage of him performing Michael Jackson's choreography at the Lotus Lantern Festival held by the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism on May 16 and 17 drew a fresh buzz.

When he sat down for an interview at Jajeam Temple on May 22, two days before Buddha's Birthday, Deoksan explained his unlikely hobby simply: “I want to communicate with young people,” he said. “Most of the people at temples are older, and it is hard to see young faces. I wanted to reach out to them and connect, so I thought about what they enjoy — and I started dancing.”

The gamble paid off. Young people who came across his videos responded with enthusiasm. “I never thought I'd live to see a monk dancing,” wrote one. “Buddhism is cool. This is a true K-monk,” said another.

Venerable Deoksan practices his dance moves at Jajaeam Temple in Gyeonggi on May 22. [JOONGANG ILBO]

Part of his unlikely appeal is the contrast between his bold moves and his intensely serious expression.

“I think the look of concentration comes from him trying hard not to make mistakes,” said the temple's administrative director, Ji Seong-hwa, who joins Deoksan as a backup dancer. “It looks just like his face when he is chanting.”

Some, however, have taken a less favorable view of a monk's dancing, a few even suggesting some of his moves are too suggestive. Deoksan is unbothered. “Everyone has their own perspective,” he said. “I do not demand or try to persuade anyone to understand.” On the question of the moves themselves, he was equally philosophical. “Dance is dance, and movement is movement. How it looks depends on the window of one's own mind.”

Despite dancing daily on top of his temple duties, the monk eats almost no carbohydrates, per the Buddhist dietary rules. His daily diet consists of three to five glasses of raw vegetable juice made from water parsley, carrots and other vegetables. Cooked food is reserved for unavoidable outside engagements. “Eating things as nature intended makes your body lighter and gives you energy,” he said. “Even the soldiers who sometimes come to help at the temple are amazed at my stamina.”

Before becoming a monk, Deoksan, whose legal name is Kim Ho-cheol, was a police officer. A graduate of the third class of the Korean National Police University, he was working as head of the investigation unit at Seoul Bangbae Police Precinct when, at the relatively late age of 40, he took a week's holiday and found himself at what is now his own temple. He followed a monk through 108 prostrations and an evening prayer service, then returned to work. But back at his desk, surrounded by colleagues, he found he could not stop crying.

Venerable Deoksan during his years as a student at the Korean National Police University before entering the Buddhist monastic order [JOONGANG ILBO]

Thinking the tears might stop if he let them run their course, he took a month's leave and traveled to temples across the country. He now believes those tears were “tears of repentance.” “I thought of the wounds I received from others, the remorse for the wounds I caused, and thoughts about the future,” he recalled. “It felt like the tears were cleansing my accumulated karma.”

Kim thus became a monk. His family, who were Christian, were shaken — they had hoped their son would one day rise to become a police chief. Deoksan, nonetheless, was unmoved. “There was no need to persuade anyone or ask for permission,” he said. “It was my own path and my own choice.”

Venerable Deoksan at Jajaeam Temple in Gyeonggi on May 22 [JOONGANG ILBO]

Now, the monk says his next goal is to reach those who are lost. “I am not a dancer,” he said. “What I am really thinking about is how to guide people who have lost their way, and how to bring more peace to those who are struggling.”

To young people in particular, he had a message: “Do not be afraid of suffering. Dancing was a challenge for me too — a path I feared. But I did not give up. People mature through hardship, and arrogance is worn away by it. I hope you will not be afraid of challenge and change.”

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY KWAK JOO-YOUNG. [[email protected]]