Soccer-Crazy Korean Monk Plays for Spiritual Goal

JEJU, South Korea (AP) - Seung Gong, a gray-robed Buddhist monk, says he has a key to winning soccer's World Cup.

"Players must abandon their greed for goals," says the monk, sitting cross-legged behind his tea tray.

"Greed makes your feet stiff. You just kick the ball to the goal mouth as hard as possible, not thinking about scoring. You get it?"

Whether you get it or not, Seung Gong loves to talk about soccer - when he's not preaching at the sprawling Yakchunsa, the biggest Buddhist temple on this resort island, a training ground for England's World Cup squad this week.

His love of the sport led him to play regularly with fellow monks, their robes flapping, their shaved heads glinting under the island's harsh sun.

Giant pillars of his temple's 30-meter (100-foot)-high main shrine are draped with a banner: "We wish victory for the South Korean World Cup squad."

"After becoming the chief monk of this temple, I don't get as much free time for soccer," Seung Gong says. "That's bad because I am gaining weight."

He doesn't hesitate to abandon his usual solemnity and demonstrate heading and dribbling skills on the temple's manicured lawn - while bemused worshippers watch the holy man toying with the ball. Lately he has become something of a tourist attraction himself.

Tuesday was a big night for the heavyset monk in his mid-40s. After "some lobbying" with a police friend, he got a free ticket to watch South Korea play to a 1-1 draw against England in a warmup match in the island's World Cup stadium, a 10-minute ride from his temple.

"I shouted, 'Korea! Korea!"' he said. "But I must admit that Michael Owen's goal was a beauty."

Though he is a maverick as a Buddhist monk, Seung Gong's enthusiasm reflects the rising World Cup zeal in co-host South Korea.

Amid other signs, scantily clad cheerleaders leap and dance in Seoul streets, promoting songs for the Korean team.

Korean Buddhist monks are usually a meditative lot, sitting cross-legged for hours daily in a grueling spiritual quest. But Korean Buddhism also has a tradition of physical training, such as the martial art of taekwondo, to fight beasts in deep mountains, stage guerrilla battles against foreign invaders and stay fit for Spartan temple life.

For Seung Gong, Buddhism and soccer mesh perfectly.

"To sit cross-legged so long, you must have a strong set of legs," he says. "So soccer is very good for monks."

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