Anchor: In an attempt to make Buddhist teachings more accessible to the younger generation, a group of student monks have turned a key doctrine known as the Heart Sutra into a rap.
Our Park Jong-hong has the Buddhist monks’ latest efforts to get closer to people through modern music.
 
Report: [Sound bite: parts of rap song, “A-jae-a-jae ba-ra a-jae” - Consolation (Korean)]
 
A groundbreaking attempt to popularize Buddhism has now gone digital.
 
Buddhist monks studying at Sangha University have created a rap version of a prayer, which has now been released in digital form.
 
The new interpretation of the age-old mantra is the work of 13 student monks at Cheongam Temple affiliated with the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism.
 
The piece called A-jae-a-jae ba-ra a-jae Volume One dubbed “Consolation” contains an easy-to-understand lyrical interpretation of the concept of Gong, or nothingness, which is a key doctrine of Banya Shimgyeong, known in English as Heart Sutra.
 
[Sound bite: parts of rap song, ‘A-jae-a-jae ba-ra a-jae’ - Consolation (Korean)]
" ~♪ 눈에 보이고 귀에 들리고 코로 향나고 혀에 맛나고 손에 잡히고 생각에서 떠나지 않는 모든 것은 색色! 색色! 색色! 그런 색이 공과 다르지 않아 쪼개고 쪼개어봐도 부수고 부셔봐도 실제로 있지 않는 공空, 공空, 공空 
그런 공이 색과 다르지 않아 색이 바로 공! 공이 바로 색!"
"Seen, heard, smelled, tasted and held in your hands to never leave your mind… it’s all Form色, Form色, Form色. Emptiness空, Emptiness空, Emptiness空 - never exists even after divided, divided, broken, broken- is no different from Form色. Emptiness空 is no different from Form色, form’s empty, empty is the Form色."
 
The catchy rhyme pitches the well-known concept that “form is nothing other than emptiness and emptiness is nothing other than form” but with an added layer of emphatic modifiers stressing the tangible and intangible.
 
Venerable Banya, a student monk who also doubled as the main rapper, said she sought to convey the teachings of Buddhism to the younger generation through rap music.
 
[Sound bite: Venerable Banya - student monk at Sangha University, Cheongam Temple (Korean)]
"I wanted to convey the teachings of Buddha effectively to the younger people. In particular, I wanted to pass on the message of mercy and encouragement of Gwanse-um bosal (the Buddhist Goddess of Mercy). So the idea was to take a simple-to-understand approach to the meanings of the Buddhist scriptures. It was awkward to carry the rapid beat, but I moved on to diversify Buddhist cultural content." 
 
The Jogye Order says the digital version of the song can be downloaded from various sources.
 
The follow-up song Volume Two dubbed ‘Hope’ will be released next month. Also in late January, a CD version of both raps will be available.
Park Jong-hong, KBS World Radio News.