Paiknam's Life
Paiknam,
Kim Lyun-joon
The spirit of love in practice.
Dr. Paiknam's philosophy of 'love indeed and truth'
- The life of Dr. Paiknam Kim Lyun-joon can be summarized into practicing 'love in deed and truth.' During the Japanese colonial period, he established Hanyang University to educate young adults as a means to liberating his oppressed country.
- With his love for music, Dr. Paiknam composed well-known songs such as "I will live on the green hill." He demonstrated his love for mankind through various social activities, including serving as president of the Korean Federation for the Advancement of Human Rights. As such, Dr. Paiknam Kim Lyun-joon remains in our memory as a great practitioner of love.
- The founding philosophy of Hanyang University established by Dr. Paiknam is 'love in deed and truth'.
He emphasized love not to be an empty rhetoric, but to be something to be enacted through action. - Whenever there was opportunity, Dr. Paiknam stressed that 'Love is not doing with the mouth but practicing', and he practiced love in his life. "Love is brilliant in theory and poetic in words. However, as long as it stays in theory or words, it is merely a rainbow-like beauty which is no different from an illusion. Love comes to life only when it is expressed through actions in real life, making our words and action inseparable," he explained.
- His philosophy of practice of love was based on the spirits to promote the order of society and to harmonize all.
"Each of the different instruments that make different sounds come together to create a beautiful melody. If all of these instruments are not integrated into a harmonized sound, they will be just noise. I am eagerly hoping that through the practice of love, I will be able to hear the harmonious melody of the world and mankind." His philosophy of love demonstrates what the quintessence of love is. - Paiknam's philosophy of love was based on clear social awareness and historical awareness.
- "We should have a thorough sense of responsibility for our country, believing that the fate of society is my destiny, and the tragedy of society is my tragedy... We must be great practitioners of love who write history. It is the only measure by which we can become the master of our history," he said, expressing the philosophy of love based on historical consciousness.
- For Paiknam, love was not an abstract noun. It became a verb through practice. He had an unwavering commitment to practice love. Paiknam presented four virtues of diligence, honesty, humility, and service as a way of practicing love.
"Young people must be diligent to bear more fruit. - Be diligent, but always be sure to bear fruit through honest means. Also, do not be arrogant because of your abundant harvest but be humble. You should share your harvest with others." he emphasized. This virtue of love made love an action verb, not just a slogan.
- We honor Paiknam because he put love into action and practiced virtue of diligence, honesty, humility, and service in his life and lived a life as a consistent practitioner of love. "Educators are endowed with an unceasing mission until the moment they die, so they can not end being an educator. They have a priestly responsibility to their students. They are not able to give up the calling as a teacher even if their work of teaching in the educational institution is finished." His life was indeed a life of a priestly educator, and his philosophy of love in action still lives on as it is manifested in the Paiknam Prize that honors like-minded people who demonstrate this spirit in their lives.