Korean Buddhism on the International Stage

EAMON F. ADAMS 동국대학교 불교학술원 2008 International Journal of Buddhist Thought & Cultur Vol.11 No.-

This paper attempts to situate Korean Buddhism in a global context. A basic concern of the paper is the simple question: what does Korean Buddhism have to offer the global community? Though not coming up with any concrete answers to the above question, the paper concludes that the Korean Buddhist tradition has indeed got much to offer, but has thus far failed both to adequately announce itself on the international stage and to interact on a critical level with the wider Earth community. An example of one of the challenges facing Korean Buddhism is the call to move beyond the nation state community and move towards the global community, as seen in the challenge to move away from the concept of ‘nation protecting Buddhism’ (護國佛敎) and towards the more inclusive concept of ‘Global-community protecting Buddhism’ (護地球村佛敎). It is also suggested that many of the riches which Korean Buddhism might share with the wider community may be found when Korean Buddhism’s philosophical and spiritual views are studied through the various lenses of history, ecology, colonialism, economics, etc.

The Role of Hangzhou in the Spread of East Asian Buddhism

Albert WELTER 동국대학교 불교학술원 2022 International Journal of Buddhist Thought & Cultur Vol.32 No.1

Counterargument to the West: Buddhist Logicians’ Criticisms of Christianity and Republicanism in Meiji Japan

MORO Shigeki 동국대학교 불교학술원 2017 International Journal of Buddhist Thought & Cultur Vol.27 No.2

Although the tradition of Buddhist logic in India had been developed through the debates with non-Buddhists, that of pre-modern Japan hardly had such defining experiences. The applications of inmyō were limited to disputes between the Hossō school (the Japanese transmission of the Sinitic Yogācāra school) and another Buddhist schools. During the rapid modernization and Westernization after the Meiji restoration, however, Buddhist logicians also encountered non-Buddhist cultures, Western-style deductive and inductive logic, Christianity, democracy, and republicanism imported from Western countries. Some of them, such as Kira Kōyō, regarded inmyō as useful for democratic discussion, and promoted it among politicians and legal professionals. Their introductory books about inmyō included many sample expressions that criticized the existence of God and the authenticity of republicanism, as well as the unequal treaties forced upon Japan by Europe and America. In spite of those efforts, inmyō did not become popular in modern Japan. In addition, it also lost scholarly interest in the twentieth century because of the introduction of scriptures associated with Indian logic in Sanskrit and Tibetan. Nevertheless, inmyō studies in the Meiji period should not be ignored because they were regarded as one of the intellectual refutations of the West in East Asia, as well as forgotten previous researches of the Buddhist logic.

A Study of Salvation Types in the New Religions of Early Modern Korea:In Reference to Buddhist Faith in Maitreya

김남희 동국대학교 불교학술원 2016 International Journal of Buddhist Thought & Cultur Vol.26 No.1

This article investigates the salvation types appearing in the new religions of earlymodern Korea through the religious symbol of “the earth.” With this purpose in mind,we first investigated the religious experience of the “earth” from the sublimation of lifein its mystery to its dimension of religious salvation. On the basis of such a religiousexperience, we examined concretely the significance of the “earth” and salvation types inKorean religious traditions through the faith in the descent of Maitreya and Gaebyeokthought. The new religions of early modern Korea, while embracing the faith in thedescent of Maitreya and the Gaebyeok thought that had been inherited coherently inKorean religious mentality, reinterpreted them so that the popular aspiration of theideal world might be actualized not in the next world but in this world. Thus, thenew religions of early modern Korea developed religious tendencies focused on the“downward salvation” of seeking bliss in this world by transforming this world throughnationalistic religious movements to counter Japanese imperialism and religiouscultural movements. The vision of “terrestrial salvation through the earth” in theirinterpretation might be understood to have been a new message of hope for the peopleunseen in earlier religious traditions.

The Demon Crowned with a Raven Head:Rāhula’s Archaic Form “Ki kang” and his Chinese Origins

카메론베일리 동국대학교 불교학술원 2019 International Journal of Buddhist Thought & Cultur Vol.29 No.1

The astrological demon Rāhula is one of the three most important protector deities in the Rnying ma (Ancient) school of Tibetan Buddhism, with a rich and especially striking iconography and mythological history. This deity is, in part, an adaptation and transformation of the Indian eclipse asura, Rāhu, and as such, previous scholarship on him has tended to focus exclusively on his origins and role in Indian astrology and cosmology, from his early appearance as the nemesis of the sun and moon in a Mahābhārata creation myth to his importance in the inner alchemy of the Kālacakra Tantra. This paper will shift focus and instead examine Rāhula’s largely under-appreciated connection to Chinese-inspired elemental divination (’byung rtsis) systems that became popular in Tibet beginning in the eighth and ninth centuries. In particular, this article will examine the figure of “Ki kang,” an early alternate name for Rāhula, in what may be the earliest extant myth about him found in the Ancient Tantra Collection (Rnying ma rgyud ’bum), in a Mahāyoga Tantra called The Black Nail. I argue that this myth shows striking contrast with Rāhula’s later and more well-known origin stories, which are much more clearly directly inspired by Indian sources. Textual and structural clues in the Black Nail myth indicate a deep and thorough connection to specifically Chinese systems of astral divination. Furthermore, I argue that the name “Ki kang” is a Tibetan adaptation of a Chinese word, and that certain aspects of Rāhula’s Tibetan iconography, in particular his especially iconic raven head is more likely inspired by east Asian artistic and mythological conventions than Indian ones. Ultimately, I attempt to show that Ki kang/Rāhula may have been filtered through a specifically Chinese cultural lens before being adopted into Tibetan Buddhism, rather than being a direct Tibetan adaptation of the Indian deity.

A Note on the Concept of Śūnyatā in Huayan Teaching

장애순 동국대학교 불교학술원 2012 International Journal of Buddhist Thought & Cultur Vol.19 No.-

There cannot be a proper understanding of Huayan teaching without Śūnyatā thought. Of course, the latter is not the essential part of the former. In order to get a complete picture of Huayan teaching, however, it is very important to understand how the concept of Śūnyatā has developed, after having analyzed and examined the meaning of Śūnyatā from the standpoint of Huayan. In the Huayan tradition, though the primary meaning of Śūnyatā is negation (否定), one tries to see the archetypal aspect of things from a level that transcends both ‘being’ and ‘non-being.’ That is, while acknowledging a thing before our eyes to have specific features, the thing itself is not a fixed and unchanging object and is accepted without any limitations. It is, therefore, not forcibly argued that a thing does not exist; what is asserted is that from the beginning it was non-existent. Śūnyatā and ‘being,’ in the sense of the perfect interfusion (圓融) of Huayan, are mutually interpenetrative (相卽) and non-obstructing (無碍). When viewed from the doctrinal aspect of Huayan teaching, the basis of the ‘non-obstruction of all phenomena’ (事事無碍) is the ‘non-obstruction of noumenon and phenomenon’ (理事無碍), and what supports the latter is none other than the ‘non-obstruction of Śūnyatā and being (空有無碍).’ Śūnyatā as the ultimate concept of Huayan is not valid unless it relies on the teaching of perfection (圓敎), for the concept that Dependent Origination infinitely overlaps phenomena (重重無盡緣起) is, indeed, Śūnyatā.

Book Review: Buddha Nature Reconsidered: The Eighth Karma Pa’s Middle Path, Vol. 1 Introduction and Analysis, by David Higgins and Martina Draszczyk

김태우 동국대학교 불교학술원 2022 International Journal of Buddhist Thought & Cultur Vol.32 No.2

State Control and Administration of Buddhist Sects Through Autonomy Within the Socio-political Context of Early Modern

HŌZAWA Naohide 동국대학교 불교학술원 2020 International Journal of Buddhist Thought & Cultur Vol.30 No.2

This paper examines the structure of Buddhist sects in early modern Japan and the “control” exercised by the Tokugawa shogunate over them, taking into account the relationships between the ruling regimes and the Buddhist sects within the given socio-political context. For the most part of the history of Buddhism during the Tokugawa era (1603-1868), the Buddhist sects were under the auspices of the state which translated to control but also protection by the government. What made Japan’s case unique was that the ruling shogunate incorporated the institutions of Buddhism into its own system of political governance over the country. As part of the incorporation of Buddhist institutions there were various government established control mechanisms, including the temple certification (terauke) system that was widely enforced. This was borne from a need for state control, and a system design that was based on the widespread development of the temple-parishioner (jidan) relationship. Buddhist temples were spread systematically throughout the land and carried out essential functions within local communities, a reason that made the general suppression of Buddhism impossible. The uniqueness of this relationship was that the shogunate ruled over each Buddhist sect, but allowed for individual sects to exercise extensive autonomy on matters such as administration and daily organizational operations. For instances, each Buddhist sect organized their affiliated temples and maintained a system of administration over the temples and maintained separate systems of monastic education. Based on the distinctive features of each Buddhist sect and their adaptation to individual circumstances, the shogunate developed its policies for the control of temples and shrines.

Felt and Reckoned: Twofold Dukkha in Early Buddhism

G.A. SOMARATNE 동국대학교 불교학술원 2018 International Journal of Buddhist Thought & Cultur Vol.28 No.1

The teaching of the Buddha presented in the Pāli discourses refers to a twofold suffering: felt suffering and reckoned suffering. Because the latter type of suffering identifies even the pleasant feelings and the neutral feelings to be suffering in the sense of their impermanent nature, it is the more profound and hence more difficult suffering type that requires the Buddha’s teaching itself to understand it. When taken in the sense of reckoned suffering, there is an all-pervasive character of suffering in the whole existence. This has led scholarly studies either voluntarily or involuntarily to concoct a view that the outlook of Buddha’s teaching of suffering is pessimistic. This article attempts to unravel reckoned suffering and its soteriological significance to point out that the Buddha’s teaching of suffering is purposeful, and has the aim of understanding suffering fully to end suffering fully. By analysing important doctrinal quotes from the early Buddhist discourses, this article points out that the Buddha teaches not only suffering but also its cessation, not only felt suffering but also reckoned suffering, and hence the attribution of a pessimistic character to the Buddha’s teaching of suffering cannot be justified.

Silla Monks’ Interpretations of the Precept Against Taking of Life

LEE Jarang 동국대학교 불교학술원 2021 International Journal of Buddhist Thought & Cultur Vol.31 No.1

One of the defining characteristics of Korean Buddhism is the concept of “Buddhism as protector of the state.” From the Three Kingdoms period (ca. 300–935) to the Chosŏn period (1392–1910), Korean monks often played major political and military roles when the country was in crisis. This is considered to have been inevitable considering that Korean Buddhism became accepted and established on the Korean Peninsula under the protection of state power. However, according to two texts on Buddhist precepts important to Korean Buddhism, i.e. the Four-part Vinaya and the Brahmā’s Net Sūtra, the killing of living creatures and the possession of weapons are both strictly prohibited. Any action that would cause the death of a living creature is also strictly banned, and murder is considered the gravest crime of all the precepts. Therefore, if monks or nuns commit murder, it will be a basis for which they will be expelled from the saṃgha. Nevertheless, Korean monks have sometimes actively intervened in times of national crisis as citizens of the state. What position did Korean monks take in situations where killing was considered inevitable, but such actions were prohibited by Buddhist precepts? This paper examines this question by focusing on the case of Silla monks at a time when the Silla state was in a dire situation during its wars to unite the Three Kingdoms. In effect, in their exegetical writings, Silla monks chose to expand the scope of “acceptable” actions by reinterpreting the precepts forbidding the taking of life and related issues.