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Colonial Korea – Buddha’s Birthday
Introduction At the end of the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910), and with the growing influence of Japan and Japanese Buddhism on the Korean Peninsula, Korean Buddhist faced the double threat of the continuation of centuries of persecution and marginalization by their own government and having their own tradition hijacked and supplanted by a foreign tradition. It was to this that Korean Buddhists were faced with the choice of either modernizing or simply being replaced. It was to this dynamic relationship that would help modernize Korean Buddhism. As such, the re-traditionalization of Buddha’s Birthday, similar to the modernization of Christmas in the West, was a highly complex negotiation in and among Korean…
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The Dark Ages – The Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910)
Early Joseon (1392-1468) During the Goryeo Dynasty (918-1392), the main purpose behind Buddhism was to ward off natural disasters, protect the nation from foreign invaders, and to bring good fortune to the Korean people. However, at the end of the Goryeo Dynasty, Korean Buddhism had become extremely corrupt both socially and economically. As a result, monks and nuns, as well as temples and hermitages, profited from this corruption. It was due to this corruption that Confucianism and Neo-Confucianism in Korea started to gain ground on Buddhism with court officials. It was in July, 1392 that the Goryeo Dynasty came to an end, and with it, over five hundred years of…