[Buddha-l] Re: Buddhist Intolerance?

[curt]

I don't know why I didn't think of this before - but there was a rather 
horrific example of intra-Buddhist intolerance (up to and including 
large-scale mob violence) immediately following the liberation of Korea 
from Japanese rule. The Chogye Order was established in the midst of 
violent confrontations with the Taego Order. The pretext for this 
factionalism was that the Taego folks had become "nipponized" or 
whatever the right word would be, during the 5 decades of Japanese 
occupation. The specific bone of contention (ostensibly) was whether or 
not monks should be allowed to marry. Prior to the Japanese occupation 
Korean monks had not married - but during the occupation the "Japanese" 
model of married monks was adopted/imposed. The Chogye faction enjoyed 
the support of Singman Rhee - who was a Christian. It has been 
speculated that Rhee supported the Chogye faction precisely to weaken 
Buddhism in Korea. The Taego Order still exists (and they still get 
married) - but is much smaller than the Chogye (although I've heard that 
they have lots of money). I don't know of any good English language 
sources on this sad page in Korean Buddhist history. In the interests of 
full disclosure my grand-teacher was Zen Master Seung Sahn - a 
"partriach" of the Chogye Order prior to his death two years ago.

Possibly the most egregious case of religious persecution in all of East 
Asian history was the persecution of Buddhism during the Confucianist 
Choson dynasty in Korea. This persecution lasted for centuries and was 
orchestrated by the State and involved vigorous enforcement of such 
measures as the closing of Temples and the expulsion of monks and nuns 
from the cities. There were even public calls for the execution of 
leading Buddhists - but from what little I've been able to find out 
these calls were not acted on. An excellent English language source on 
this period is the little volume "Buddhism in the Early Choson: 
Suppression and Transformation" edited by Lewis Lancaster and Chai-Shin 
Yu. Not only did this persecution fail to wipe out Buddhism in Korea, it 
can reasonably be argued that it was good for the Buddhists to be forced 
out into the countryside and to learn to shift for themselves - rather 
than living off of government subsidies.

- Curt

Bradley Clough wrote:
> Dear Mitchell,
>
> Many thanks for your response. The volume that I am to contribute to 
> is on Tolerance and Intolerance in the World's Religions, and my basic 
> charge is to investigate to what degree Buddhist have pursued policies 
> of intolerance towards religious others. Of course, I wish to avoid 
> reifying "Buddhism" here, so I am looking for particular local 
> examples. Based on a helpful distinction drawn by some others who have 
> responded, I'm looking more for instances not of doctrinal critique of 
> other religions, but actual cases where Buddhists actively practiced 
> intolerance, where they actively worked to prevent others from 
> practicing their religion. Thus far, I'm finding that Buddhists have 
> often been most intolerant towards other Buddhist schools, as opposed 
> to other religions, which is interesting. If you have any further 
> thoughts on the matter, I would welcome them!
>
> Best Wishes,
> Brad
>
>
> On Oct 16, 2006, at 8:25 PM, Mitchell Ginsberg wrote:
>
>> hello Brad and all,
>>
>>    3. Re: Buddhist Intolerance? (Bradley Clough)
>> From: Bradley Clough <bclough at aucegypt.edu>
>> Sent: Oct 11, 2006 11:38 AM
>> To: Buddhist discussion forum
>> <buddha-l at mailman.swcp.com>
>> Subject: [Buddha-l] Buddhist Intolerance?
>> Dear Fellow Buddha-Lers,
>> I have been recently been charged with coming up with
>> a paper on
>> intolerance in Buddhism, and I'm a bit at a loss as to
>> how to
>> approach it.
>>
>> MG: I would think this would depend in part on the
>> source of
>> this charging and on your own perspective about that.
>> Is this
>> for an Egyptian university journal, for example? or a
>> book with
>> a particular overall thrust to it? Is the charge to
>> show that
>> Buddhist tradition is (also?) not free of its own
>> intolerance?
>> There is also the question of how a given tradition
>> (such as
>> Buddhism, to reify that here) responds to intolerance
>> against
>> it. (I think of the Gilgit MSS that Heinz Bechert and
>> others
>> studied, left behind in high and dry caves before the
>> arrival
>> of some individuals from the West with the convincing
>> argument of the sword, shall we say.)
>> Perhaps I digress here.
>> Hope you are well and satified in your current
>> position!
>> warm regards,
>> Mitchell G.
>> <rest snipped>
>> Best Wishes,
>> Brad Clough
>>
>> ====================
>> See http://www.geocities.com/jinavamsa/mentalhealth.html with links
>> to my home page, to info on The Inner Palace (4th ed.) & on The Far
>> Shore (3rd ed.), & with further links to psychotherapy, to my current
>> teaching, & to the Insight Practice (Vipassana), Chishtiyya (Sufi),
>> Creative Solutions for Peace, & Nasrudin discussion groups.
>>
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>>
> Bradley S. Clough (bclough at aucegypt.edu)
> Abdulhadi H. Taher Chair in Comparative Religion
> Associate Professor, History Department (Postal Code 221)
> The American University in Cairo
> 113 Sharia Qasr al-Aini, P.O. Box 2511
> Cairo 11511 Egypt
>
> Office: (011)202-797-6122
> Home: (011)202-738-2728
> Fax: (011)202-795-7565
>
>
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