[Buddha-l] Perhaps the Buddhists in Korea have finally had it?

[Curt Steinmetz]

Dan Lusthaus wrote:
>
> As for Korea, Confucianism was dominant for many centuries (Choson Dynasty,
> 1392-1910), and Buddhism survived but played second fiddle. 

One of the reasons for Buddhism's survival during this period was the 
high-profile role played by Buddhist monks to the resistance against the 
Japanese invasions of 1592-1598. Another reason was that Korean 
Buddhists (making a virtue out of necessity) abandoned sectarian 
divisions and established an "ecumenical" form of Buddhism.

> Confucian
> attitudes still dominate social interactions in Korea, but Buddhism has made
> a strong resurgence during the 20th c. 

And Confucianism as a distinct organized religion is pretty much 
non-existent now in Korea, I think.

> Historically, while there were
> tensions and repressions of various sorts, violent outbursts against other
> religions were not the rule. 

Even during the centuries of repression against Buddhism by the 
Confucianists this was the case. I read once that at the very beginning 
of the repression there were some "excesses" - but these consisted of 
public calls for the execution of prominent Buddhists - but those were 
never acted on. There is a fascinating little book on Buddhism in Korea 
during this period: "Buddhism in the Early Choson: Suppression and 
Transformation" edited by Lewis Lancaster and Chai Shin Yu.

> With the ascendancy of Christianity in the late
> 20th c. that has changed. Violence, vandalism against Buddhist institutions
> and temples, etc., have become commonplace, and the Buddhists have, until
> recently, largely been perplexed and unsure how to react. Complaining about
> the prime minister and his perceived slight of Buddhist leaders is a
> pretext, and not a very effective response. In short, the Christians have
> been very aggressive, expressing a kind of intolerance previously unusual
> for Korea, and the Buddhists have not quite figured out how to respond
> (fortunately, so far, they haven't responded in kind -- unfortunately, that
> may be down the road). 

I really don't think there is any reason to worry that Korean Buddhists 
will start responding "in kind" to the aggressive intolerance of the 
Christians. What *is* likely, as the IHT article demonstrated, is that 
resistance to religious intolerance will be portrayed negatively as 
being signs of "religious conflict", whereas acquiescence to intolerance 
will be portrayed positively as "religious harmony".

> Throwing off Confucian mores is on the mind of most
> modernity-minded Koreans, Christian and Buddhist, especially women who have
> many legitimate grievances against the present social system (e.g., a single
> woman cannot check into a hotel).
>   

At one time Stalinism was all the rage among "modernity-minded Koreans" 
- and before that it was Catholicism. More recently many 
"modernity-minded Koreans" have opted for Mormonism. Perhaps instead of 
"throwing off" their own cultural heritage and jumping on whatever 
western ideology is the current fad, Koreans should reinterpret their 
own culture for themselves and "throw off" the whole idea that they 
should try to be something other than Korean.

Curt Steinmetz