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

[Lidewij Niezink]

Hello everyone,

I am currently in South Korea, traveling the country. One thing that has
been surprising me is the amount of christian churches one finds scattered
all over any place we go. We keep on looking for these hidden temples here
(beautiful and very inspiring by the way), but all we get smacked in the
face are crosses on large buildings.

As far as the practice of Buddhism is concerned. I am very curious what the
experts on this list could tell me about the authenticity of the Buddhist
practitioners over here. I just spent 4 months in Nepal studying abhidharma
with the Tibetans. Although i feel very strongly committed to learning the
Dharma, the Tibetan wholesale of Buddhism has been testing my practice of
patience and equanimity to the fullest extent. Anyone any ideas or resources
on the practice overhere?

Thanx,
Lilli


-- 
Lidewij Niezink, PhD
http://www.linkedin.com/in/lniezink



2008/10/17 jkirk <jkirk at spro.net>

> Hope we get something from the AAR panel.
>
> The latest Orissa atrocity about the murder of the Swami is
> interesting in that Naxals publicly took credit for doing it.
> Despite that, Hindu Bajrang Dals and the like exploited it to
> attack Christians, churches, their homes, clergy, etc.
>
> Christian aggressiveness is also publicly manifesting here, in
> the persona of McCain's VP candidate.
> -----------------------
>
>
>  On Behalf Of Dan Lusthaus
> Sent: Thursday, October 16, 2008 10:07 PM
> To: Buddhist discussion forum
> Subject: Re: [Buddha-l] Perhaps the Buddhists in Korea have
> finally had it?
>
> Joanna,
>
> I may not be able to attend that particular session due to
> something else happening at the same time. If there, I will
> report back.
>
> The Hindu-Christian outbursts presently going on in India have
> both a longer and shorter history -- the shorter history being
> the killing of a Hindu leader, which sparked the Hindu reaction.
> The longer history is more complex and has become enmeshed with
> all sorts of political agendas; religious riots have become
> periodic parts of the landscape there (though each has its own
> history and peculiarities).
>
> As for Korea, Confucianism was dominant for many centuries
> (Choson Dynasty, 1392-1910), and Buddhism survived but played
> second fiddle. Confucian attitudes still dominate social
> interactions in Korea, but Buddhism has made a strong resurgence
> during the 20th c. Historically, while there were tensions and
> repressions of various sorts, violent outbursts against other
> religions were not the rule. 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). 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).
>
> Dan
>
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