Han, Yong-un, -- 1879-1944; Korean Buddhism; Buddhist renewal; Japanese colonial rule
摘要
This dissertation examines the Korean Buddhist reform movement during the colonial period, from roughly the early 1900s to 1945, and deals with the intersections of religion, modernity, and nationalism. It focuses on interactions between Western and Eastern religions, transformations within Buddhism, and the formation of religious subjectivity in colonial Korea, comparing Korean Buddhist experiences with their counterparts in China, Japan, and South Asia. Its aim is two-fold. First, this study aims to present a study of modern Korean Buddhism by examining the major reform issues, activities, and institutional changes implemented by the Samgha. The second aim is to present the reform Buddhism of Han Yongun, a leading Buddhist monk who, in many ways, epitomized the spirit of the reformation.
The introduction discusses the main issues and modes of Buddhist reforms in relation to Asian reform movements. The rapid influx of Western civilization brought chaotic disturbances to the traditional equilibrium of Asian countries. In order to prove their social viability in a modern context, Buddhists attempted to present Buddhism as socially responsible, worth preserving for the nation, and inwardly meditative. They simply borrowed tactics from Christianity and secular states rather than seriously attempting to render them consonant with the Buddhist system of thought. The result was a lack of interest in social involvement and the secularization of the Samgha. Also, Buddhists found themselves entangled in the mire of power-relations dealing with the newly arisen nation-state.
Chapter One and Chapter Two form Part One, which is the study of the Korean reform movement. The primary goal of Buddhist reforms was to render Buddhism socially viable. The Samgha launched on the modernization of Buddhism, focusing on reformation of the monks' education and proselytization. At the same time, Korean Buddhists attempted to present Buddhism as a source of national identity to prove the religion's worth for survival. However, Korean Buddhism was severely Japanized and secularized in the name of modernization. Korean Buddhists showed conflicting and ambivalent attitudes toward the Japanese regime. They reaffirmed their traditional ties with the powerful, and were impotent in dissociating themselves from the structure of power, namely the colonial state.
In Part Two, I focus on Manhae Han Yongun, a seminal reform figure. Manhae's significance lies in the way that he tried to resolve the aforementioned dilemmas faced by the Samgha. Manhae proposed the non-dual approach of Son and Kyo as a way for clerics to avoid entanglement in worldly desires. He emphasized the principle of "saving the world" as a fundamental teaching of Buddhism, interpreting the absolute sense of equality and liberty in social terms. By establishing a dialectical tension between the absolute and the phenomenal, he incorporated social salvation into the Buddhist existential system. In a similar way, Manhae offered a Buddhist way of dealing with the "nationalist" issue.
