This book is the first academic work to adopt the two contradictory concepts of sectarianism and ecumenism and academically discuss the Purification Buddhist Movement, 1954-1970 from a non-sectarian and philosophical perspective. The celibate monastic group of the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism, the largest and dominant order of Korean Buddhism officially established in 1941, developed the movement with the strong support of two rulers, I Seungman (1875-1965) and Bak Jeonghui (1917-1979), and successfully removed from the order married monks originated during the colonial period, 1910-1945.
The author defines the movement as a sectarian one for celibate monks based on their conservative and literal interpretation of the precept of celibacy. However, after sectarian celibate monks took the hegemony in the order and its temples, they ecumenically attempted to keep married monks in it. To the contrary, ecumenical married monks sectarianistically separated from the ecumenical Jogye Order and officially founded a new sectarian order named the Taego Order of Korean Buddhism in 1970, making the established order a sectarian one only for celibate monks.
