One Korean's Approach to Buddhism explores nondualism, one of the major conceptual paradigms that characterize East Asian Buddhism, by employing what the author calls the mom‐momjit paradigm. The mom in Korean literally means the body, and the momjit means bodily functions or movements. In brief, mom is “invisible” and “indescribable”; it is “universality itself,” whereas momjit is its counterpart, “visible,”“descriptive,” and “particularity.” Also, mom designates the “absolute and religious,” whereas momjit represents the “ordinary.” Park applies the paradigm of mom‐momjit to the main tenets of Zen and Huayan Buddhism. Zen Buddhism teaches that once one frees oneself from the habitualized tendency of taking a fragmentary “momjit” for the whole, one is liberated. In order to challenge habitual thinking, a radical transformation is required, and Zen hwadu meditation serves that function by offering an occasion to “break through [one's] ordinary conceptual mode of perception and understanding” so that the practitioner can experience reality “as it is in its totality.” The Huayan tenet “One is all and all is one” explains the logic of Zen Buddhism. Park employs the mom‐momjit paradigm to discuss two major thinkers in Korean Buddhism: Wǒnhyo (617‐686) and Chinul (1158‐1210). The author incorporates various personal experiences in his discussion, which makes the book more accessible for those who are not familiar with Buddhism; to those who are already well versed in Buddhism, it also demonstrates how to apply or understand Buddhist philosophy with respect to everyday life events.
