The Discourse of Reform and the Perception of Tradition in Modern Korean Buddhism

Abstract

The present article examines the major pursuits of the discourse of reform in modern Korean Buddhism and considers the characteristics and significance of their contribution to the establishment of the tradition and identity of Korean Buddhism. Based on Gwon Sang-ro’s “Treatise on the Reformation of Korean Buddhism” which was featured as a series in the Buddhist magazine Korean Buddhism Monthly from 1912 to 1913, Han Yong-un’s Treatise on the Restoration of Korean Buddhism, which was published by the Buddhist Bookstore in 1913, and Yi Yeongjae’s “Treatise on the Renovation of Korean Buddhism” which was published as a series in the Chosun Ilbo in 1922, the article summarizes the objectives of the argument for reform, which include the following: breaking free from tradition, religious and philosophical features, the emphasis on education and propagation for the popularization of Buddhism, and the establishment of an organized body of the Buddhist order. In the 1910s, Han Yong-un and Gwon Sang-ro were conscious of the competition with other religions as it pleaded for the reform of Buddhism. From the standpoint of social Darwinism and the theory of civilization, they regarded self-strengthening as the only way to survive in the religious competition and proclaimed to escape tradition and eliminate all superstitions elements. Influenced by the March First Movement, however, from the 1920s, the task to review the status of Buddhism from the point of view of the nation, culture, and thought was undertaken. The reverence and worship of the Tripitaka Koreana at Haeinsa and Wonhyo are typical examples. If breaking away from tradition was considered a means to be reborn as a civilized religion in the 1910s, the path that was chosen in the 1920s was to excavate and inherit cultural tradition and become the agent of the nation and culture. Meanwhile, the key point of Yi Yeongjae’s argument for reform was to criticize colonial Buddhism policies and argue for an independent administrative system of the Buddhist order. The establishment of a controlling agency or an organized body of the Buddhist order had been discussed in earnest starting from the mid- to late 1930s, and finally, in 1941, the Jogye Order of the Buddhism of Joseon was born. The choice to name the order Jogye Order was the outcome of efforts to declare the tradition and identity of Korean Buddhism. The discourse of reform of modern Korean Buddhism carries significance in the history of Buddhism in that it did not merely pursue modernization but attempted to excavate and recreate tradition, which led to the efforts to establish an identity as a modern religion.