From the mountains to the cities : a history of Buddhist propagation in modern Korea / Mark A. Nathan.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Nathan, Mark A., 1969- author.

Series:

Contemporary Buddhism

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Buddhism--Korea--History--20th century.

Buddhism.

History.

Korea.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

xii, 193 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Honolulu : University of Hawai'i Press, [2018]

Summary:

At the start of the twentieth century, the Korean Buddhist tradition was arguably at the lowest point in its 1,500-year history in the peninsula. Discriminatory policies and punitive measures imposed on the monastic community during the Choson dynasty (1392-1910) had severely weakened Buddhist institutions. Prior to 1895, monastics were prohibited by law from freely entering major cities and remained isolated in the mountains where most of the surviving temples and monasteries were located. In the coming decades, profound changes in Korean society and politics would present the Buddhist community with new opportunities to pursue meaningful reform. The central pillar of these reform efforts was p'ogyo, the active propagation of Korean Buddhist teachings and practices, which subsequently became a driving force behind the revitalization of Buddhism in twentieth-century Korea.From the Mountains to the Cities traces p'ogyo from the late nineteenth to the early twenty-first century. While advocates stressed the traditional roots and historical precedents of the practice, they also viewed p'ogyo as an effective method for the transformation of Korean Buddhism into a modern religion-a strategy that proved remarkably resilient as a response to rapidly changing social, political, and legal environments.

Contents:

Buddhist missions and dharma transmissions

Securing the freedom to propagate Buddhism in the cities in late Choson

Monastic reforms and Buddhist propagation under Japanese colonial rule

The influence of post-liberation politics and power struggles on propagation

Back to the mountains : contemporary Korean Buddhist propagation

The past and future of p'ogyo : law, religious pluralism, and lay-monastic recombination.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780824872618

0824872614

OCLC:

1010957133

Publisher Number:

40028478224