Korean spirituality PDF
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asian religion / korean studies Korea has one of the most dynamic and diverse religious cultures of any nation on earth. Koreans are highly reli- gious, yet no single religious community enjoys domi- nance. Buddhists share the Korean religious landscape with both Protestant and Catholic Christians as well as Korean Spirituality with shamans, Confucians, and practitioners of numerous b new religions. As a result, Korea is a fruitful site for the a exploration of the various manifestations of spirituality in k the modern world. At the same time, however, the com- e don plexity of the country’s religious topography can over- r baKer whelm the novice explorer. teaches Korean K Emphasizing the attitudes and aspirations of the Korean o civilization in the people rather than ideology, Don Baker has written an r accessible aid to navigating the highways and byways of Department of e Korean spirituality. He adopts a broad approach that dis- Asian Studies, a tinguishes the different roles that folk religion, Buddhism, n University of Confucianism, Christianity, and indigenous new religions British Columbia. have played in Korea in the past and continue to play in S the present while identifying commonalities behind that P Cover art: A Won Buddhist diversity to illuminate the distinctive nature of spirituality i nun, a Buddhist nun, and a r on the Korean peninsula. This concise but comprehensive Roman Catholic nun meditate i together, revealing both the volume is an indispensable guide to Korean beliefs, values, t religious diversity of Korea and the mutual respect across and spiritual practices. U religious boundaries that a prevails. Photo courtesy of diensions o asian siritualit the World Headquarters of L Won Buddhism. Henry Rosemont, Jr., General Editor i t y UniverSity of Hawai‘i PreSS Honolulu, Hawai‘i 96822-1888 d o n b a k e r www.uhpress.hawaii.edu cov mech.indd 1 2/12/08 2:36:17 PM Korean Spirituality Dimensions of Asian Spirituality Shinto: Th e Way Home Th omas P. Kabulis Chan Buddhism Peter D. Hershock Korean Spirituality Don Baker Ancient Chinese Divination Stephen L. Field Korean Spirituality DON BAKER university of hawai‘i press Honolulu dimensions of asian spirituality Henry Rosemont, Jr., General Editor Th is series makes available short but comprehensive works on specifi c Asian philosophical and religious schools of thought, works focused on a specifi c region, and works devoted to the full articulations of a concept central to one or more of Asia’s spiritual traditions. Series volumes are written by distinguished scholars in the fi eld who not only present their subject matter in historical context for the nonspecialist reader, but also express their own views of the contemporary spiritual relevance of their subject matter for global citizens of the twenty-fi rst century. © 2008 University of Hawai‘i Press All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America 13 12 11 10 09 08 6 5 4 3 2 1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Baker, Don (Donald L.) Korean spirituality / Don Baker. p. cm. — (Dimensions of Asian spirituality) Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 978-0-8248-3233-9 (hardcover: alk. paper) — isbn 978-0-8248-3257-5 (paperback: alk. paper) 1. Korea — Religion. 2. Spirituality — Korea. I. Title. bl2230.b35 2008 200.9519 — dc22 2007035185 University of Hawai‘i Press books are printed on acid-free paper and meet the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Council on Library Resources. Designed by Rich Hendel Printed by the Maple-Vail Book Manufacturing Group Contents Editor’s Preface vii Acknowledgments xiii 1: Korean Spirituality: A Multiplicity of Approaches to Transcending the Human Condition 1 2: Folk Religion and Animism 18 3: China’s Th ree Teachings in Korea 30 4: Korean Christianity 58 5: Th e New Religions of Korea 78 6: Th e Spiritual Gaze in Korea 94 7: Th e Spiritual Practices of Koreans 122 Appendix: Spirituality in North Korea 145 Further Reading 153 Index 157 Editor’s Preface About This Series Th e University of Hawai‘i Press has long been noted for its commit- ment to issuing high-quality scholarly publications in the fi eld of Asian studies. Th e Press launched the Dimensions of Asian Spiritu- ality series in keeping with that commitment. Th is is a most appro- priate time for such a series. A number of the world’s major and mi- nor religions originated in Asia, and they continue to infl uence the lives of almost half of the world’s population. Asian religions should now be seen as global in scope and impact, with rich and varied re- sources for the people of the twenty-fi rst century. Religion is at the heart of every culture. To be sure, the members of every culture have also been infl uenced by climate, geology, and the consequent patterns of economic activity they developed for the production and distribution of goods. Only a minimal knowledge of physical geography is necessary to understand why African sculptors largely employed wood as their medium, while their Italian Renais- sance brethren usually worked with marble. Matters of geography and economics are necessary for understanding cultures — including our own — but they are not suffi cient: wood and marble are also found in China, yet Chinese sculptors carved Confucian sages, Daoist im- mortals, and Buddhist bodhisattvas from those materials, not chi- waras or pietàs. In the same way, a mosque, synagogue, cathedral, stupa, and pa- goda may be equally beautiful, but they are beautiful in diff erent ways, and the diff erences cannot be accounted for merely on the ba- sis of the materials used in their construction. Th eir beauty, their ability to inspire awe and invite contemplation, rests largely on the religious view of the world — and the place of human beings in that world — that inspired and is expressed in their architecture. Th us the spiritual dimensions of a culture are refl ected signifi cantly not only in art and architecture, but also in music, myths, poetry, rituals, cus- toms, and patterns of social behavior. It therefore follows that if we viii Editor’s Preface wish to understand why and how members of other cultures live as they do, we must understand the religious beliefs and practices to which they adhere. In the fi rst instance, such understanding of the “other” leads to tolerance, which is surely a good thing. Much of the pain and suf- fering in the world today is attributable to intolerance, a fear and hatred of those who look, think, and act diff erently. But as techno- logical changes in communication, production, and transportation shrink the world, more and more people must confront the fact of human diversity both between and within nation-states. Hence there is a growing need to go beyond mere tolerance of diff erence to an ap- preciation and celebration of it. Th e evils attendant upon intolerance are not to be minimized, but tolerance alone cannot contribute substantively to making the world a better and more sustainable place for human beings to live. Mere tolerance is easy because it is passive: I can fully respect your right to believe and worship as you wish, associate with whomever you wish, and say what you will, simply by ignoring you. Yet for most of us who live in economically developed societies or who are among the affl u- ent in developing nations, tolerance is not enough. Ignoring the pov- erty, disease, and gross inequalities that affl ict fully a third of the hu- man race will exacerbate, not alleviate, the conditions responsible for the misery that generates the violence becoming ever more common throughout the world today. Some would have us believe that religion is — as it supposedly al- ways has been — the root cause of the world’s violence and there- fore should be done away with. Th is view is reinforced by invoking distorted accounts of the cosmologies of the world’s religions, and pointing out that they are incompatible with much that we know of the world today from science. But religions are not going to go away, nor should they. Th ose who see only the negative infl uences of religion — infl uences not to be ignored — are taking “a printed bill of fare as the equivalent for a solid meal,” to quote William James. Worse than that, to point the fi nger at religion as responsible for most of the world’s violence to- day is to obscure a far more important root cause: poverty. On this view, violence will cease only when the more fortunate among the Editor’s Preface ix peoples of the world become active, not passive, take up the plight of the less fortunate, and resolve to create and maintain a more just world, a resolve that requires a full appreciation of the co-humanity of everyone, signifi cant diff erences in religious beliefs and practices notwithstanding. Such appreciation should not, of course, oblige people to endorse all of the beliefs and practices followed by adherents of other reli- gions, just as we may object to certain beliefs and practices within our own faiths. A growing number of Catholics, for instance, sup- port a married clergy, the ordination of women, recognition of rights for gays and lesbians, and full reproductive rights for women. Yet they remain Catholics, believing that the tenets of their faith have the conceptual resources to justify and bring about these changes. In the same way, we can also believe, as a number of Muslim women do, that the Quran and other Islamic theological writings contain the conceptual resources to overcome the inferior status of women in some Muslim countries. Indeed, we can believe that every spiri- tual tradition has within it the resources to counter older practices inimical to the full fl ourishing of all the faithful — and of the faithful of other traditions, as well. Another reason to go beyond mere tolerance to appreciation and celebration of the many and varied forms of spiritual expression is virtually a truism: the more we look through a window onto another culture’s beliefs and practices, the more the window becomes a mir- ror of our own culture (even for those who follow no religious tradi- tion). We must look very carefully and charitably, however, lest the refl ections become distorted. When studying other religions, most people are strongly inclined to focus on cosmological and ontological questions: What do these people believe about how the world came to be, what it is, and where it is heading? Do they believe in ghosts? Im- mortal souls? A creator god? Answering these and related metaphysical questions is of course necessary for fully understanding and appreciating the specifi c forms and content of the art, music, architecture, rituals, and traditions in- spired by the specifi c religion under study. But the sensitive — and sensible — student will bracket the further question of whether the metaphysical pronouncements are literally true. We must attend care-
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