2019, Vol.46, No.0

The Exchange of Buddhist Culture between Baekje and Japan, and Iksan

Yang,Eun-Yong | 2019, 46(0) | pp.5~22 | number of Cited : 0

The Donghak and Cheondogyo's Ideas and Gaebyeok Movement ―Focusing on the Inmul-Gaebyeok [Trinity of Heaven, Earth and Humans] of Uiam Son Byeong-Hee and the Succession to Modern Times

Park, Kil-Su | 2019, 46(0) | pp.23~55 | number of Cited : 4

A Study on the Characteristics of the Social Transformation of Won-Buddhism's Great Opening of Spirit

Heo Seok | 2019, 46(0) | pp.57~84 | number of Cited : 1

The Kaebyŏk (Great Opening) Movement of Japanese New Religions ―Focusing on the ‘Yonaoshi’

YAGYU MAKOTO | 2019, 46(0) | pp.85~100 | number of Cited : 1

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This paper examines the new religions that can be called the ‘kaebyŏk (Great Opening) religions’ in the Japanese variant. These new religions, among numerous new religions that arose from the period of the collapse of the Bakuhan (幕藩) system of Tokugawa (德川) from the 19 century to early modern times in Japan, particularly rejected the old social order of feudalism and resisted the calls for Western modernization that the Meiji government strongly promoted, instead advocating a new ideal world in a fashion that was unique to these religions. The main contents of this paper include the following three points. First, the idea of Yonaoshi (世直し, “straightening the world”) is examined. This concept contains the desire to transform the world that arose spontaneously among the poor and oppressed as the system of feudalism was undermined and faltered. The Yonaoshi was originally a mantra calling for misfortunes to be transformed into something good, but it became a key precept among those who were dissatisfied with system of the feudalism and who dreamed of a new world from around the mid-period of Edo. These aspirations materialized in events such as ‘itki (一揆)’, uprisings and riots gainst the ruling class by the common people, or ‘uchikowashi (打壊し)’, whereby the houses and warehouses of wealthy merchants, landlords, and usurers were attacked and destroyed, or ‘eejanaika’, spontaneous disturbances, or ‘okagemairi’, that took the form of a pilgrimage movement. Second, this paper investigated the Hujiko (富士講) as a folk faith movement that embraced and systematized such energy and resistance among the downtrooden and advocated a vision of a new world and proposed the idea that all human beings are equal. This paper also sought to identify the leaders who arose among the masses such as Nakayama Miki (中山みき), Ito Rokurobei (伊藤六郎兵衛), Deguchi Nao (出口なお), and Deguchi Onisaburo (出口王仁三郎), as well as recording the religions of the Great Opening such as Tenri-kyo (天理敎), Maruyama-kyo (丸山敎), and Oomoto-kyo that they created. Third, this paper examined the new ideal worlds proposed and the new human characteristics of the religions of the Great Opening. It also investigated how the masses sought to implement their ideals, and how they protested and reacted against the drive for Western modernization and the national Shito system that the Meiji government advocated. All groups among the masses bitterly criticised the existing social system where the strong abused and exploited the weak, and instead, they argued for the equality and dignity of human beings. Predicting the coming of a bright new world where ordinary people would enjoy years of plenty, mild climates, the absence of illness and death, and happiness, they devoted all their efforts to aiding the many displaced persons who existed in this chaotic period of the history.

An Argumentative Review on the Thought of ‘Gaebyeok (Great Opening)’ ―Focusing on the Great Openings of the Universe, the Matter and the Spirit

Hwakoung Hwang | 2019, 46(0) | pp.101~146 | number of Cited : 2

Donghak, Jeungsan-gyo, and Won-Buddhism, as new religions of early modern Korea, all advocated the ideas of ‘Gaebyeok (Great Opening).’ The ideas of Gaebyeok originated from ancient Eastern beliefs, and, in particular, it was continued as a folk faith with prophetical (docham) elements in Korea. In modern times, the ideas of the Later Day’s Great Opening have become prominent in religious and intellectual circles. Researches on the Great Opening have been conducted from various perspectives. However, this paper points out that the established concept of the Earlier Day’s Great Opening was not divided into the meaning of creation of heaven and earth in the universe, the original meaning of the Great Opening, and the idea of Earlier Day in the shift and circulation between the Earlier Day and the Later Day. Thus this paper distinguishes the Universe Great Opening from the Earlier Day’s Great Opening. This paper examined the argument of Won-Buddhism that the contents of the Later Day’s Great Opening signified the Great Opening of matter as Earthly Opening, and the Great Opening of spirit as Heavenly Opening. This paper investigated in a concrete manner the content of the Great Opening of matter concerning how the Great Opening of matter, which had not been studied sufficiently thus far, proceeded, and what was the reason why the Great Opening of matter caused the development of material civilization and the beginning of scientific inquiry. Also, this paper discovered out how those three religions of Donghak, Jeungsan-gyo and Won-Buddhism proposed their specific methodology regarding the Great Opening of spirit in order to construct a blissful world of the Later Day on this earth and which they depicted as a utopia of the future. Lastly this paper reviewed in a rational and reasonable manner how the true circumstances regarding creating the paradise of the Later Day relate to a world where the Great Opening of matter and the Great Opening of spirit are advanced simultaneously and form a unified harmonious whole, and where the spirit (spiritual civilization) is the principal element and matter (material civilization) must be subordinate.

The Criticism regarding the Common Points of the Novel and the Movie 『The Scarlet Letter』 ―An Hypothesis on the Socio-Religious Responsibility of Literature for the Third Alternative

Ki Sup Kim | 2019, 46(0) | pp.147~187 | number of Cited : 0

This thesis seeks to analyze the novel The Scarlet Letter which is regarded as a major work of modern English literature and its movie adaptation, posing the problem, and searching for an alternative. Focusing on commonality is accordingly the first approach to analysis, and the difference is the next for more analysis and criticism recognizing that they are isolated respectively containing each creativity. Not directly criticizing Puritanism, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel indirectly looks on problems with a critical eye through the protagonist Hester Prynn. It is generally accepted that Roland Joffe’s movie generally follows the novel faithfully in terms of background, characters, motifs, and the story’s structure. There are some differences regarding adapted details between the novel written by pen and the movie created by camera. Within reason, literary theory deals with the points of the movie directly by audaciously exposing things by reading between the lines in the novel. Presenting the context such as the time period, the 17 Century, the place, New England, and the paradigm Puritanism is followed by the bilateral analysis between the characters’ personalities and their social relations in the two works. Doing so, it tries discern the synchronic sympathy with the works. It furthers lists the differences between them and comes to a comprehensive analysis and eventually poses questions and makes criticisms as a critic. Furthermore, it simultaneously pursues diachronic criticism and its alternative. This goes further than previous criticisms that mostly stayed within the work. Perspectives are expanded and contrasts and comparisons can be made between characters in different works such as Colin Wilson’s The Outsider or Albert Camus’ The Stranger; the extroverted criticizing way to the very religion of Martin Luther’s 95 theses, the attitude embedded in the work with the point of view that the Bible is literature, etc.. Through which the potential possibility of demand and pressure from the outside of the work is also searched for. Eventually the direction points to that those two works are commonly silent about squarely criticizing the Puritanism per se results in the fundamental issue. Comprehending the problems raised and presenting questions, the findings indicate that literature should take social, particularly religious, responsibility for presenting criticism, restraint, or its alternative. That can also be applied to Martin Luther’s age of Reform, the Joseon or Koryo period, and the enlarged modern concept of religion or belief including civil religion as well as the traditional concept of religion like Puritanism. Expanding the topology of thinking, the same research is seemingly possible enough by establishing the temporary hypothesis that the Reform of Joseon Confucianism or religious change caused by contemporary literature could have presented Joseon with an alternative to maintain society in a prosperous manner. So for the third alternative generalized to solve the problems mentioned above, a hypothesis of the socio-religious responsibility of literature takes a position to provide the feasibility and its rational and reasonable basis. As an applied example for this issue’s extension to solve the problem of religious illiteracy, the necessity of non-confessional religious education in an applied category particularly draws a strong possibility of non-confessional English Bible Study with English literature like The Scarlet Letter. By which this article’s criticism tries to expose a face of fundamentally limitless possibility of literature with proof hopefully expecting it to be a well-established theory.

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Religions of Korea 2023 KCI Impact Factor : 0.52

2019, Vol.46, No.0