2022, Vol.51, No.

Dynamics of Violence Structure in Northeast Asia

Kim, HakJae | 2022, 51 | pp.7~55 | number of Cited : 1

Historical Ch'oe Cheu and Secret Societies of Ch'ŏngnimgyo: Religion and Violence of Resistance in Korean Indigenous Religion

Han, Seung-hoon | 2022, 51 | pp.56~101 | number of Cited : 3

PDF

Modern Japanese Buddhism and the War: How was the War Justified?

Won Yong Sang | 2022, 51 | pp.102~129 | number of Cited : 0

There would not be the area which is as incomprehensible as the war. The peak of human ignorance (無知) is the very war. And when religion joins in it, the fire furiously burns. The modern Japanese Buddhists' support of the war frankly shows this history. After Japan established a theocracy after the Meiji Restoration (明治維新), Buddhism actively participated in the process of its foreign war and colonialization. This study deals with these historical process, the causes, and the solutions. Japanese Buddhism has walked the path of nationalism going through the buddhicization of the nation through the Bonmalsa (本末寺) system and the Danga (檀家) system enforced by the early modern Tokugawa shogunate (江戸幕府) and the process to make Buddhism its substructure through the modern Haibutsukisyaku (廢佛毁釋). Especially, in the situation that Shinto (神道) became the national religion after making the nation Shinto, Buddhism more devoted itself to nationalism. Buddhism actively participated in militarism under the total war system (總力戰體制) in the late 1930s. Buddhists justified the war through the wartime doctrine (戰時敎學). The establishment of Gungnipgyedan (國立戒壇) based on the truths of the truth and conventional truth (眞俗二諦) of Jodoshin Sect, Sentō-zen (戰爭禪) of the Zen sect, and Nichirenism (日蓮主義) of Nichiren is the key logic of this doctrinal study. People can know well that this is the logic of participation in the war which runs squarely counter to Buddhist teachings to make ahimsa the highest religious precepts. On the contrary, there were also the antiwar (反戰) ideology and antiwar behaviors among the people. There also continued to be resistance and ordeals of religious persons, especially, Buddhists. The representative men were Uchiyama Gudo (内山愚童) and Senoo Giro (妹尾義郞) who were monks of the Soto Sect. The former was sentenced to death for high treason (大逆罪) and was executed in 1911. He supported socialism and argued being against the government, the Japanese emperor, and the war. The latter led socialization of Buddhism by organizing a new Buddhism youth union. He took the lead in rural enlightenment and being against the war, capitalism, nationalism, and militarism. Buddhism was against the war from the viewpoint of karma and reincarnation since Shakyamuni Buddha. Nevertheless, there was the just war theory. The minimization of killing was also the condition. Modern Japanese Buddhism's participation in the war was the result to be unable to resist capitalism which supported the nation and the war, the win-win communities. The causes are ideality and transcendence of the doctrinal study. In order to escape from this, the establishment of Buddhist ethics is required to realize Buddhism's teachings to solve the people's pain. Modern Japanese Buddhism's participation in the war well shows the necessity.

A Structural Analysis of the Notion of the Good in the Cho-weon-dam-lo(『椒園談老』) by Lee Chung-ik(李忠翊) ― Focusing on the Commentary of the Chapter 49, the Present-Version Laozi(『老子』) ―

Mi-Jung Min | 2022, 51 | pp.133~164 | number of Cited : 0

Lee Chung-ik makes a clear manifestation of his theory of the Supreme-good(至善) in chapter 49 of the Cho-weon-dam-lo. The Non-good(不善) rises from the thought itself that the Non-good could be separated from the Good(善). According to him, if a saint judges the people to be either the Good or the Non-good, the mind of the saint and the people would be divided into two and thereby the Virtue(德) will be no more good. On the contrary, the original text of Laozi just points out the ontological relativity of the Good and the Non-good by saying that the Virtue will remain good when the saint embraces the Good and the Non-good of the people without any discrimination. This difference in emphasis is symptomatically reflected in two phrases in chapter 49. First, Lee Chung-ik states that "How can the saint forgo a permanent mind?” while Laozi says, in the beginning, "The Saint has no permanent mind." Second, judging from the contextual flow in Lee Chung-Ik’s commentray, it appears that he intentionally ignores the significance of the phrase, “The Virtue is well done!(德善矣)” in the first half of the chapter in Laozi. This study attempts to reconstruct the philosophical strategies of Lee Chung-ik, found behind these phenomenal differences through the intrinsic analysis of the text, Cho-weon-dam-lo(『椒園談老』). As Lee Chung-ik ontologically highlights the idea of the Permanent(常), ‘Non-being(無)’ and ‘Being(有)’ are placed in a 'no' relationship with each other(無對). As a result, the Good and the Non-good are to be ontologized through the mutual relationship(相因) and the Prime-good identifies itself with the state of ‘The Mind-Heart is Li(xin ji li; 心卽理).’ Now, in Cho-weon-dam-lo, the systematic necessity of the Virtue-good(德善) in Laozi, that is, the Good, ‘well’ manifested as the Being of the Dao(道), is highly weakened. In conclusion, it would be possible to re-examine Cho-weon-dam-lo in the context of a Confucian Interpretation of Laozi(以儒解老).

The Life and Seon Thought of Nanyang Huizhong

Kim Myungho | 2022, 51 | pp.165~191 | number of Cited : 3

Religious Spirituality’s Role of Social Healing

Park, Kwang - Soo | 2022, 51 | pp.192~216 | number of Cited : 1

PDF

Today, religious spirituality's role in healing society diagnoses the historical scars and pathological phenomena inherent in Korean society and the international community and aims for fundamental healing. To this end, transition to a correct perception of social structure and civilization and reflection on new religions are necessary. First, to solve the historical scars from division, inter-class and inter-regional conflicts in Korean society and human society, we need to transition from a power-centered civilization to a new harmonious civilization shared between the East and the West. Amid the division in the international community and the formation of a democratic state, various forms of "trauma by state violence" based on mutual hostility are internalized throughout society. We need a discourse on the religious spirituality of social healing that has the resources for concrete practices to overcome these traumas. Second, we need to discuss how to realize the value of universal publicity for religious spirituality's social healing. A mature civil society's religious spirituality believes in an absolute God and has an open-minded attitude that cares for and respects neighbors. Today, the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting society as a whole and the religious landscape and collective forms of faith. How can religious spirituality provide the fundamental energy to realize social and public values and heal the various problems of a sick society? Religion plays the role of healing a sick society by constantly reflecting on individuals and society, criticizing structural injustice, and directly engaging with society. The social practice of religion is a discourse necessary in any age. In the era of civilizational transition, peaceful and ideal society is possible in the practice of unifying public values and an open religious culture related to the spirit of global citizenship, such as post-ethnicism, post-nationalism, and post-religion. Modern society calls for a proactive life that realizes the spiritual value of peaceful civilization aiming for a world of harmony beyond civilizational conflict.

Two Faces of Civilization - Focused on the Viewpoint on Civilization and Choson of Fukuzawa Yukichi and Tanaka Shozo -

Jo Sunghwan | 2022, 51 | pp.217~246 | number of Cited : 5

PDF

The Earth and Religion in the Anthropocene -The Search for a Discourse on Earth Religion-

Namjin Heo , Lee Woo Jin | 2022, 51 | pp.247~279 | number of Cited : 2

This paper attempts to explore the ‘discourse on earth religions’ through ‘the Anthropocene discourse’, which currently occupies a central position in pan-academic discourse. In particular, from the standpoint of ‘seeking a new reflective relationship between the Earth and human’ which is the central axis of the Anthropocene discourse, We have examined the changes in the perception of the Earth and the recent emergence of ‘discourses on Earth religions.’ Even before the new positions of ‘mechanism’ and ‘natural domination’ were positioned as the core concepts of the modern world, the ‘Earth Narrative as a Nurturing Mother and Parents’ who creates and nurtures has been discussed in every culture. Since the scientific revolution, this perception of the earth and human beings as absolutely dependent on each other has been seriously weakened. Furthermore, through commercialism, industrialization, and technologization, the position of ‘natural domination’ has been further strengthened. Now humans are positioned as ‘Agencies’ in relation to the Earth. Although humans are essentially inhabitants of the Earth, they are positioned as ‘Agencies’ that ‘live on the Earth, protect and rescue it’ and ‘explore, analyze and conquer it.’ However, in the Anthropocene discourse, the Earth was understood as ‘Gaia’ as an ‘Agecny’ from the perspective of the earth system. The earth was not to sit still any longer against human destruction and domination, but was to be positioned as an entity that threatens and resists human behaviors. Next, We examined two new discourses that have emerged in the religious realm in line with these discourses of the Anthropocene. One is the ‘Gaian Earth Religion Discourse as a Civil religion’ from the perspective of Earthpolitics, and the other is the ‘Earth Religion Discourse as a Religion for the Earth’ from the perspective of theology for Earth. Both of these discourses were ‘Earth religion discourse’ to solve the crisis of the Anthropocene. Conclusively, the ‘Earth Discourse’ and the ‘Earth Religion Discourse’ of the Anthropocene were aware of the problem that the Earth crisis was caused by the ‘loss of reverence for the Earth’. In order to overcome the crisis of the Anthropocene, the direction of religion had to be sought as ‘the direction to restore reverence for the Earth.’

KJCKorea
Journal Central

Religions of Korea 2023 KCI Impact Factor : 0.52

2022, Vol.51, No.