The Origin of Orthodox Exclusivity in the Formation of Korean Buddhist Identity: Contextualizing the Re-emergence of Korean Buddhism

Abstract

Korean Buddhist orthodoxy can be traced to a narrow period of time in history when characteristics of exclusive orthodoxy originated-when a shift occurred in the nature of the genealogy from an inclusive to an exclusive one. The significance of this shift is that it was a result of influences from the wider Confucian developments that occurred in the early seventeenth century. This development in turn was also influenced by events such as the Japanese and Manchu invasions of Korea in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, respectively. This brings to question the tendency to understand Choson Buddhism by focusing only on "Buddhist" matters limited to within the Buddhist community. This article argues that monastic matters such as identity were influenced not only by the socio-political events related to the government but also by greater societal narratives, in this case, "transmission of the Confucian Way" and the "doctrine of the civilized and barbarian." This study asserts that the influences of the Chinese Buddhist tradition cannot be under-estimated or overlooked even during the Choson period when the monastic community was considered to be socially isolated. By considering the notion of orthodoxy within the Choson Buddhist community, we can highlight that such ideas of Buddhist orthodoxy did not escape general societal conceptions, which in this case were closely related to the notion of China as the source of orthodoxy.