Transcript Korea`s Pluralistic Religious Culture - East

Korea’s Pluralistic
Religious Culture
Don Baker
University of British Columbia
Animism
•
Village guardian pair
a mountain god
Animism and shamanism
•
Animism assumes that various non-human entities have
personalities and can be interacted with. They can be
rivers, mountains, trees, rocks, tigers, etc.
•
Shamanism assumes that certain human beings can
communicate with spiritual beings through ritual or
trance.
•
Animism and shamanism are analytically distinct. In
Korea, shamans are normally not possessed by animistic
spirits. Instead, they are possessed by imaginary or dead
human beings. However, sometimes they interact with
non-human spirits such as disease-causing spirits, a
house roof-beam god, or, recently, an engine-block god.
types of shamans
•
charismatic--are possessed by spirits
•
hereditary---are not possessed but have inherited the
ability to perform rituals that influence the supernatural
realm.
•
diviners--may go into a trance but are not possessed.
•
The vast majority of shamans are women
•
Saju (“Four Pillar”) fortune tellers are not shamans
•
Shamans are not the only ones who can make lucky
charms. Some monks make them, too.
types of kut (굿)
Initiation kut
kut to honor a shaman’s guardian deity
kut for the dead, either to send them off or to interact with them.
kut for good luck --- -health and wealth, or a son
A kut for a new beginning (new home or business)
kut for healing (through exorcism)
village kut
kut for rain
kut for telling the future
kut for household gods (a kosa can be held without a shaman)
spirits and gods
shamans interact with
Deities of nature (wind, rain, mountains,heaven, the
Big Dipper, grain gods, etc)
tutelary deities
dead humans who have become gods or spirits
(heroes, generals, officials, ancestors, hungry ghosts,
and great shamans from the past) Some are fictional.
deities dealing with birth and death
deities of disease
Buddhist deities
Daoist deities
Shaman “gods”
No supreme being (No Hananim/Hanŭnim) Even the
Jade Emperor is not like a God of monotheism. Nor is
the heavenly spirit.
not arranged in a tidy hierarchy.
Usually don’t serve as models of moral behavior. (They
can be bribed or flattered.)
Have specific rather than unlimited powers and
responsibilities.
Interaction is more like bargaining than worshipping.
A shaman ritual
QuickTime™ and a
decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Shamanism in Korea today
•
There may be 100,000 active shamans in South Korea
today.
•
Shamanism is not considered by the government to be a
religion. There is no nation-wide clerical hierarchy of
shamans.
•
Moreover, the clients of shamans don’t call themselves
“shamanists.” Instead, they are likely to say that they are
Buddhists. Shaman shrines take many different forms.
They may look like a Buddhist temple, or they may be a
home with an identifying flagpole. Some have signs
says “such-and-such a bodhisattva lives here” or
“philosophy research center.”
Confucian spirituality
•
The term “Confucianism” refers to:
•
an ethical philosophy
•
certain rituals and music
•
a philosophy for organizing a government and society
•
an approach to writing history
•
an overall approach to culture (including art and
literature)
•
a philosophy, also known as Neo-Confucianism, that
aspires to explain everything that is and everything that
happens.
Honoring Royal Ancestors
QuickTime™ and a
decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Confucian ethics
•
Confucian ethics is primarily an ethics of interpersonal
interaction and, secondly, an ethics of personal moral
cultivation.
•
The five fundamental moral relationships of
Confucianism are ruler/subject; parent/child;
husband/wife; elder/younger; and friend/friend. All have
reciprocal obligations.
•
Harmony is valued over equality
•
The patriarchy was considered natural and therefore
moral
•
Sincerity/integrity, reverence/mindfulness, and
benevolence/humanity are key virtues.
Confucian etiquette
•
Participation in Confucian rituals is believed to stimulate
cooperation with your community.
•
An individual is defined in terms of his or her roles in
society and his or her relationships. There is no “I’ apart
from those roles and relationships.
•
Proper etiquette is necessary to ensure a harmonious
society, with everyone playing their assigned role.
•
This is probably the feature of Confucianism modern
Koreans find most irritating, yet they still abide by much
of it.
Ancestor “worship”
QuickTime™ and a
decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Neo-Confucian practices
•
reading texts aloud over and over again.
•
quiet sitting (they refuse to call it meditation)
•
engaging in appropriate rituals of interactions with
ancestors, spirits, and other human beings.
•
Aligning mind and behavior with li (the patterns of
appropriate interactions) and disciplining ourselves so
that ki (C. Qi), the matter-energy that makes us
individuals, doesn’t lead us to act more like an individual
than like a member of a family or community. The goal is
to determine our proper place in various networks of
relationships and behave according to our proper place
in those networks.
Confucianism in Korea
today
•
Survives in the continued performance of ancestor
rites by the majority of the population. Even
Christians have Christian ancestor rites.
•
Survives in the ethical rhetoric of Koreans. Ethics
classes are required in school, and most of the
ethics taught have Confucian roots (filial piety,
respect for elders, playing our assigned roles, etc.)
•
The patriarchy is still strong.
•
Yet few Koreans would all themselves Confucians.
Daoism
• In China, the term Daoism is used for an anti-Confucian
philosophy, for a popular polytheistic religion with revealed
scriptures and rituals, for longevity practices, for certain
types of fortune-telling, etc.
• In Korea, little institutional presence, either in the past or
today.
• However, some gods of Daoism, such as the Jade
Emperor, are included in some shaman pantheons.
• Internal alchemy (longevity-enhancing techniques) has
been important at various times in Korean history, including
today. However, it was often seen as more medical than
religious.
Christianity Arrives
Persecution and Catholicism
•
Catholicism reached Korea through books rather than
missionaries.
•
In 1784, one young Confucian scholar was baptized in
Beijing as Peter Lee. When he returned to Korea, he
converted many of his friends.
•
In 1791 two Catholics were killed for refusing to use a
spirit tablet in a mourning ritual.
•
In 1795 a Chinese priest was smuggled into Korea.
•
In 1801 a major persecution broke out. 100s were killed.
A century of Persecution
•
Paul Yun and James Kwon
103 martyrs of Korea
A church in hiding
•
After it survived a century-long persecution, the
Korean Catholic church continued to keep a low
profile, opening few schools or major medical facilities.
That changed only after the Korean War.
•
The Catholic Church opened its first major medical
center in 1936. It opened its first university in 1956.
•
Korean priests began to greatly outnumber foreign
priests in the 1960s.
•
Now the Catholic Church is the fastest growing major
religious community in South
Growth since 1949
why this spurt in growth?
•
Korean priests now greatly outnumber foreign
priests.
•
Catholic rituals are now in English.
•
In the 1970s and 1980s many Catholic priests and
even a bishop were active in the democratization
struggle.
•
No scandals in the Korean Catholic church.
Protestant Christianity
•
Missionaries arrived in 1884. They soon introduced
modern schools and medical facilities.
•
Protestant Koreans played an important role in the
modernization movement before 1910, and in the
anti-Japanese movement between 1910 and 1945.
•
The Protestant community, mostly Presbyterian and
Methodist, promoted a participatory form of worship
(hymns, communal praying, etc) and also offered
titles (such as elder and bible woman) to lay
believers.
Comparative Growth Rates
•
Catholics
• 1885
Protestants
14,039
•
1900
•
1905
64,070
•
1907
63,340
•
1910
73,517
144,242.
•
1920
89,333
167,435
•
1930
110,728.
•
1940
113, 401
42,411
20,914
37,407
72,968
260,534
382,718
Post-War Growth
•
• 1960
Catholics
451, 808
Protestants
623,072
• 1970
788,082
3,192,621
• 1985
1,865,397
6,489,282
• 1995
2, 950,730
8,760,336
• 2005
5,146, 147
8,616,438.
Christianity and Buddhism
Views of Protestantism
The world’s largest church
QuickTime™ and a
decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Reasons for the rise and
decline of Protestantism
•
Reasons for rapid growth:
•
participatory rituals, titles (and status) for lay believers,
created a sense of community in a rapidly urbanizing
society, is identified with modernity and nationalism,
engaged in zealous proselytizing
•
Reasons for the recent slow-down:
•
urbanization is complete; competition within
denominations; demands a lot of money and time; there
are now more competitors with participatory rituals,
status symbols, and links with modernity.
New Religions in Korea
•
Buddhist --Won Buddhism
•
Christian ----Unification Church
•
Mixed origins ------Tonghak/ Ch’ŏndogyo
•
Taejonggyo
•
Dahn World
•
Jeungsando and Daesoon
Jinrihoe
Won Buddhism
•
A new religion with Buddhist roots
Buddhist elements
•
Won Buddhism accepts the mainstream Buddhist
notions of karma and reincarnation.
•
Won Buddhism, like meditative Buddhism, is
anthropocentric, teaching that we can save
ourselves through our own efforts and don’t need to
rely on supernatural assistance. (It also promotes
meditation.)
•
Won Buddhism, like mainstream Buddhism, teaches
that suffering arises from the way we use our minds,
and that if we change the way we think, we can
eliminate our suffering.
Unique features
•
Founder, often referred to as Sot’aesan, was a Korean
who was active in Korea in the first half of 20th century.
•
Won Buddhism doesn’t worship him or any other
personality, human or divine.
•
Won Buddhism has its own scriptures, its own rituals, and
its own clerical costumes and clerical discipline. It also
has a distinctive object of its spiritual gaze--- a circle
(Ilwonsang)
•
It calls itself a new religion for a new age. Yet it also says
many of its teachings are the same as those of
Buddhism.
A Won Buddhist
sunday service
Won Buddhist temples
•
Won Buddhist temples look more like churches than temples. They
have pews, for example. Moreover, they don’t have any of the
statues normally found in Buddhist temples. Instead, on the wall, at
the front of the temple, there is a simple circle, called the Irwŏnsang
(One Circle Symbol).
•
Won Buddhist temples are primarily urban temples, and are quite
different from the mountain temples of mainstream Buddhism.
Moreover, those temples are run by both men (often married clerics)
and nuns (who are celibate, though celibacy is not mandatory)
•
Regular Sunday services include sermons and congregational
singing of hymns.
•
Regular meditation is not as important as “timeless meditation and
placeless meditation,” in other words, we should maintain a calm,
meditative mind as we go about our everyday affairs.
Unification Church
•
Founded by Moon Sun Myung, who was born in what is now North
Korea in 1920. Studied engineering at Waseda University before
1945.
•
Claims Jesus appeared to him and told him that God had selected
him for a special mission (to be the messiah who, through marriage
to a pure woman, would restore human beings to God).
•
1954--founded the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World
Christianity
• 1960. Married Hak Ja Han, 23 years younger than he is.
•
1974 settled in the United States
• 1994 Expanded the Unification Church into the Family Federation for
World Peace and Unification.
the “true parents”
Moon as Messiah
• Moon is not God (that is why it is incorrect to call
Unificationists “Moonies.” They don’t worship him.)
• However, they believe that he is a messiah, in that,
through his marriage to Hak Ja Han, he has broken
Satan’s grip. Not only are his children True Children,
because they are free of original sin, but all those
whose marriages are blessed by Moon (or those he
has empowered to do so) will also produce sinless
children.
• Moon is not the only messiah. Anyone who can bless
marriages, and therefore break Satan’s grip, is a
messiah.
The Blessing
Divine Principle
•
The Divine Principle is a book containing Moon’s
revelations that claims to teach how the Bible should
really be understood.
•
A key principle is that God has both male and female
characteristics (linked together like yin and yang)
•
God wants his human creatures to marry and create Ideal
Families, just like the family of the True Parents (Rev. and
Mrs. Moon).
•
We are now in the Age of the Completed Testament, since
the Lord of the Second Advent is among us.
•
The Unification Church no longer calls itself a Christian
Tonghak--Ch’ŏndogyo
Tonghak
•
Founder was a Confucian scholar named Ch’oe Cheu
(1824-1864)
•
Tonghak means “Eastern Learning.” He wanted to
contrast it with “Western Learning” (Catholicism).
•
It is Korea’s first indigenous organized religion.
Worshipped one God, though that God resembles the
impersonal energy that animates the universe and is
found within the heart/ mind of every human being.
•
He believed Kaebyŏk (the Great Transformation) would
happen soon.
The Incantation
•
"Ultimate Energy being all around me, I pray that I
feel that Energy within me here and now.
Recognizing that the Lord of Heaven is within me, I
will be transformed. Constantly aware of that divine
presence within, I will become attuned to all that is
going on around me."
•
The notions of Kaebyŏk and of a spark of the divine
within every human being were among the
inspirations for the largest peasant rebellion in
Korean history, the Tonghak rebellion of 1894-95.
•
In 1905, Tonghak became Ch’ŏndogyo.
Ch’ŏndogyo Today
QuickTime™ and a
decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Chŭngsan family of religions
•
Kang Chŭngsan ( 1871-1909) is believed to be the
human incarnation of Sangjenim, the Lord on High (the
Supreme God)
•
It is said that he came down to earth to prepare human
beings for Kaebyŏk by teaching his ritual for the Reconstruction of Heaven and Earth.
•
Taught that we need to move from the current era of
mutual competition to a new era of mutual cooperation.
•
Two major religious organizations that worship Kang as
Sangjenim are Daesoon Jinri-hoe and Jeung San Do.
Worshipping Sangjenim
Daesun Jinri-hoe
• The Four Essential Practices: compose your mind; calm your
body; maintain an attitude of reverence for God above; and
cultivate a moral character
• the Four Goals, to be realized after the Great Transformation:
• Yin and Yang combine forces;
• gods and humans cooperate harmoniously;
• grievances are resolved and wrongs righted,
• a world of mutual aid and cooperation instead of constant struggle
is created, and the Way pervades all as a true paradise is created
on this earth.
Taejonggyo: Worship of the
legendary first Korean king,
Tan’gun
Dahnhak
•
1985--Former martial arts teacher begins teaching internal
alchemy techniques he says he recovered in a vision while
in mediation on a mountain. Bundled them with study of
Taejonggyo texts.
•
1990s--began expanding abroad, often calling its practices
Dahn Yogo. Also teaches its own martial art. Cinnabar-field
breathing has been renamed “Brain respiration.”
Enlightenment is now the goal.
•
Focus on Tan’gun has been joined by a focus on an even
more ancient figure, Mago, the queen of the first castle in
which humans lived (somewhere on the Korean peninsula).
Dahnhak
DahnYoga
QuickTime™ and a
decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
The rise in religious
affiliation
•
1916 530,000 out of 15-17 million 3%
•
1940 1 million out of 23.5 million
4%
•
1965 3.5 million out of 28.2 mil.
12%
•
1985 17.2 million out of 41 mil.
•
Achieving a majority religious population
•
1995 22.5 million out of 44.5 mil. 50.7%
•
2004
•
2005 25 million out of 47 million
Gallup Poll
42%
53.5%
53.1%
one
religion
dominant
• No
According
to the
government,
in 2005,
•
22.8% of South Koreans were Buddhist, 18.3%
were Protestant, 10.9% were Catholic, 0.2% called
themselves Confucians,
•
0.3% called themselves Won Buddhists, and
0.5% had another religious affiliation.
•
This is a change from the 1995 census
•
23.2% Buddhist,
•
19.7% Protestant, 6.6% Catholic,
•
0.5% Confucian, 0.2% Won Buddhists, and 0.6%
other religions.
•
[Catholicism and Won Buddhism were the only