Fighting Monks In Korea

[camerata]

Fighting monks

The 20th century was a difficult time for Korean Buddhism. Over the hundred years, Korea saw the rapid rise of Christianity while Buddhism was in retreat. This vulnerability of the traditional Korean religion has many explanations, most of which are essentially political.

From the 1890s the Japanese supported Buddhism in Korea. They were emulating the contemporary policies of the Western powers who enthusiastically supported the spread of Christianity in their colonies. Some Korean Buddhists welcomed Japanese sponsorship; however, in the long run this uninvited patronage caused more harm than good.

Indeed, during the colonial period Christianity came to be seen as a religion of national resistance, while Buddhism was perceived ― the efforts of nationalist monks notwithstanding ― as a religion of collaborators.

Worse still, the liberation of the country resulted in a bitter dispute within the community. This dispute almost paralysed Buddhism for a number of decades.

The central question in the dispute was celibacy ― the ban on marital life for Buddhist monks. Traditionally, the Seon (Zen) Buddhist monks in Korea have been celibate while their Japanese counterparts were allowed to marry.

In practice, Korean monks also married sometimes, although it was a breach of the ecclesiastical law. In the early 1900s, Buddhist reformers campaigned against obligatory celibacy.

Their proposals found support among colonial administrators and Japanese Buddhist missionaries. In 1926, obligatory celibacy was abolished, although monks were free to remain celibate if they chose to do so.

But that was only the beginning of controversy. In the 1950s, the unmarried monks began to claim that they had maintained the authentic Korean tradition.

Full story.

[thequaife]

The problem is not the Buddist nor the Christian.

The problems lays on the Korean uncivilized attitude.

[LazyYogi]

Such a strange situation for anyone who knows even the first thing about the vinaya of the Buddhadharma.

There is no such thing as a non-celibate monk. The minute a monk performs a sexual act they automatically lose their status as a bhikkhu.

Japan doesn't have monks. They have "priests" who take vows to avoid the 10 non-virtues, but no vows to observe the vinaya of true Buddhist monks, such as the 227 rules that Thai monks follow.

So it's not really a question of celibacy only. It's a question of whether you have Buddhist bhikkhus following the 200+ rules of the vinaya completely or you have lay-priests who only have to follow 10 rules, but still do the whole robes and shaved head bit.

That's not to say that there's anything wrong with people being lay priests. In Tibet there have been numerous lay priests and yogis down through the centuries who became highly accomplished spiritual masters (the late Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, for example), but they grew their hair out and wore other clothing that distinguished themselves from the ordained monks.

When nobody in the country upholds the vinaya is it any wonder that Japan finds itself today in a spiritual crisis, with the role of Buddhism reduced to funeral services and flower gardens? It would be very sad if Korea went down the same road.

[khaowong1]

Lazy Yogi, you are quite the scholar.. very good post.