Makers of Modern Korean Buddhism

Th e Japanese Missionaries and Their Impact on Korean Buddhist Developments (1876–1910)1

11 The Japanese Missionaries and Their Impact on Korean Buddhist Developments (1876–1910)1 Vladimir Tikhonov This work deals with the interactions between the Japanese Buddhist missionaries and the Korean monkhood in the turbulent early modern period of Korean history, which began with the conclusion of Korea’s first “unequal” treaty with Japan in 1876 and ended with Japanese annexation of the whole country in 1910. As Korea was peripherized and increasingly drawn into Japan’s fledgling sphere of influence in East Asia, modern Japanese Buddhism became a reference model for the Korean monks who tended now to view Japan as their “protector ” in practice and an ideal of “Buddhism-friendly” modernity in theory. In fact, even before the Japanese intrusion, Korean Buddhism was struggling to readjust its hitherto subjugated social position proportionally to the level of wealth and influence of richer monasteries, and to provide important religious and ideological background for Korea’s first generation of modern reformers in the 1880s. But the Japanese missionaries managed to quickly appropriate the nascent discourse of “Buddhist modernity” in Korea and turn it into a tool of co-opting Korean Buddhist clergy for its own political purposes. While a partial or full loss of nationalistic credentials was a logical result of this process for the Buddhist community, its unequal alliance with the invaders/colonizers might be also understood as perhaps an unavoidable result of the combination of traditional Confucian oppression and new Christian anti-Buddhist attitude.  With the gradual weakening of neo-Confucian orthodoxy and the growth of the Sirhak (Practical Learning) movement, long-absent interest in Buddhism 245 SP_PAR_Ch11_243-274.indd 245 SP_PAR_Ch11_243-274.indd 245 1/8/10 2:41:38 PM 1/8/10 2:41:38 PM 246 Makers of Modern Korean Buddhism started to develop among the minority of more open-minded Confucian scholars, with famous calligrapher and writer Kim Chŏnghŭi (1786–1856; known as “the Vimalakīrti of the Eastern State”) typifying the new generation of the literati more open to Buddhist ideas.2 The gradual decline of yangban (gentry)-centered class system and consequent increase in the social position of traditional urban “middle-class” groups (K. chungin), who remained in closer contact with Buddhist circles, enabled some non-yangban lay Buddhists (Yu Taech’i, an Oriental medical doctor of chungin background; O Kyŏngsŏk, a chungin interpreter; and others) and even Buddhist monks to play prominent roles in the early radical “Enlightenment” (K. kaehwa; Westernization-oriented reformist) movement in 1870 to 1884.3 Younger yangban-progressives (especially Kim Okkyun), who were guided by chungin Yu Taech’i (?–1884) and Buddhist monk Yi Tongin (?–1881) into a new and unknown world of modernity, seem to have even conceived of Buddhism as a substitute for outdated neo-Confucian ideas—as an ideological tool for making society more equal.4 In their case, their deeply interested attitude toward Buddhism was also strengthened by their experiences in Japan, where they could see how Buddhism successfully endeavored to transform itself to better suit the realities of Meiji era “civilization and progress.” In Kim Okkyun’s case, his Buddhist devotion was remembered long after his death: On the twenty-third anniversary of his assassination, memorial services were held in a Japanese temple and in the Kakhwangsa Temple in central Seoul. The readers of Government–General-run Maeil Sinbo (March 28, 1916) were reminded also that Kim Okkyun had recommended meditation practice to his high-positioned Japanese friends, Inukai Tsuyoshi (1855–1932), a well-known party leader and future prime minister, being one among them.5 Another prominent leader of the “radicals” of the 1870–1880s, Pak Yŏnghyo (1861–1939), though not very religious personally, recited the memorial speech in that temple ceremony.6 It is interesting to point out also that one of Kim Okkyun’s pennames, “Kogyun” (literally meaning “old bamboo sheath”), dates back to one of the nicknames of Mengshan De-I (1231–1308), a Yuan Dynasty Chan Buddhist monk whose works were widely read in Korea. So, Buddhism, after a long break, again became, at least partially, what it was before the start of neo-Confucian persecutions under the Chosŏn kings: that is, it became an important actor not only on an economical but also on an ideological stage. In the atmosphere of the renewed interest in Buddhism and its proponents on the part of fledgling progressive circles, it was only natural that some socially engaged monks would have made certain efforts to...