Korean Buddhist Nuns and Laywomen

Korean Buddhist Nuns and Laywomen

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Contents

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pp. vii-viii

Foreword

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pp. ix-x

Despite having a 1,600-year history within the Korean Buddhist tradition, ordained and lay women have been neglected in both traditional and contemporary accounts of the religion. Korean Buddhist monastic records offer little information on the religious activities of...

Preface

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pp. xi-xiii

This volume was conceived with the intention of breaking new ground in a neglected area of Korean history and culture—the tradition of female Buddhist practice—for those in the broader academic community already focused on the topic of women and religion. It...

1. Introduction

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pp. 1-14

While the modern study of Buddhism has witnessed impressive development over the years, the shape of this progress has not always been balanced. Perhaps most notable in this skewed progress has been the lack of focus on women and their role in the religion. ...

2. Female Buddhist Practice in Korea—A Historical Account

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pp. 15-43

One of the fundamental tenets of Son (C. Chan; J. Zen), which forms the basis of modern Korean Buddhism, is that in the Buddhadharma there is no distinction between male and female, worldly and nonworldly phenomena. There is, however, a considerable...

3. Male Son Masters’ Views on Female Disciples in Later Koryo

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pp. 45-68

The idea that women can become enlightened follows naturally from the core Buddhist belief that enlightenment can be achieved by all creatures. When we review the history of Buddhism in Korea, however, we find that, due to the patriarchal nature of society and...

4. Koryo Ladies and the Encouragement of Buddhismin Yuan China

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pp. 69-89

This chapter examines the activities of Buddhist laywomen in the fourteenth century. More specifically, it analyzes the activities of Koryo laywomen residing in Yuan China. What is striking is the high degree of religious fervor dedicated to building or repairing temples, ...

5. Two Female Masters of Two Eras

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pp. 91-117

The word yodaesa means a female master. Epitaphs and stupa stelae survive for them. Although bhiksuni is a term that encompasses female master, “master” had the sense of “eminent cleric,” and so yodaesa meant a model bhisuni (nun) who excelled in practice and...

6. Marginalized and Silenced

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pp. 119-145

Except for the names of some queens and female members of the royal clan who became nuns in palace cloisters inside the capital, the prose records of the Choson period reveal virtually nothing of the lives of Buddhist nuns collectively or as individuals.¹ This is a result...

7. Buddhist Nuns and Alternative Space in Confucian Chosen Society

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pp. 147-163

In this chapter, I will use an alternative reading of the male Confucian elite’s discourse on Buddhist nuns during the Choson period to examine women who went beyond the boundaries of the dominant Confucian doctrine.¹ Buddhist monasteries provided upper-class

8. The Establishment of Buddhist Nunneries in Contemporary Korea

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pp. 165-181

The anti-Buddhist policies and the neo-Confucian ideologies of the Choson dynasty (1392–1910) had a long-term damaging effect on the Buddhist order and on Buddhist nuns in particular.¹ Korean Buddhist nuns had to endure gender discrimination, living in a society

Glossary

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pp. 183-199

Contributors

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pp. 201-202

Eun-su Cho is Professor in the Department of Philosophy at Seoul National Universty. She previously taught in the Department of Asian Languages and Culture at the University of Michigan. Her research interests range from Indian Abhidharma Buddhism to Korean traditions

Index

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pp. 203-210