• Journal of the Daesoon Academy of Sciences
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• v.19
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• pp.145-163
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• 2005

What is Buddhism for? Is the enlightenment the only valid goal of the Buddhist practice? In answering to such questions, this article attempts to challenge the traditional Buddhist notion on the enlightenment, which has been believed to be the utmost and unquestionable, the final goal of Buddhist practice. This article argues that the enlightenment as the final goal of Buddhist practice resulted from religious atmosphere of the ancient India, where the society was bifurcated with the lay and monks. Moreover, nirvana, the final enlightenment with no-more-rebirth, was not the goal of all the Buddhists, but the goal of a few, religious elites. In modern society, where the role of lay people becomes more and more important the Buddhist goal for the enlightenment needs to be reevaluated and to change, from the enlightenment to happiness.

• Korean Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.1-14
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• 2000

This paper is on the Kasaya that reveals conspicuously the religious meaning among the Korean Buddhist costumes. The Kasaya has the most special meaning among Korean costume culture. It has the most important historical value, for Buddhism is the oldest religion that begins at 4th century A.D.. It has the most unordinary shape that we could not find any other costume culture. It has very important meaning to study on the Kasaya in the religious and cultural history of Korean costume. We have to study Korean Kasaya from surveying Indian Buddhist Kasaya diachronicaly. Buddha establishes himself the rules of weaving, coloring and wearing Kasaya. Bunso costume(분소의)is the first shape of Kasaya that he has worn during his ascetic practice. Bunso costume was a kind of shari. It is made with diapers those clean ordure of baby It symbolizes the life of ascetic practice. However Buddha could not stick to it as the only costume of monks. From his age Buddhist devotees have thought Buddha and monks as sacred beings. So they eagerly want to Provide the sacred beings with foods. clothes and other things that samgha(승가) need to live and accomplish their duties. At that time there are many kings, aristocracies and rich merchants among the devotees. They often offered them the luxurious silk Kasaya. that the ascetic monks could not wear. to express their deep faith. So the rules of the samgha has been distorted. The samgha has enlarged day by day as a great huge religious association. There are many different shapes of Kasaya. The Buddhist samgha need to establish a minute and rigid rules of Kasaya to order living of monks and to teach the moral and educational life to ordinary people. That book of rule is Vinaya pitaka(율장) . There are many kinds of Vinaya pitaka. This paper surveys the rules of Kasaya from Southern Vinaya pitaka(남전율장). This study will be the basic ground to research the Korean Buddhist Kasaya.

• Journal of the Daesoon Academy of Sciences
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• v.16
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• pp.151-166
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• 2003

Contemporary Buddhist scholarship in Korea has been strongly affected by its origins in the Victorian era, when Western religious scholars sought to rationalize and historicize the study of religion. Modern Korean scholars, trained within the Western scholarly paradigm, share this prejudice which tends toward the rational. The result is a skewed understanding of Buddhism, emphasizing its philosophical and theoretical aspects at the expense of seemingly "irrational" religious elements based on the direct experience of meditation practice. This paper seeks to look at the historical context in which modern Korean Buddhist scholarship had been shaped during the colonial period of Japan. Two case studies will be examined particularly in the light of post-colonial perspectives of Buddhist studies: the case of Jonghong Bak(1903-1976) and the case of Donghwa Gim(1902-1980), two pioneering scholars in the field of Buddhist studies. They share similarities as well as differences. Both were born and active at almost the same period, during which Korean peninsula experienced modernization forced upon by Japanese colonialism. And thus, the experience of colonialism and modernization brought them into conflict between tradition and modernity. Their responses, however, were different. Pak, originally trained in Western philosophy, especially German philosophy, wanted to study Korean Buddhism in the context of the so-called Korean Philosophy per se. He was motivated to seek for the national and cultural identity of Korea. And thus his scholarship on Korean Buddhism naturally led him to look for an original Korean Buddhism distinct from the Buddhism of India, China and Japan. On the other hand, Gim, who became a monk in his youth, later went to Japan for college where he was exposed to modern Buddhist scholarship. He was the first to introduce modern Buddhist scholarship to Korea, and since then, contemporary Korean Buddhist scholarship owes much to his contributions. Despite his contributions to contemporary Korean Buddhist scholarship, if we look at his efforts in the light of post-colonial perspective, his ideas need to be reevaluate.

• Journal of the East Asian Society of Dietary Life
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• v.12 no.5
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• pp.343-351
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• 2002

This survey was conducted to investigate the dietary behavior and health status of Buddhist nuns. In this study, 100 Buddhist nuns in Seoul were selected. The dietary survey was focused on the diet in winter. The age distribution was as follows; 24% of the subjects were in their 20s, 45% in their 30s, 23% in their 40s, and 8% in their 50's and over, respectively. The percentage of the subjects living in temples close to the downtown area was 77% and the rest resided in areas remote to the downtown area. Over fifty percent of the subjects were satisfied with their diet at temple. And 59% of the subjects were eating a snack more than once a day. The snacks included fruits (60%), raditional tea (20%), coffee (9%), bread and cookies (4%), md rice cakes (3%), etc. Among food groups, the intake of green-vegetables and fruits were the highest and intake of milk and bean products were low which may cause calcium and protein deficiency. Most of the subjects believed that their health conditions were average or above average. About 50% of subjects didn't exercise at all. The frequencies of gastro-intestinal diseases and anemia were extremely high. About 50% of subjects took some form of medicine. To improve their health and nutritional status, it is required that they practice a good dietary behavior, maintain a balanced diet, and exercise regularly.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.33
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• pp.274-289
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• 2000

Koryo Dynasty has greatly effected the meat eating practice in Korea. And by focusing on this period, this paper has in vestigated how this practice influenced and effected our meat eating culture. The 'Orders to Prohibit Butchery' written on Koryo's history books were to encourage stockbreeding rather than to follow the Buddhist policy they followed. By encouraging stockbreeding, they wanted to promote the usage of cattle in farming and thus increasing agriculture industry as a whole. Nonetheless, records show that hunting was permitted to a certain degree. And this allowed the civilians to depend their meat supply from hunting and for the fire field farmers to capture wild animals that harmed their crops. Moreover, through 'Kiwujae' (Kiwujae - a shamans service to pray for rain / ritual (praying) for rain.), we could see that earlier part of Karyo's rituals and ceremonies followed the Buddhist tradition while the latter followed the Shamanism tradition. Perhaps this was the result of allowing 'meat' for the service offerings. As Shamanism could be considered as a religion that allowed 'meat', prevalence of Shamanism was promoting meat-eating at mess(after these rituals and ceremonies that offered food (meat inclusive) to their guardian or god, the civilians would dine together.). In relation, this public eating practice slowed down the progress for storage technique. Therefore, meat-eating was developed through public and mass dining rather than through the form of family or private. On this account, we can safely regard meat-eating practice as a 'public event'. On the other hand, the history of castration is not so long in Korea. And the purpose of such practice was to use the stock for farming rather than to yield high quality meat. It is known that Mongol in Koryo period has greatly influenced meat cooking in Korea. And the exemplary dish is the 'tang' (tang - kind of soup. However less creamy, clearer broth and with more ingredients than soup.). However, the tang we ate in everyday life had the same cooking method as the tang we offered for services. Moreover, since we did not use castrated animals for our offering as the Mongolians, we must not have been greatly influenced by them. But if so, perhaps the influences would have been limited to the nobility.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.53 no.1
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• pp.184-203
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• 2020

The Confucian ruling class of the Joseon Dynasty regarded Buddhist rituals as "dangerous festivals." However, these Buddhist ceremonies facilitated transitions between phases of life from birth till death and strengthened communal unity through their joint practice of the rites. Ritual spaces were decorated with various utensils and objects that transformed them into wondrous arenas. Of these ornaments, Buddhist paintings served as the most effective visual medium for educating the common people. As an example, a painting of the Ten Kings of the Underworld (siwangdo) could be hung as a means to illustrate the Buddhist view of the afterlife, embedded in images not only inside a Buddhist temple hall, but in any space where a Buddhist ritual was being held. Demand for Buddhist paintings rose considerably with their use in ritual spaces. Nectar ritual paintings (gamnodo), including scenes of appeasement rites for the souls of the deceased, emphasized depictions of royal family members and their royal relatives. In Chinese paintings of the water and land ceremony (suryukjae), these figures referred to one of several sacred groups who invited deities to a ritual. However, in Korean paintings of a nectar ritual, the iconography symbolized the patronage of the royal court and underlined the historicity and tradition of nationally conducted water and land ceremonies. This royal patronage implied the social and governmental sanction of Buddhist rituals. By including depictions of royal family members and their royal relatives, Joseon Buddhist paintings highlighted this approval. The Joseon ruling class outwardly feared that Buddhist rituals might undermine observance of Confucian proprieties and lead to a corruption of public morals, since monks and laymen, men and women, and people of all ranks mingled within the ritual spaces. The concern of the ruling class was also closely related to the nature of festivals, which involved deviation from the routines of daily life and violation of taboos. Since visual media such as paintings were considered to hold a special power, some members of the ruling class attempted to exploit this power, while others were apprehensive of the risks they entailed. According to Joseon wangjo sillok (The Annals of the Joseon Dynasty), the Joseon royal court burned Buddhist paintings and ordered the arrest of those who created them, while emphasizing their dangers. It further announced that so many citizens were gathering in Buddhist ritual spaces that the capital city was being left vacant. However, this record also paradoxically suggests that Buddhist rituals were widely considered festivals that people should participate in. Buddhist rituals could not be easily suppressed since they performed important religious functions reflecting the phases of the human life cycle, and had no available Confucian replacements. Their festive nature, unifying communities, expanded significantly at the time. The nectar ritual paintings of the late Joseon period realistically delineated nectar rituals and depicted the troops of traveling actors and performers that began to emerge during the seventeenth century. Such Buddhist rituals for consoling souls who encountered an unfortunate death were held annually and evolved into festivals during which the Joseon people relieved their everyday fatigue and refreshed themselves. The process of adopting Buddhist rituals-regarded as "dangerous festivals" due to political suppression of Buddhism in the Confucian nation-as seasonal customs and communal feasts is well reflected in the changes made in Buddhist paintings.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.14 no.9
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• pp.93-101
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• 2014

My artwork, '1000 years', in the form of an animation film has been exhibited in the '2011 Haein Art project' of a special exhibition at the Haeinsa monastery compound. The '1000 years' represents the marvels of sacredness and Buddhist symbols using the surrealist expression of computer animation. This paper would argue how Buddhist idea can be explored by the surrealist expression of 3D computer animation. In the light of this, animation and surrealist expression will be reviewed by the epistemological approach and based on this, I would attempt to reveal how this computer animation film represents the meaning of Buddhist symbols which exist in the monastery compound. This research is processed by the case study related to my artwork as the form of art practice based research.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.540-552
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• 2020

The purpose of this study is to analyze forest healing from a Buddhist perspective and improve its effect, and the forest has a close relationship with Buddhism than any religion. the Buddha's life is connected to forest and tree, which is caused by the spiritual nature and role of forest. Healing deals with the problem of suffering of the mind, and in Buddhism, it is solved through practice. By understanding the phenomenon of delusions such as thoughts, greed, and bad feelings about sensory control, vhfptmxmhelps to escape from the desire to pursue unnecessary stimuli or external objects, Human beings can get comfort and pleasure through the five senses in the beautiful natural scenery, and find the stability of the mind. This is because when entering the forest, good environments that prevent the 6th consciousness from growing delusions way the operation of the five senses are contained in the forest, This study is a preliminary study that analyzed the effects based on the natural environmental healing factor and Buddhist theory of forests based on previous studies, As a result of examining whether Buddhism can maximize the healing effect of forest healing, it was confirmed that it can contribute to activation along with existing forest healing techniques, The verification of the effectiveness will be left as a follow-up research project through future experimental research, and this study is expected to contribute to the activation of forest healing effect.

• Journal of architectural history
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.31-42
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• 2019

The harsh economic conditions of Buddhist temples in late Joseon dynasty, and the prevalence of the Buddhānusmrti(念佛) practice, which is a practice of reciting Amita Buddha(阿彌陀佛), led Buddhist temples to organize the Buddhānusmrti association(念佛契) in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. For the practices and the activities of organization, an architectural facility was required; thereby, many temples had a Yeombul-dang(念佛堂). However, only a few of the Yeombul-dang have survived and are known today. This research investigates the ways temples tried to acquire Yeombul-dang buildings during the period and their architecture characteristics by reviewing historical records and documentary works of literature. In this research, Yeombul-dang is found to have various types of building names and building forms. Different hall names such as Amitābha Hall(佛殿), Yosa(寮舍) and Daebang(大房) were used as Yeonbul-dang. The commonalities and differences in terms of building forms, spatial elements composition and layouts were found depending on how they were acquired. The Yeombul-dang were most commonly built as multi-complex buildings consisting of worshiping rooms and residential areas. Most of Yeombul-dang were located in the central areas of the temple site. On this basis, this research suggests the possibility that many Yeombul-dang is still being used under different names and for different purposes.

• SUVANNABHUMI
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.67-80
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• 2013

A widely shared view identifies civil society with the set of nonprofit or nongovernmental organizations. This tradition reflects a long history of social theory viewed in institutional terms. Myanmar society has developed, mainly based on Buddhist culture and tradition. Buddhist practice necessitates public validation within an economy of merit in which moral action earns future rewards. Myanmar private voluntary associations have, since ancient times, played a vital role in achieving social purposes. Buddhist monasteries were the main education institutions in Myanmar. Until today, monastic schools, or monastic education centers as they are often called, have been the most important civil-society institutions bridging the accessibility gap in the state-run education system in government-controlled areas. Apart from social or community based that serve for public health in Myanmar there has been a number of religious organizations serving for the same. Moreover there appeared an association to very differently help those who need much urgent help. Since military coup in 1962, however, successive regimes have sought to stamp out civil society and permit only state-controlled organizations. Civil society re-emerged during the nation-wide pro-democracy demonstrations in 1988. After 1988 civil societies are allowed as like a political party to form. Now a day some civil societies have worked to start small-scale projects addressing local problems, but they must stay clear of politics.