It has sometimes been suggested that Korea would have been able to modernize more quickly and avoid colonization if, like the Japanese did through Rangaku (the pursuit of Dutch knowledge), Koreans... Show moreIt has sometimes been suggested that Korea would have been able to modernize more quickly and avoid colonization if, like the Japanese did through Rangaku (the pursuit of Dutch knowledge), Koreans too had made use of the opportunity contacts with the Dutch East India Company afforded to learn about the West. In the seventeenth century a group of employees of the East India Company who had been shipwrecked off the coast of Cheju-do and thereafter lived in Korea for 13 to 15 years offered such an opportunity. Thanks to a brief passage in Pan’gye surok we know that Yu Hyŏngwŏn met some of these Dutchmen and had a serious conversation with them about the use of coins. Unfortunately, we do not have any detailed information about possible other topics of discussion. Nevertheless, this brief Korean encounter with the West prompts us to reflect on the question of what there would have been to learn from the West. If we examine the nature of Western culture as represented by the employees of the East India Company, there are good reasons to believe that the kind of “modernity” represented by the Company, which relied as much on military violence and massive enslavement as on commercial acumen, cannot be regarded as having been a desirable goal to strive for. This undercuts the assumption that is habitually made that modernity simply equals progress. Show less
This paper focuses upon a Korean print representing a chaplet of prayer beads made in 1857 at the request of an upper-class upāsikā (ch’ŏngshinnyŏ 清信女, a female lay devotee) It intends to add some... Show moreThis paper focuses upon a Korean print representing a chaplet of prayer beads made in 1857 at the request of an upper-class upāsikā (ch’ŏngshinnyŏ 清信女, a female lay devotee) It intends to add some perspective to Buddhist practices of the period and to demonstrate the role material objects might play in the interactions between clergy and lay believers. Prayer beads are particularly suited to this purpose as they are some of the most ubiquitous objects in Buddhist practice and are used daily by both monks and laymen. The temporal focus of this article has been intentionally limited to the nineteenth century as the call for greater nuance in studies of Chosŏn Buddhism characteristic of recent studies has also sensitized us to potential changes over time, making it problematic to generalize findings for the entire period. Show less
It is commonly assumed that shamanism was the original religion of the inhabitants of the Korean peninsula before Buddhism and Confucianism were introduced from China, where ecstatic religion,... Show moreIt is commonly assumed that shamanism was the original religion of the inhabitants of the Korean peninsula before Buddhism and Confucianism were introduced from China, where ecstatic religion, usually referred to as shamanism, also is supposed to have been a most ancient form of religion. It cannot be doubted, however, that once Buddhism and Confucianism, with their treasury of scriptures, were accepted by the ruling elite the social position of the shamans, representatives of an oral tradition that relied on personal inspiration, gradually deteriorated and reliance on their services was reduced. This tendency became more pronounced when the rulers of Chosŏn and the elite accepted Confucianism as the dominant ideology. In spite of this, as mediators between the spirit world and the world of man who catered to the immediate needs of people, shamans continued to practice their rituals, and were particularly favoured by women of all classes and men of lower social status than the Confucian elite who tended to look down on the shamans. Consequently, the relationship between shamanism and Confucianism has been characterized as “co-existence within conflict.” Show less
An attempt to survey how Late Choson (1600-1900) vernacular poetry in the kasa form contributed to formulating particular identities, including that of the community of the nation.
Readingbetween the Lines of Hendrik Hamel’s Report--with a focus on the seven years in Gangjin --The stranding of Dutch sailors on the coast of JejuIsland in 1653 may be thought of as a dramatic... Show moreReadingbetween the Lines of Hendrik Hamel’s Report--with a focus on the seven years in Gangjin --The stranding of Dutch sailors on the coast of JejuIsland in 1653 may be thought of as a dramatic incident of little historicalimportance, as it did not lead to the establishment of lasting relationsbetween Korea and the Netherlands. But knowledge about Korea in Europe wasgreatly advanced thanks to the publication of Hendrik Hamel (1630-1692)’s reportabout his adventures with its account of the geographical and political conditionsand culture of Korea, which was soon translated into English, French andGerman. These translations remained constantly in print in the 18thand 19th centuries. Unfortunately, they contained quite a fewerrors, but it is important to note that the original report was highlyaccurate. A careful reading of the report of the Dutchmen’s thirteen-yearexperiences in Korea is also of interest from a current point of view, now thatKorea is developing into a multicultural nation. It suggests that at the timethe concept of race, which became popular in Europe only in the eighteenthcentury, played no role, not on the Korean side and not on the Dutch side, andthat the presence of the Dutchmen may have led to an early, though necessarilylimited, form of a multicultural society. Show less
Although Pure Land Buddhism had been known in Korea for more than a millennium, the repeated publication throughout the eighteenth century of woodblock editions of Yŏmbul pogwŏnmun (Exhortation to... Show moreAlthough Pure Land Buddhism had been known in Korea for more than a millennium, the repeated publication throughout the eighteenth century of woodblock editions of Yŏmbul pogwŏnmun (Exhortation to universally practice the invocation of the Buddha [Amitābha]) with text in both hanmun and the vernacular, presented a quantum leap in the dissemination of Pure Land teachings and of a Buddhist vision of life and the afterlife that in several ways challenged the Confucian Weltanschauung. Although the text endorsed Confucian social values, it effectively constituted a counter-discourse to Confucianism by denying the importance of this world and by emphasizing preparations for the afterlife on which it would depend whether after death one would proceed to one of the terrifying hells or to the World of Ultimate Bliss. This otherworldly orientation to the hereafter, with its contrast between hell and the paradise of Amitābha, may have facilitated the acceptance of Catholicism in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, particularly among women. Yŏmbul pogwŏnmun encouraged a literal belief in rebirth in the paradise of Amitābha, but the Sŏn masters who propagated the mindful invocation of Amitābha (yŏmbul) tended to have a more sophisticated concept of the practice, regarding it as a way to realize one’s buddha-nature in the here and now. Show less
