• Journal of Korean Philosophical Society
• /
• v.142
• /
• pp.99-119
• /
• 2017

Buddhism tends to be accepted as an institutional religion. This is probably due to the historical background in which Buddhism has been accepted as a representative institutional religion along with Christianity since the mid-20th century. In particular, Buddhism is accepted as an institutional religion based on tradition. Buddhism is also accepted as philosophy. Even if the western philosophical background is embraced that defines philosophy as the pursuit of intellectual clarity and wisdom in life, Buddhism is deemed to be classified as a philosophy that allows for the possibility of philosophical criticism without unconditionally believing the truth that Gautama Buddha discovered. The possibility of Buddhism as philosophy like this is directly linked to the possibility of Buddhism for doing philosophy. Doing philosophy in Buddhism can be presented in three processes: keeping a distance from daily life, the observation and concentration based on the distance, and the formation of a new world-view. Doing philosophy is rooted in the same way as meditation in the lives of people tired from post-capitalist everyday life. Nonetheless, Buddhism clearly has the characteristics of religion, thus posing a challenge of establishing a new relationship between religion and philosophy. The tradition of a strict separation between the religion and philosophy in Christian civilization is still working as a factor that keeps Buddhism from being classified as philosophy. In cases where the pursuit of intellectual clarity and practical wisdom in life is incorporated into the purpose of philosophy, Buddhism can be categorized into having the distinctive function of religion "spiritual peace", and sharing the common function of philosophy and religion "enlightenment." In that sense, it can also be an important task to seek a new perspective on the relationship between religion and philosophy.

• Journal of the Daesoon Academy of Sciences
• /
• v.20
• /
• pp.67-94
• /
• 2009

Kang Jeung-san whose real name is Kang Il-soon was a Korean born thinker who thought himself as Shangti(上帝). It is told that he made a Great Tour(大巡) upon this world. His thought was affected by Asian traditional philosophy such as Confucianism, Buddhism and Daoism. He founded a religious body, called Jeung-san-Gyo which could be formed a syncretism of East Asian traditional thoughts. We have to survey Asian traditional thoughts in order to understand Kang Jeung-san's religious thinking. According to the Great Tour Scripture(大巡典經), he have read Confucian moral books, holy Sutra of Buddha and the books of Daoism. In the field of Confucianism, he stressed upon the Book of Changes (Zou-yi; 周易). And for Buddhism, he showed great concern on a monk, Jin-mook(震黙) who lived 15th century in Chosun Dynasty. Jeung-san Shangti followed Daoistic way when he performed religious ritual. In case of performance, he was compared as a great Shaman who wanted to save the world. And the most typical ritual was called public business of Heaven and Earth(天地公事). He showed a great scale while he was touring the world in space. The most important thing, however, is to overcome the localization which seems still prevailing doctrine of the Jeung-san thought. For this, the followers of Jeung-san-Gyo should study world philosophy and accept the modernity so as to broaden Jeung-san thought to the rest of the world.

• Korean Institute of Interior Design Journal
• /
• v.21 no.5
• /
• pp.363-371
• /
• 2012

Magoksa is famous for its location and history, compared to other traditional temples in Korea, as seen in remarks of Monk Doseon in the Shilla Dynasty: "This temple is where the three disasters can not penetrate." In contrast, the reality is that active researches are not conducted, especially on spatial studies. Magoksa has its unique spatial characteristics that can not be found in other temples of Korea, but the existing studies on Magoksa have focused on style or design aspects, and the research has placed importance in a survey form due to the lack of historical materials. The reason for approaching Zhuangzi's philosophy in studying Magoksa's space is because of the fact that it has affected Zen Buddhism and Pure Land Buddhism of Mahayana Buddhism, and that Magoksa was completed by Monk Bojo of Zen Buddhism. It is expected to deduce the meaningful results due to the reasonal aspects of mutual elements by studying Magoksa as a Buddhism temple through Zhuangzi's philosophy in that context. In pursuit and reinterpretation of the essence of Korean traditional architecture, it is important to consider morphological, stylized aspects, but a variety of methodologies might be also presented in understanding the philosophical aspects.

• Journal for History of Mathematics
• /
• v.15 no.2
• /
• pp.77-82
• /
• 2002

This paper is concerned with the mathematical concept displayed in Buddhism, which is reasonable enough to consider as a philosophy and encompasses the concept of infinity as scientific as that of mathematics. The purpose of this paper is to examine the changing process of the Buddhism concept of infinity on the basis of time sequence and to combine this with that of mathematics.

• Journal of the Daesoon Academy of Sciences
• /
• v.20
• /
• pp.193-222
• /
• 2009

There is no place in the scriptures of Daesoonjinrihoe(大巡眞理會) where Indian philosophy is directly discussed. The philosophies dealt with in Daesoon thought are mostly those of Christianity, Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism. Of course, the thoughts that are not widely known and those that are not considered to be worth comparing with the Daesoon thought must have been omitted. It seems that Indian philosophy and Daesoon thought have considerable similarity. First of all, the two philosophies are rooted in religion. True, there is no dearth of religious philosophies in the East, for instance, Confucianism and Taoism, and yet comparing Daesoon thought and Indian philosophy is significant because they both presuppose a theistic paradigm. At the core of the two perspectives, there is personal God, i.e., Isvara or Gucheon Sangje (九天上帝), upon whom human beings and the world absolutely depend as his creation. Unlike traditional Christian theology, the two philosophies are alike in being indifferent to proving the existence of the deity and focusing on his form and role. In this article, the author try to examine the meaning of the four tenets of Daesoonjinrihoe(Eumyanghapdeok 陰陽合德, Shininjohwa 神人調化, Haewonsangsaeng 解冤相生, Dotongjingyeong 道通眞境) from the perspective of Indian philosophy in general, Purusa-sukta of Rig-veda, theistic Upanisads, and Ramanuja's Visistadvaita(限定不二論) in particular. Before making up the main subject, the author inquires into the characteristics of Ultimate Reality in Daesoon thought and Indian philosophy.

• Journal of the Daesoon Academy of Sciences
• /
• v.19
• /
• pp.99-124
• /
• 2005

The Korean Buddhism during the unified Silla era, was dominated by Huayen doctrine, which was developed by Uisang(義相) (625-702) and his disciples. During 8th century, many Korean monks visited China to study Chan Buddhism(禪). After they came back to Silla, they started to criticize Huayen philosophy as a doctrinal Buddhism (Jiao教). Their criticism depended on Chinese Chan Buddhist teachings. Korean Chan monk Sunji(順之), a 9th century, was different from other Chan monks in Silla who were trained in China. His teachings are found in the volume20 of "Zutangji"(祖堂集). Although it is based on Chan thought, it has many doctrinal explanations and interpretations. The conventional studies could not clearify the basis of his philosophy. As my research revealed, his teachings were based on the Huayen doctrine of Chinese Huayen monk Li Tongxuan(李通玄) who lived in 7th 8th century. One of his doctorine is "San shen yuan jung kwan"(三聖円融観). It means the unify of three Holies(三聖) Vairocana Buddha(毘盧遮那仏), Manjusri Bodhisattva(文殊菩薩), and Samantabhadra Bodhisattva(普賢菩薩). Monk Junshi used this theory in his teachings. As mentioned above, "Sunji Hwasan's teachings" included by the "Zutangji"(祖堂集) volume 20 is important as what offers a new viewpoint when exploring the relationship between the Chan and jiao in Silla in the 9th century.

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

• Korean Institute of Interior Design Journal
• /
• v.17 no.5
• /
• pp.31-39
• /
• 2008

Each human era has its own unique architectural embodiment of religious philosophy at the time. Though, many modern religions have developed their own architectural expression based upon each own religious doctrine, one of the main native Korean religions, Won-Buddhism, has not developed its own proper architectural expression yet. So, the goal of this research is to find the probable architectural design methods for Won-Buddhism doctrines. 1) The history of Won-Buddhism architecture is comparatively analyzed to find the architectural trend of Won-Buddhism. 2) Modern religious architectural cases are analysed and compared between plastic expression and spatial expression types. 3) Won-Buddhism doctrines are analysed to find key characteristics to be used as architectural design concepts and method. Based upon analyses, the main characteristics of Won-Buddhism doctrine are synchronicity, circularity, and liminality, which are found to be similar to the trans-boundary characteristics of contemporary architecture. In the future, more study on these characteristics and how they are materialized, the probable design methodology for Won-Buddhism Doctrines can be proposed.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Costume
• /
• v.58 no.2
• /
• pp.93-106
• /
• 2008

Asia Folk Costumes are certainly different from the Western Costumes. This distinction is based upon the effect of environment, technology, and social structure, and especially, which was generated by religion, ideology, and philosophy. The ideas of fundamental ground of this eastern features are religions such as Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism. The religion of the East has determined the form of traditional costumes, affecting the costume up to now. This study aims at the investigation of the effect of religion on the formation of East Asia Traditional Costumes around Korea, China, and Japan and its figurative beauty. Study was carried out by chiefly referring to literatures. Eastern Aesthetics was formed by accepting aesthetic concepts, acquired from the idea of Three Religions. Especially, the ideas of non-duality(不二), emptiness(空), five aggregates(五蘊), mind control(心法), derived by Buddhism, and nature theory(自然論) and creationism(創造論) of Taoism, and abstinence theory(節制論) and decorum(禮法) and the principles of Yin and Yang(陰陽) of confucianism have had great effect on the aesthetics of costume. The figurative features of costume, affected by three religions are described by the factors; First, non structural feature, second, the beauty of abstinence and chastity of ample silhouette, third, the feature of natural color and achromatic color, fourth, the figurative feature of costume by the principles of Yin and Yang, and fifth, bright ornaments. The aesthetic values of the East Asia Costume are 'A Beauty of Vacancy', 'A Beauty of Concealment', 'A Beauty of Nature', and 'A Beauty of Symbolism'. As philosophy, culture, and ethnics itself, the religions of Asia have had effect on the overall culture, which is inclusive of social structure, as well as art and aesthetics, and have decided the style of costume.

• Journal of the Daesoon Academy of Sciences
• /
• v.20
• /
• pp.169-191
• /
• 2009

The Four Tenets of Daesoon thought are the Creative conjunction of the virtues of Eum and Yang, the Harmonious union of divine beings and human beings, the Resolution of grievances for the mutual beneficence of all life and the Realization of the Dao in the world. This article compares the concepts of the "Creative conjunction of the virtues of Eum and Yang", the "Harmonious union of divine beings and human beings" and the "Resolution of grievances for the mutual beneficence of all life" with "EumYangDaeDaeRon", "ShinMyonKiDeok", the Theory of Mutual Giving Life / Mutual Destruction (SangSaeng/SangGeukRon) of the Book of Changes and analyzes their common and different points. The conclusion is that Daesoon thought and the philosophy of the Book of Changes share common fundamental standpoints. However, the Daesoon thought defines the world of SeonCheon (the state before the Heaven and Earth have been created) as Mutual Giving Life (SangSaeng), and the world of HuCheon (the state after the Heaven and Earth have been created) as Mutual Destruction (SangGeuk). According to Daesoon thought the Mutual Destruction (SangGeuk) is seen as negative, while according to the philosophy of the Book of Changes the Theory of Mutual Giving Live/Mutual Destruction (SangSaeng/SangGeukRon) is viewed as a positive relationship of EumYangDaeDae. This is a point of difference between the Daesoon thought and the philosophy of the Book of Changes. According to EumYangDaeDae relationship theory the contradictory "other" is viewed not as an enemy, but as a necessary element that assures one's existence. When Buddhism and Christianity first came to existence, they did not belong to a main stream. Later, through continuous theorization and systematization they became generally accepted religions. The case of Confucianism was not much different. During Song dynasty in China Buddhism has contributed to the systematization and establishment of Neo-Confucianism; in the middle of 20th century the Confucian scholars of Hong Kong and Taiwan interpreted and defined Confucianism a new in the light of Western philosophy. Thus the "Modern Neo-Confucianism" came to existence. That's why the history of Confucianism is also called "the history of advancing and developing a concept". From this point of view the critical acceptance of some elements of Confucian, Buddhist, Taoist etc. traditions, as well as modern philosophy, by Daesoon, in order to achieve the systematization of Daesoon thought, is a very important process. As a part of this process, this essay explains the Daesoon thought from the point of view of the Book of Changes, which may be said to present the original East-Asian view of the world. Daesoon's emphasis of human dignity, the equality of sexes, the critics the hierarchical society etc. are rather "modern" and should be examined from the point of view of social science. Besides, leaving the boundaries of "modern philosophy", the concepts of "Harmonious union of divine beings and human beings", viewing the universe as one organism etc. should be approached from the point of view of Post-Modernism.