• Journal of Popular Narrative
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.349-383
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• 2019

This paper examined the meaning and task of romance research with a focus on Reading the Romance(1984) by Janice A. Radway. This book, which analyzes romance texts by examining the situation and meaning of reading romance by women readers integrating between cultural studies and literary studies, is one of the most popular studies on the romance genre. Radway scrutinized the practical significance of reading romance in a community of women readers. Through a study involving questionnaires and in-depth interviews, she found that for women, romance reading is a 'compensatory fiction' that brings happiness and emotional redemption through a sense of liberation achieved by escaping from patriarchal daily life. The romance that women prefer is composed of 4 stages and 13 divisions: 'Encounter → Attest → Recovery → Happy End'. It also maintains a formula that begins with an immature female character's identity crisis and ends with a blissful union that recognizes the intrinsic value of the main character, who has turned into a man who is considerate of the women. Therefore, romance plays the role of pursuit of the 'female utopian fantasy' and at the same time a reconciliation of women to patriarchy. Feminist critics of the day criticized this argument. However, reading romance is a 'feminine reading', and romance is literature about the functional relationship between women's lives and patriarchy. Yet the interpretation could differ depending on the different viewpoints and definitions of the women's utopian fantasy. In recent years, the conditions of female reader's lives, awareness and imagination have been changing rapidly. As a result, the female utopian fantasy has also changed significantly. Nevertheless, women's lives in the real patriarchal system are still contradictory, and their adventurous imagination is spreading in alternative spaces such as the subculture. In this regard, the question is about the definition of romance and the meanings of romance research are still important task.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Traditional Landscape Architecture
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.13-26
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• 2023

Landscapes and gardens have emerged as an important medium of practice in contemporary cities. Among them, this paper examines the city through the frame of gardens. This is because gardens are being reconceptualized as a medium of activity for urban residents and have become an important subject of action in urban regeneration and the creation of urban villages. From this perspective, this paper examines and proposes an "integrated garden city theory" as a landscape theory suitable for the contemporary era by focusing on the urban structure and the behavior of urban residents through the medium of gardens, as well as the process and results. This is both a process and a result of looking back at the evolution of landscape for over a century and rethinking the identity of landscape. We first examined garden city theory, noting that Ebenezer Howard and Frederick Law Olmsted's positions on the relationship between gardens and cities were not so different, and that "working and responsive landscapes" were fundamental to cities and the beginning of landscape theory. We also examine how their ideals have not been fully realized in cities over the past century, but the prototype of gardens based on traditional garden culture is now being formed in East Asian cities, and the evolution of landscape theory in response. The conclusion is that a new version of the garden concept should be reestablished as a living infrastructure in our cities, and a new garden city theory is needed to make it work. To this end, each chapter examines three arguments, as follows First, the values of gardens and East Asian garden cultures in contemporary cities are shaped by the themes of community and integrity. Second, Korean communality, represented by apartments, is expressed through gardening and requires the reconciliation of city and life and the role of landscape architecture as a specialized field to support it. Third, we examine and consider an integrated garden city theory as a theory of practice in which city-based, everyday life, and garden mediums, i.e., city, life, and garden, are organic, based on an oriental view of nature. As a result, it is confirmed that contemporary gardens and cities are looking for important elements and values that still need to be rediscovered in East Asian landscape and garden cultures. Although the proposal of an integrated garden city theory cannot guarantee the continuation of landscaping, it can be an opportunity for all fields related to cities, not just landscaping, to collaborate and consider garden cities. Through this, it is hoped that "the concept of garden and city suitable for metropolitan or dense cities, ways to spread and support garden culture based on community, evolution of landscape theory/design theory suitable for lifestyle and terrain conditions, search for sustainable/resilient garden city theory that can respond to climate change, and establishing a new role for landscape in the 21st century" will be seriously considered.

• Journal of the Daesoon Academy of Sciences
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• v.36
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• pp.227-266
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• 2020

The purpose of this paper is to review the representative Buddhist policies enforced during the reign of Gwanghaegun (光海君), the 15th king of the Joseon Dynasty, and the aspects of the Buddhist community affected by them. Through this, the influence and dynamism of Buddhism during the reign of Gwanghaegun will be revealed. Some of the findings will run contrary to what is popularly known about Joseon Buddhism and the policy of Sungyueokbul (崇儒抑佛), 'Revering Confucianism and Supressing Buddhism.' During the Joseon Dynasty, Neo-Confucianism was taken as an ideological background, and consequently, Buddhism was ostracized by the ruling class who advocated the exclusion of heretical views. This also characterized King Gwanghaegun's reign during the Mid-Joseon Dynasty. In reality though, the ruling class held mixed opinions about Buddhism, and this influenced the Buddhist community in the Gwanghaegun Period. The military might of Japan demonstrated during the Japanese Invasion of Korea in 1592, led the ruling class to recognize Buddhism, and as a result, the status of Buddhism rose to a certain extent. Based on its elevated status and the aftermath of the Japanese Invasion of Korea, the Buddhist community engaged in social welfare activities inspired by the notion of requiting favors, and the Buddhist community gained recognition for providing relief services. As a result, the number of monks increased, and the economic situation improved as land ownership was granted to temples and monks. This is the means by which the Japanese Invasion of Korea influenced the Buddhist policies of the Gwanghaegun Period and changed the religious topography of Buddhism. During the reign of King Gwanghaegun, the ruling class regarded Buddhism as heretical, but offered posthumous titles to monks who engaged in meritorious services during the Japanese invasions of 1592~1598. Favorable and/or preferential treatment was also granted to some Buddhist monks. In addition, monks began to perform labor projects that demanded organizational and physical strength, such as those which related to national defense and architecture. However, throughout the Gwanghaegun Period, the monks were paid a certain amount of compensation for their labor, and the monks' responsibility for labor increased. This can be understood as a partial reconciliation with Buddhism or an acceptance of Buddhism rather than the suppression of Buddhism often presented by historians. As for policies which affected Buddhism, the Buddhist community showed signs of cooperation with the ruling class, the creation and reconstruction of temples, and the production of Buddhist art. Through close ties with the ruling class, Buddhism during the Gwanghaegun Period saw the Buddhist community actively responded policies that impacted Buddhism, and this allowed their religious orders to be maintained. In this way, it was also confirmed that the monk, Buhyu Seonsu (浮休 善修) and his disciple Byeogam Gakseong (碧巖 覺性), took up leadership roles in their Buddhist community. The Buddhist-aimed policies of Gwanghaegun were implemented against the backdrop of the Buddhist community, wherein the ruling class held mixed opinions regarding Buddhism. As such, both improvements and set backs for Buddhism could be observed during that time period. The ruling class actively utilized the organizational power of Buddhism for national defense and civil engineering after the Japanese invasions of 1592~1598. Out of gratitude, they implemented appropriate compensation for the Buddhists involved. The Buddhist community also responded to policies that affected them through exchanges with the ruling class. They succeeded in securing funds and support to repair and produce Buddhist temples and artworks. A thoughtful inspection of the policies towards and responses to Buddhism during the Gwanghaegun Period, shows that Buddhism actually enjoyed considerable organizational power and influence. This flies in the face of the general description of Joseon Buddhism as "Sungyueokbul (revering Confucianism and supressing Buddhism)."

• Journal of the Daesoon Academy of Sciences
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• v.27
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• pp.79-132
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• 2016

The view of life and death in Daesoonjinrihoe includes all the gods of Heaven and Earth, and the human heart is taken as the foundational key. Practitioners can realize their value according to how much they have cultivated themselves. This is regarded as the mythical use of a singularly focused mind (full dedication of one's heart). In other words, it focuses on the potentiality of humans who are able to enter a transcendental area of divinity through their self-cultivation. This view of life and death in Daesoonjinrihoe was established by the religious mission known as "Samgye Gongsa (the Reordering of Three Realms of Heaven, Earth, and Humanity)." Samgye Gongsa indicated a new opening of the Three Realms of Heaven, Earth, and Humanity. This new opening is a return to the original principle of Heavenly operation and also a new order for the universe. Heaven and Earth have their own underlying principle by which they operate. This act was directly initiated and manifested from Dao. Daesoonjinrihoe diagnoses that the underlying principle by which Heaven operates was damaged by human misconduct, and as a result, the human observance of that principle fell out of common usage. Therefore, Daesoonjinrihoe gives priority to the reestablishment of Dao as it existed originally and tries to bring about reconciliation between Heaven and Earth and Humanity. In short, it resolves the grievances accrued since time immemorial by correcting the order of Sindo (Divine Law). Furthermore, it shows that the Dao of Sangsaeng (mutual beneficence) was created by reordering the arrangement of Heaven and Earth so that human beings and divine beings could reach a state of perfection through self-realization. Humans not only communicate with Heaven and Earth, but also communicate with divine beings. Divine beings are transcendent living beings capable of communicating with humans through their heart-minds. In Daesoon thought, human beings are not swayed by the power of divine beings, but instead are able to control divine beings through the transcendent power of their heart-minds. Given this view, the aim of Daesoonjinrihoe lies in participating in the harmony of Heaven and Earth through the cultivation of the human heart. Also, it sees that the human heart-mind can be united with the universal Dao, and thus it is able to be united with the deities of Heaven and Earth. In order to actualize this, one does not rely on exterior rituals or magic but has to focus instead on cultivating the moral ethics of the heart-mind to reach perfection. In other words, one can reach a transcendent level in one's heart-mind through the cultivation of a singularly focused mind and be free from the contradiction of life and death and other such torments. Life and death is an inevitable process for humans. So they do not have to be happy for life and sad for death. They can rather be free from the fear of death by fulfilling the energetic zenith of the human heart-mind via training themselves to transcend their physical bodies. No aging and no death is not a pursuit of radical longevity or immortality for the physical body, but rather a pursuit of the essence of life and the realization of eternity on a spiritual level. Daesoonjinrihoe pursues the state of being unified with Dao by developing "Jeong·Gi·Sin (精·氣·神 the internal energies of essence, pneuma, and spirit)" and trying to reach the transcendent state of non-aging and radical longevity by spurring the practice of self-realization and the discovery one's own innate nature. Through the practice of human ethics, they can access the creative functions of Heaven and Earth and become one with Heavenly Dao thereby achieving harmony between temporal existence and eternity. In this way, humans transcend the life and death of their physical bodies. When "Doins (trainees of Dao)" reach the true state of unification with Dao through singularly focused cultivation, they not only realize self perfection as human beings, but also enable themselves the means to do away with all disasters and forms of suffering. They thereby attain ultimate happiness in their lives.