• SUVANNABHUMI
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.27-43
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• 2012

본 연구에서는 미얀마, 베트남, 일본에서 외부문명의 영향을 받은 것으로 여겨지는 정령숭배의 특징에 대하여 논하고자 한다. 우선, 각 국가의 전승을 비교해볼 때 정령숭배에 있어서 충격적인 상황 속에서 사망한 이들에 대한 신앙이 중요하다는 점을 지적하였다. 다음으로 정령의 형성에 있어서 정치적 역할이 개입되었다는 사실을 논하였다. 마지막으로 종교 혼합주의는 성(性, gender)과 관련되어 있음을 주장하였다.

• Journal of the Daesoon Academy of Sciences
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• v.19
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• pp.125-143
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• 2005

This study offers an analysis of how Protestant Christianity in South Korea incorporated many beliefs and practices of Korean traditional religions in order to make the new faith more appealing to the masses. The paper also examines the way in which specific Protestant doctrines and practices were modified or accentuated to suit the disposition of the Korean people. In agreement with Confucianism, for example, Protestant churches in general emphasized the values of diligence, self-cultivation, righteous living, and, most importantly, filial piety. By overtly and subtly permitting ancestral rites to be conducted by Christians, moreover, Protestant Christianity evaded successfully the potential alienation of the tradition-bound Koreans. From Buddhism, Protestant Christianity syncretized such elements as the daily dawn prayer and all-night prayer as well as the practices of baekilgido ("a hundred-day prayer") and chunilgido ("a thousand-day prayer"). Hundreds of prayer centers that exist deep in the mountains also manifest a Buddhist influence. Shamanistic influences are also evident in Korean Protestantism, replete with the latter's emphasis on this-worldly success (health, prosperity, long life, etc.), faith healing, and conceptualization of God as being merciful and generous. What all of this reveals is that Christian conversion in South Korea did not involve an exclusivistic change of religious affiliation, meaning that it did not require the repudiation of traditionally held beliefs. Instead, millions of South Koreans eagerly embraced Protestant Christianity precisely because the new faith was advanced as an extension or continuation of traditional religious practices.

• SUVANNABHUMI
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.149-180
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• 2023

This article explores religious responses to significant cultural and social change in a northern Vietnamese delta village from 1996 to 2008-the second decade after de-collectivization. Drawing upon extensive fieldwork in both the village and surrounding religious networks, the article teases out the meanings of the new religious movements for northern rural people in the new era of market economy; the symbols, language, and metaphoric resources people used in response to their uncertainty and mistrust of the new social landscape; and the unintended consequences of rapid societal development such as marginalization, tensions, and social disintegration. The article argues that as in milleniarism elsewhere, new religious movements in northern rural Vietnam embody unorthodox syncretism between world religious and local traditions, thus linking past, present, and future. However, when drawing upon a common reservoir of memories and experiences to cope with risks and challenges of the new market world, local people not only drew on the power and imperial metaphor of deities in their traditional religion and belief, but became more creative to recuperate meanings, standards, and symbols from revolutionary discourse to reorient themselves, and overcome alienation and marginalization.

• The Southeast Asian review
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.155-182
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• 2011

The purpose of this paper is to examine the process of Islamization in Java, focusing on religious discourse among Muslim intellectuals. How Islamic tradition and knowledge have been perceived and utilized and how they have interacted with those of non-Islamic origin will be discussed. For this, three Islam-related books written in different phases of Islamization are to be analyzed: Babad Tanah Jawi compiled by Mataram court in the 17th century, Serat Cabolek written by a court poet in the late 18th or early 19th century, and Fikih Anti-korupsi published by reformist and scriptural organization of Muhammadiyah in 2006. Babad portrays conversion to Islam as a process which does not demand a dramatic outward change in religious practice. Scriptural tradition of Islam and the dichotomy between what is Islamic and what is not were not mentioned in order to explain conversion. Spiritual and mystical enlightenment was emphasized heavily, and for this, the importance of non-Islamic traditions was fully acknowledged. Serat tells us that this period was characterized by the surge of scriptural and shariah-minded Islam, maintenance of non-Islamic traditions, clashes between scriptural Islam and old religious traditions, and Javanese efforts to harmonize these. In Fikih, non-Islamic tradition is replaced by scriptural Islam and disappears totally. Interpretations based on the Scriptures, however, do not monopolize it and are used together with mode of analysis from the West. It is too much to call this 'intellectual syncretism', in that Islamic Scriptures and Western knowledge do not mix but stand side by side. Three books under examination reveal that the process of Islamization in Java has not been uniform. It has been conditioned and shaped by local socio-cultural and historical circumstances, where active engagement and intellectual exercise of Javanese Muslims have played key roles. Even Islamization in the last few decades is not an exception. The surge of scripturalism and fundamentalism does not simply bring about a move to Arabization. Interacting with local intellectual and socio-cultural milieu, this has produced a sort of intellectual hybridity, which is unique to Muslim society of Java.

• Cross-Cultural Studies
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• v.25
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• pp.131-158
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• 2011

In the Sakha(Yakutia) Republic, culture and politics continue to be interwined. Shamanism recently has come out of hiding after Soviet repression, and into fashion. Images of the shaman are changing in villages, where traditional healers have maintained their practices in difficult conditions, and in cities, where a resurgence of spirit belief and healing has led to the revitalization of their nationalism. Shamans and folk healers manipulate their own images, and in turn are changed by the upheavals of politicized cultural revitalization. In this complex and interactive context, folklore about traditional shamans has become especially rich and accessible. I argue here that religion has become an idiom through which competing definitions of homeland and national pride are being shaped. Until September 2002, Yakutsk had never had a 'temple' devoted to the practice of traditional shamanic beliefs. Indeed the whole concept that a building 'Archie Jiete' could contain or represent the beliefs, values and rituals of the Sakha people was new, and highly controversial.

• Journal of the Daesoon Academy of Sciences
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• v.19
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• pp.165-192
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• 2005

The purpose of this paper is to make clear the relation of traditional religion with economic ethics and attitude in Japan. I selected Shimhak(心學) of Japanese traditional religions to analyze because it has been said that Shimhak was related to the modern ethics of merchants in Japan. The contents of this paper is composed of two parts. First, the religious character of Shimhak is discussed. I will analyze the relation of Shinto, Buddhism and Confucianism to Shimhak to certify the syncretism of Japanese religion. Second, the economic ethics of Shimhak is discussed. I will make clear the historical significance of Shimhak in modern Japan, and the relation of the economic ethics of Shimhak with the spirit of Japanese capitalism. This paper will be useful to make out the social influence of Japanese traditional religion, to estimate the sustaining mode of traditional value and ethics in Japan in the future.

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

• Journal of Daesoon Thought and the Religions of East Asia
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.41-59
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• 2022

Caodaism is a new religion from Vietnam which began in late 1925 and spread rapidly across the French colony of Indochina. With a broad syncretic aim, the new faith sought to revivify Vietnamese religious traditions whilst also incorporating religious, literary, and spiritist influences from France. Like Catholicism, Caodaism kept a strong focus on its monotheistic nature and today Caodaists are eager to label their religion a monotheism. It will be argued here, however, that the syncretic nature of this new faith complicates this claim to a significant degree. To make this argument, we will consider here the nature of God in Caodaism through two central texts from two important stages in the life of the religion. The first is the canonized Compilation of Divine Messages which collects a range of spirit messages from God and some other divine voices. These were received in the early years of the faith. The second is a collection of sermons from 1948/9 that takes Caodaist believers on a tour of heaven, and which is entitled The Divine Path to Eternal Life. It will be shown that in the first text, God speaks in the mode of a fully omnipotent and omniscient supreme being. In the second text, however, we are given a view of paradise that is much more akin to the court of a Jade Emperor within an East Asian milieu. In these realms, the personalities of other beings and redemptive mechanisms claim much of our attention, and seem to be a competing center of power to that of God. Furthermore, God's consort, the Divine Mother, takes on a range of sacred creative prerogatives that do something similar. Additionally, cadres of celestial administrators; buddhas, immortals, and saints help with the operation of a cosmos which spins on with guidance from its own laws. These laws form sacred mechanisms, such as cycles of reincarnation and judgement. These operate not in the purview of God, but as part of the very nature of the cosmos itself. In this context, the dualistic, polytheistic, and even automatic nature of Caodaism's cosmos will be considered in terms of the way in which they complicate this religion's monotheistic claims. To conclude, this article seeks to demonstrate the precise relevance of the term 'monotheism' for this religion.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.238-259
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• 2021

Gameunsa Temple is a Buddhist temple from the mid-Silla period. Construction began during the reign of King Munmu and was completed during the second year of King Sinmun's reign (682). This study is based on the results of excavations at the Gameunsa Temple site, exploring the findings presented in the literature in the field of history. This study also investigates the characteristics of the construction plan of Gameunsa Temple and its correlation with the political, social, and religious environment of the time. The results of the study are as follows: (1) First, it is confirmed that all of the buildings in the central block of Gameunsa Temple, such as the pagoda and corridor, the central gate, and the auditorium, fit within 216 cheoks by 216 cheoks (Goguryeo unit of measurement, estimated dimensions 353.30 mm), in terms of the base structure. This fact is highly significant considering the intent of the King in the mid-Silla period to advocate Confucian political ideals at the Donghaegu sites (Daewangam, Igyeondae Pavilion, and Gameunsa Temple), as confirmed by the relationship between the 'Manpasikjeok legend' and the Confucianism of the etiquette and the music; the relationship between the name of the 'Igyeondae Pavilion' and the 'I Ching'; and the relationship between the 'Taegeuk stones excavated from the Gameunsa Temple site' and the 'I Ching.' Additionally, it may be presumed that the number in the "Qian 216" on the Xici shang of 'I Ching' was used as a basis for determining the size of the central block in the early stages of the design of Gameunsa Temple. The layout of the halls and pagodas of Gameunsa Temple was planned to be within a 216-cheok-by-216-cheok area, from the edge to the center, i.e., on the central axis of the temple, in the following order: the central gate and auditorium, the north-south position of Geumdang Hall, the south corridor, the east-west buildings of the auditorium and the winged corridor, the east-west corridor, and the central position of the east-west stone pagoda. (2) Second, the coexistence of Confucianism and Buddhism in the architecture of Gameunsa Temple is based on the understanding of the Golden Light Sutra, originating from the aspirations of King Munmu to obtain the immeasurable merits (陰陽調和時不越序 日月星宿不失常度 風雨隨時無諸災横) and the light of the Buddha, which is metaphorically represented by the sun and the moon illuminating the whole world of Silla, a new nation with a Confucian political ideology, for a long time by "circumambulating the Buddha (旋繞)". It is also presumed that Gyeongheung, who was appointed by King Munmu to be the Guksa in his will and appointed as the Gukro after the enthronement of King Sinmun, was deeply involved in the conception and realization of the syncretism of Confucianism and Buddhism.