• (The) Research of the performance art and culture
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• no.36
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• pp.441-471
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• 2018

East Coast Gut, Korean shamanism ritual on its east coastal area, is a Gut held in fishing villages alongside Korean east coastal area from Goseong area in Gangwon-Do to Busan area. East Coast Gut is performed in a series mainly by a successor shaman, Korean shaman, who hasn't received any spiritual power from a God, and the implications of this thesis lie in that we look over the learning aspects of Seokchool Kim shaman group among other East Coast Gut successor shaman groups after dividing it into 2 categories, successor shaman and learner shaman and based upon this, we reveal the meaning of the learning aspects of East Coast Gut. For successor shamans, home means the field of education. Since they are little, they chased Gut events performing dance in a series to accumulate onsite experiences. However, in the families of successor shamans that have passed their shaman work down from generation to generation, their descendents didn't inherit shaman work any longer, which changed the way of succession and learning of shaman work. Since 1980's, Gut has been officially acknowledged as a kind of general art embracing songs, dance and music and designated as a cultural asset of the state and each city and province, and at art universities, it was adopted as a required course for its related major, which caused new learner shamans who majored in shamanism to emerge. These learner shamans are taking systematical succession lessons on the performance skills of East Coast Byeolshin Gut at universities, East Coast Byeolshin Gut preservation community, any places where Guts are held and etc.. As changes along time, the successor shamans accepted the learner shamans to pass shaman work down and changes appeared in the notion of towners who accept the performer groups of Gut and Gut itself. Unlike the past, as Gut has been acknowledged as the origin of Korean traditional arts and as the product of compresensive learning on songs, dance and music and it was designated as a national intangible cultural asset, shaman's social status and personal pride and dignity has become very high. As shaman has become positioned as the traditional artist getting both national and international recognition unlike its past image of getting despised, at the site of Gut event or even in the relation with towners, their status and the treatment they get became far different. Even towners, along with shift in shaman groups' generation, take position to acknowledge and accept the addition of new learning elements unlike the past. Even in every town, rather than just insisting on the type or the event purpose of traditional Gut, they think over on the type of festival and the main direction of a variety of Guts with which all of towners can mingle with each other. They are trying to find new meanings in the trend of changing Gut and the adaptation of new generation to this. In our reality of Gut events getting minimalized along with rapid change of times, East Coast Gut is still very actively performed in a series until now compared to Guts in other regions. This is because following the successor shamans who have struggled to preserve the East Coast Gut, the learner shamans are actively inflowing and the series performance groups preserve the origin of Gut and try hard to use Gut as art contents. Besides, the learner shamans systematically organize what they learned on shamanism from the successor shamans and get prepared and try to hand it down to descendents in the closest possible way to preserve its origin. In the future, East Coast Gut will be succeeded by the learner shamans from the last successor shamans to inherit its tradition and develop it to adapt to the times.

• 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)."