{"id":271,"date":"2019-10-31T13:50:28","date_gmt":"2019-10-31T13:50:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/?p=271"},"modified":"2021-07-18T11:52:53","modified_gmt":"2021-07-18T11:52:53","slug":"buddhism-and-social-darwinism-the-changing-functions-of-korean-buddhism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/2019\/10\/buddhism-and-social-darwinism-the-changing-functions-of-korean-buddhism\/","title":{"rendered":"Buddhism and Social Darwinism: The Changing Functions of Korean Buddhism"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Liang Qichao\u2019s (1873-1929) writings were first introduced into Korea in the late 1890s, his Social Darwinist understanding of evolution took hold of the Korean intellectual consciousness.[1]<\/a> Liang believed in a world defined by competition, and suggested several ideas to emerge victorious, such as \u2018self-strengthening through (modern) education\u2019 and \u2018the encouragement of a collectivist, self-sacrificing and adventurous spirit\u2019.[2]<\/a> We see evidence of Liang\u2019s influence across Korean Buddhist thinkers during the turn of the century like Han Yong-un (1879-1944), Kwon Sangno (1879-1965) and Yongsong Jinjong (1864-1940). I will examine how they engaged with the evolutionary and scientific ideas of their time, highlighting similarities not just within their ideas but also with prominent Western theories at the time, concluding that evolutionary theory was ultimately inescapable as an influencing factor, and on a broader scale, ask what this meant for the existential role Korean Buddhism was to play.<\/p>\n

Han Yong-un wrote extensively on the \u2018modern\u2019 aspects of Buddhism, citing its altruism and the idea of a Buddha-nature present in all beings as indicators of equality – and hence, modernity – inherent in Buddhist ideas.[3]<\/a> Han also drew Social Darwinist ideas from the translated works of Liang, emphasizing ideas such as degradation, strength, and competition in his works.<\/p>\n

On the topic of the education of monks, Han writes: \u2018The absence of education mean[t] degradation to the level of barbarians or animals\u2019.[4]<\/a> This conveyed a fear particularly popular in the West during the late 19th century when theories of degeneration took off. Cesare Lombroso and other public intellectuals proposed the notion that as there was no moral rationale to evolution, there is no guarantee that progress will take place instead of regression.[5]<\/a><\/p>\n

The other great \u2018forebearer\u2019 of Korean Buddhism alongside Han was Kwon Sangno, who published a treatise titled \u2018Materials on the Evolution of Korean Buddhism,\u2019 in which he set out four key reforms to revitalize Korean Buddhism.[6]<\/a> Social Darwinist principles appeared not just in Kwon\u2019s title but also throughout the treatise. For instance, Kwon warned that \u2018if Buddhism does not conform with the civilization of the future we will definitely fail in revitalizing it, even if we were to bring back to life Martin Luther and Cromwell and put them to the task\u2019.[7]<\/a> This idea had obvious parallels to Liang Qichao\u2019s earlier work. Liang\u2019s writings discussed heroism extensively, including pieces on heroes such as Napoleon, Columbus, Bismarck, Washington and others on which the \u2018survival of nations in the evolutionary competition\u2019 depended.[8]<\/a> But unlike Liang, Kwon took pains to emphasize that heroism alone was not enough to revive Buddhism in the modern landscape.<\/p>\n

Han and Kwon evidently integrated ideas of Social Darwinism, but other Buddhist monks were less accommodating. Yongsong Jinjong was concerned with the longevity of Buddhism in a time when Christianity was rapidly on the rise. He believed that in order to rival Christianity, he must offer a Buddhist narrative on the \u2018arising\u2019 of the world and its inhabitants.[9]<\/a> His \u2018Mind-Only Theory\u2019 did just that, arguing that the mind was the origin of all dharmas including everything from the four elements to the ripening of fruit.[10]<\/a> Yongsong further critiqued scientific explanations of natural phenomena, disregarding evolutionary theory for his own version of the ten causes for human life, including such causes as \u2018thought arising\u2019, \u2018essence of the true mind\u2019 and \u2018non-enlightenment\u2019.[11]<\/a><\/p>\n

Yet, Yongsong\u2019s ideas are more similar to Han and Kwon than immediately apparent. Kwon placed a similar priority on the mind as Yongsong does, emphasizing as his first rule of reform for Korean Buddhism that monks must \u2018reform their minds before the material realities\u2019 such that all monks would be \u2018unified in mind\u2019.[12]<\/a> In this way, Kwon almost appeared as a middle way between Yongsong who disregarded science and leaned on the primacy of the mind instead and Han who fully endorsed evolutionary theory as the primary cause of the environment surrounding us.<\/p>\n

However, we must not discount evolutionary theory from Yongsong\u2019s ideas completely. Huh argued that Yongsong refused to provide more detailed answers regarding his theory of how the world came to be because \u2018he just assume[d] that the evolution of the corrupted world \u201cnaturally\u201d proceeded. By perceiving the corrupted situation of the world as a \u201cnatural\u201d phenomenon, Yongsong avoid[ed] the necessity of answering those questions\u2019.[13]<\/a> Much like his Social Darwinist counterparts, Yongsong assumed that the world proceeded along its natural stages to become what it is now. Also, similar to the proponents of the degeneration theory of the time, Yongsong does not preclude the rising of a corrupted world from natural phenomena, because as Lombroso argued, there was no moral rationale behind evolution.<\/p>\n

Traditionally, Buddhism has been regarded more as a way of life rather than a religion. However, by the end of the 19th century, Buddhists were beginning to turn to Buddhism for answers to questions beyond the \u2018how,\u2019 as they delved deeper into the \u2018why\u2019. Korean Buddhists wrestled with questions on what it means to be human by engaging with theories of evolution or of the mind, either looking to integrate science into their worldview or by forming a theory distinctive due to its opposition to science. And in a climate where Buddhism seemed to have fallen out of favour in comparison to Christianity, Buddhists attempted to modernize their own religion by incorporating science. Ultimately, evolutionary theory permeated the ideas of major Korean Buddhist figures during this time, and even those who attempted to disregard it had themes of evolutionary theory in their writings.<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Han Yongun, Selected Writings of Han Yongun: From Social Darwinism to Socialism with a Buddhist Face<\/em>, trans. Vladimir Tikhonov and Owen Miller (Folkestone, 2008), p. 1.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Ibid, 2.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Ibid, 7.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Ibid, 58.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> R.B. Kershner, \u2018Degeneration: The Explanatory Nightmare\u2019, The Georgia Review <\/em>40 (1986), pp. 431.<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> Kim Hwansoo Ilmee, Empire of the Dharma: Korean and Japanese Buddhism, 1877-1912 <\/em>(London, 2012), p. 301.<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> Ibid, 304-5.<\/p>\n

[8]<\/a> Han, Selected Writings,<\/em> p. 6.<\/p>\n

[9]<\/a> Huh Woosung, \u2018Individual Salvation and Compassionate Action\u2019 in Jin Y. Park (ed.), Makers of Modern Korean Buddhism (Albany, 2010), p. 29.<\/p>\n

[10]<\/a> Ibid, 31.<\/p>\n

[11]<\/a> Ibid, 30.<\/p>\n

[12]<\/a> Kim Hwansoo, Empire<\/em>, p. 303.<\/p>\n

[13]<\/a> Huh, \u2018Individual Salvation\u2019, p. 32.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Liang Qichao\u2019s (1873-1929) writings were first introduced into Korea in the late 1890s, his Social Darwinist understanding of evolution took hold of the Korean intellectual consciousness.[1] Liang believed in a world defined by competition, and suggested several ideas to emerge victorious, such as \u2018self-strengthening through (modern) education\u2019 and \u2018the encouragement of a collectivist, self-sacrificing … Continue reading “Buddhism and Social Darwinism: The Changing Functions of Korean Buddhism”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[11,27,29,26,28],"class_list":["post-271","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-buddhism","tag-han-yongun","tag-kwon-sangno","tag-social-darwinism","tag-yongsong-jinjong"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=271"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":752,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271\/revisions\/752"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}