Short description:

This book provides a comprehensive exploration on the history and practices of native Buddhist movements in contemporary Korea. It begins with a historical emergence of Korean Buddhism, followed by the colonial transmission of Japanese Buddhism in East Asia.

Long description:

This book provides a comprehensive exploration on the history and practices of native Buddhist movements in contemporary Korea. It begins with a historical emergence of Korean Buddhism, followed by the colonial transmission of Japanese Buddhism in East Asia.

The study critically analyses the development of five distinct Buddhist sects and two alternative movements from the 1960s to the 2020s. Each group is explored through key categories: origins and founders, beliefs, sacred scriptures, myths, symbols, and treasures, socio-political impact, and internal conflicts or scandals. Focusing on ethnographic and cultural perspectives, the book examines how these groups—emerging during Korea’s post-war purification movement—define themselves: the Bomun order, the Jingak order, the Cheontae order, the Taego order, the Jogye order, International Moral Association (IMA), and Deasoon Jinrihoe. Despite Korea’s turbulent journey through dictatorship, industrialisation, and democratisation, these new religious movements have demonstrated remarkable social resilience and engagement.

This work will be an essential resource for scholars and students of Buddhist Studies, Korean Studies, Anthropology, Sociology, Cultural Studies, Religious Studies, and Political Science. It will also appeal to policymakers, religious practitioners, and general readers interested in Asian spirituality, cultural identity, and the interplay between tradition and modernity. By focusing on understudied contemporary sectarian movements, it addresses a significant gap in English-language scholarship and provides a framework for understanding how religious innovation operates within, and contributes to, the civic and political life of democratic Korea.

David W. Kim has provided us with a contextualised and comparative account of seven new religious movements that have developed their individual interpretations of East Asian Buddhism within the past century. It is an informative and fascinating read.

Eileen Barker OBE FBA, London School of Economics (LSE)

This volume is a well-researched and cogent response to the need for a scholarly inquiry into the diversity of contemporary Korean Buddhism. Kim convincingly shows how the principle of «universalist» and integrative Buddhism (Tongbulgyo) has not only been the historical orientation of Korean Buddhism but also how it provides a central hermeneutic key for understanding the multiple adaptive facets of contemporary Korean Buddhism, on the intellectual, cultural and societal levels.

Patrick Laude, Georgetown University

Table of Contents:

Part One: Politico-Historical Landscape of Buddhism in Modern East Asia 1. Transformation of Buddhism in Meiji Imperial Japan 2. Transcolonial Buddhism in the Chinese and Mongolian Territories 3. Japanese Buddhism in Joseon Korea Part Two: Native Buddhist Movements in Post-1960s’ Korea 4. Bomunjong: Bhikkhuni Buddhist Order 5. Jingakjong: Esoteric Buddhist Order 6. Cheontaejong: Pro-Chinese Buddhist Order 7. Taegojong: Pro-Marriage Buddhist Order 8. Jogyejong: Ganhwa Seon Buddhist Order Part Three: Alternative NRM Groups in Contemporary Korea 9. International Moral Association: A Chinese Buddhistic Yiguandao 10. Daesoonjinrio: A Korean Native Syncretic Group