(529) Fighting Monks

By Andrei Lankov

The 20th century was a difficult time for Korean Buddhism. Over the hundred years, Korea saw the rapid rise of Christianity while Buddhism was in retreat. This vulnerability of the traditional Korean religion has many explanations, most of which are essentially political.

From the 1890s the Japanese supported Buddhism in Korea. They were emulating the contemporary policies of the Western powers who enthusiastically supported the spread of Christianity in their colonies.

Some Korean Buddhists welcomed Japanese sponsorship; however, in the long run this uninvited patronage caused more harm than good.

Indeed, during the colonial period Christianity came to be seen as a religion of national resistance, while Buddhism was perceived ― the efforts of nationalist monks notwithstanding ― as a religion of collaborators.

Worse still, the liberation of the country resulted in a bitter dispute within the community. This dispute almost paralysed Buddhism for a number of decades.

The central question in the dispute was celibacy ― the ban on marital life for Buddhist monks. Traditionally, the Seon (Zen) Buddhist monks in Korea have been celibate while their Japanese counterparts were allowed to marry.

In practice, Korean monks also married sometimes, although it was a breach of the ecclesiastical law. In the early 1900s, Buddhist reformers campaigned against obligatory celibacy.

Their proposals found support among colonial administrators and Japanese Buddhist missionaries. In 1926, obligatory celibacy was abolished, although monks were free to remain celibate if they chose to do so.

But that was only the beginning of controversy. In the 1950s, the unmarried monks began to claim that they had maintained the authentic Korean tradition.

According to their logic, those monks who had chosen to marry had compromised themselves and lost the moral right to lead the community. The non-celibacy was presented as a debasing Japanese invention.

Actually, this was an oversimplification, since many earlier opponents of celibacy were Korean monks with impeccable nationalist credentials.

In 1955, the government joined the struggle. A new law demanded the ``purification'' of monasteries. All married monks were to resign from positions of authority within the temples. Of course, the married monks refused to abide by that, and a long confrontation followed.

The late 1950s and early 1960s were a time of constant litigation, when married and non-married monks were fighting over the right to control major monasteries. The disputes were largely presented as conflicts over titles, thus they could be argued and solved in the courts.

The celibates won most of the cases ― not least because they were increasingly seen as an embodiment of a ``truly Korean'' spirit. Finally, in 1961, the Supreme Court supported the celibates' claims unconditionally. According to its ruling, control over all the monasteries was to be transferred to the non-married monks.

Still, formal court victory was not enough, since it had to be enforced. The married monks and their families were not going to leave the monasteries, which essentially had become their family homes. Both sides frequently resorted to violence.

The non-married monks even hastily ordained young brutes who were to be used as a strike force during violent confrontations (and later did not know what to do with these unruly ``followers'').

This decade-long confrontation left a bitter legacy. Riots became a common feature of monastic life ― a problem that remains not fully addressed to this day.

Indeed, the power conflicts within the Buddhist hierarchy in Korea often turn violent, thus providing camera crews from across the world with some very exotic footage of monks battling riot police.

In 1962, the new Korean government tried to calm the situation down. Under its pressure, the celibate monks officially re-created the Jogye Order, which was the major Buddhist order in traditional Korea.

The married monks created an order of their own, known as Taego-jong. These two orders are still waging a cold war but, in general, the victory of the celibate monks is almost complete.

However, these violent disputes greatly damaged Korean Buddhism. It lost its appeal and popular support, and was unable and even unwilling to resist the rapid advent of Christian churches. Things changed only in the 1970s, when Korean Buddhism underwent a moderate revival.

Prof. Andrei Lankov was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, and now teaches at Kookmin University in Seoul. He can be reached at reached at anlankov@yahoo.com.

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