Abstract
The restrictive measures against Buddhism under the Neo-Confucian Chosŏn dynasty resulted in the decline of Korean Buddhism at the start of the twentieth century. As the Chosŏn government started to make sweeping changes in the name of modernization, Korean Buddhist monks found an opportunity to revitalize their tradition through measures of reform. This paper examines one instance of attempts to bring Korean Buddhism back to the center of the country in the early twentieth century. The establishment of the Buddhist Central Propagation Space in 1920, examined thoroughly for the first time in this study, shows a meaningful yet ultimately unsuccessful attempt at modernizing Korean Buddhism in the dynamics of the colonial Buddhism. Moving beyond the nationalist critique of its founder Yi Hoegwang, who has been heavily criticized for his pro-colonialist undertakings in later historiography, I reconsider the significance of this propagation space in the history of Buddhist propagation and respatialization of Seoul during the early colonial period. My analysis of Three Gates in a Single Mind commissioned for this urban Buddhist temple in 1921 not only shows the diversity of modern Korean Buddhist paintings but also reveals a new role assigned to Buddhist icons in the changing context of Pure Land practice. I also discuss the seminal contribution of the court lady Ch’ŏn Ilch’ŏng to the founding of the propagation space, thereby restoring the voice of one important laywoman in the modernization of Korean Buddhism.
Highlights
As the Japanese newspaper Chūgai nippō 中外日報 reported on his preparations for the alliance in June 1920, Yi Hoegwang soon drew harsh condemnation for attempting to sell out Korean Buddhism
The Pulgyo Chejungwŏn 佛敎濟衆院, the first modern Buddhist medical clinic, was founded by Yi Hoegwang and his partner Chang Il 張一—who turned out to be a fraud—within the precinct of the Buddhist Central Propagation Space for the welfare of society, despite financial difficulties caused by embezzlement in 1922.54 The Buddhist clinic intended to provide medical care for general patients at actual cost
The propagation space is significant in the history of Buddhist propagation and respatialization of Seoul during the early colonial period, it has not received the attention it deserves, due to the pro-colonialist undertakings of its founder, who has been severely criticized in later historiography
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. The religious and architectural landscape of the capital underwent rapid, large-scale transformation as a result of Korea’s opening of her ports to foreign powers in 1876. Such changes only accelerated amidst the capital’s transformation first into the “Imperial City” (Hwangsŏng 皇城) of the Great Han Empire (Taehan Cheguk 大韓帝國) and into the colonial city Kyŏngsŏng 京城 during the Japanese occupation (Kim 2009; Yŏm 2016). Religions 2021, 12, 352 was embodied in their strenuous efforts to establish a Korean Buddhist temple, one that would govern all temples in Korea, in central Seoul. Indigenous new religions such lay public from Christianity, Japanese Buddhism, and indigenous new religions such as as
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