Postby dmclean6354604 » October 19th, 2011 11:46 pm
Replying to the original question: Korean religion and philosophy have much in common with China and East Asian culture. Korea historically has drawn a lot from Chinese culture, and not surprisingly this is true of religion too.
Buddhism is an imported religion from India, via China, but took root in Korea many centuries ago, and has its fair share of ups and downs. The main surviving sect of Korean Buddhism to survive persecution in the 20th and 19th centuries is the Jogye Order, a descendant of old Seon Buddhism (related to Zen and Chan Buddhism). The Jogye Order is complemented by other related sects with a more lay-oriented focus.
Confucianism has had a tremendous impact on East Asian culture, and helps govern a lot of social customs:
* Respect for protocol
* Group consciousness (including hierarchy), including putting the family first
* Appreciation of study (including teachers) and cultivation of the arts
Confucianism and Buddhism have rarely overlapped historically, so the two often co-exist side by side and thus most Koreans were Confucian in terms of social ethics and manners, but Buddhist in terms of religion and after-life. With the rise of Neo-Confucianism during the Joseon Dynasty (which still has a big impact on Korea today), Buddhism lost out and gradually suffered persecution.
Finally with European contacts, Christianity came to Korea as well, and also competed with Buddhist and Neo-Confucian elements because of the greater overlap in terms of salvation, afterlife, etc. As Buddhism declined (described above), Christianity made inroads into Korean society.
Thus, Korea today tends to exist as a kind of balance of all three. Confucian culture pervades much of Korean life, but people are also usually either Buddhist or Christian (not both), while New-Age religions have also arisen and draw elements from the traditional religions. Both Buddhism and Christianity often get involved in political struggles in the newly-emerging post-colonial Korea, thus tensions do exist at the political level depending on whether the President is Buddhist or Christian. However, at day-to-day level, they co-exist just fine.
Hope that helps
How about their philosophy, is it like the western philosophy:?
