[KS] Re: Still Invaded Economically and Culturally

[Timsanglee at aol.com]

In the same vein as the posts that expressed discomfiture at simplifying 
Korean history as one of perpetual victimization, I feel wary that major 
religions of Korea--mainly, Buddhism, Confucianism, Christianity, and, 
perhaps, Taoism--are often portrayed as foreign and/or having been imposed 
upon Koreans.  For one thing, Buddhism and Confucianism (and perhaps Taoism) 
have been in Korea for two millennia, plenty of time for Koreans to 
indigenize them.  Moreover, as Robert E. Buswell, James H. Grayson, William 
de Bary, and JaHyun Kim Haboush have shown, Koreans were never simply on the 
receiving ends of religious interaction.  They vitally contributed to the 
development of these Asian traditions, just as Korean now make significant 
contributions to the development of Christianity (The Korean Evangelical 
church, for examples, is one of the most mission-minded churches in the 
world).  

Furthermore, whether it is Buddhism or Confucianism or Christianity, it is 
extremely problematic to say it invaded Korea--i.e., it came uninvited and 
imposed itself on Koreans.  Both Buddhism and Confucianism began making 
significant impact on Korean culture only after they were intentionally 
embraced by the rulers (and, perhaps, peoples) of KoguryO, Paekche, and 
Silla. And Christianity was not imposed on Korea (as was the case with Roman 
Catholicism in South America) but first introduced to Korea, not by foreign 
missionaries, but by Koreans themselves.  That this is the case with 
Catholicism is well known (in Korean, refer to works of Yu HongnOl; in 
English, Don Baker), and even in the case of Protestantism, works of 
Professors Min Kyoung-bae and Yi Mahn-yol and others have made that quite 
clear.  So what we have with respect to these religions in Korea is more a 
case of cultural borrowing than cultural invasion.

On another note, suppose Korea was invaded by Confucianism, Buddhism, 
Christianity, etc.  Then, could we not say something similar about England or 
Iran?  Christianity was never originally of England; nor Islam of Iran.  But 
nobody talks about Christianity invading England; or Islam Iran.  To say that 
a religion or any other cultural entity (like martial arts) is foreign--or 
worse, imperialistic--to a society, even if it has been thoroughly 
internalized by that society, simply because its originated elsewhere, is to 
commit a fallacy of origin.

Timothy S. Lee
Torrance, CA


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