Customer Reviews

Assimilation of Buddhism in Korea: Religious Maturity and Innovation in the Silla Dynasty (Studies in Korean Religions and Culture Series, Vol 4)

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ASSIMILATION OF BUDDHISM IN KOREA is a good book for serious students of the history of Buddhism in East Asia. The strength of this book is its bibliographical depth and international representation. It is a series of separate essays, buttressed by numerous lists of ancient publications and mentor-student genealogies.

At the very least, this book puts Korea back in the pipeline from China to Korea to Japan. One article is written by a Japanese academician, and another concerns the unique character of Korean Son Buddhism.

The opening essay establishes an overview, the second highlights Wonhyo, the third identifies the Korean characteristics of Pure Land Buddhism, and the last introduces Son Buddhism. All are daunting, scholarly productions well translated from original Korean and Japanese sources. The biographical essay on Wonhyo is particularly welcome, and the last two essays are very readable.

The one theme which unites the four essays are a search for a unique Korean Buddhist character. Korean Buddhism's syncretic nature and balance of doctrine and practice are placed in historical perspective. However, this book is not for beginners of either Korean or Buddhist history.

The book is a little confusing, presented in an annals form of short biographies that are never brought together into a thesis. While this might help someone with a thesis, it does little for the average reader of Korean Buddhist history.