The Korean Buddhist Empire: A Transnational History (1910–1945) by Hwansoo Ilmee Kim (review)

Abstract

The dominant discourses on modern Korean Buddhism tend to rely on a dualistic paradigm that places nationalists on one side and collaborators on the other. In this understanding, Korean Buddhism is identified as pure Buddhism, which requires monastics to maintain celibacy and a vegetarian diet, whereas Japanese Buddhism is contaminated, since Japanese monastics may marry and eat meat. Problems of such a paradigm have been pointed out by scholars, especially in the Englishspeaking world. Hwansoo Ilmee Kim, the author of Korean Buddhist Empire: A Transnational History (1910–1945), is one of the major voices whose scholarship challenges the dualistic evaluation and gives attention to the complex reality of Korean Buddhism in modern times. Kim’s first book, Empire of the Dharma, covers the development of Korean Buddhism from 1877, when the first Japanese Buddhist temple opened in Korea, until 1912, the year after the Temple Ordinance was promulgated by the Japanese colonial government to control Korean Buddhism.1 In that book, Kim offers a nuanced discussion of the interactions between Korean and Japanese Buddhism and problematizes the claim that Korean Buddhism was a mere victim of Japanese Buddhism’s missionary invasion during this period. Kim’s second monograph further reveals the intricate relationship among East Asian Buddhisms during the time from 1910, when Japan annexed Korea, until 1945, the year of Korea’s liberation from colonial rule. The author’s tool for understanding Korean Buddhism in this book is transnationality. Applying the concept to Buddhism, Kim states that “transnational Buddhism . . . points to a larger Buddhist geography and consciousness in which East Asian Buddhists came together as representatives of their national Buddhisms to work toward common goals” (p. 6). Transnational Buddhism for the author “captures the kind of shared community that Buddhist leaders from different countries envisioned” and