Description
Kim examines the ways monks initiated and developed relationships with literati using their repertoire of cultural and religious resources. Monks adopted various roles, such as cultural companion, spiritual mentor, and ritual officiant, within and beyond the private realm of Confucian society and, in so doing, reaffirmed what it meant to be a monk and redefined what Buddhism could be at a time when monks' religious identities and activities were constantly being challenged. By avoiding the binary frame describing monks as either victims or beneficiaries of literati, Monks and Literati sheds new light on not only Korean Buddhism in the late Chos?n but also more generally East Asian Buddhism, where a similar monk-literati paradigm has often been applied.
About the Author
Seong Uk Kim is associate professor of Korean religion and culture in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures at Columbia University.
Book Information
ISBN 9780824897598
Author Seong Uk Kim
Format Hardback
Page Count 277
Imprint University of Hawai'i Press
Publisher University of Hawai'i Press