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South Korea Religion
South
Korea has a variety of religions, that are practiced by more then half
the population. In South Korea the most common religions are Buddhism,
Protestant, Christianity, and Shamanism. Statistically speaking 42.2 percent,
or 17 million Koreans confessed to belonging to an organized religious
group. There are 8 million Buddhists, 6.5 million Protestants, 1.9 million
Christians and 500,000 Shamanists.
Each religion
is unique and has its own teachings and practices. Also most of all the
main religions had to be brought in the country. From the main religions
300 new religions and branches off of the main religions have been formed.
Religion has an extremely important role in South Korea’s society. These
roles start from the country’s early development, to its current thoughts,
behavior, physical appearances, education and followers of the beliefs.
Today in South Korea, it can easily be seen that religion has developed
a complex and important role in society. This can be seen by the religious
temples, statues, and symbols located among the region. Many people in
South Korea are religious. It is a very big part of their individual culture.
Religious practices and ceremonies are performed regularly and take up
a major part of ones time. In almost every village, changsungs are setup.
These are worship stations. This plays a big role because they are everywhere.
It is not as though you can miss seeing these changsungs. Religion also
fights for human rights and provides social services. It even has schools.
Life in South Korea would not be the same if religion were not there. That
is how important of a role religion plays in South Koreas culture.
Shamanism
Also
in South Korea, Shamanism, is one of the oldest religions to the country,
it had always been practiced however did not surface until the 1970’s.
However the certainty of the practice of Shamanism was not know until the
1980’s.
Shamanism
is the worshiping of the spirit or nature. It is based on the belief that
human beings are not only the possessors of spirits that they also readies
in the natural force and animate or in animate objects. In Shamanism, the
followers worship thousands of spirits and demons that dwell in every day
objects in the nature world (similar to mythology.) It is also strongly
believed that one is expected to solve and conflicts or tension that exists
in the living or in the dead. This belief is called "soul of the dead."
Shamanism
is mainly practiced by the modern generations, which make up 1 percent
of the population in South Korea. Performing in colorful and artist ceremonies,
intricate dances, and songs today practices shamanism.
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Protestant
A protestant is one that whose faith and practice are founded on the principles
of the reformation, especially in the acceptance of the sole source of
revelation, in justification by faith alone, and in universal priesthood
of all believers.
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Christianity
In
South Korea, 5 percent of the population practice the religion of Christianity.
Christianity was not known of in South Korea until the 17th century. At
first religious documents were brought back from China, into Korea. By
the 18th century, many Korean families began to convert to the Christian
religion or wanted to convert, however there were still no persists the
follow through with those who were believers. In 1785, a Jesuit by the
name of Father Peter Grammont, came to South Korea and secretly began to
baptize and ordained clergies. Because of Father Peter Grammont, the number
of Koreans who wished to convert to Christian continued to increase. In
the year of 1863, there were 12 Korean priests who continued to help the
religion of Christianity by converting about 23,000 believers. Because
of the large number of converted Koreans the government prohibited the
practice. Some of the Christians were executed, however the government
had not issued an anti-Christian law. By the late 1860’s, there were still
17,500 Christians in the country. Because of this a more rigorous execution
took place and thousands of Christians died. This execution took place
until 1884.
Once
again missionaries entered the country in the 1800’s and converted a large
number of Koreans to the Christian religion. By the 19th century, the Christian
religion was excepted and practiced by about 300,000 people in South Korea
and many schools, universities and churches were set up in the process
of the growth of the religion. Today in South Korea, Christianity is still
practiced and has helped develop the country by the struggle that Christians
went through to practice their beliefs freely.
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Buddhism
In South Korea today 20 percent of the population practices the religion
of Buddhism. Buddhism originates from India over 2,600years ago. Buddhism
was introduced to South Korea by travelers in the fourth century AD in
Korea today there are 10,000 temples and 20,000 monks scattered about the
country. Most of the temples are over 50 years old.
The
religion of Buddhism is extremely disciplined and stresses human salvation
for all worldly desires. It is highly believed that is one can give up
all material items and be happy at the state of for filling life then once
life has ended you can be reborn in an endless cycle. This cycle is called
reincarnation. It is believed that you can come back as anything animal,
plant, and human. However, during that lifetime you must practice the religion
faithfully and posses good karma. If one possesses bad karma then you will
be reborn as an animal of low rank, however good karma will get you the
highest rank of human. To get out of the cycle, one must be enlightened
into Nirvana.
In Buddhism,
there is a celebration known as theyondunghoe. It is the biggest celebration
and ceremony of the Buddhist religion. This occurs on the fifteenth day
of the first lunar month. It is a time when lanterns are lit and incense
are offered to the Buddha. It is a time when the Buddhists ask the Buddha
for advice. There are also parades that are held during this time. Another
celebration that takes place in Buddhism is circling the pagoda. It occurs
on the Buddha’s birthday in the fourth lunar month. During circling the
pagoda, monks wear beads and chant worship to the Buddha. It is a time
of preparation for a peaceful death.
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Confucianism
In
South Korea today, 3 percent of the population practice Confucianism. Confucianism
is a religion, with no god and is similar to the religion of Buddhism.
When literature entered South Korea at the beginning of the Christian era,
it was not completely excepted by those in South Korea. Confucianism was
adopted in the late 10th century, and brought a great meaning to South
Korea and became extremely important. To South Korea is meant a system
of education, ceremony and civil administration. Once the religion was
adopted it was encouraged and taught all over the country, the values,
thoughts, customs and habits that were derived from the religion were planted
into the followers’ minds.
It is
said that because of Confucianism and its effects on South Korea, that
the religion helped modernize the country. However, although the religion
had a great impact, today in South Korea the religion and its followers
dwindle compared to other main religions such as Christianity and Buddhism.
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Rituals
Although there are many practices and believes that are unique to each
religion, there are two very important rituals (the most common rituals
that South Koreans perform.) These rituals deal with death and afterlife.
The first
ritual deals with preparing for death. Many people is South Korea prepare
for their death bycircling the pagoda. During this time, people pray and
worship to the Buddha. This is to prepare for a peaceful and calm death
and passing to the Buddhist paradise. The Buddhist paradise is the afterlife.
It is a heaven of some sort. Catholics believe that when someone dies,
they go to heaven unless they have been a bad person and committed a lot
of sins.
The second
ritual deals with the actual funeral of a person. A funeral expresses the
passage that separates a person from life. Sangrye or funeral rituals all
refer to the acts performed during a funeral. The rituals are considered
very important as Koreans view death as an extension of life rather than
an end. Korean ancestors saw death as a return to home.
Upon the confirmation
of the death of a person, the members who watched the passing begin wailing.
They then go up on the roof with clothes of the departed to perform rituals
of calling out the name of the dead person three times and shouting "pok",
meaning, "come back." This is called the kobok ritual. After the kobok
ritual, the bereaved family members bathe the body and put on mourning
clothes called so’ngbok which differ in accordance with the relationship
with the deceased. A ritual table is then set up to pat respect to the
soul of the death and a bier is prepared to be carried to the burial ground
the next day. Also a play is performed with the villagers to comfort the
bereaved family members.
On the following
day, the coffin is placed on the bier. After lowering the coffin into the
pit, pallbearers stamp on the grave to pack the earth before returning
home.
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Myths and Superstitions
Although
Koreans have many believes about death and afterlife, they also believe
in a myth that pertains to how the civilization was started. This myth
is called Tan-gun.
Tan-gun is
a myth about a bear and a tiger that wish to become human. The son of the
Heaven’s supreme deity, Prince Hwanung, tells the bear and tiger that if
they can stay in a dark cave for 100 days and only eat garlic and mugwort,
they would become human. The bear ended up surviving the ordeal however
the tiger did not. The bear turned into a beautiful women and married King
Hwanung and born the child Tan-gun. Tan-gun later established the Choson
kingdom in 2333 BC Tan-gun is said to be the starter of the Korean civilization.
There are also many superstitions that are believed by the Koreans. The
main ten that are strongly believed are (superstitions were gathered from
http://userpages.umbc.edu/~skim32/IFSM403/myths.html)
1. If you
play with fire, you will wet your bed.
2. If you
whistle at night then a snake will enter your house.
3. If you
wet your bed, you must ask your neighbors for salt.
4. If you
sleep right after you eat, you will turn into a cow.
5. If you
sit on a pillow, you will grow a tail.
6. If you
throw your baby tooth over the roof of your house, your adult tooth will
grow in straight.
7. If you
are lost and want to find your way back, spit in your hand and clap, and
the direction the spit goes is where you want to go.
8. If you
are a boy and you play with dolls, your maleness will fall off.
9. If you
are a girl and you hold your chopsticks too close to the tip, it will take
you a long time to get married.
The number
4 is unlucky, so there are no buildings with a 4th level. Instead the 4th
floor is marked with an "F" or the 4th floor is skipped all together.
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Bibliography
http://160.149.101.23/chap/courses/w-rel/korea.htm
http://athesim.about.com/religion/atheism/library/world/kz/bl_skoreareligion.htm
http://cwr.utoronto.ca/cultural
Hoffman, Diane M. Lanterns
on the River: Essays on Life & Culture in Contemporary South Korea.
New York: Lexington Books, 1999.
HTTP://iCWEB2.LOC.GOV/FRD/CS/KRTOC.HTML
HTTP://kOREA.INSIGHTS.CO.KR/ENGLISH/RELIGION
http://laika.ed.csuohio.edu/sum97/KIM/Religion.html
"LET THEM
HONOR THEIR DEAD."PROVIDENCE JOURNAL JUNE, 2001
"South Korea."
World Book Encyclopedia. 1996 edition
Helpful
Links
http://laika.ed.csuohio.edu.sum97/KIM/religion.htm
http://Icweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/krtoc.html
http://korea.insights.co.kr/english/religion