Religion in Korea

[1] Buddhism was introduced to Korea from China during the Three Kingdoms era in the fourth century, and the religion became an important part of the culture until the Joseon Dynasty when Confucianism was established as the state philosophy.

[3] While both Christianity and Buddhism would play important roles in the resistance to the Japanese occupation of Korea in the first half of the 20th century,[4] only about 4% of Koreans were members of a religious organization in 1940.

[8] During the Three Kingdoms of Korea, foreign religions were introduced and propagated by the public officials of the rulers, who were built on the foundation of traditional Korean beliefs.

He brought texts and statues (possibly of Maitreya, who was popular in Buddhism in Central Asia), and the Goguryeo royalty and their subjects quickly accepted his teachings.

Additionally, it was through Goguryeo that Confucianism, a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China, was introduced into Korea.

In 587 the monk P'ungguk arrived from Baekje to serve as a tutor to Emperor Yōmei's younger brother and later settled down as the first abbot of Japan's Shitennō-ji Temple.

[23] By the reign of the Japanese Empress Suiko (592–628), there were over one thousand monks and nuns living in Japan, a substantial percentage of whom were Korean.

[25] This supposed miracle allegedly occurred according to the Samguk sagi and convinced Silla's royal court to adopt Buddhism as its state religion.

A significant religious historical event of the Goryeo period is the production of the first woodblock edition of the Tripiṭaka called the Tripitaka Koreana.

Successive kings of the Goryeo dynasty exercised their supervisory powers or suppressed them not only over Buddhism and Confucianism but also over shamanism (巫俗).

The Joseon dynasty ran an observatory-forecasting service called Gwangsanggam (관상감; 觀象監), in which two members professionalized in myeonggwahak (명과학; 命課學) were to take charge of fortune-telling.

In the first half of the Joseon dynasty, Buddhist monk Hyujeong (휴정; 休靜) argued that the three religions of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism were in agreement with each other on fundamental levels, similar to the Three teachings.

Taoism, which has been handed down since the Goguryeo period, had Daecheong-gwan in Kaesong, and after the relocation of Hanseong, Sogyeok-jeon was established and Doryu was placed as a season, taking charge of Samcheong and Seong-jin.

As fortune-telling, secret divination, and Gam-rok spread to the civilian population, ideas such as hermitage, the last days, the rebellious revolution, and fate permeated the people deeply.

As the Joseon dynasty entered into the modern era whilst keeping the state in relative isolation, it soon faced the problem of the transmission of religions from the West.

Catholicism (천주교) or sometimes called seogyo (서교; 西敎) was introduced in the late 18th century as a part of Western thoughts and studies (서학; 西學; seo-hak).

As such, Catholicism was secretly spread by missionaries infiltrating the country despite the prohibition, and it led to multiple persecutions by the court during the 19th century.

For example, the Hwang Sa-Yeong White Book incident, which was caused by Catholics to seek freedom of religious belief, led to the worsening of Sinyu Persecution (신유박해) in 1801.

Within two years of Donghak's occurrence, it developed to the point of establishing a system of affiliations and missionaries (접주) in various places and strengthening the organization of the denomination.

[27] However, due to the regime's policy of stifling religion, North Korea's religious population has been greatly reduced, In a report submitted to the U.N. Human Rights Council in 2001, the North Korean regime recorded a total of 37,800 religious people, including 15,000 Chondoists, 10,000 Buddhists, 12,000 Protestants, and 800 Catholics.

Shamanism or Folk Religion (Korean: 무속신앙, 무속, or 민간신앙; Hanja: 巫敎, 巫俗, or 民間信仰; RR: musoksinang, music, or mingansinang) is the oldest religious tradition in Korea, dating back as far as Old Joseon.

[32] That said, Shamans may perform gut (a ritualistic dance and song as a prayer to gods or ancestors, or a purification ritual.

During the fifteenth century, King Taejong enacted an anti-Buddhist policy which included reducing the number of monasteries and temples.

[37] When Confucianism began to be the dominant philosophy in the sixteenth century, Buddhism became the religion of the uneducated and rural people.

Some of these observations include the veneration of elders, a strong commitment to education, and the rituals and rites dedicated to the dead.

Mudang performing a ritual placating the angry spirits of the dead