The State of Wŏn Buddhist Propagation in Southwest Asia:Religion or International NGO?

서지정보

· 발행기관 : 중앙승가대학교 불교학연구원
· 수록지 정보 : 불교와 사회(구 불교사상과 문화) / 15권 / 1호 / 146 ~ 178페이지
· 저자명 : 김성순

초록

This paper examines the state and problems of Wŏn Buddhist propagation in Southwest Asia. It examines relevant literature and references interviews conducted with Wŏn Buddhist associates. Wŏn Buddhist propagation in the three nations of Southwest Asia appears to be progressing passively under the auspices of international NGOs and encountering much difficulty due to local society, culture, and law. Wŏn Buddhism, along with other religious orders pursuing propagation, such as Protestantism, is bypassing legal restrictions in India and Nepal, primarily operating under the aegis of international NGOs and private corporations in order to mitigate cultural friction.
In the case of India, Wŏn Buddhist propagation is conducted mainly in the form of free education focusing on the poor rather than those in the upper castes. Delhi Temple, which is legally allowed to engage in propagation activities, is currently vacant due to unavoidable circumstances, but the free education center continues to operate. This demonstrates the potential for support activities at the NGO-level to continue, but also that there are many barriers inhibiting outright propagation. Since the caste system is strong within Indian society, clashing with the Wŏn Buddhist principle of human equality, this creates the awkward situation in which clergymen must be recruited from the upper social echelon. Moreover, there is also the problem of the lack of volunteers within the clergy, wherein younger clergymen display a decidedly less fervent passion for the calling toward mission work compared with older generations in the past. This situation is the same for Protestant missionary work.
In the case of Sri Lanka, Reverend Ch’oe Sŏyŏn has singlehandedly operated a “remote” propagation campaign, conveying Wŏn Buddhist teachings to migrant workers in Korea from Sri Lanka through varied support and a scholarship program. Reverend Ch’oe has adopted a patient position, emphasizing that Sri Lankans will need to absorb the teachings of Wŏn Buddhism before they are ready to establish a temple on their own. Meanwhile, unlike Wŏn Buddhism, Protestant missions typically accumulate local converts, educate them and endow them with a church, and then move on to another location. Nonetheless, all mission work is encumbered by the society, culture, and laws in Southwest Asia, and thus tends to opt for activities straddling the line between unofficial temples and official NGOs.

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