Women and Buddhist Philosophy: Engaging Zen Master Kim Iryŏp

Jin Y. Park

Published by University of Hawaii Press 2017

Women and Buddhist Philosophy

Engaging Zen Master Kim Iryŏp

Jin Y. Park

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780824858810

Overview
Contents

About this book

Why and how do women engage with Buddhism and philosophy? The present volume aims to answer these questions by examining the life and philosophy of a Korean Zen Buddhist nun, Kim Iryŏp (1896–1971). The daughter of a pastor, Iryŏp began questioning Christian doctrine as a teenager. In a few years, she became increasingly involved in women’s movements in Korea, speaking against society’s control of female sexuality and demanding sexual freedom and free divorce for women. While in her late twenties, an existential turn in her thinking led Iryŏp to Buddhism; she eventually joined a monastery and went on to become a leading figure in the female monastic community until her death.

After taking the tonsure, Iryŏp followed the advice of her teacher and stopped publishing for more than two decades. She returned to the world of letters in her sixties, using her strong, distinctive voice to address fundamental questions on the scope of identity, the meaning of being human, and the value of existence. In her writing, she frequently adopted an autobiographical style that combined her experiences with Buddhist teachings. Through a close analysis of Iryŏp’s story, Buddhist philosophy and practice in connection with East Asian new women’s movements, and continental philosophy, this volume offers a creative interpretation of Buddhism as both a philosophy and a religion actively engaged with lives as they are lived. It presents a fascinating narrative on how women connect with the world—whether through social issues such as gender inequality, a Buddhist worldview, or existential debates on human existence and provides readers with a new way of philosophizing that is transformative and deeply connected with everyday life.
Women and Buddhist Philosophy: Engaging Zen Master Kim Iryŏp will be of primary interest to scholars and students of Buddhism, Buddhist and comparative philosophy, and gender and Korean studies.

Author / Editor information

Park Jin Y. :

Jin Y. Park is professor of Buddhist and intercultural philosophy and chair of the Department of Philosophy at American University.Jin Y. Park is professor of Asian and comparative philosophy and religion and founding director of the Asian studies program at American University.

Reviews

Hwansoo Ilmee Kim, Duke University:
Jin Park’s work is groundbreaking in many respects. Several books discuss the lives of individual nuns and their Buddhist practices, but none so masterfully presents a Buddhist nun whose life, writing, practice, and thought resonate and interlock so closely with contemporary issues such as (post)colonialism, nationalism, feminism, and modernity. In addition, her book not only brings overdue attention to the significance of nuns’ voices in Buddhism in general and Korean Buddhism in particular, but also attempts to make a connection between a nun’s literary work and philosophy and, more broadly, to link and compare her distinctive Buddhist philosophy with Western philosophy.

Douglas Berger, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale:
This autobiographical and philosophical presentation of the life and thought of Kim Iryŏp offers rich overviews of women’s movements in twentieth-century Korea and Japan, a history of the development of Buddhism in Korea in the past several centuries, and a presentation of how Iryŏp’s thought enriches the conversations of experiential philosophy and philosophy of religion. It culminates with assessments of how Iryŏp’s early writing about women’s rights and status in Korean society connects with and is expanded through her later work on Buddhism as well as how her writings contribute to developing cross-cultural fields of philosophy and religion. The execution of the work, bringing together all of the themes noted above into a seamless whole, is extremely impressive.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Part One
Chapter One. Between Light and Darkness (1896–1920) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	19
Chapter Two. To See and Be Seen (1918–1927) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	34
Chapter Three. Sense and Nonsense of Revolt (1924–1927) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	66
Part Two
Chapter Four. I Who Have Lost Me (1927–1935) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	83
Chapter Five. Time for Reconciliation: Reflections of a Zen Buddhist Nun (1955–1960) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	108
Chapter Six. At the End of the Journey: In Between Happiness and Misfortune (1960–1971) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	147
Chapter Seven. A Life Lived: Women and Buddhist Philosophy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	175
Abbreviations Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	189
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	191
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	219
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	249
About the Author Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	263

Language: English
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 280
Keywords: Buddhist philosophy; feminism; identity; Kim Iryŏp; Korea; Korean Buddhism; modern Buddhism; narrative; New Women; no-self; suffering; Zen Buddhism

eBook

Published: February 28, 2017
ISBN: 9780824858810