Inauguration of Buddhist Studies

Inauguration of Bulgyo yongu (Buddhist Studies)

As we publish Bulgyo yongu (Buddhism Studies), we would like to convey what we intend to do with this new journal. You might say that I haven't been able to do anything like this because I haven't been in touch with you until now, but I feel like I'm slowly starting to do something that I really need to do.

In Korea, there are not many professional academic journals that conduct academic research on Buddhism and publish the results. <Buddhist Studies>, published once a year by the Institute of Buddhist Culture at Dongguk University, is the most important Buddhist academic journal, and the Korean Buddhist Society also has an academic journal that publishes small papers through academic presentations once a year. In addition, I only know that Wonkwang University has a magazine that publishes research papers on Buddhism, focusing on Won Buddhism, and that research papers on Buddhism have been published sporadically in academic research journals from each university.

However, what I have always found unfortunate is that the papers are generally very confusing and seem to be understandable only to a few experts, or they give the impression that they deal with very special problems, and are in fact difficult to access for readers other than experts. It was a fact that they were things.

There are not that many such experts in our country. In our situation, where there are no conditions to continue studies even after graduating from college or graduate school, even those who graduated from Dongguk University's College of Buddhism are not able to focus exclusively on studies. A big reason for this may be that our Buddhist community and our society do not know the precious value of Buddhist studies and do not promote or support its development, but there are also many things that practitioners of Buddhist studies themselves need to reflect on and correct.

Regardless of the original motivation of today's Buddhist studies, the result is that a lot of energy is wasted on unnecessary things and there is a strong feeling that it is not actually achieving much effect. I think we need to deeply reconsider why we do Buddhist studies or Buddhist studies. ‘What do I want to know now and what do I want to reveal? What is the net benefit of knowing this? Who benefits? 'What problems do we need to solve now for ourselves and our neighbors as Buddhist scholars or people who study Buddhism professionally?' I think that we scholars and those who want to become scholars should think carefully about this. People in universities will need to reflect on whether the trend in Buddhist research today is too focused on historical or philological aspects. Also, I think it would be desirable to find ourselves circling within the boundaries of interest that people in the past have expressed, and to boldly break out of them and explore them with our own awareness of the issues we live in today.

According to my little experience, I think that Korean Buddhist researchers today have many things to do at once. Literature research and historical research are also important. We need to nurture and support a large number of scholars who focus solely on studying problems in every small corner of the world. However, what is equally urgent is to instill a correct awareness of Buddhism among the large number of believers and the majority of people who are still non-believers, especially Christians, who are rapidly increasing these days. University professors, whose main mission is to engage in academics, cannot always respond to such requests, but our academics cannot remain in a state of ignoring such urgent tasks.

Now, in our Buddhist community, there are many people who specialize in missionary work, and among general social leaders, there are many people who have converted to Buddhism and have made a holy intention to work and live according to the Buddhist teachings. I have thought that the magazine <Buddhist Studies> for these people is absolutely necessary. I'm trying to make that dream come true now. In the meantime, I have experienced many difficulties in participating and volunteering in society while fulfilling my duties and responsibilities at university. Now, as I approach retirement age, I want to more intensively seek ways to channel my wisdom and abilities in the direction that is needed in this era and this country.

Nurturing excellent talent is the most urgent task for the great revival of Buddhism. Our young Buddhist students graduating from college have nowhere to go. I need to study more. So, I am going to graduate school. I hope that this magazine will serve as an important resource for cultivating their strengths. Of course, collection scholars who have already become full-time professors will also actively participate in this.

I believe that our academic community still has much to learn from achievements made abroad. I believe that this book should also serve as a window or bridge that allows us to independently consume the achievements of foreign academics while making our own choices.

This <Buddhist Studies> magazine intends to publish only manuscripts agreed upon by the editorial committee in accordance with strict editorial policies. In this way, we will overcome the misdirection of public opinion that uses the magical power of printing, which is popular in our society these days. Our ultimate goal is the realization of Fa righteousness in this society. Therefore, what we must first do is to publicize the law. While working, unintentional mistakes or incidents are bound to occur from time to time. I hope that wise readers will judge this carefully, edit it out, and point it out.

We believe that this book should not be published only once a year, and we plan to publish it at least twice. To be honest, our financial situation has limitations. So, from now on, I would like to open a way to subscribe to this book as a membership. You can just buy it individually, but if you become a member, you will become a comrade as a Bodhisattva doing the same thing.

We know Buddhism and live in the joy of becoming one according to the teachings of the Buddha's dharma body. However, there are still many people around us who cannot overcome pain, bitterness, loneliness, and bitterness. We cannot just sit still. I can't just keep my mouth shut. There can be no true peace for me unless the pain of others goes away. That is why the Buddha taught us in the Mahayana sutras to rethink yourself.

There are many opinions that Buddhism is not something to be studied, but something to be understood and practiced. This is an unmistakable opinion, but we know that if we do not know how to understand the burnout of this reality and how to change it in our lives, we will only pretend to be enlightened and will not be able to achieve true enlightenment and true life. Therefore, we plan to put special effort into developing Buddhist ideas that can contribute to the transformation of real society.

We look forward to your active participation and cooperation, comrades.

July 15, 1985

<Buddhism Studies> Editorial Committee Representative Lee Ki-young

 

First issue of Buddhist Studies (August 1, 1985) Table of Contents

Moon-Hwan Kim, “Schopenhauer’s Aesthetic Thought: Aesthetic Desirelessness and Nirvana.”

Robert Thurman, “What should we believe and how should we practice? The path of transcendence, the path of immanence.”

梶山雄一, “Returning, transfer and transformation of merit: In relation to emptiness.”

Aramaki Noritoshi, “The Indian Concept Dharma Has its Two Aspects: Old Degenerate Dharma and New Creative Dhamra.”

Lee Ki-young, “Study on Dharma I: Focusing on Hiraṇyagarbha and Tathāgatagarbha.”

玉城康四郞, “View of Buddha in the Avatamsaka Sutra.”

Edward Conze, “On Self, Rain, Joy, and Death.”