Countercurrents from the West: “blue-eyed” Zen masters, Vipassanā meditation, and Buddhist psychotherapy in contemporary Korea.

Between 1989 and 2009, South Korean Buddhism was reshaped by a wave of American and European Buddhist influences, including well-educated Western monastic residents featured in Korean media and translated bestsellers by authors like Thich Nhat Hanh and Jack Kornfield. This transnational exchange sparked a sudden growth of interest in vipassanā meditation as an alternative to traditional Kanhwa Sŏn practice and led to the emergence of Buddhist psychotherapy as an academic field. The influence changed how Koreans practice Buddhism, perceive their own history and identities, and provided a new rhetorical strategy to defend Buddhism against Korean evangelical Christianity by leveraging the perceived prestige of Buddhism in the West.

Study at a glance

Abstract

One surprising and yet relatively unknown aspect of contemporary Korean Buddhism is the significant influence of American and European Buddhism. Between 1989 and 2009, South Koreans witnessed well-educated “blue-eyed” monastic residents via the Korean media, and the emergence of new bestsellers by authors like Thich Nhat Hahn and Jack Kornfield, written initially for Western audiences but since translated into Korean. The new teachings from the West have inspired a sudden growth of interest in vipassanā meditation as an “alternative” to Kanhwa Sŏn practice, and the emergence of a new academic field: Buddhist psychotherapy. This new wave of transnational influence from the West has changed not only the way Koreans practice Buddhism but also how they perceive Buddhist history and their own identities. In addition, the perceived “prestige” of Buddhism in the West has provided a new rhetorical strategy to defend Buddhism against other religions, particularly Korean evangelical Christianity.