A Retreat in a South Korean Buddhist Monastery. Becoming a Lay Devotee Through Monastic Life
Florence Galmiche
European Journal of East Asian Studies 2010 DOI: 10.1163/156805810x517661 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Ethnography Case report Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Lay Buddhist participants in a one-week retreat at a Korean meditation monastery |
| Duration | One-week retreat |
| Topics | Buddhism |
| Citations | 6 |
| Key findings | Argues that the retreat's dual aims—initiating laypeople into monastic life and meditation while building a lay supporter group—blurred some boundaries between lay and monastic practice, yet ultimately both challenged and strengthened the distinction between renouncers and householders. |
Abstract
Abstract In South Korea, the distance between Buddhist monastics and lay devotees tends to reduce as monasteries and temples multiply in urban areas. Even the remote mountain monasteries have broadened their access to lay visitors. Nowadays monastic and lay Buddhists have more occasions to meet than before and the current intensification of their relationships brings important redefinitions of their respective identities. This paper explores how far this new spatial proximity signifies a rapprochement between monastic and lay Buddhists. Through an ethnographic approach and a participant observation methodology I focus on a one-week retreat for laity in a Buddhist monastery dedicated to meditation. This case study examines the ambiguous goal of this retreat programme that combined two aims: initiating lay practitioners to the monastic lifestyle and the practice of kanhwa son meditation; and establishing a group of lay supporters affiliated to the temple. This temporary monastic experience was directed towards an intense socialisation of the participants to the norms and values of an ascetic lifestyle, blurring some aspects of the border between lay and monastic practices of Buddhism. However, this paper suggests that this transitory rapprochement contributed to both challenge and strengthen the distinction between the renouncers (ch'ulga) and the householders (chaega).
Comparable studies
Other qualitative studies on buddhism, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| The varieties of contemplative experience: A mixed-methods study of meditation-related challenges in Western Buddhists Western Buddhist meditation practitioners and experts in Theravāda, Zen, and Tibetan... | 2017 | Qualitative study with mixed-methods | |
| A phenomenology of meditation-induced light experiences: traditional buddhist and neurobiological perspectives American Buddhist practitioners | 2014 | Qualitative study | |
| Common Core Thesis and Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis of Mysticism in Chinese Buddhist Monks and Nuns Chinese Pure Land and Chan Buddhist monks and nuns | 2011 | Mixed-methods study | n = 139 |
| Anger regulation in traumatized Cambodian refugees: the perspectives of Buddhist monks. Buddhist Cambodian monks in Massachusetts | 2011 | Qualitative study | n = 6 |
| The Lived Experiences of Experienced Vipassana Mahasi Meditators: an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis Experienced Vipassana Mahasi meditators | 2018 | Qualitative study |