Buddhist Ideas and Rituals in Early India and Korea

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The ideology and institution of any religion cannot be separated from its historical context. Its forms and social functions are inherently tied to space and time in each society. To understand a religious tradition we have to explore the relationship of exchange between religion and society or the forms of cultural and social entity.

The study aims to search for the Buddhist tradition in ancient India and Korea. Starting with an examination of the behavior patterns socially acquired and transmitted, the study further explores the relationship between the Buddhist tradition and the socio-economic structures in the two countries.

This work is based mainly on literary sources ranging from early Buddhist texts like Nikayas and Dhammapada to tantric texts. Valuable information with regard to Buddhism in early Korean society and Indo-Korean contacts comes from the Samgukyusa in which the narrative is more and more transformed into myth and legend. The time span of this book is from the sixth century B.C. to about the fifth or sixth century A.D. in India and from the first century to around the ninth century A.D. in the Korean context.

The study would be found useful by those studying ancient India, ancient Korea, the transformation of Buddhism, Buddhist mechanism for worldly matters, and cultural contacts between India and Korea in the early times.

Kwangsu Lee is Associate Professor of Indian History, Department of South Asian Studies, Pusan University of Foreign Studies, Pusan, Korea. He obtained degrees of M.A. and Ph.D. in History from the University of Delhi. Besides history, his fields of research include Anthropology, Folklore, and contemporary South Asia.

THE PRESENT WORK is based substantially on my Ph.D. work submitted to the University of Delhi in 1992. A number of studies have appeared on the history of Buddhism in early India and Korea. However, they have taken mainly the normative ideology of Buddhism for manifestations of socio-economic entity. Our study, therefore, deals with the historical progress of Buddhism in the socio-economic dimension which, we believe, is the most decisive factor forming religious tradition.

I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Professor K.M. Shrimali, my supervisor, who never tired of rendering sincere guidance at each step. Even hospitalization could not stop him from reading through my numerous drafts and showing valuable new dimensions and directions. I was also introduced to some aspects of cultural contacts in the ancient world by the late Professor Devahuti. I would like to thank Professor J.P. Sharma at the University of Hawaii who has read the complete manuscript with care and made valuable suggestions. To Professors R.S. Sharma, D.N. Jha, and P.S. Dwivedi, my teachers at the University of Delhi, I express deep gratitude.

I am obliged to the Indian Council for Historical Research which granted me a scholarship for several years. All the librarians and staff of libraries of University of Delhi, Archaeological Survey of India, Indian Council for Historical Research, National Museum and Jawaharlal Nehru University deserve my sincere thanks.

My greatest thanks should go to my parents, Mr. Jong-suk Lee and Mrs. Myung-suk Kim, and all my brothers and sisters who have supported me in every endeavor of my long-time study outside the home. Malay Neerab in St. Stephen's College, University of Delhi, who is in School of Oriental and. African Studies, University of London, and all the classmates of M.A. in University of Delhi have helped and encouraged me. Most of all, my wife Jaehee, has stayed home alone letting me devote my full attention to this research. She deserves more thanks than words can express.