Michelle Gang ENG 160 Korean Shamanism and Repression Shamanism Or Muism Has Strong Cultural Ties to Korea

Michelle Gang ENG 160 Korean Shamanism and Repression Shamanism or Muism has strong cultural ties to Korea. It has a history of repression after the conversion to a Confucian state. Various movements made within the century and the Japanese occupation dramatically changed he religion’s public opinion. Many aspects of shamanism have fused into Korean Christianity. However, it is still seen as a combative religion to Christianity, despite it becoming an integral part of it and cultural significance. Many efforts are being made to obliterate parts of it from Christianity due to its negative influence. Also, recent events with the president. However, it should be established that shamans are not charlatans or fortunetellers. They are a cultural icon that should be protected, especially since so many things were lost culturally over the century. Since Korea, as a country, has transformed dramatically within the last century. Muism has transformed with its country over an extremely turbulent century and has suffered for it. Muism is the oldest religion documented within Korea. However, its actual origins are difficult to pinpoint. This difficulty is primarily tied into Muism’s complexity as a religion. While there are central ideas shared between areas, Muism developed into branches of various indigenous religions. American missionary during the Korean independence, Hulbert describes Muism as a mosaic of religious beliefs in which “there is a jumble of the whole; that there is no antagonism between the different cults. (Ro 761)” In other words, Korean shamanism and its specific beliefs are somewhat dependent on the region. Musim never historically solidified into a centralized religion like Buddhism or Christianity. Despite the amalgamation of various individual beliefs, there are commonalties among the areas. For example, from shamanism comes the traditional creation myth of Korea. Although there are many branches to Muism, central points of belief have become part of the culture an identity of Korea. Shamanism had a decline when a huge majority of Korea converted to Buddhism. Buddhism came to the country around 328 CE (Mason 150). Korean Buddhism took partial influence from previous schools of thought and spirituality like Muism and Taoism. During the Goreyo dynasty, Buddhism experienced a rise in power and influence due to its status as the state religion. Eventually as Buddhism grew, corruption of the state religion grew through false monks and rituals (Ro 760-761). Throughout this period Muism remained on the fringes of intellectual thought. Following the collapse of Buddhism in the political sphere, during Joseon dynasty many shamanistic practices were suppressed in favor of the dominating Confucian state and diminished even further. Confucianist intellectuals of the Korean state often dismissed it as a form of irrationality that directly combated Confucian rhetoric. During the end of the Joseon dynasty, the entrance of Protestant Christian missionaries soon resulted in a movement to the destroy the old gods and practices of Muism in 1890’s. This movement is the beginning of contemporary repression of Korean shamanism in a systematic manner. Across the country shamanistic shrines, books, relics, clothing, and archival tablets were destroyed in systematic pyres to be burned (Kendall 4). These shamanistic items and symbols were destroyed because Christian missionaries associated them with false worship and demons. Although this was a much smaller scale movement, it set precedent for the much larger and detrimental movement run by Park Chung-Hee. This 1890’s was accompanied by the Japanese propaganda and forced cultural assimilation. There were two separate methods used by the Japanese to smooth the transition of Korea from a country to a colony. The first method involved governing “with an iron fist” and harsh military policy. Muism, like Taoism, was pushed into mountainous, rural areas and away from cities. This was due to Japanese rhetoric that portrayed the practices as wasteful and should be disconnected from (Hongkoo 208). However, it should be noted that the Japanese repression did not collaborate with the Christian movement of the 1890’s, despite them occurring at the same time. The second method occurred after Japanese officials were forced to realize that harsher forms of assimilation were not compatible with the Korean national identity. Japanese colonists established the Committee of Compiling Korean History, which produced volumes of Korean history that would provide justification for assimilation policies. This new history stressed the parallels between Korean and Japan as evidence a Japan-led culture being present in its origins. These volumes argued that Muism and the worship of Tan’gun was merely a "variety of Japanese Shintoism. (Ch'oe 57)" There are comparable elements between the two religions in that they do not have one true God and encompass a spiritual world. However, the concepts surrounding specific spirits and the origins of lore are completely different. Ch’oe’s argument encourages colonist discourse that was used to minimize shamanism as an individual religion and its deep connection to Korean history. The idea that Muism is an offshoot of Shintoism disconnected the religion from its country of origin and weakened its influence in Korea. Although these revisions on history did not have the dramatic effects that the previous method did, it is important to acknowledge that they targeted almost all distinctly cultural elements of Korea. When Park Chung-hee took power, he launched Saemaul Undong (New Community Movement), which contained a program to eliminate shamanism called Misin tapa undong (motion to destroy the gods). Saemaul Undong was a complete movement to industrialize and modernize the rural areas and communities throughout Korea. This was a movement paralleled within many Asian countries at time. China was simultaneously undergoing its own Cultural Revolution, where it also suppressed local traditional beliefs. Cha Ok Soong explains that after independence from Japan, Korea experienced “a blind yearning for the rational and scientific thought of the West became a standard by which our traditional religions, including shamanism, were assessed and criticized. (78)” Misin tapa undong was the culmination of the previous motions put forth in 1870. Zelkova serrata trees, traditional known as guardians and protectors of villages, were cut down. Government agents poured gasoline all over the traditional shrines and burned them down. Police arrested practicing shamans (Kendall). The destruction and harassment of so many shamans and symbols were heavily detrimental to Muism. Although Musim, itself, no longer have the centralized support of the population, its influence has reached almost every religious denomination that has entered Korea. Korean Christianity has most famously been fused with the indigenous religion through comparable elements. The concept of a priest has correlated well with a concept of a shaman. Kim describes the shaman’s role in Christianity as the “mediator between gods and human beings helped Koreans to easily accept the idea of a Savior who came to this world to intercede between God and human beings. (106)” Kim’s observation not only reveals the parallels between the figures, but also the origin of the fusion. Comparisons between Christianity and Shamanism were made to ease the transition of Christianity into Korea. Some scholars believe the cultural fusion between Christianity and Korean Shamanism has elevated religion in the country and a mutually beneficial relationship between the religions. Professor Kim asserts that “…due to the introduction of Christianity, the multilayered and pluralistic nature of the Korean religious culture, formed by indigenous traditional religions, was capable of extending itself to a cross-cultural and global level by breaking the Eastern provincialism and combining the Western religious cultures. (6)” While it is important to acknowledge elements of more traditional religions have been fused into Korean Christianity, this result was produced through the need to widen Christian influence not that of the indigenous religions. For example, to successfully transition the foreign concept of a singular and supreme God, Korean Christianity adopted Hanunim (The Heavenly Emperor), an absolute figure of Muism (E. Kim 116-7). These elements were primarily used to further the understanding of Christian concepts and convert more Koreans. However, this fusion did not dissuade notions within the church at the time that Musim was incompatible with Christianity and anti-biblical. Even though certain elements were chosen to be preserved, the movement to suppress Muism, as a practicing religion, still occurred. Kim’s assertion fails to recognize that Korean Christianity only accepted Musim partially and did not practice religious tolerance or mutually extend the involved religions’ influence. There has also been the ongoing debate within Korean Christian churches about the connection to shamanism. This has led to conflicting views on Muism’s influence on the church and Christians. There are natural discrepancies between the idea of one, supreme god and financial ideals. Lee rejects shamanistic influence on the church stating “…it interferes with a one and only concept of God. In Christianity, God is immanent through all things and risen above all at the same time. Many people in Korean churches don't have a personal relationship with God, but consider Him as

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