“The significant degree of success that Won Buddhism has experienced within less than a hundred years, together with its renovative spirit, has provided scholars a model case of a new Buddhism. For Buddhist practitioners, it has provided an alternative to the traditional forms of Buddhism. Bongkil Chung demonstrates solid scholarship in The Scriptures of Won Buddhism, provoking diverse issues involved in new religion. The publication of this book is also timely, considering the increasing interest in the transformation of Buddhism in modern and contemporary Asia. The Scriptures of Won Buddhism will be invaluable material to Buddhist scholars interested in modern Korean Buddhism, new Buddhist movements, Buddhism and modernity, and Buddhism and gender, among others.” —H-Net Reviews, January 2004 (Read full review)

Won Buddhism, one of the major religions of modern Korea, was established in 1916 by Pak Chung-bin (1891–1943), later known as Sot’aesan. In 1943 Sot’aesan published a collection of Buddhist writings, the Correct Canon of Buddhism (Pulgyo chongjon), which included the doctrine of his new order. Four years later, the second patriarch, Chongsan (1900–1962), had the order compile a new canon, which was published in 1962. This work, translated here as The Scriptures of Won Buddhism (Wonbulgyo kyojon), consists of the Canon (a redaction of the first part of the Pulgyo chongjon) and the analects and chronicle of the founder known as the Scripture of Sot’aesan. The present translation incorporates critical tenets from the 1943 Canon that were altered in the redaction process and offers persuasive arguments for their re-inclusion.

Bongkil Chung is professor of philosophy at Florida International University.