Buddhist Nuns in Confucian Joseon Society

The purpose of this study is to search for traces of women who led alternative lives outside the boundaries prescribed by the Confucian patriarchal ideology. This paper pays particular attention to the tensions between the dominant Confucian doctrine, which often subordinated women to men, and the creative engagement by women in religious life, through which they conformed to, rejected, or appropriated the existing gender system. As a way to bring about a picture of the lively experience women had in the realm of religion, I tried to excavate stories about nuns from official Joseon records, and then reinterpreted the records in order to better understand various strategies and actions taken by women who submitted themselves to the dominant gender ideology and yet found ingenious and subversive ways to exercise their power and resist the status quo. Through Buddhism, some women were able to create an alternative space outside Confucian social norms and live a life separated from the main norms of the Joseon dynasty.

keywords: Joseon, Buddhist nuns, Confucianism, Buddhist temples, play, women’s culture

Reference

Deuchler,Martina, (1977) The Tradition: Women during the Yi Dynasty. In Virtues in Conflict: Tradition and the Korean Woman Today, Royal Asiatic Society

Deuchler,Martina, (1992) The Confucian Transformation of Korea, Harvard University Press

Hur,Nam-lin, (2000) Prayer and Play in Late Tokugawa Japan: Asakusa Sesoji and Edo Society, Harvard University Press

황인규, (2008) 조선전기 정업원과 비구니주지, 한국불교학

Jang,Byeong-in, (1997) Joseon jeongi honinje wa seongchabyeol (The Marital System and Gender Discrimination in the Early Joseon Dynasty), Iljisa

Jang, Sungjin, (1984) '시집살이요'의 유행과 인물, 여성문제연구

정지영, (2004) 조선시대 혼인장려책과 독신여성: 유교적 가부장제와 주변적 여성의 흔적, 한국여성학

정지영, (2005) 조선시대 부녀의 노출과 외출: 규제와 틈새, 여성과 역사

Jeong, Sukjong, (1998) 조선후기 불교 정책과 원당-니승의 존재양상을 중심으로, 민족문화논총

10.

존 요르겐센, (1998) 조선왕조에서의 불교와 유학간의 대립, 불교연구

11.

Kim, Seung Ho, (2004) 조선후기 야담에 나타난 성의 유행과 그 의미, 한국 어문학 연구

12.

경일남, (2004) 고전소설에 나타난 여승의 인물 유형과 문학적 기능, 어문연구

13.

Lee,Un-seon, (1997) 조선시대 성리학 정착과 여성의 신앙 활동 , 사학연구

14.

李起雲, (2003) 조선시대 왕실의 比丘尼院 설치와 信行, 역사학보

15.

Lee,Sangbaek, (1948) 재가금지습속의 유래에 대한 연구 , 조선문화사 연구논고

16.

이순구, (1996) 조선초기 여성의 신앙생활, 역사학보

17.

Lim,Jaehae, (1984) 꼭두각시 거리에 나타난 부부갈등과 여성 의식, 女性問題硏究

18.

민순의, (2004) 6-5-민순의-특집-여성과 종교-아시아적 맥락-불교를 통한 허스토리 복구의 일례-조선시대 왕실의 불교신앙을 중심으로, 종교문화연구

19.

Pak,Yong-ok, (1976) Ijo yeoseongsa (Women’s History in the Joseon Dynasty), Hanguk ilbosa

20.

Peterson,Mark A., (1996) Korean Adoption and Inheritance: Case Studies in the Creation of a Classic Confucian Society, Cornell University Press

21.

Wagner, Edward, (1983) Two Early Genealogies and Korean Women’s Status in Korea’s Early Yi Dynasty. In Korean Women: View from the Inner Room, eds. Laurel Kendall and Mark Peterson, East Rock Press

바로가기메뉴

Article Contents

Vol.11 No.4

Buddhist Nuns in Confucian Joseon Society

Abstract

Reference

The Review of Korean Studies