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The origins of good and evil and the problem of theodicy present a special set of challenges in Buddhism, which is relatively less concerned with consideration of first causes than are monotheistic religions. Buddhism focuses less on the issue of why evil and its incumbent suffering are present in the world and more on the question of how to respond to that evil. This emphasis on soteriology over metaphysics is seen in the characteristic invocation of pragmatic criteria for the evaluation of doctrines and practices; the recurrent motif of the Buddha as therapist rather than theorist; and the pervasive influence of the meta-theory of upāya (expedients or stratagems). This article will examine the soteriological dimension of the broader Buddhist response to evil and explore some of the explicit examinations of the problem of a Buddhist “theodicy” in later Mahāyāna monistic ontologies, which are explored in Korean Buddhist materials: viz., if the mind is innately enlightened or inherently pure, whence do ignorance or defilements arise?

The Buddhist ethical concept of kuśala (C. shan 善), which is usually rendered as “wholesome” or “skillful,” has drawn significant scholarly attention. Although scholars have not reached a consensus on how to approach Buddhist ethical systems, it seems to be commonly acknowledged that the wholesome dharmas in early Buddhism are divided into two types: the wholesome dharmas on the mundane level and the wholesome dharmas on the supramundane level. According to the typical account of Buddhist soteriology, a practitioner should cultivate these two types of wholesome dharmas in order to reach the final goal of nirvāṇa. However, in Mahāyāna Buddhism, in which the division between the mundane and the supramundane sphere was ultimately denied, the distinction between the wholesome dharmas on the mundane and supramundane levels was often seen as being problematic. As a result, a philosophical problem arose concerning how to explain the doctrinal contrast between the ultimate universality and the concrete particularities. In ancient East Asia this problem emerged centering on the two conflicting notions of the Buddha-nature (Skt. buddha-dhātu, alt. tathāgatagarbha, C. foxing 佛性), the universal spiritual capability innate in all sentient beings, and the icchantikas (C. yichanti 一闡提), “incorrigibles,” those who are devoid of the capability (or, the wholesome dharmas) to attain Buddhahood. This article discusses the philosophical conundrum entailed from doctrinal incompatibility between the universal capability to become a Buddha and the beings who lack the wholesome dharmas by examining the Silla scholar monk Wŏnhyo’s 元曉 (617–686) understanding of the four antinomies (Skt. catuṣkoṭi, C. siju 四句) on the Buddha-nature of the Nirvāṇa Sutra.

Evil is a key concept in Confucianism and other world religions. The problem of evil is therefore central to our interreligious discussion of human nature and the world. In Western scholarship, however, Confucian moral idealism is occasionally criticized for being too optimistic or unable to articulate the nature of evil; it is philosophically or theologically weak, also due to the absence of an omnipotent, omniscient God (divine law-giver). If we take the Confucian doctrine of innate human goodness for granted, how do we explain the active presence of evil in the human world? This article discusses the heart of T’oegye’s thought by focusing on the problem of evil and the way to transcend it. Yi Hwang 李滉 (T’oegye 退溪, 1501– 1570) was an eminent Korean thinker who greatly influenced Neo-Confucian ethics and spirituality. By using a textual and interpretive approach, I present his major works including the Sŏnghak sipto 聖學十圖 (Ten diagrams on sage learning), Chasŏngnok 自省錄 (Record of self-reflection), and “Four-Seven Debate Letters.” T’oegye eloquently criticized the origin of moral evil and emphasized a selftranscending way to remove evil and do good. What is important about his interpretation and how does it enrich our global understanding of good and evil? I conclude by considering this and related questions from a comparative and interreligious standpoint.

In the East Asian philosophical traditions, the concept of nothingness has been occupying a central place. Yu Yŏngmo (1890-1981, pen name: Tasŏk 多夕; hereafter Tasŏk) was one of those who accepted Christianity in the early twentieth century Korea yet incorporated its notion of God into the broad framework of nothingness. For him, God (Hananim 하나님), far from being identified with an anthropomorphic, personal being of certain supernatural properties, is closely associated with the primordial void (mu; ŏpsŭm 없음). In other words, despite having accepted the Christian Bible as the basis of his fundamental faith he integrated its central doctrines into the ancient traditions in East Asia. As sons and daughters of God, i.e., as embodied divinity expressing True Self (cham-na) or Spiritual Self (ŏl-na), we also participate in this spiritual order of nothingness. There are thus strong Buddhist-Confucian-Daoist elements that are found in his indigenized form of Christianity.

For centuries a question at the core of Korean philosophical and religious thinking has been how to reconcile the recognition of moral frailty with the assumption that human beings have the ability to become morally perfect. One Buddhist solution has been to call for the gradual replacement of preenlightenment habits with moral habits after becoming enlightened to one’s own Buddha nature. Confucians have instead focused on managing the relationship between innate moral tendencies and equally innate selfish emotions. Christians offered another solution to this conundrum: dropping the assumption that human beings on their own can achieve moral perfection and instead focusing on relying to God’s help to overcome moral frailty. Indigenous new religions have proposed yet another solution: waiting for the unfavorable conditions that prevail in the world today to change so that it will be easier to act the way we know we should act. None of these proposed solutions satisfy everyone. As a result, Koreans continue their search for a way to explain, and overcome, moral failure while maintaining confidence in their ability to do so.

The annexation treaties between Korea and Japan remain controversial, as does the question of their legality. In contrast to the Koreans, who indicated the treaties were concluded under duress, the Japanese focused on seeking international approval. By analysing the German news reports on the Japanese annexation of Korea published between 1905 and 1945, this article examines whether Germans believed the Japanese colonisation of Korea conformed to international law and custom. This article demonstrates two main findings. First, the Japanese government attempted to produce international approval by directly intervening in the production of news articles. The Japanese government made particular newspapers and journalists act as their agents and almost completely suppressed reports on events such as the signing of the annexation treaty of 1910. Despite these efforts, the flourishing world of German journalism was too diverse to accept Japanese intervention passively. This article also shows that the international community did not perceive the annexation treaties as of legal. The annexation treaties were interpreted simply as the continued process of colonisation and only pro-Japanese newspapers showed interest in the legality of the annexation treaties. Considering these realities of the German media landscape, we should be careful in discussing the international approval of the annexation treaties as a fact.

Culture was an always “overloaded” concept during Korea’s colonial period. Like the ideas of literature and art, it was one of the main routes through which Koreans developed a socio-political sense when they were forbidden to speak about politics. Starting in the 1920s especially, Koreans used culture to establish intellectual foundations of modernity, cultivate the masses’ aesthetic senses, and seriously engage with colonial reality. Furthermore, the idea of culture became more complicated in the late 1930s as the colonial government more aggressively employed the cultural idea to propagate a series of wars while mainlining Japan’s ascendency in East Asia. Reflecting upon such a conceptual tug of war by different socio-political actors, this article uses text-mining to explore the changing meanings of culture in a 1930s popular magazine. Run by the proponents of culture as a forefront of social movements, Samch’ŏlli (“Threethousand ri,” which figuratively refers to Korea) was a monthly magazine that lasted for more than a decade from 1929 to 1941, unlike many short-lived journals under censorship. By examining the frequency of the keywords that composed the theme of culture, and the semantic network of culture’s cooccurring words, we diachronically trace the polyphonic meanings of culture in different timeframes. These quantitative and linguistic methods suggest that culture’s semantic network drawn from a 1930s periodical was far larger, more diverse in composition, and more influential than explained in previous studies, especially in its interplay with the various socio-political actors in launching collective projects by Korean intellectuals and the colonial government.

The government of Kim Jong Il (Kim Chŏngil) modified the meaning and purpose of during the North Korean famine and the early Military-First period (1994–2002). During the economic recession after the Soviet bloc collapsed, the North Korean government was incapable of providing material rewards to workers. Thus, the state attempted to transform labor into a spiritual rather than material practice. Despite the shortage of material resources and energy, the regime had to make the workers stay in their workplaces to maintain social stability. At that time, North Korean fiction often described people who worked for spiritual enlightenment rather than for material gain. In the novel and historical prose of this period, protagonists work not for their livelihoods, but for their honorable death; they voluntarily martyred themselves for their country, party, and leader Kim Jong Il. This study explores Song Sangwŏn’s Ch’onggŏm ŭl tŭlgo (Taking up bayonets) (2002) to examine how North Koreans worked, lived, and died at the turn of the twentieth century.