Korea Journal of Buddhist Studies ISSN:1598-0642(Print) 불교학연구

This paper concerns the adoption of Hangul (Korean script) in Modern Buddhist Magazines between the 1910s to the early 1930s. Particularly, I examine the appearance frequency of Korean only text in articles and editorials. By the 1910s, most of the text in Buddhist magazines were written in mixed Korean and Chinese script. However, the Joseon Bulgyo Weolbo (조선불교월보) introduced a pure Hangul column to enlighten the public, as well as short stories written in Korean. Pure Hangul text was more easily readable by women and the general public, who had little access to Classical Chinese education. These efforts to provide an easier way to explain Buddhist doctrine and to translate many Chinese Buddhist terms into more accessible plain Korean contributed to the greater edification of the public. This was one of the great outcomes of the collaboration of Buddhism and Hangul. In the 1920s, Bulgyo (불교) magazine introduced some strands that illustrate the Hangul culture movement. First of all is the explosion of diversity in the literature of the magazine: eagerly adopting various popular genres such as Buddhist hymns, songs, poems, epic poetrys, plays, fiction, prose, etc. In accordance with this change, the number of pure Korean works increased naturally. After the 48st issue, the magazine decided to include many scholarly monographs about the relationship between Hangul and Buddhism, as well as scripts and Buddhism, particularly on the relationship between Sanskrit and Hangul. Public subscribers were greatly enthused about reports of Korean script plates of Buddhist texts being found in excavations of many temples. The editorial staff of Buddhist magazines in the 1910s to the 1930s made use of Hangul as the major medium of expounding modern Buddhism. Although the use of Hangul was originally for female subscribers, it soon extended to the Korean translation of the doctrines and concepts of Buddhism. Although this effort never reached maturity, it demonstrated that Hangul was extensible as a medium to carry scholastic and literary thought. Even in the modern age, Buddhism and Hangul developed in a mutual interrelationship as it had throughout its long tradition Korea.