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

The aim of this research is to establish the significance and development of Maegolseung (埋骨僧) and Sammai Hijiri (三昧聖), monks who bury corpses, in the social and religious history of Korea and Japan. In Korea, Buddhist cremation was activated in the Goryeo period, when the state protected Buddhism, and many devotees from the upper classes spent their last days in a temple and held the funeral service there, leading to the emergence of the system of Maegolseung as an institution of funeral experts. In Japan, during the so-called new Buddhism of the Kamakura period, the Hijiris were free from old established institutional Buddhism and actively propagated Buddhism by wandering around among the ordinary people. The Hijiris broke the traditional Japanese taboo against the impurity of the corpse (‘Kegare’), and took on the burial of corpses and funeral rites. To conclude, the Korean Maegolseung institutionally took part in burial in response to Buddhist temples’ needs and national policy; but after the mid-Joseon period they gradually handed over this mission to the Hyangdogye, privates societies that assumed full charge of funerals throughout the late Joseon period. In comparison, the Hijiri voluntarily took on the burials in the course of their evangelism for ordinary people, but they were prohibited from doing so by national policy, which forced institutionalized temples called Danna temples to take over this task.