Sunday, June 26, 2005

"Buddism is about as Korean as McDonalds!!"

Caught the 12:15 am bus from Pohang to Seoul once again. 4 hours and 20 minutes like clockwork! Was surprised to see a fairly young Buddhist monk (in her teens) in the seat behind me on the express bus. In total, there were only about 6 of us on the whole bus! Nice!
I started thinking about the whole mentality that foreigners WRONGFULLY have when they first come over here. We have this idea that Buddhism is an integral part of the Korean culture...WRONG! Like the title of this blog says, "Buddhism is as much a part of the Korean culture as McDonalds or Pokemon!" Buddhism originated in India and was transported here by ambitious Buddhist missionaries centuries ago. Why is it that we have this idea of Buddhism as being "Eastern" (we want to avoid that "Oriental" word, right?!...)
This whole Buddhism thing brings another question to mind: Why are Koreans so zealous to do mission trips to other countries or hand out tracts to people in subways but I NEVER see any effort to reach the Buddhists of this country? Aren't their souls of any worth?!

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