1. Introduction: Construction of Korean Buddhism as a Religion It is peculiar how the history of Korean Buddhism, specifically the Chosŏn period (1392–1910), has been studied by modern scholars in Korea. It is as if modern scholars have been looking for “Buddhism” in the wrong place and the wrong time. They were looking for a certain kind of Buddhism: a sutra-based or a doctrine-based Buddhism in the historical past of the Chosŏn period when such forms of Buddhism were difficult to find.
