littlestar

being 5th generation christian with many priests and pastors in the family, i didn't really grow up with (m)any buddhist or traditional ancestor respecting korean traditions.

for instance, i had to learn from a travel book that i shouldn't stick my chopsticks into my rice.

so i thought i'd read up on some basic principles:
buddhism

i remember talking with friends recently about the spread of buddhism and the topic of what kind of buddhism koreans followed. i found it quite humorous that a website with an otherwise cool visual on the spread of buddhism thought that korea was secular. :P

it's mahayana, zen/cha'an specifically. i mean, really. this whole thinking that something is chinese and japanese but not korean has really got to stop. you don't have a national holiday for the day that buddha achieved nirvana (or was it his birthday?) in a country that isn't buddhist.

it's like when i went to book buyers and i'd come across the small section on korea. one of the books i'd grabbed, which was written by some random white dude, tried to claim that koreans had surprisingly little pride in their history, even though their history was very well-documents and old.

i just didn't really know how to respond to that one. i mean... that's tantamount to claiming that gravity doesn't exist, except on a more personal (offensive) level. what do you say to a person like that? :P :)

yes, sweetie. and the vietnamese have no sense of pride either, or else, how could they all leave their country like that? and america is communist and racist. and the iraqis love us.