a fuller development of Confucianism the official class became Confucianist; it organized and directed everything done in the government. Between the officials, Confucianists, and the priests, Buddhists, there grew up a deadly conflict.

In 1036 the king was devoutly Buddhistic. "Those who could read the signs of the times surmised this when in 1036 the king decreed that if a man had four sons, one of them must become a monk. Because of the Buddhist canon against the spilling of blood, the death penalty was changed to banishment. Another great festival was added. The king also encouraged the custom of having boys go about the streets with Buddhistic books on their backs from which the monks read aloud as they went along to secure blessings for the people." (Hulbert.)

In 1046 it is said the king fed and lodged 10,000 monks in his palace. In 1056 or thereabouts one son out of three was compelled to become a monk. In 1136 we are told that 30,000 monks were present at a single ceremony.

Under such circumstances, what would happen? When a religion had such a hold on the community-building splendid monasteries, developing great temples, making idols into whose construction gilt of pure gold entered in great quantity, making bells of metal that might have been used better for practical ends, draining the people of wealth by giving enormous properties eternally into the possession of the monasteries, a crash was bound to come. It came in Korea. The country had been drained; the people had been heavily burdened; the men who as monks and priests should have led the people in instruction and in good living, were corrupt beyond conception.

At last, in the year 1392, a man arose who fought against the king. The basis of his fighting was the fact that the government was completely given over to a corrupt religion. In 1392 the old kingdom of Korai disappeared and with it the dynasty of Koryu, and in their place came the modern Chosen and the Yi dynasty. Seoul became the new capital.

Just as before, it was the successful general who became the founder of the new dynasty; in this case also he had been

loyal at first to the deposed king. This man's name was Yi, and his title Ta-jo, and he is commonly known in Korea as Yi Ta-jo. He is revered as the founder of the dynasty which has just ended. Remember that it was Buddhism carried to excess against which the revolution had been directed. Just as Wangon was fairly gentle in his treatment of Buddhism, so Ta-jo did not at once wipe out the old religion. That remained to be done by a man considerably later, the king who ascended the throne in 1469. His name was Chasan. During the early part of his reign his mother ruled as regent. Three years later, in 1472, he abolished all monasteries and temples, not only in his capital city of Seoul, but in every city throughout the kingdom.

The priests, driven out of all the cities and large towns, had to take refuge in the mountains, and from that time down until these latter days there have been no Buddhist temples in Seoul or Songdo or P'yeng-Yang or the other cities of Korea. There have only been monasteries out in the mountains, often in inaccessible places.

Those were pretty drastic measures and under such drastic measures Korean Buddhism sank to its worst conditions. There were hard times in the mountain monasteries-400 years practically, of exile.

Several things happened. In the first place, each monastery became a thing of itself; there was no unity, no combination, no force in the movement of Buddhism as such over the kingdom. In the second place, not being permitteed to enter the cities, the Buddhist priests gradually came to be looked upon with contempt by the people; they were, of course, beggars, vowed to poverty; they always had been that, but they had had respect; with their seclusion in mountain monasteries they lost the respect which had been paid them; they became ignorant, vicious and depraved. Buddhism could hardly sink lower than Korean Buddhism did after being driven to the mountains.

It would, however be a great mistake to think there were no good men among them; none who cared for education. Some incidents show redeeming features and show hope.

In 1592 (it is interesting how '92 runs through the his

tory of Korean Buddhism-392, 1392, 1592) occurred the invasion of Hideyoshi. Hideyoshi, in Japan had become a great general, was actual ruler of the country; he had dreams of empire and wanted expansion. He sent a vast army to conquer Korea. This army was under two generals, one a Christian and the other a Buddhist. They wrought great destruction in the unfortunate peninsula. Even today, every man, woman, and child in Korea has heard the story of that time.

During Hideyoshi's invasion, there was a monk in one of the mountain monasteries named Hyu-Chung. I will read what Hulbert says:

Hyu-Chung, known throughout the eight provinces as the great teacher of Sosan, was a man of great natural ability as well as of great learning. His pupils were numbered by thousands, and were found in every province. He called together two thousand of them and appeared before the king at Euiju and said: "We are of the common people but we are all the king's servants, and two thousand of us have come to die for Your Majesty." The king was much pleased by this demonstration of loyalty and made Hyu-Chung a priest-general and told him to go into camp at Pop-heung monastery. He did so, and from that point sent out a call to all the monasteries in the land. In Chulla province was a warrior-monk, Choe-Yung, and at Diamond Mountain another named Yu-Chung. These came with over a thousand followers and went into camp a few miles to the east of P'yeng-Yang. They had no intention of engaging in actual battle, but they acted as spies, took charge of the commissariat, and made themselves generally useful. During battle they stood behind the troops and shouted encouragement. Yu-Chang, trusting to his priestly garb, went into P'yeng-Yang to see the Japanese generals.

So you see, notwithstanding the condition of poverty and ignorance and unimportance to which the Buddhist monks sank, there were still among them occasional teachers of great learning with thousands of students, who were ready to serve their king in his struggle against the invader.

In 1660 a curious condition had arisen. With these mountain monasteries open to any one who would come, they became a refuge for the disaffected generally. Suppose a man had trouble with his family; he would become religious and retire to a mountain monastery, becoming a monk; or if some man failed in business, he might find refuge as a

monk in a monastery; for one reason or another, it was easy for a man who was vicious or a failure or unhappy, to take refuge in the mountain monasteries. They flocked to them by thousands, until the government became disturbed and about 1660 the king issued an edict "that no more men with family ties should desert them in this way, and that all monks who had families living should doff their religious garb and come back to the world and support their families like honest men."

Such has been the history of Korean Buddhism. In 1902 an effort was made to revive it. In 1894 the ChineseJapanese war took place. It was a war over Korea, and in 1895 it ended with the treaty of Shimonoseki. From 1895 on, Korea was a hot-bed of world intrigue. China, Russia, Japan, all were struggling on the peninsula for a continued foothold. Each was trying to gain advantage. Korea was a very important spot in the world. In 1904, came the great war between Japan and Russia, and in 1905 the treaty of Portsmouth. So you see, 1902 came right between those two great wars, both of which were fought on account of Korea. In 1902 the man who had been king-the last real representative of the Yi dynasty, had become emperor. One of the results of the war of 1894 was to make Korea an empire, and to make the king of Korea an emperor. In 1902 when the effort was made to reëstablish and revive Buddhism in Korea, it was en empire with a new emperor. Hulbert, who never admired Korean Buddhism, says this:

In 1902, a very determined attempt to revive the Buddhist cult was made. The emperor consented to the establishment of a great central monastery for the whole country, in the vicinity of Seoul, and in it a Buddhist high priest who was to control the whole church in the land. It was a ludicrous attempt, because Buddhism in Korea is dead.

That was written by Dr. Hulbert in 1905. It referred to an attempt made in 1902, and it seemed to him that Buddhism was dead. Now, I visited Korea last year, and the bulk of my time while there was spent in the study of Korean Buddhism. I went to many of the monasteries. It was an interesting study, and I confess I should differ

THE JOURNAL OF RACE DEVELOPMENT, VOL. 9, NO. 1, 1918

strongly with Dr. Hulbert in saying that Korean Buddhism was dead.

It seems to me that, whatever was true in 1902, in 1917 and 1918 Korean Buddhism is very much alive. The monasteries of Korea are under the control of thirty head monasteries, each of which has from a handful to forty or more lesser monasteries and temples under its charge, looking to it for direction. These thirty head monasteries had come to be greatly reduced in property, membership, influence and splendor in 1902; that is true. It is true that they were separated from each other; there was no feeling of unity among them; each monastery was a thing by itself, and decay and corruption were evident everywhere.

But about five years ago the priests of the thirty head monasteries came together; they held a great meeting and discussed their common interests; they decided that union was necessary and a forward movement, a thing such as was tried in 1902 and which failed then. It was tried again and has not failed. They elected a President of their commission, and this President's term of office was for one year; now every year at their annual meeting they elect a President whose whole time is devoted to the interests of combined Korean Buddhism for that year. They bought property in the city of Seoul and erected a central building, partly temple, and partly office building. The expenses of the head office are borne by the thirty temples, in proportion to their importance and wealth; each contributes annually a set sum for the advancement of Buddhism in Korea.

While in Seoul this last year I visited a theological seminary of Buddhism. It has a good property in a desirable part of the city; it occupies a fine old Korean building; it has a corps of teachers of some ability; I found sixty-five students. The institution has been running about three years. The young men with whom I talked seemed to be earnestly interested in the work and looked forward to doing something in the way of advancement in the mountain monasteries. A definite course of three years' instruction is offered. The number of students has grown steadily, and I