# Video: Wearing Divine Protection February 06, 2023 On February 6, 2023, Sujung Kim, Associate Professor, DePauw University, delivered the lecture, "Wearing Divine Protection: The Funerary Use of the Twenty-four Buddhist Talismans in Chosŏn Korea with Sujung Kim." As a state-of-the-art “wearable technology” of the time, talismans provided protection, perquisites, and prescriptions for the devotees of premodern Korean Buddhism. Among a varied array of talismans discovered from tombs, stupas, and spell books, this talk focused on a collage of the twenty-four Buddhist talismans to illustrate how they provided a vocabulary and structure to address believers’ soteriological concerns and transform their cosmological views. By examining these talismans as a crucial part of the Korean Buddhist mortuary ritual, the talk argues for the pervasiveness of talismanic culture in Chosŏn Buddhism, which allowed its followers to manage the fears of disease, demons, and death. These findings further suggest that multiple layers of ambiguities built around talismans, such as tensions between text and image, legibility and illegibility, as well as accessibility and inaccessibility, played a key role in enacting the efficacy and potency of talismans, and that the twenty-four talismans occupied a central place in Chosŏn Buddhist devotional practice. Challenging the common view of Chosŏn Buddhism as being dormant and defeated, this talk presents a surprisingly vibrant and dynamic picture of Chosŏn Buddhism through these little-studied materials. Full transcript: SPEAKER 1: Harvard Divinity School. SPEAKER 2: 2023 Anhkook Lecture on Korean Buddhism, Wearing Divine Protection. The funerary use of the 24 Buddhist talismans in Choson Korea with Sujung Kim. February 6, 2023. CHARLES STANG: My name is Charles Stang, and I have the privilege of serving as the director of the Center for the Study of World Religions here at Harvard Divinity School. Welcome to this evening's event, the Annual Anhkook Lecture in Korean Buddhism. We're very excited to resume this annual lecture series, which has been in hiatus since the pandemic disrupted our in-person programming. And so we're especially excited to welcome this evening's speaker, Professor Sujung Kim, who is associate Professor of Religious Studies at DePauw University. Sujung specializes in Japanese and Korean Buddhism and is interested in tracing the interaction between Buddhist cultures using textual and material sources in their East Asian context. Her first book was entitled, Shinra Myojin and Buddhist Networks of the East Asian Mediterranean. That came out from the University of Hawaii in 2019, and it explores how the deity, Shinra Myojin, is not only an influential protector God of the Onjo-ji Temple in Japan-- apologies if I mispronounced that-- but also part of the transnational network of people, ideas, and gods spanning China, Korea, and Japan. Currently, Sujung is working on her second book entitled, Korean Magical Medicine, Buddhist Healing Talismans in Choson Korea in which she investigates the religious, historical, and iconic dimensions of healing talismans produced in Buddhist settings during the Choson period between 1392 and 1910. Although its primary focus is Korean talismans, the book also locates itself in the broader East Asian contexts aiming at showing the complex web of talismanic culture in East Asia. In this evening's lecture, Sujung will offer us a glimpse into this exciting new book project. Let me say that the center's next event is this Thursday, February 9 at 5:30. It will be the first event in our newly revived series on psychedelics and the future of religion. I will be in conversation with Frederique Apffel-Marglin and Randy Chung Gonzalez about their new co-authored book entitled, Initiated by the Spirits, Healing the Ills of Modernity through Shamanism, Psychedelics, and the Power of the Sacred. As always, the best way to stay abreast of what we're doing here at the center and its programming is to sign up for our weekly newsletter. So this is how the evening will unfold. I will soon disappear, and Sujung will appear to give her talk. When she's done, I will reappear to help manage the Q&A from the audience. So without further ado, Sujung, I invite you to-- there you are. The floor is yours. SUJUNG KIM: Thank you so much for a nice introduction, Charlie, and also thank you so much for special thanks for Matt Dillon who is currently at the Center for the Study of World Religions here at Harvard University. So my name is Sujung Kim, and I'm going to give you my lecture in a minute. Here is my PowerPoints that I'm going to share my screen now. I hope everyone sees it. Thank you, Charlie. So I titled my talk Wearing Divine Protection. Actually, the divine, when I was thinking about the title, I got inspiration from Charlie's book. So that's why I have divine in the middle. So the subtitle is the funerary use of the 24 Buddhist talismans in Choson Korea. I'm going to start with this gloomy and very difficult concept, death. When we think about or encounter or even just any feeling of this concept that we have a lot of emotions. We have very often negative response to it and this uncanniness of this that we, as a human, cannot avoid. And I thought I'd like to start with this image. I don't know. Some of you may have seen this. This is a new movie just came out. It's available on Netflix called White Noise. It's off the wall, humor, black comedy. And here, the scene depicts very dramatic portrayal of the fear, how death feels like to most of us. So Adam Driver, the main character of this movie, is driving a car in the water, and they are just facing to the waterfall now. So let me start with this idea of death in a more scholarly, more analytical way. So in sociology and anthropology, a lot of people had this idea of how we cope with, how we manage death. And often, what happens after death is a funeral. It's a ritual. People go through this ritual regardless of time and space in human history. So a famous scholar in anthropology called Arnold van Gennep once he tried to think about or theorize this idea of ritual. How the structure looks like. According to him, it says, separation, first state. There are three part stages, and first, it's a separation. And then, liminality. Somehow, like limbo state status, and then finally, incorporation, where sometimes you can call it reintegration. So you come back to where you departed, but you actually by going through the ritual, ritual transports you. You kind of come back but not the same place. You are elevated, or you go through different-- you are back to the different realm. So that rituals are designed to go through a cycle of ordinary life to extraordinary loss and back again to the realm of the mundane. When it comes to funeral or death in Buddhism, although some cultures like Japanese Buddhism-- funerary aspects of Buddhism has been somewhat explored by scholars. But Korean Buddhism, where I'm very interested in for my second book project, this aspect has been very limitedly understood. So this talk, I'm going to explain to you the main gist, the main takeaway of this today's lecture is talismans were one of the major prominent material aid that chosen Buddhists were relied on. So this is the main point that I like to make through my different examples. For instance, these are sort of two prominent examples. There are so many other examples that I'm going to introduce you in a minute, but these are the two examples that I like to mention first. Left side is the talisman for rebirth in the Pure Land. So, basically, this talisman has a long history starting from medieval China, but this talisman guarantees your rebirth in Pure Land. Basically, if you do not know Buddhist doctrine, don't worry. But, basically, similar to Christian heaven, in Buddhism, people imagined after you die there is another life. You rebirth-- unlike Christianity, of course, you rebirth. But the best bet for you is to rebirth in this amazing paradise, Western paradise called Pure Land. So that was one major talismans that to some people also really embraced. On the right hand side-- sorry for the blurred image-- but, basically, this is another very popularly used talisman. Talisman for destroying hell and reborn in the Pure Land. Same idea of rebirth in the Pure Land, but also they don't want you to fall into the hell. In Buddhism, similar to Dante's, there are so many different layers of-- or realms of hells. So this is something that tells us what people concerned when they facing death. So in my new book that I'm sort of halfway-- more than halfway done-- I titled Korean Magical Medicine. So this book, basically, came out of the pandemic. When pandemic hit, and everyone's mind is captured and captivated by this idea of fear of death. Basically, what we really fear during the pandemic was fear of death, your death or your loved one's death. So I thought how about pre-modern period in Korea, especially Choson period where there are so many materials that are left. But for some interesting reasons, there has been no English book on Choson period Korean Buddhism. There is one book on Three Kingdoms Period, which is the most ancient part of Korean history, Buddhist history. But then there's Korea period, which is 10th to 14th century. There is one book. There is this era, Choson era, from 14th century to only 20th century. Over 600 years Buddhist history, we do not have any book. So I thought maybe I should write one. So I wanted to know how people before there was-- before prior to doctors and hospitals, how people coped with this everyday problem, which is being sick and dying. So this is the book that I like to explore those everyday use of talismans but in the Buddhist setting and how Choson people, especially non-elite people, try to cope with these fears and desires in everyday life. Sorry, I'm just skipping a lot here. So this is the outline for today's talk. I'm starting with what talisman is, and then I will introduce some historical background, and then I will give you some more visual examples, specific examples. And then I will give you some broader considerations, and then I will conclude. So I'm showing you a very-- not necessarily typical, but Choson period, this elite called the yangban. Yangban has this on-- yangban is this class name, often hired by the courts. They follow their Confucian values during the Choson period. And this is the yangban male, yangban's library. So what we see here is different things, different objects. I'm interested in different-- where you can find talismans in everyday space. So here, one example that you see on this side is the folding screens people use for decoration or for rituals, various reasons. This partition, they use these folding screens, and you see a lot of talismans. When talismans were drawn on these folding screens, it's often bringing good luck. So different kinds of talismans are depicted here. On the left, what you see is a little pouch. People may have carried this. So what you see closely in the middle is this yellow paper has red ink. Some difficult to read, but basically, talismanic scripts are written on this little paper, and very likely, you carry it, that pouch, wherever you go so that you get the 24/7 protection. This is another typical talismans that you would see, encounter, if you went back to-- you took a time machine and go back to Choson, and very likely, encounter this. And here, we have even Korean characters here, like \[KOREAN\], which is everything goes well or \[KOREAN\], which means no evil spirits coming in. What is very interesting about this particular one is this is called Three Calamities Talisman in Korean \[KOREAN\]. So, basically, Korean starts that there are some three years-- everyone goes through this cycle of some misfortunate three years in your life. So when you have this talisman, those misfortunes will go away. And there is another example you see. There are some furnitures. I thought maybe I can show you some-- a small table that people use in everyday space. And what you see on the surface is the talisman. Different talismans were inscribed. So, basically, my point here is that you see talismans everywhere in Choson periods. Everyone may have had one, and even now, actually, if you are Christians or even the Korean-- recently elected Korean president, Mr. Yoon. He once had a political scandal during his campaign because he apparently wrote something on his palm maybe with some hope that makes him the next president. He became the president so maybe it really worked. Now, you are looking at somebody's coffin. This is the 15th-century Confucian scholar politician's tomb. So recently, yeah, in 2009, this tomb was excavated, and what you see is the inside of this wooden coffin. Sorry, for those people who do not read Korean, but I'm going to translate for you. Here are same talismans here on the-- so, basically, what you see is the Eastern, Western, Southern, and Northern direction. And, basically, the corpse should have light on this-- the head lies here, and there what you see is the talismans here. And this talisman is the Three Calamities Talisman that we just learned, and there are some other auspicious animals drawn here. The close shot of this talisman that you see is this different things going on here, but what I'm mainly interested in is this Chinese character-based talismans that I'm going to explain why people use this and what are they and what is written and how these things altogether function. So talisman, I kept talking about talisman, talisman, but I'd like to maybe briefly define what I mean by talisman. Talisman is a translation of this pre-modern term. In Korean pu or sometimes in pre-modern sources, they call it puyin or sometimes yin. So there is no actually one term to translate these pre-modern words or concepts. But most modern Korean people, they would be more familiar with this term puchok. But know that puchok is actually coined term in the 1970s. So it's another historical term, but I'm using this talisman too as a translation of pu, puyin, and also puchok. Broadly defined, I define talisman as any tangible objects believed to hold magical properties and powers. It can be anything really, but for my book, I like to focus on one particular type of talisman because think about my interest in non-elite devotionalism. Often, what was available to them was the cheapest, most available material which was paper in the Choson time period. So in my book, I'm mostly examining paper talismans. So two dimensional instead of three-dimensional talismans. So how talismans work. Roughly, you can say that there are two functions. One is to protecting the beholders from negative influences. So, basically, you want to get rid of evil influences coming from outside to inside. So, basically, you want to protect yourself. The other thing is you also bring in-- bringing the beholders the positive influences. So you want to take lots of good vibes or a good influences, good luck, but also you want to get rid of negative influences. So there are these two-directional movements. One is inward. The other is outward. So some of you may have this question. How to make talismans? I've seen YouTube videos. Some people teach you how to make talismans. So what about in the pre-modern time period? How do you make it? How do you sacralize it to you? So, traditionally, talismans was-- the making was very highly elaborated ritualized steps. You require a lot of knowledge, but there's a lot of specially prepared materials. So just think about ink. You already now get some idea of red ink was used, but the redness comes from mostly from this mineral called cinnabar. Cinnabar is a very interesting material. It has very fluid shape. It can easily go between liquid form to solid form. So in ancient China, often people believe that cinnabar is the key of immortality. So a lot of emperors, for instance, in Chinese history, they consumed it and died of it. Because if you eat it too much, it kills you. And sometimes, people use other redness like blood, or sometimes, often, cinnabar could be also expensive. So a lot of ordinary people, they preferred other ink such as black ink and also-- well, of course, rich people could use even gold. Sometimes, so there are a lot of healing talismans that I'm more interested in. And to maximize their healing power, sometimes they even use herbal decoctions too as a way to draw these talismanic spirits. And they also was very particular about papers. So fine papers, often strips of yellow and white paper. Yellow is also interesting because yellow was particularly chosen because in Chinese ancient thinking, there is this yin and yang, and yellow is lots of yang energy. Bright, rising energy so that they thought this is the best color. And sometimes, to make yellow color paper, people also use some herbal materials to dye the white paper. So consuming it was also part of very typical procedure of get healed through healing talismans. And so in my other chapter, I'm arguing that just consuming talismans after you draw and then do some rituals and then incinerate and then consume the ashes may seem to be a superstitious act. But, actually, there are some many layers of medical concerns built in. So that's a little bit broader but also little bit more interesting aspects of making a material aspect of talisman. As I just briefly said, we need some rituals to activate. So the beholder has to different-- going through different rituals, such as visualizing, chanting, and breathing sometimes to maximize the celestial impact in the talismans. In Buddhism, they had a little bit more clearly defined structure. So talisman is definitely one layer to summon God. Basically, what you are doing here is using this talismanic script. You summon, you call the deities that you need and ask them to do certain things. And in Buddhism, similar to other Indian religions, there is such a thing called dharani. Dharani is a Sanskrit word meaning incantation, or the original etymology is to hold, to remember. But a short phrase is-- often do not know what it means, but people believe that the utterance, the saying of that sound has sacred power. So people often use the talisman and dharani together. Some rare cases we also see another one more layer to activate talismanic power, which was Mudra. Mudra is another Sanskrit term meaning hand gestures. So if you go to see Buddhist icons, they have a lot of different hand gestures like this, and those are Mudras. And not so much I could find examples in Choson example talismanic practice, but it was used-- particular Mudra was used to activate particular types of talisman. Now, I'd like to move on to the historical transmission. So before we go to the Korea, we have to understand this East Asia as a more broader cultural unit. A lot of cultural interactions happen between Korea, Japan, China, Japan, China as well. But in terms of talismanic transmission, often, China was the main source for Koreans to receive it. And then, also, there was some local adaptations as well. We do not know much about talismanic culture before this period called Koryo period, but what I can confidently say is that, individually, from different routes, this talisman were circulated-- introduced and circulated to Korea and the topic of today's talk, which is-- there are so many different talismans. So I cannot really explain everything, but I'm focusing on one. This one type of talisman which is 24 talismans. So this talisman is actually the collection of every popular talisman combined. So that probably happened, in my estimation, sometime in the late Choson period. So if you're not familiar with the Choson history, often scholars divide Choson like the early Choson and late Choson. So there was 16th century, we had a war with Japan. So that is sort of dividing point. So roughly 16th, 17th century, this 24 were collected, and this is what I'm going to talk about more, how they come from, and how they made that big, giant talisman. So what I like to argue here is that this talisman, once it was combined, it was functioned as one giant talisman communicating a complex vision and comprehensive benefits. So to get to 24, actually, we have several examples building up. We have some 12, 14, 18, and eventually, we see 24. So I'm going to show you that pattern from Korea period. So here, we have very small gilt bronze drawbacks. Judging from the material, you see, and the very elaborate nature, this may have belonged to an upper class person. So we actually know that the owner, Lady Oh, and in it, what you find is this fold is small, very small scripture. And it has some dharani in both Chinese and Siddham scripts. And then we have the seven talismans are included, and here's another dharani. How to chant this talisman is also written here. So we know that people carry it. As I just mentioned, all they're carried is talisman hoping that all this talisman activates its power and protect the carrier. Now, we have more talisman. Roughly, for ten talismans here, I do not see 14 all. But, basically, this is one common place that you expect to see Buddhist talismans is inside of Buddhist icons. So Choson period Buddhism is difficult to study because this was the era people in the previous scholarship and even current-- some current scholarship believes that Buddhism in this period, Choson period, was severely persecuted. It's true to a certain degree, but also, as I try to show in this today's lecture, Buddhism was very vibrant. And it was actually the time period where Buddhism really infiltrated into every corner of the society. But since the official state ideology was neo Confucianism, which was very hostile to Buddhist doctrines and Buddhist practice, we do not have much records, written records or visual records, compared to Buddhist Japan or Buddhist China. But this recent years, Buddhist icons became the saviors, because inside Choson Buddhists, they kept a lot of stuff in it. So we have now even talismans are found intact. Now, we are quickly arriving to 24. So this is a little bit late, 19th century. But now, you see the complete 24. Usually, East Asian text you read from the right to the left. So from here, you have 24 talisman. What is four, and then it follows with the actual sail-shaped talisman. And this one doesn't have name, but I will tell you what it is later. Now, this is a translation of 24. I thought you may be curious about what these are. If you put it together as you see now, I don't go through everything, but it's quite random. Some you may just scratch your head, and is it really Buddhism? Buddhist talisman? So for instance, promotion and career, or something like safe childbirth, or there is another childbirth talisman easily inducing a placenta. Really, Buddhists really cared about woman delivering a baby. Apparently, they did, and actually, so you can think about this talisman as the most wanted or best selling examples. People really concerned about these things. So this is a really interesting lens to see what people were going through in their minds during the Choson period, or there's another thing called hitting a jackpot that I'm going to introduce in a minute. So here is same table, but I highlight seven talismans in yellow because I thought you may want to know the genealogy of these 24 talismans. So I cannot go into every detail. But at least this one, this seven, has very clear source. So this talisman actually comes from another bigger set of talisman circulated independently. 72 talismans, but let me, before I get to that, I like to just show you one example as a case study. So this is talisman called hitting a jackpot. I translated it that way now that you know before you go to Las Vegas, which talisman that you want to take with you to Las Vegas. What is interesting about this seven talismans is all in common, we have this interesting line and round shapes right here, here, here, all here. These are basically constellations because in Chinese, this comes from Chinese Taoist tradition, and they were very keen about the macrocosm and microcosm. You are connected to the stars. The celestial movement affects where-- you are affected by the Heavenly movements. So they observe the sky, and they created these talismans. So for instance, this one, the taller shape one, if you count the round shape, they actually seven. So you may have heard the seven stars in the sky, Ursa Major, and this is a modified version of seven stars. So they make this shape to emphasize this one, the sixth star in the seventh-- seven stars. The sixth one called \[KOREAN\], star is symbolizing the element, metal element. So metal controls metal. Think about metal. Money is made of metal. So money is basically what is communicating with this particular shape. So money, therefore, you can hit the jackpot if you worship this or carry this talisman. So there are other talismans following this similar logic when they create it. I actually wrote about this talisman, that 72 talismans where these seven talisman come from. So if you are interested in more about this-- rare, are this 72 talisman. Zhenzai lingfu in Chinese, or 72 numinous talismans for the stabilization of residences. You can learn more if you're interested in it from this article. So I just leave it here. But also, you saw 24 talismans. We now know seven are coming from this Taoist, very clear Taoist talisman set. But there are some other sources that eventually merge into 24. And one big area that I like to mention is Dunhuang. Dunhuang is an area name in China I'm going to introduce in a minute. And then there are other venues that I couldn't really fully understand yet, but hopefully, more before I publish my book. So in this picture, what you see is two men. I should have made it very clear, but they are not related here. It's two different picture. On the left hand side, you will you see Mr. Wang. This is taken 1900. This local Taoist master who lived near a place called Dunhuang, he accidentally found an entrance point of this massive, massive cave. It has a lot of manuscripts, scrolls, are kept. It was sealed close to 1,000 years because it was closed around at the turn of 11th century. So very 900 or almost 1,000 years, it was sealed and accidentally found by this person. He then does not the value of this treasures. Most of these documents and scrolls are Buddhists. So once overseas scholars, including this person, Paul Paleo, they got very interested in-- Paul Paleo is one of the renowned sinologists of the time period and people flocked into these caves called Library Cave, and they studied a lot of these materials. And the sad part is it kind of broken pieces into different imperial invaders. French, Russian, Japanese, and British all took their portion, and this is all spread across the globe. But, thankfully, thanks to research collaboration project, there is this website where you can see a lot of them are digitized. And those are very essential for my talisman study because a lot of Korean talismans that I'm presenting are also having origins in China. Most of them are in Chinese origin, and many of them that I'm showing here are from Dunhuang. So P is actually renamed Paul Paleo. So Paul Paleo's collection, we usually start with P. Paleo. So Paleo 3874, Paleo 2602, all these things, three, are definitely coming from, or we know that these talismans were very ancient but also was very popular in China as well. Now, let me go to the ritual use. I'm going to give you some more detailed case studies. So before we get into the different examples, I'd like to mention that there are three major places you can see. You are expecting to see talismans. In other words, talismans were-- on the everyday use, if it was used for Buddhist ritual contexts, you are very likely expecting to see it inside of stupa or funerary rituals. As you saw in the very beginning, it was stamped inside of the coffin. Sometimes, I'm going to show you some but also people were shroud. When you die, you do some makeup, and then people put up some-- put on some clothes, and that's where you also see talismans. But also, another common place is in Choson period is this inside of the statues that we already looked at it. And in Korea, we call it pokchang, and pokchang practice was very, very popular in Choson period. So the first thing, the stupa, is where you are very likely to see, but we don't have that many examples. But in this particular example, this example from the 14th century, this five-story stone stupa currently standing in a temple called \[INAUDIBLE\] temple. Inside, we have these seven talismans-- no, is it seven? 10. 10 talismans. You see that, right? And this talisman is very interesting because it actually appears-- not this one. This is actually modern rendering, remake of it, but this talisman is commissioned by this eunuch, very powerful \[CHINESE\], who was a very powerful eunuch, during the Wen Empire in China. So whenever he has some official mission to Korea, Korean Peninsula, he did a lot of Buddhist pious activities like donating Buddhist texts or Buddhist icons. And this is one example of-- one of the oldest examples of these 10 talismans that are attached to this Buddhist text called Diamond Sutra. So from this Diamond Sutra you just saw-- you may have missed. I'm going to replay it. So these orange color ones are coming from-- not necessarily from-- what I like to say is the oldest encounter is from that particular example. Now, we have another representation of 24 talismans. So very likely to mass produce people used woodblocks. So what you see here is some decorative diagrams. And now you are a little bit familiar with the 24 talismans. And at the bottom you very likely see the names of the donors. So with these kind of woodblocks, what you do is stamp it on the coffin. So what you see here is the interior of coffin. And you see the talismans and the diagram here. And then this is-- this particular example is coming from the tomb of \[INAUDIBLE\] another Confucian scholar, an official who lived in this time period. And this is actually his wife's clothes that she probably wore in her-- by the time that \[INAUDIBLE\] died. But once her husband died, she wanted to make some karmic connection, whatever. She stamped 18 talismans here and then some decorative diagrams here and inserted in the tomb of her husband. So you see the use of how talismans were used. So now at this point, you may wonder what is the difference between 10, 14, 18. I don't think-- at first I thought there must be some important symbolism going on with the numbers. But I tentatively conclude that there was no such significance in terms of the numbers. What is important for them was that the detail, that each individual talisman were not necessarily important. They were to a certain degree, like the talisman to guarantee you to reborn in the pure land or get rid of evil karma. Those things are essential, so those things keep repeating it. But other than that, the combination is very fluid. So whatever available seems eventually what was made to the final product. Here you see a lot of other-- here's another example of a little bit later, a 17th century example of-- now you'll see why there are so many mummies. I haven't seen the other but a lot of mummies in Choson period. The reason being 16th and 17th centuries we have several quite example of mummified corpses were discovered. And thanks to that, the condition preserved papers like this. So in this case, what you see is talismans used as a filler, like to make sure that the body doesn't move too much. And what is interesting about this particular tomb style is that they used lime clay, lime, which is one mineral, created very vacuumed space. So it couldn't really-- airtight space, so that the corpse often didn't really decay. And we have a lot of these clothes and fillers beautifully preserved. So that was a brilliant idea for my research. Here is another example that I mentioned earlier. Another major place that you expect to see talismans is pokchang. In Korean pokchang, but in English enshrinement of sacred objects. A lot of objects were enshrined, along with a lot of things we also often see talismans such as this one. So what I like to think about with you guys is what unites these three spaces-- stupa I mentioned, coffin, and also these Buddhist icons, hallowed space of these icons. And commonly talismans, numerous different combinations, but this set of talismans I found. What I like to highlight here is why recognizing the ritual goal of depositing object, which is pokchang, in the Buddhist icon is to consecrate and to animate. Which is conceptually the opposite of death. Those talismans deposited in the inner space of the sacred icons functioned the same way as those talismans used to adorn the deceased and the coffin. So similar to the main use of stupa, developed initially as a reliquary-- so stupa, if you are not familiar with what stupa is, basically-- saw the five-story stupa. It could be stone, could be wood, made of wood. Many materials-- clay was another material. Right after the death, physical death of the founding figure of Buddhism, Shakyamuni Buddha, Buddhists wanted to remember the Buddha's teaching and also himself. So they created this mound, mortuary mound. That is stupa. And inside what was enshrined is the relics. Basically, after cremate the body of the Buddha, some beads, crystal-like beads miraculously remained. So those were enshrined. So initially, stupa was basically a death ritual. It's a mortuary site. But also at the same time, ironically it talks about that. It signals to death. But at the same time, it is a physical constant reminder of the presence of the Buddha. So in the later period, in the Indian Buddhism or earlier Buddhism, Buddhist was a historical figure who died-- taught 35 years, died. But in the later Mahayana Buddhism, he was elevated or he was conceptualized as a cosmic being. So he never died. He just-- for the love of the Buddhists, he manifested himself in a physical shape. So erecting a stupa meant a physical reminder and also the presence of the Buddha. So it's kind of death and also at the same time life in a sense. So anyway, similar to that, the common use of talismans in the stupa, coffins, and Buddha statues suggest that the essential function of talismans was to sacralize and shield, to protect the mortuary container. So encased and hidden-- so all of these stupa, coffin, and these Buddhist icons, all encased and hidden. Talismans, including this closed structure, were one of the most effective ways to increase its inaccessibility. This inaccessibility and the liminality, neither dead or alive, ironically created a cosmic space for talismans to remain activated and augmented. Now I'd like to zoom out a little bit and then give you some broader points to think about to some Buddhism. Because as I mentioned a couple of slides ago, Choson Buddhism has been really understudied. Because often cases, people are interested in intellectual discourses. So there is a lot of intellectual materials between Buddhist masters or Neo Confucian scholars or some elite Buddhist monks. Not a lot, but there are some treaties or some scholarly works written by some towering figures. But as I said, I think it's really important to rescue or reveal the unprivileged or the best privileged people. And I think talisman is really one interesting material to show that aspects, study the aspects of Choson Buddhism. And in return, we see that how talismans were everywhere, and Buddhism was very much behind of this supporting or promoting talismanic culture. So this example is also interesting. A little bit late, 19th century example woodblocks. Woodblock. And then on the left hand side, you see the wood block. And the then right hand side, you see the printing of it. So it's reversed. And so now you see this. I don't know whether you see it well here. But what is interesting is that the title says \[KOREAN\]. In Korean. Or English, "the Catalog of the 80,000 Buddhist Canon taught by the Buddha." So what is interesting is that in the Buddhist circles, they want to emphasize that this is what Buddha taught, although Buddha never taught. And so they are basically not telling the truth, but in the tradition, from the very beginning of Chinese talisman, they had to divide this rhetoric to make Buddhist talisman Buddhist, so that this kind of title was often used. So what is interesting about this particular example is that even in the 19th century Choson some period, they wanted to make sure that people know that talismans are Buddhists, and this is actually what Buddha thought. So here what you see is all the-- not all, but actually some selective texts, the titles of texts. So it's not even 80,000 Buddhist canon. So it's actually a false claim that this is a catalog. But basically some texts, names, and how many volumes are here, carved. And then we have the other time and who did that. And then from here to here, we have 24 talismans that we now are familiar with. So one of the things that I like to mention is we have another lesser known aspects of Buddhist temples in Choson. Because Buddhism, unlike the previous dynastic, Goryeo dynasty that existed before Choson, Buddhist temples were basically off limits to a lot of women. So basically the Choson era law prohibited women from entering Buddhist temple grounds, because they thought that Buddhist temples are the place of all this moral corruption takes place, and Buddhist monks are not following the Neo Confucian moral ethics. But what we also have to think about is already during the career, Goryeo period, which is the earlier 11th century and then 14th century, the Goryeo period, what you see on the left here. Also this monk is holding this woodblock. It's called the Tripitaka of Korean or Buddhist canon. So 11th century, following the Chinese example, the Korean Buddhists, with the national support, because Korea was very default Buddhist nation, they sponsored this massive woodblock project to preserve Buddhist texts in this stylographic form. And that one in the 11th century was basically burnt down during the one foreign invasion. So about 150 years later, another 13th century, we have another-- this is what you see, so the example from the 13th century. So a lot of people in their mind, knowing this history of Buddhist temples, Buddhist temples, major Buddhist temples in Choson also mostly functioned as the library, repository of these woodblocks that were carved in the previous period. So basically they're a library. But we also have to-- if you look at what materials are preserved, other than these major canons, there are other temple, local temple production. Basically a similar scale of printing workshop existed in Choson temples. Not every but a lot of them. So that they actually already had accumulated this skill set to carve these woodblocks. And also often what they carved is Buddhist texts, but also as popular as those Buddhist texts, there also talismans were carved, different talismans. So we have to think about how talismans were also partaking in this broader printing culture in Korean Buddhism. So also know the Buddhist temples as the main producer. So we think about who produced these talismans? There are some non-Buddhist also probably carved and made, but Buddhist temples were the major workshops, main producer of these talismans that we have seen so far. A little bit more of social history. So now we know the production part. What about the circulation? And on the left hand side, you see a very famous Choson painter whose name was Gim Hongdo lived in this time period. And he basically is the master of painting category called genre painting. So often his case is the ordinary people's ordinary things. So here what you see is two Buddhists. One is holding one instrument. The other is holding another instrument, basically attracting people's attention very likely at a marketplace. And you see two women. We are not sure whether they are related. They are the same-- they accompany each other or not. That's not clear. But what we know is that they are selling something. I think this could be talismans, but I also think this may not be talismans. But what is very likely from this painting is that Buddhists were very interested in promoting Buddhist donations to the people. They go through this. The reason why this is important was that, as I said, Buddhist temples were forbidden. Although in theory, it was forbidden. If you went to Buddhist temples, the criminal law says you get 100 flogging. But if you look at this Choson official record called \[KOREAN\] these massive records of day-to-day incidents during the Choson era, there are a lot of mentioning in accounts that stop going to the temple, stop going to the temple. So by reading between the lines, we know that there actually that was law, but actually people kept entering the Buddhist temples and donated and all these things. But this is one example that Buddhists monastics took a more proactive role and come down and then sell or go for some fundraising. And other social actors that may have-- actually, there are some records that prove the point that instead of monastics, lay performers were loosely-- some lay performers loosely associated with Buddhist temples. They actually got Buddhist talismans from the monastic members, and then they perform different types of acrobats and dance and mask dances and instruments. They perform, and then after their performance ended, they sell talismans, and they get some-- they give the commission, literally small commissions back to-- they return the commissions back to the Buddhist monastic members. So this is one example of this group, the musician performers group who were promoting or selling Buddhist talismans called \[KOREAN\]. So now I think it's time to conclude. Whether you realized or not, you actually did a little puzzle with me. So this is the completed puzzle. I didn't explain these six ones. So the green ones that I did explain I have here. The oldest appearance of these green talismans come from this collection of Dharani texts called \[KOREAN\]. The oldest edition comes from 11th century. So as I said, the point here here is we have different sources or groups that eventually merge into these 24. The last one that I also like to mention here is that this purple one, this one is safe childbirth talisman. In my book actually I have a one chapter solely dedicated to this particular talisman because apparently, I think, this was, in terms of historical order, this may have been the most ancient one among these. That's my hypothesis, but it has something to do with this very popular deity called \[NON-ENGLISH\]. Anyway, so this is coming from another Buddhist texts called Crown Dharani Sutra. So combined together, these 24 talismans functioned as a giant talisman as well as our point of reference. And its complex vision creates uncanny effects, feelings for their viewers and also for the users. And the fluid format allowed the adherers to interact with individual or multiple talismans curated for different ritual purposes. For the conclusion-- another conclusion, multiple layers of ambiguity is built around talismans such as tensions between text and image, visibility and invisibility, as well as accessibility and inaccessibility played a key role in enacting the efficacy and potency of talismans. In that, the 24 talismans-- and also the 24 talismans occupied a central place in Choson Buddhist devotional practice. Ultimately, my examples challenge the common view of Choson Buddhism being dormant and defeated. Rather, these talismans, I think, present a surprisingly vibrant and dynamic picture of Choson Buddhism. Thank you for your attention, and here's my email address. If you have any-- I look very forward to our Q&A. But if I couldn't answer all of your questions, feel free to reach out to me and drop a note, and we can continue the conversation. Thank you. CHARLES STANG: Thank you so much, Sujung. That was really interesting. To someone who knows so little about the history of Buddhism in Korea, it was very lucid. I'm going to go to-- and we have a number of good questions. So I'm going to start with one that showed up early, and it's also one I myself had which is, are talismans in Korea tied to Buddhism exclusively? Or another way of putting that is, do we have pre-Buddhist talismans in Korea, or did they find their way into Korea by way of Buddhism? And also, who else uses talismans? Do Korean Christians use talismans? Or are they viewed with suspicion by other groups? SUJUNG KIM: Excellent questions. That actually is a book worthy question. But to give you brief ideas, so Korean talismans are oft-- as I said, for the most part following Chinese examples. And Buddhism also coming from China, so that's why I a little bit conflated the two, and I know where the question comes from therefore. So let me explain the Chinese situation. So a lot of sinologists, they wanted to understand the history of printing. And as I said, Paleo, the guy in the cave, he was the one-- CHARLES STANG: Yeah, yeah. I'll come back to Paul Paleo. I'm sorry. SUJUNG KIM: Yeah, Paul Paleo for instance, he had this question, where this printing comes from, the origin. And he thought talisman may have some clue to tell us more about it. So the oldest use of writing also has to do with this talisman. So this is a fascinating topic, I think. I cannot-- I'm just doing various fragment history in Choson. But as much as I can, I like to tie all this. But basically the oldest-- so a lot of scholars in sinology, Chinese studies, they have believed that it's from Daoism. CHARLES STANG: Hmm. SUJUNG KIM: But Daoism has close ties with Chinese imperial history. We are talking about 1st century Common Era. So there was this dynasty called Han Dynasty, which ended around 2nd century CE. And that is when Daoism really takes off. And they used a lot of imperial motive and themes in organizing their religious thoughts. But my point is another counter arguments. Like James Robson at Harvard, he wrote a very in-depth article 2008, Signs of Power. And in it he argues that the oldest Chinese example, like physical example of Taoist talisman, is 6th century CE, Common Era. But Buddhist one is 5th century, so there is one century. Buddhist is earlier. So they already reverse this common notion of Daoist origin. So what is really complicated here is that it looks like Daoists started it, but the example that or the circumstantial evidence tells us Buddhists also had even earlier use of talisman. So another scholar, Michel Strickmann, he was probably the pioneering scholar in this game. And my book, titled Korea Magical Medicine actually is a homage to his Chinese Magical Medicine. CHARLES STANG: Ah, OK. SUJUNG KIM: And this Michel Strickmann said this origin question is useless. More interesting-- because it's very difficult to determine who started first. So I think that reflects the Korean situation that the questioner asks about. I will get to that later, but know that rather than asking the origin question, probably it's more useful to see more broader patterns and the mutual borrowings. That's where the current scholarship stands on. Now moving to Korean talismans, there is almost zero scholarship. I mean, there is one monograph and a couple of articles, but very, very little is understood about Korean talismans. Because this is actually connected to the next question, this subquestion, who used talismans in Korea? So the situation between China and Korea is different. We did not have institutionalized Daoism. But we did Daoist culture. But we do have very strong institutionalized Buddhist presence in Choson-- in Korean Peninsula from the 1st century Common Era all the way to 20-- I mean, current time. So Buddhism was very positioned well in terms of how they observe and carry this Sinic culture to the Korean Peninsula with these Buddhist monks, pilgrimage, and merchants and all these things happened through this channel. So to come to the Korean situation, the Buddhists used, but also a lot of Korean premodern intellectuals use talismans as some sort of gentlemen's knowledge too. You should know. Like if somebody is sick, use this talisman. If you have diarrhea, use this. So learned men had to learn. And it didn't really-- they didn't really concern-- were concerned with this is Buddhist or Daoist. Whatever, it worked. They were more practical. Also it was difficult to know the origins of each talisman anyway. Now scholars like me, I can see which one is a Daoist talisman, which one is a Buddhist talisman by the shape and what is written. But in the pre-modern time period, that was out of question. And the second question, whether Christians also used or some other people used, so what is interesting is, for the study of talismans, why people have not looked at talismans, especially in Korea, is also there has been sanitization throughout the modern period. Because we have to understand this modernity, how the modernity came to Korean Peninsula was through Japanese colonization, which happened in the late 19th century, early 20th centuries. So throughout that period, people, both in China Japan, Korea, all of East Asia or the rest of Asia, they had this very dual engagement with their past, selective engagement. Something like talismans is something shaming. It's a prime examples of superstitions, so that even in the scholarship, it was totally marginalized. And the first person actually who studied the Korean talismans was actually a Japanese scholar who basically want to prove the point that, look at this, how backward Koreans were during the Choson period. So with this kind of scar or stigma, talisman was misunderstood as items used by shamans, like shamanic people, another religion that I didn't talk about. But they also have strong comments on this talismanic culture. Or those in-between people who do not necessarily belong to any major labeled religions. But there are other, especially blind people often seen as people who-- those blind people were often engaged with healing and divination in Choson period. So those people were also very active with this kind of alternative, I call it, healing or other management of everyday crisis. Did I answer your question? CHARLES STANG: You did-- very, very, very much so, very capably. This is going to be a more concrete question. People are wondering about the significance of the red ink on talismans, generally red ink, but more specifically, whether using blood as an ink carries some particular power or efficacy. SUJUNG KIM: That's a good question. Actually, I do not know much about the examples from Choson, but I think from China-- but blood is actually-- in Buddhism in general, a lot of cases, we find people-- this is the ultimate devotion. How should I put it? But let me start with a little bit broader picture. In East Asia, your body parts can be the best medicine. Once it was used as medicine. You may call it cannibalism. But still, all the 20th century, Korean newspapers were reporting those cases too. Somebody carved his thigh meat-- not meat. What is it? Flesh? And offered that to his mother as a medicine. And miraculously, mother healed. This is a long-standing practice already practice in medieval China. So that's one big idea about human body, using ultimate expression but ultimate faith or devotion. And blood is one type of-- so I think it's along that line. Blood is another, the red being also the color of exorcism in Chinese religion, Chinese believe. Again, similar to the color yellow that I briefly mentioned, the color red is young, very bright, vibrant, and also active energy. So that when you use red color in ritual objects, basically demons do not like it. They are scared of red so that they run away. CHARLES STANG: Ah. SUJUNG KIM: So that's the main theological reason behind. Because demons are yin. And they have aversion to the bright youngness that red is used as. But also as I said, there are a lot of occasions in Buddhist texts. People-- there is a practice called Sutra copying. So basically Buddhism very interestingly-- I mentioned-- I hinted here and there, but printing is very tied with-- technology is tied with Buddhism too. But also because Buddhism promoted this idea of wide circulation of Buddhist teachings, so for that you needed printing. But also if printing is not available, you do manually. You transcribe what Buddha said. So this practice of writing, copying Sutra has been one of the most popular devotional practices in entire East Asia. And often-- not often, but there are some known-- because it's some extreme cases. Often some pious practitioners use their blood to transcribe these texts. But the idea is, as I explained, the best offering that you can give. So that is I think-- CHARLES STANG: OK. SUJUNG KIM: One interesting-- CHARLES STANG: Go ahead. SUJUNG KIM: One interesting-- because I know that this person is interested about the color scheme, but talisman are also sometimes use in the space, in the open space. So the color is not always what they are thinking, but it could be written basically any surface in-- not any color, but they had preferred color, which was red. CHARLES STANG: Thank you. I want to read out one comment and then another question. And then, depending on how long you respond, that may be our time. We'll see. But the comment first is from my colleague here at the Divinity School, Jacob Olupona. Oh, there you are. OK. My colleague Jacob Olupona, who, as I said, teaches here at the Divinity School. He says, "thank you for this brilliant lecture, Professor Kim. As a follow up to the last question--" that was actually two questions ago-- he says, "it seems that there is a particular worldview that allows this expansive and rich talisman culture to exist. Western culture and imperialism destroyed this in Africa and Latin America and other places. Our health system--" I think he means our-- yes, by our, i think he means, because Jacob is from Nigeria, "our health system is destroyed by the Western missionaries and imperialism." So you're welcome to respond to that comment if you like. And then I have one more question from another person you know well. SUJUNG KIM: OK. Thank you. Thank you so much for the kind words and also for your question. Yeah, definitely certain worldview informed this Choson people's use of talismans. And as I mentioned, I just briefly mentioned in answering other question, the oldest systematic study of Choson talismans was conducted by this Japanese imperialist with this ulterior motive. But also interestingly, when I study talismans, because of this particular-- I like to localize this Korea history. In the '60s and '70s, Korea rapidly modernized and urbanized. And what happened then was-- So as I said, very beginning, if you look at household of Choson, you're likely to see there's talismans in the kitchen, in the toilet, in the threshold, everywhere. But around the '60s and '70s, often talismans were all wiped out. New buildings were built, and people no longer see it in the public space. What is really funny, though, is during the pandemic, one of the biggest-- I think this church is actually listed as the world's largest Pentecostal church in Seoul. And one of the priests there was promoting a talisman, little cards during the pandemic, when the pandemic was really at its pinnacle. Basically he was promoting a talisman for his Christian followers. If you have this, you don't get COVID. So it's very interesting double standards about talismans. If you have it, it's for your own protection. But if others have it, it's a superstition. CHARLES STANG: Right, right, right. SUJUNG KIM: But going back to the person's question, during the 18th, 19th centuries, Korea also was exposed to a lot of Western imperial presences. And it was a lot of missionaries came in, and they actually wrote, not a lot, but in passing here and there. They comment on Korean people's use of talismans. So it's very unfortunate that this imperialism really wiped out, and eventually by modernity, they in a way drove this 1,000 years traditional way and put it in a very marginal space, that are giving a hard time to scholars like me. But at the same time, their records are very valuable for me as a secondary source to understand this, what was happening during that time period. I'll leave it there. CHARLES STANG: OK, one last question. And it's from Matt Dillon. SUJUNG KIM: I know him. CHARLES STANG: Whom you know. SUJUNG KIM: Hello, Matt. CHARLES STANG: Matt said, "I'm really interested in the talismans stamped in coffins. I heard you say that they quote, sacralize and shield the mortuary container. But I wonder what role they played for the deceased. Would the deceased be protected by these talismans between death and birth? Were they understood to bring auspicious rebirth in pure land, or would it help guide the deceased between worlds?" SUJUNG KIM: Oh. Thank you, Matt, Professor Dillon, for your excellent question. Too bad you had the webinar format. I thought it was more like the Zoom lecture format. CHARLES STANG: No, sadly. SUJUNG KIM: But anyway, we can connect later. So for the question, I think-- I know where Matt's question comes from, but just-- I have so many theories. I don't have any definite answer to that. But judging from what talismans were used often, so it's basically get rid of your bad karma. So it's all-encompassing. I know it a little bit sounds analytical, but the more I looked at examples, people didn't give too much thoughts when they put together different talismans. But their main concern was make sure that they don't go to the hell and they go to the pure land, which is-- Pure land is lower than enlightenment. So they don't aim that high, but their best shot is to remain in this samsara, but the best possible place is the pure land. So I think that's what's in their mind when they put this stamp, these talismans in the coffin. I don't necessarily think this was used for guidance. Not necessarily this was actually talisman summons some spirits and spirits actually guiding them. Because in Buddhism, there is these 49 days of limbo period. I wonder whether Matt was referring to that. Because that is another theological background where Buddhists devise a lot of rituals, because what the family members of the deceased can do is to make a lot of offerings, of course to the Buddhist monastics, so they can have economic and all the ritual needs. But they think in-- so there is this invisible transaction going on. You make offerings during that 49 days. And then you transfer the merit so that that goes invisibly to this deceased person that miraculously erases all this evil karma and then go to the better place. That was this idea of this ritual, in Buddhist ritual. So I think you're maybe actually onto something, but I don't know. Maybe I'm not realizing that I'm rambling a little bit, but probably. CHARLES STANG: \[INAUDIBLE\] You're answering it. Yeah. And Matt is saying he was in fact, talking about the limbo period, the 40 days, what in Tibetan Buddhism would be navigating-- SUJUNG KIM: Yeah, part of-- yes. CHARLES STANG: --some intermediary, whether these talismans aided the deceased in their negotiation of the-- SUJUNG KIM: Yeah, that definitely. So that's one thing, but another thing that people in China and Korea too, they use this fake money. They want to make sure that they visualize when the deceased person departs the physical body, they go to somewhere. right and they have to cross this river, this imagined space. And to get to the other side, they need some travel money. So they actually put some either coins in the mouth, that person's mouth. Or yeah, Charlie, you know all that too. CHARLES STANG: I'm thinking of-- I'm thinking of the Greek example of the coin in the mouth to pay the ferryman. SUJUNG KIM: Yeah, they also put some grains, make sure that they are not hungry. So there are a lot of these thoughts put into in this material form. So a talisman may have that role as well, but it's not really-- The problem with studying talismans is it's all fragmented. So I have to put it together and create a narrative. So I haven't gone that far for this particular question, but I will keep thinking about it. Thank you. CHARLES STANG: Thank you. Thank you, Sujung. Thank you for this very rich presentation and conversation in the Q&A session. And thank you all for joining us this evening for this, the annual Ahnkook lecture. Please be on the lookout for future events this semester, many of which we will continue to offer like this as Zoom webinars, which we do in no small part to reach as wide an audience as possible. We've had nearly-- we had up to 70 people joining this, which is wonderful. So in the meantime, I want to thank you again, Sujung, one last time, and bid you all good evening. Thank you so much. SUJUNG KIM: Thank you, everyone. Thank you so much, Charlie. Have a good evening. SPEAKER 2: Sponsor is Center for the Study of World Religions and the Ahnkook Fund for Korean Buddhism. SPEAKER 3: Copyright 2023, the President and Fellows of Harvard College. See also:- [ Video ](/news-classification/video)