form of birth? How do women, so often figured as the
objects of male desire, create a subject position for
themselves as Buddhist practitioners—or should this
lack of a fully articulated “self” be viewed as an ad-
vantage on the Buddhist path? Such questions are hotly
debated among practitioners and scholars alike; the
fruits of these debates, whatever they may be, will
surely herald significant shifts in the thought and prac-
tice of Buddhism for people of all genders.
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NATALIED. GUMMERWO ̆N BUDDHISM. SeeWo ̆nbulgyoWO ̆NBULGYOWo ̆nbulgyo,a compound of the Korean wo ̆n(circle)
and pulgyo(Buddhism), means literally “Circular Bud-
dhism,” or “Consummate Buddhism.” It is the name
of an indigenous religion founded in Korea in the
twentieth century.History
Pak Chung-bin (1891-1943; “Sot’aesan”) attained
great enlightenment in 1916 and had a precognition of
the world entering an era of advancing material civi-
lization, to which humans would be enslaved. The only
way to save the world was by expanding spiritual power
through faith in genuine religion and training in sound
morality. With the dual aims to save sentient beings
and cure the world of moral ills, Sot’aesan began his
religious mission. He opened a new religious order
with the buddhadharmaas the central doctrine, estab-
lishing the Society for the Study of the Buddha-dharma
at Iksan, North Cholla province, in 1924. He edified
his followers with newly drafted doctrine until his
death in 1943. The central doctrine was published in
the Pulgyo cho ̆ngjo ̆n(The Correct Canon of Buddhism)
in 1943. In 1947 Song Kyu (1900–1962; “Cho ̆ngsan”),WO ̆NBUDDHISM