Joseon Suppression of Buddhism
Founded on a neo-Confucian ideology, the Joseon dynasty progressively dismantled the institutional power that Buddhism had enjoyed under the preceding Goryeo. Successive measures stripped monasteries of their estates and bonded labourers, restricted the ordination of monks, and barred Buddhist clergy and temples from the cities. Under King Sejong the campaign culminated in 1424 with the forced amalgamation of all Buddhist schools into just two officially tolerated sects, the Seon and Gyo, and a drastic reduction in the number of state-recognised temples. The confiscated land and labour vastly enriched the Confucian state while displacing a religious framework that had been central to Korean life for centuries. This was a sustained, state-directed targeting of a religious community, reordering the spiritual and economic landscape of the kingdom in the service of Confucian orthodoxy.
- Year: 1424 CE
- Category: Religious
