Buddhism, Digital Technology and New Media in Korea

Book excerpt: Buddhism, Digital Technology and New Media in Korea introduces Ŭisang (625–702), a seminal figure in East Asian religion who founded the Korean Hwaŏm school of Buddhism, from various angles by placing his thought in the interdisciplinary and intercultural context of the twenty-first century. The book analyzes the scope of Ŭisang’s teachings through a study of his Ocean Seal Diagram with reference to digital technology and poetics. It attempts to identify diverse intersections between Ŭisang’s thought and Western ideas, elucidating the diagram’s potential as a meta-theory applicable to various academic fields in view of unprecedented changes in human life brought forth by the digital revolution. Contributors to the book present comprehensive and in-depth analyses of the dynamic applicability as well as persistent traits of the Ocean Seal Diagram in the AI era. Inspired by the creative potential of the diagram, the chapters unravel the points of agreement and disagreement between Hwaŏ Buddhism and contemporary intellectual currents, promising to take a transregional and transhistorical dialogue to the new level suitable to the ever-changing digitalized global environment. This book will be of interest to researchers in a wide range of disciplines such as Religious Studies, Philosophy, Korean Studies, Media Studies, Cultural Studies, Digital Humanities, Anthropology, and Globalization Studies, among others.