Sacred Signs and Safe Labor: Safe Childbirth Talismans in Chosŏn Korea
Presented by Sujung Kim, DePauw University
Date: November 17th, 2022. 9:00 AM-10:30 AM (New York, EST)/ 11:00 PM—00:30 AM (Seoul) / 2:00 PM-3:30 PM (London)
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Difficult childbirth is one of the first and the most frequently occurring issues in the healing discourses preserved within the Buddhist tradition. Among various ways to facilitate safe parturition, along with incantations a talisman was often used as a therapeutic method from very early on in East Asian Buddhism. Among the long-standing tradition of healing talismans, this talk attends to the case of a safe childbirth talisman popularized during the Chosŏn (1392–1910) period in Korean Buddhism. By focusing on a safe childbirth talisman found at the end of the Great Dharani of the Buddha’s Uṣṇīṣa [Crown] Heart of Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva (Kr. Pulchŏngsim kwanseŭm tae tarani佛頂心觀世音菩薩大陀羅尼), the talk demonstrates how talismanic treatment—interwoven with traditional Buddhist healing methods and Chinese medical knowledge—dealt with the dangers and difficulties of childbirth and how “ritual healing” was perceived, processed, and negotiated in Chosŏn Buddhism, as well as the Chosŏn society at large.
About the Presenter
Sujung KIM is associate professor of religious studies at DePauw University. She received her Ph.D. in East Asian Languages and Cultures from Columbia University in 2014 and her M.A. in Buddhist Philosophy from Korea University in 2007. Sujung joined the DePauw faculty in 2014 and since then she has taught a wide range of courses on Buddhism and East Asian religions. While her research primarily centers on the premodern transcultural interactions between Japanese and Korean religions, her interdisciplinary research interests also include modern/contemporary Korean Buddhism. Her first book, Shinra Myojin and Buddhist Networks of the East Asian “Mediterranean” (University of Hawai‘i Press, 2019) focuses on a deity called Shinra Myōjin. The book explains that Shinra Myojin is not only an influential protector god of the Onjōji temple in Japan, 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 project tentatively titled, Korean Magical Medicine: Buddhist Healing Talismans in Chosŏn Korea, which she investigates the religious, historical, and iconographic dimensions of healing talismans produced in Buddhist settings during the Chosŏn period. Although its primary focus is Buddhist healing talismans in Chosŏn Korea, the book also locates itself in the broader East Asian context, aiming at showing the complex web of talismanic culture in East Asia. This book project is supported by ACLS/Robert H.N. Ho Family Foundation (AY 2021–2022).