The general understanding of Buddhism’s status during the Chosŏn dynasty is that the period was a dark age for the religion. The Chosŏn regime respected and advocated Confucianism and, as a result, severely oppressed Buddhism. However, kŭmsŏngmun 金石文 (epigraphs) and pimun 碑文 (epitaphs) from the Chosŏn dynasty reveal quite few cases of receiving pigu kye 比丘戒 (religious precepts given to Buddhist monks and nuns). Also, many Buddhist scriptures on religious precepts that were published between the late 17th century and the late 18th century have recently been discovered. In this study, with reference to earlier research we argue that the established understanding of religious precepts during the late Chosŏn period should be reconsidered.
