This presentation recontextualizes the emergence of female clerics (kyomu) in Wŏn Buddhism within the changing religious and social lives of Korean women in the early twentieth century. Focusing on Cho Chŏn’gwŏn (1910–1976), the first female Wŏn Buddhist cleric, it examines how Wŏn Buddhism reconfigured female religious authority during the Japanese colonial period (1910–1945). It explores both the movement’s doctrinal commitment to “equal rights for men and women” and the institutional practices that enabled women to assume religious leadership traditionally reserved for men. Through a close reading of Cho’s kasa, a form of vernacular verse that flourished during the late Chosŏn dynasty, Yun argues that Wŏn Buddhism intertwined gender equality with Buddhist liberation, creating a distinctive model of female religious agency and reshaping women’s religious authority in modern Korea.

Bio: Since fall 2021, Sung Ha Yun has served as an assistant professor of religion and Asian studies at St. Olaf College, where she teaches and conducts research on Buddhism and East Asian religions. Her research interests include Korean Buddhism, gender and Buddhism, and East Asian new religious movements. She received her M.A. in Asian studies from the University of California, Berkeley, and her Ph.D. in Buddhist studies from the University of California, Los Angeles. Yun became a Wŏn Buddhist kyomu (priest) in 2007 and spent many years serving the communities of the San Francisco and Valley Wŏn Buddhist Temples. Alongside her teaching and scholarship, she continues to be deeply engaged in spiritual practice and community building. She is currently helping to nurture a new Wŏn Buddhist spiritual cultivation group in Northfield, Minnesota, bringing together her commitments to education, spiritual practice, and community.

Questions may be directed to Jooyeon Rhee at jxr5820@psu.edu.