Tripikata Koreana
While searching for a new topic on language influences of artifacts on Korean language, I came across something called the Tripitaka Koreana. This is a collection of Korean scripts of the Haeinsa Temple locate in Korea, which contain sacred Buddhist texts. Buddhism is a religion that originated in India by Siddhartha Gautama but as it traveled toward the East (through trade), it became something more closely known as East Asian Buddhism which varied from the original concept of the religion based on each individual country's (that came into contact with Buddhism) prior religious beliefs to the introduction of Buddhism. After the religion of Buddhism had been reviewed by Korean scholars, the religion had been reformed and interpreted in a different light. In today’s day and age, it is more closely known as Tonbulgyo, Zen, or Korean Buddhism to Koreans. The Tripitaka Koreana, written in the 13th century, was carved onto wooden printing blocks that totaled to be about 80,000 wooden blocks (Hanja is the written language that was carved onto these 80,000 wooden blocks). Because of the introduction of Buddhism, it led to the use of Hanja (Chinese characters) which would allow Koreans to accept Chinese culture without sacrificing their native tongue (spoken Korean language).
The language written on these wooden blocks contained hanja script which use Chinese characters but do not hold the same pronunciation of Chinese language. It is possible that the Tripitaka Koreana could have made an impact on Korean language because of the religion and beliefs imbedded into it. Within it, lies Buddhist teachings which have become part of Korean culture in some ways which can definitely make an impact on the vernacular of the language, and the introduction of new words, new meanings, and concepts. Similar to English, the introduction of Christianity introduced new words that stemmed from Greek and Latin language and new ways in which words could be formed.
Today, although the use of Hanja in Korean language has dwindled, there are still concepts and ideas from Buddhism in cooperated in some ways within Korean society. Hanja itself is still taught within schools but it’s often difficult to maintain as it is not used on a day-to-day basis. And it is used mostly in ancient literature, legal documents and to shortened long sentences or phrases in some instances. Hanja however can be beneficial in the sense that there are quite a handful of Korean words that apparently come from Chinese roots. This can be beneficial when learning Korean vocabulary to become fluent in Korean, as 30-60% of Korean words have Chinese origin.
Because religion produces a new way of thinking, Korean society experienced a prosperous rise (in Korean culture life) from the introduction of Buddhism which led to its stature to be how it is today. This may be from laws treaties and scriptures from the Buddhist texts that were in cooperated into the culture and governmental aspects of Korean society which allowed the nation to grow and develop leading it to be what it is today.
Comments
Tripitaka Koreana has such a unique background and history! I also had no idea Buddhism was a major theme in Korean culture, I wonder if and/or how any of the Abrahamaic religions have influenced Korean culture/script (other than how you mentioned Christianity introducing some new words). I also did not know Chinese had has its influences on Korean roots -- I knew the two were in separate language families, so I figured they would be more or less isolated from one another.
It is interesting to me how Buddhism created such a rise in the prominence of Korean culture. I had not known that previously. It is so fascinating that a belief system can travel so far and be adopted into a different cultural context with the same core beliefs and principles. Thank you for sharing, Justina!
I have never heard of Tripitaka Koreana and thought your cultural post was very interesting. I did not know that Buddhism led the use of Hanja. I think it was interesting to figure out that Tripitaka Koreana have impacted the Korean langauge in some ways by forming it differently from the native tongue and also the pronunciation of the Chinese language.
This is a very detailed post! Thank you for your research. I think that the best part of learning vocabulary is learning where words come from, especially if there's foreign influence. I imagine that Hangul must be a difficult hurdle to cross for Korean historians. At what point was there a switch from Hanja to Hongul? Is there evidence of a written language in the territory prior to the introduction of Hanja?