This paper explores the reframing of religion as ‘culture’ in both public and Buddhist circles in response to the recent popularity of Korean Buddhism. Over the past two years, Buddhist events such as DJ NewJeansNim’s EDM performance at the 2023 Lantern Festival and the 2024 Seoul International Buddhism Expo have attracted significant public attention, particularly on Korean social media. The viral success of these events is notable for two key reasons. First, these are explicitly Buddhist phenomena that have captured public attention in a time where interest in organized religion is in general decline, and where Christianity has dominated the religious landscape for the past decade (Gallup Korea 2021; Hankook Research 2024; Pew Research Center 2023). Second, it highlights a curious trend: both non-Buddhist audiences and Buddhist organizers are increasingly framing Buddhism as a form of ‘culture.’ What is especially striking is that this idea of culture appears conceptually distinct from that of religion, the former being seen as more open and accessible while the latter is thought of as somehow delimiting.
I aim to address these issues through the following question: why are these events being deliberately framed as 'cultural' rather than 'religious,' despite their obvious connection to organized Buddhism? To answer this, I examine how the categories of religion and culture are being understood in the modern, post-COVID South Korean context, the consumerist impetus behind the articulation of Buddhism as culture, and the tension that arises when organized Buddhism engages in propagation within this climate. While the idea of cultural propagation (munhwa p’ogyo) is not widely discussed in modern academic discourse, focusing on the articulation of Buddhism as culture in light of its recent popularity offers a useful vantage point into not only how the Korean public engages with Buddhism today, but also how Buddhism invites such engagement.
Though the word religion (chonggyo) is not new to the Korean language, its modern understanding has been shaped largely by the introduction of Protestant Christianity, and is consequently marked today by expectations of individual, exclusive, and voluntary affiliation with a particular set of beliefs or practices (Baker 2016). Because this concept of religion fails to encompass the broader participation extending beyond established religious boundaries, ‘culture’ has emerged as a more appropriate category that can be shared and enjoyed by people of all (or no) beliefs. This shift is further reinforced by growing public skepticism toward organized religion, particularly in the wake of scandals involving various religious groups during the COVID-19 pandemic. This negative perception helps explain why non-Buddhists may prefer to frame their engagement with Buddhism in cultural rather than religious terms.
Drawing on Kathryn Lofton’s approach to religion and popular culture (Lofton 2017), I argue that there is also a consumerist impetus behind the articulation of religion as culture. The concept of culture here operates on two main levels: first as a form of popular culture that can be consumed, and secondly as an integral part of Korea’s national heritage. Buddhist orders have long been asserting the legitimacy of Buddhism by highlighting its 1,500-year cultural presence on the Korean peninsula, which allows it to be more accessible to Koreans who may not necessarily identify as Buddhist but still share that historical connection. By framing it as a common Korean spirituality, it appeals to the idea of a distinct ‘Koreanness’ that sets it apart from both the numerous religious traditions in Korea as well as the many other Buddhisms of the world.
These two aspects of culture, which are more often than not quite difficult to separate, jointly enable a more flexible engagement of Buddhism beyond religious affiliations. The nebulous category of culture has thus proven quite effective in connecting with a broader audience, successfully sparking both domestic and international interest in Korean Buddhism. In a time of disinterest in religion overall, where “liking something is a serious act of distinction” (Lofton 2017, 4), culture has become a powerful avenue for the propagation of Korean Buddhism. This is especially evident in organized Buddhism’s recent attempts to leverage the popularity of events such as DJ NewJeansNim’s performances and the International Buddhism Expo by incorporating them into their strategy of munhwa p’ogyo, or cultural propagation.
However, as historian Mark Nathan has made clear, p’ogyo refers to a specifically modern activity that developed alongside the modern concept of religion, as well as a legal consciousness that equates religious freedom with the liberty to propagate (Nathan 2018). As such, propagation is not simply a byproduct of religion, but rather a fundamental and definitive aspect of it in contemporary South Korea as a “normative category of legally sanctioned religious activity” (Nathan 2018, 3). If propagation functions as a distinctly and legitimately religious activity, what happens when a religion both promotes itself and is engaged with as a culture, especially one that can be consumed? It is crucial to recognize that the cultural success of Korean Buddhism cannot entirely be attributed to Buddhism’s intrinsic appeal, but rather relies just as much on the commercial values of rarity and novelty which, in turn, give meaning to its consumption. This intersection of religion and culture blurs conventional boundaries between the religious and the secular, traditional and modern. Yet it also creates an intriguing paradox: the cultural success of Buddhism can only be possible to the extent that these conceptual binaries are somehow maintained. In other words, the blending of Buddhism and culture can generate a sense of novelty and rarity only if it remains distinct enough from the broader secular cultural landscape—ultimately revealing both the precarious reality of organized Buddhism today, and the dynamic, contested nature of religion in contemporary, non-Western societies.
This paper explores the reframing of Buddhism as ‘culture’ amid its growing popularity in South Korea. Recent Buddhist events like DJ NewJeansNim’s Lantern Festival performance and the Seoul International Buddhism Expo have attracted immense public attention despite declining interest in organized religion. Notably, both non-Buddhist audiences and Buddhist organizers increasingly describe Buddhism as a ‘culture’ rather than ‘religion.’ This study examines how the categories of religion and culture are being understood in post-COVID South Korea, the consumerist impetus behind articulating Buddhism as culture, and the tension that arises when organized Buddhism engages in propagation within this climate. I argue that the concept of culture operates on two main levels: as a consumable form of popular culture and as national heritage. While this strategy enhances Buddhism’s visibility, it also raises questions about the intersection of propagation and consumerism, ultimately highlighting the fluid and contested nature of religion in contemporary, non-Western societies.