Taoism in Korea - Joseon

Joseon

The state religion under the Joseon Dynasty can be described as Neo-Confucianism, although not popular among the common people. At least at the start of the dynasty, Taoist literature was quite popular among groups of the intelligentsia. These writings on Taoism were predominantly from a Confucian perspective. However, there was a growing opposition from the main Confucian faction against Taoism, and Taoism began to be perceived as "heretical". Subsequently, the presence of Taoism shrank noticeably, and during the 1592 Japanese invasion, Taoism was systematically abolished.

In the 16th to 18th centuries, Taoist flourished, as literati, monks, private scholars (sarim), and even women, studied and practiced Taoist meditation and inner alchemy (naedan/Danhak) and produced hagiographic and anecdotal accounts of their Taoist contemporaries and forebears. The most important of these accounts known to date are four anecdotal biographies of immortals (Sason chon) in the collected writings of Heo Gyun (1569-1618), the Ch'onghakjip (Collected Discourses of Master Blue Crane) by Cho Yojok (early 17th century).

While these were written to encourage Koreans to practice inner alchemy for the sake of immortality (i.e., deliverance from the corpse), they also re-envision and broaden the meaning of Korean religious history by reiterating nativist and folk traditions about the role of Korean mountain recluses and earthbound immortals in the maintenance and protection of Korean society.