Girish Mahajan (Editor)

Jaegaseung

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Jaegaseung

Jaegaseung (Chosŏn'gŭl: 재가승, Japanese: 在家僧) were Jurchen people descendants who live in Korea. They formed villages of married lay monks. They produced oatmeal paper and substituted their tax with it. In modern times, Jaegaseung people were assimilated to Korean people by North Korea. Their villages existed from the 18th century, when their descendants migrated from China, to the 1960s.

Monastic identity of the lay monks was seen as antisocialist, and the villages have ceased to exist.

Buddhist communities have been repressed by communist governments in Asian countries. The local communities had survived through colonial period without serious pressure from outside.

References

Jaegaseung Wikipedia