This study starts with "Excuse for Habermas," which critically examines the Buddhist interpretation in J. Habermas' last masterpiece "Auchaine Geschichte der Philosophy" from a Buddhist sociological point of view, which has maintained a critical distance. Habermas analyzed the case of Buddhism using Jewish innovation (the escape of the magic of torture, the moralization and personalization of divinity, and the decapitation of worship) as a yardstick in the process of identifying revolutions in the world of the Axial Age. According to him, Buddhism achieved a decisive cognitive transformation by dismantling the specialist caste order of Brahmanism and Upanishad philosophy, which are warriors. Buddhism destroyed selfishness by negating the reality of the soul and grasping the ontological sanctity as "an absolute ball," and achieved "morality of divinity" by combining eight-degree meditative immersion with universalistic mercy and compassion. Habermas evaluates that Buddhism, despite its global deterrent (world escapism) nature and lack of political dimension, exercised considerable subversive power and social critical functions in Indian caste society at the time through egalitarian views of salvation and the organization of alternative communities. This interpretation of Buddhism by Habermas has academic significance in overcoming the single-line limitations of M. Weber, who regarded Buddhism as an antisocial mysticism and a stumbling block to modernization by restoring the social innovation and rapid function of Buddhism. In addition, unlike R. Bellah's interpretation of Buddhism, which results in reform from above and a nationalist political culture, it has a unique value in that it provides a basis for linking reform from below, civil society, and democratic political culture. Despite his interest and interpretation of Buddhism, however, several limitations can be pointed out from the perspective of Buddhist sociology. Above all, Habermas' interpretation is based on the "在 of absence" of Protestantism and Judaism, not on the inherent standards of Buddhism, and thus he knows the limits of following Weber's "Bed of Procrustes." By contrasting Buddhism's "gong" to transcendental principles, it failed to fully deal with Buddhism's unique ontology (three corporations) that captures change and phenomena, and compared moral motives with God's command and obedience frame, downgraded the uniqueness and intensity of "mind practice (of midnight)", the core of Buddhist practice, to the level of meditation. In conclusion, in order to overcome the limitations of Habermas' Buddhist interpretation, it is necessary to switch to an intrinsic approach such as a "psychosocial analysis framework" using Buddhism's unique concept of mind and a methodological tool that encompasses the three corporations.

This study begins with the question of why social dialogue in Korean society has repeatedly encountered limitations despite having institutional frameworks and procedural forms. Korea Tripartite Commission, Economic, Social and Labor Council, Public deliberation committees, the Hwajaeng Committee of the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism, and the Assembly of 100 Members of the Fourfold Community have each attempted conflict mediation and consensus formation in different ways. However, these cases show that social dialogue cannot succeed merely through the establishment of organizations or the introduction of procedures. Previous studies have analyzed the causes of failure in social dialogue mainly in terms of institutions and structures, such as weak representation, unequal power relations, lack of responsibility for implementing agreements, instability in the role of government, and the weakening of institutional trust. While these diagnoses are important, they do not fully explain why participants in dialogue fail to recognize one another as legitimate dialogue partners, why they cannot interpret the claims and suffering of others, and why agreements do not lead to responsible practice. In response, this study reinterprets Wonhyo’s Hwajaeng (和諍) as a form of social thought that reveals the relational conditions of social dialogue. Hwajaeng is not a method of simply compromising between or superficially reconciling opposing views. Rather, it is a way of thinking that examines the conditions under which each claim arises and discloses both the partial validity and the limitations contained within it. Based on the ontology, epistemology, and theory of practice of Hwajaeng, this paper reconstructs social dialogue as a process of empathy, responsibility, and practice. It further proposes three types of social dialogue: nominal social dialogue, fragmented social dialogue, and Hwajaeng-oriented social dialogue. This analysis demonstrates that Hwajaeng is not a model intended to replace existing institutions of social dialogue, but rather a resource of thought that calls for a transformation of relationships necessary for institutions and procedures to function in practice. Furthermore, this study argues that the task of conflict mediation in Korean society does not lie merely in creating more dialogue bodies, but in forming a culture of dialogue in which participants move beyond perceiving one another as objects of exclusion, disclose each other’s partial validity (一理) and suffering, and responsibly put the outcomes of dialogue into practice.

Modern high-density development and construction methods have produced a "Greedy Space" that reduces the value of space entirely to economic efficiency, thereby depriving residents of psychological leeway and intensifying human alienation. In response, this study diagnoses the contradictory limitations of contemporary greedy space, which perceives space merely as an object of quantitative expansion and ownership. Furthermore, it seeks an alternative spatial paradigm in which the values of emptiness and fullness coexist and achieve mutual symbiosis, accomplished through an organic connection with "virtual space," which continues to expand into new territories with the advancement of cutting-edge digital technologies. To clarify the multidimensional reality of both greedy and virtual spaces, this study establishes an interdisciplinary analytical framework that integrates psychoanalysis, semiotics, literary tragedy theory, and Eastern philosophy. To this end, Jacques Lacan’s psychoanalysis, Jean Baudrillard’s semiotics, Shakespeare’s tragic narrative theory, and the Sunyata (emptiness) philosophy of the Buddhist Diamond Sutra (Vajrachedika Prajnaparamita Sutra) are set in parallel on the same scholarly analytical plane. By tracing how human unconscious lack and material attachment materialize in physical territory through Lacan and Shakespeare, and analyzing the replication and expansion attributes of virtual space in the information society through Baudrillard and pop-culture texts, this paper attempts a holistic examination crossing reality and virtuality. The analysis interprets the saturation phenomenon of virtual territory by intertextually linking the virtual simulation in the film The Matrix and the multi-layered spatial nesting mechanism embodied in Inception. The result reveals that virtual space, symbolized by virtual reality technology, is also another hypersaturated locus where human uncontrollable greed and desire are materialized. By synthesizing this phenomenological diagnosis with the ontological insights into matter and space provided by the Four-Verse Gatha (Gāthā) of the Diamond Sutra, this study demonstrates that physical fullness (greed) and virtual emptiness (virtual space) are not mutually exclusive antitheses. Instead, they can be redefined as a mutually complementary relationship that organically mediates the historical context of a city and inner virtual imagination in contemporary architecture. In conclusion, this study proposes the "Aesthetics of Sunyata (Emptiness)," which promotes the symbiosis and coexistence of emptiness and fullness, as a practical alternative spatial methodology to calibrate the distortions of the contemporary urban environment. From a public perspective, this serves as an institutional apparatus to rectify spatial policies engrossed in volume and efficiency; from the perspective of civil society, it provides a foundational basis for alienated subjects to reclaim and reflect upon the inherent use-value of space. Furthermore, from an architectural standpoint, this study holds substantial scholarly and practical significance by putting forward a future-oriented, sustainable hybrid design discourse that bridges physical reality and virtual illusions.

This study reexamines the dominant discourse in Buddhist ecology that explains the ecological crisis primarily as a consequence of greed and proposes a new doctrinal framework by interpreting ecological greed through the dual structure of craving in early Buddhism. While previous studies have largely identified consumerism- and growth-oriented greed as the principal cause of the ecological crisis and emphasized ethical practice and institutional reform as its solution, Stephanie Kaza argues that environmental activism itself may also generate forms of greed manifested in the pursuit of time, knowledge, civic participation, status, and power. This study revisits Kaza’s insight and offers a systematic Buddhist interpretation of these two different forms of greed. Drawing upon the doctrinal framework of the Four Noble Truths and Dependent Origination, this study distinguishes the origins and developmental processes of defilements and applies them to the analysis of ecological greed. The findings suggest that greed associated with the ecological crisis is not a single phenomenon but exhibits a dual structure of craving consisting of kāma-taṇhā (craving for sense pleasures) and bhava-taṇhā (craving for becoming). Consumerist greed, characterized by the pursuit of immediate satisfaction through consumption and possession, is interpreted as a contemporary manifestation of kāma-taṇhā. In contrast, the desire among environmental activists for time, knowledge, participation, status, and power is interpreted as a manifestation of bhava-taṇhā, reflecting the aspiration to become a particular kind of moral subject. Furthermore, by examining the process through which craving develops into upādāna (clinging), this study argues that consumerist greed primarily develops into kāmupādāna (clinging to sense pleasures), whereas anti-consumerist greed tends to develop into diṭṭhupādāna (clinging to views) and sīlabbatupādāna (clinging to rites and rituals). Based on this analysis, the study contends that different forms of greed require different modes of practice. The aspiration for becoming among environmental activists can be transformed through the practice of mindfulness proposed by Kaza, whereas consumerist greed requires not only individual mindfulness but also supportive social institutions. Finally, the Fourth Noble Truth is presented as an integrative framework in which the Middle Way of the Noble Eightfold Path provides a practical path for overcoming both forms of greed. Rather than reducing the ecological crisis to a single form of greed, this study demonstrates that ecological greed is composed of two distinct modes of craving with different origins, developmental structures, and methods of transformation. By introducing the concept of the dual structure of craving, this study expands the doctrinal horizon of Buddhist ecology and offers a new Buddhist interpretive framework for contemporary ecological ethics.

This study aims to explore the impact of perceived marital violence on the marital happiness of married women and to analyze the mediating effect of perception of the husband in the relationship between these two variables. Violence between spouses has emerged as a critical social issue, as it not only undermines an individual’s psychological and mental health but also exerts detrimental effects on children. Despite the proliferation of various indicators regarding spousal violence both domestically and internationally, academic research in this area remains insufficient. Existing literature has primarily focused on psychological and individual traits or spouse-related factors as predictors of marital happiness, with a significant portion of the discourse centered on qualitative research. Distinguishing itself from previous studies, this research employs a quantitative approach to analyze how spousal violence-as a factor of marital conflict-and the resulting perception of the spouse influence marital happiness. To achieve the research objectives, data from 4,655 participants fitting the research model were extracted from the 9th wave (2022) of the Korean Longitudinal Survey of Women and Families (KLoWF), a nationally representative panel survey conducted by the Korean Women’s Development Institute. Data analysis was performed using SPSS 25.0, utilizing descriptive statistics, difference testing, and hierarchical regression analysis. To verify the mediating effect, the three-step mediation analysis procedure proposed by Baron and Kenny (1986) was applied. The findings are as follows: First, regarding differences in marital happiness according to sociodemographic characteristics, significant results were observed in individual factors such as age group, education level, and anxiety/depression, as well as husband-related factors including the husband’s education level, average monthly income, and satisfaction with the division of household labor. Second, the analysis of factors affecting marital happiness revealed that the key variables―spousal violence and perception of the husband-had significant effects. Among sociodemographic characteristics, anxiety/depression, husband’s education, husband’s average monthly income, and satisfaction with the division of household labor were found to have significant impacts. Third, it was confirmed that the perception of the husband has a partial mediating effect in the relationship between spousal violence and marital happiness. Based on these findings, this study explores the determinants of marital happiness for married women and suggests practical measures to enhance marital well-being.

This article examines Vietnam's Đổi Mới by situating it within the problematic of overcoming national division and achieving peace on the Korean Peninsula. Amid a transitional moment in which the Western hegemonic order is being reconfigured, the study reflects on the pathologies of the division system that Korean society continues to endure―the justification of authoritarianism in the name of national security, the imperial presidency, and the constraints imposed upon civil society movements. To find an intellectual resource for overcoming these contradictions, the article examines the Đổi Mới process as the practical unfolding of Vietnamese thought. Beginning in 1940, the article traces the underlying current of Vietnamese thought running through Hồ Chí Minh's line of national liberation and his theory of great unity (đại đoàn kết), the repression under the Ngô Đình Diệm regime and the Đồng Khởi (Concerted Uprising) movement, the formation of the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam, and the border conflict with China, up to the establishment of Đổi Mới as state policy in 1986. It further emphasizes that the "reform from below" led by villages and women-and the dynamism generated as this movement interacted with Vietnam's reformist leadership-constituted the substantive driving force of Đổi Mới. In conclusion, observing that Vietnam, having passed through political liberation (1945) and economic liberation (1986), is now advancing toward a new stage of establishing an autochthonous philosophy of its own, the article argues that Korea-confined within division and ideological confrontation-must likewise seek a creative and endogenous Korean thought. To this end, it proposes that Korea and Vietnam are vital partners in opening a new path for Asian civilization that transcends Western ideologies.

This study aims to correctly understand Kim Seung-kuk’s Hana(Oneness) Logic: In Search of an East Asian Social Theory, which explores a pioneering and original social theory based on traditional East Asian thought, and to expand the horizon of its thinking. To this end, the mathematical and numerological thought of the Cheonbugyeong, which forms the core foundation of Hana Logic, was compared and examined alongside the number theory of Pythagoras, the Eleatic school, and Laozi’s Daoist philosophy. The research findings are summarized into the following three points: First, this study demonstrates that the author’s concept of "three-number differentiation"(三數分化) and the "Three-in-One, One-in-Three" logic within the Cheonbugyeong share deep philosophical connections with Pythagorean number theory - specifically regarding the universal reality of 1, the opposition and materiality of 2, the totality of 3, and the entelechial ideals of 4 and 10. Second, the concept of "Oneness" in Hana Logic aligns with the immutable God(the One) of Xenophanes from the Eleatic school. Furthermore, the author’s conviction that existence originates only from being(1) rather than nothingness(0) shares the exact same horizon of thought with Parmenides’ ontology. Third, Hana Logic extends into Laozi’s concepts of "mutual generation of being and non-being"(有無相生) and "emerging from the same source but bearing different names"(同出而異名), which views non-being(無) itself as a state of being. It ultimately converges with Daoist philosophy at the fundamental point where the "Dao" (道) and the "One"(一) are treated as identical cosmic substances. Consequently, Kim Seung-kuk’s Hana Logic stands as a culmination of the "unity of Heaven, Earth, and Humanity"(天地人合一) that proclaims the equality and oneness of all existence. As such, it offers a vital path forward in the search for an East Asian social theory capable of overcoming the limitations of modern Western social theory.