 As for the Buddhist camp, modern Korean Buddhists envisioned Buddhism as a potential source to bring about social changes. We often find them emphasizing the notion of “equality” as a fundamental Buddhist teaching and endorsing mental and spiritual training as a part of social life. The social, historical, and political situations in Korea were directly related to their proposals. For example, colonial reality and the influx of the modern world were their main concern during the early twentieth century. In the second half of the twentieth century, they were devoted to the problems of military dictatorship, the rapid economic development of Korea, and the emergence of a modern consumer society as well as women’s awakening to gender equality. One of the earliest pioneers, Han Yong-un 韓龍雲 (1879–1944, pen name: Manhae) criticized the anachronistic isolationist policy of the traditional Buddhism in Korea and its incongruence with the then contemporary reality, thereby sending alarming tremors through the intellectual world. In his works, he promulgated the principle of equality, self-discovery, the potential for Buddhism for safeguarding the world and progress. His development as an activist and thinker resulted from his adherence to these very principles. This is later developed into Minjung (grassroots) Buddhism. Another important pioneer is Paek Sŏnguk 白性郁 (1897–1981), who demonstrated how modern Korean thinkers could deal with traditional Buddhist philosophy. He sees himself as engaging in Abhidharma, not as the body of texts exposing the Buddha’s thoughts, but as the highest discipline to investigate the nature of reality, i.e., as Buddhist metaphysics (Paek, forthcoming (originally 1924)). Buddhist metaphysics can contain theoretical discourse, but the most important part, for Paek, was the practical one. A pure, theoretical understanding of the truth of the universe is important, but a personal experience, which he calls “direct practice” (Chikchŏp silsŭp 直接實習), is pivotal because it can lead the practitioner to awaken to reality. In other words, Buddhist philosophy, for Paek, is not merely knowledge. Rather, it is wisdom that opens the path of awakening to actual reality. And this is what matters most to the soteriological goal of Buddhism.