ABSTRACT
The military chaplaincy in general—and its Buddhist segment in particular—constitutes an important link between the state power apparatus and the religious market. Chaplaincies in the South Korean army constitute a critical nexus in the relations between the actors in the religious market, the state, the military (as one of the crucially important parts of state bureaucracy), and the military's ideology of statist nationalism, traditionally underpinned by strong anti-communist sentiments. The reasons given by the Buddhist chaplains for choosing their career varied from one generation to another. The legitimation of the military service by the institutional Buddhist presence there seems to help to motivate the young South Korean Buddhists not to even try to protest or avoid their mandatory service, despite the reputation for ruthlessness the South Korean military has earned since its establishment. In fact, the emphasis on self-control and self-regulation as crucial masculine virtues amounts to a modern re-invention of Buddhism.
