Ilkwaen Chung, Buddha and Scapegoat: Ren Girard and Origins of Buddhist Culture (Seoul: SFC Publications, 2013).

For a detailed discussion, see my other publications Deconstructing the Buddhist Philosophy of Nothingness - Ren Girard and Violent Origins of Buddhist Culture (http://www.scribd.com/doc/88516537/DeconstructionBuddhism ) Paradoxie der weltgestaltenden Weltentsagung im Buddhismus- Ein Zugang aus der Sicht der mimetischen Theorie Rene Girards (Beitrge zur mimetischen Theorie 28), LIT Verlag, 2010.

Dein Buch war schon deshalb sehr hilfreich fr mich, weil Du die religionswissenschaftliche Literatur zum Buddhismus umfassend verarbeitet hast. Daraus habe ich viel gelernt. Imponiert hat mir, wie das Buch mit Hilfe der mimetischen Theorie Girards analysiert, welche weltgestaltende, also gesellschaftliche Funktion Askese und Mnchtum im Buddhismus haben. Mit wurde erst dadurch klar, da das Verhltnis von Mnchen und Laien im Buddhismus ganz anders ist als im Christentum.
Bernhard Dieckmann (Marburg , Germany. professor emeritus )

Dr Chung's investigation demonstrates the efforts of a rigorous and scholarly mind at work in an area central to our understanding of religion and inter-religious dialogue."
Dr Chris Fleming, Senior Lecturer | School of Humanities and Communication Arts, University of Western Sydney

Ilkwaen Chung uses all the resources of Ren Girards mimetic theory to give fuller, more adequate explanations for Buddhisms traditions, practices, and rites. At the same he uses the fullness of Buddhisms history to test the adequacy of mimetic theory over against other attempts at this same analysis. He allows the Western reader to grasp more deeply just how deeply all religions are entwined with violence. This is a brave, wide-ranging book that advances the intellectual conversation of the21st century: the one between the East and the West.
Jeremiah Alberg, Professor of Philosophy and Religion, International Christian University, Tokyo, Japan.

While some recent attempts to examine Buddhism in the light of postmodern philosophy have relied on problematic assumptions and distorted generalizations, Chung begins with a deeply contextualized picture of Buddhist theory and practice on which he brings to bear his rigorously applied and perceptive reading of Western thinkers, especially Rene Girard. This book should go some way toward dispelling the facile "Buddhism" currently under attack in contemporary European critical theory.
Brian Collins Drs. Ram and Sushila Gawande Chair in Indian Religion and Philosophy Ohio University

Ilkwaen Chungs new book is a magisterial exposition and interpretation of the long and varied history of Buddhism, focussing on aspects of this world renouncing tradition often overlooked and ignored in the literature. It is a study that breaks new ground in the study of Indian and Asian religions more generally-a discipline vitiated by the Orientalist projections of Western scholars and practitioners--and competently synthesises the latest scholarship from the social anthropological and hermeneutical-theological approach to world religion. It cannot be recommended more highly. I was personally attracted by its attention to scholarly detail, conceptual sophistication and timely incorporation of post-structuralist perspectives.
Dimitri Vouros A philosophy graduate student, University of New England. A reader of my Deconstructing the Buddhist Philosophy of Nothingness - Ren Girard and Violent Origins of Buddhist Culture