Righteous Fury: the Warrior Monks of Northeast Asia

My seventh article with Medieval World Magazine covers the incredible story of the Buddhist monks who fought as warriors—even, at times, forming their own armies—across Medieval China, Korea, and Japan.

A fervent desire to help and protect the populace from harm didn’t end with giving alms and treating sickness. At times it led to violence, at first in the name of the people, but later, in some places, toward other, less noble ends. Yet the legacy of men of peace, fearing neither death nor injury, taking up arms and fighting as soldiers remains an interesting dynamic wherever and whenever it occurred, whether fending off pirates in China, battling invaders in Korea, or marching on the capital in Japan.

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by M. G. Haynes