Chapter 9 Korea 355this territory for their own national history; a 2001 quarrel broke out between
China and Korea over Koguryo Tombs registered as a National Heritage site;
Pyongyang objected, but China won.
Koguryo’s northern orientation allowed it to incorporate vast portions
beyond the Yalu River (its current border with China) in what is today China,
Russia, and even Mongolia. These land frontiers of Koguryo put the kingdom
in contact with the steppe empires of the time, proto-Mongolian and Manchu-
rian peoples, and others. Koguryo’s large territory and sometimes ambitious
military adventures led to conflict with its neighbors, including a war with the
Cao Wei dynasty (220–265) of China and later with the Sui (581–618).
Paekche, the second of the Three Kingdoms, was located in the southwest-
ern region of the peninsula; its marine-based economy stemmed from trading
across the Yellow Sea with Shandong Peninsula, and also with Japan. Among
the three Korean kingdoms, Paekche and Silla experienced the greatest Chi-
nese cultural influence, including the use of the Chinese written language and
early forms of Buddhism. The first Buddhist images and texts were taken to
Japan by Paekche mariners. Early in the first millennium of the Common Era
then, the seas of eastern Asia, like the Mediterranean, were highways of com-
merce and communication, and not barriers to exchange. It was Silla, however,
where an absolute monarchy developed along with a powerful aristocracy;
their palaces and royal tombs are important remains of this early period. Silla
ultimately defeated the other two kingdoms (with the help of Tang China) and
unified the peninsula. Because of Silla preeminence, the language of Silla
became the basis of the Korean language.
All three kingdoms embraced Buddhism, but details of belief and practice
evolved differently in the three kingdoms. After the Silla unification, the cult of
the Bodhisattva Amitabha dominated the religious imagination for most of
Korean history, but prior to unification, it was Maitreya who was of absorbing
interest. Maitreya was the Buddha to come, the Bodhisattva now waiting in the
Tusita Heaven for a future time when he would become a full Buddha, preach
the dharma to his followers in three assemblies under the dragon flower tree,
and establish a Pure Land, a world system of cleanliness and purity (Yeonshik
2015). All the Bodhisattvas were associated with a Pure Land, but these are
described in various ways in the sutras and subject to different emphases in prac-
tice. In Koguryo, people wanted to be reborn in the Tusita Heaven where Mai-
treya resides, and meet him in the “three assemblies under the dragon flower
tree: where in future he will preach the Dharma” (Choe Yeonshik 2015:15).
However, in Paekche and Silla, there was little talk about going to Tusita
Heaven; rather Maitreya would come from there to their own country. In
Paekche under King Mu (600–641) the state attempted to prepare itself as a
place appropriate for the coming of Maitreya to earth. The sutras said that
Maitreya would establish his Pure Land in a domain ruled by a “wheel-turn-
ing” sage-king, and the royal house of Paekche attempted to be that king. They
built a large monastic complex, Miruk Monastery, that contained three clois-