influence on Korean Buddhism. However, the Chogye
school in contemporary Korea is not exclusively a So ̆n
school. Although it professes to be a So ̆n school, it em-
braces various schools of Buddhist doctrine (kyo) as well
as Pure Land beliefs into its system of thought, making
the Korean approach to Chan quite different from its
counterparts in China and Japan.
One of the lingering issues surrounding the Chogye
school in contemporary Korea is its dharma lineage.
The constitution of the school stipulates that Tou ̆i (d.
825) was the founder of the school, CHINUL(1158–
1210) its reviver, and T’aego Pou (1301–1382) its har-
monizer. In addition, Korean Buddhist scholars have
developed many different theories regarding Chogye
lineage. These theories, however, are not always based
on historical fact, but are a product of ideologically mo-
tivated attempts to connect Korean Buddhism to the
“orthodox” lineage of the Chinese Linji Chan tradition.
Although most Korean Buddhist specialists believe that
Chinul was not the founder of the Chogye school, it is
evident that during the Koryo ̆period the movement
was led by his dharma successors, and the Chogye
school of contemporary Korea adopted the thought of
Chinul as its theoretical support.
The origins of the Chogye school, its founder, his-
torical development, and dharma lineage need to be
further clarified with the understanding that there were
two distinct Chogye schools throughout Korean his-
tory. This is an extremely important issue because the
search to understand the exact identity of the school
itself will, by extension, describe that of Korean Bud-
dhism and history.
See also:Colonialism and Buddhism; Korea
Bibliography
Buswell, Robert E., Jr. The Zen Monastic Experience: Buddhist
Practice in Contemporary Korea.Princeton, NJ: Princeton
University Press, 1992.
Keel, Hee-Sung. “Han’guk Pulgyo u ̆i cho ̆ngch’eso ̆ng t’amgu:
Chogyejong u ̆i yo ̆ksa wa sasang u ̆l chungsim u ̆ro hayo ̆” (The
Chogye School and the Search for Identity of Korean Bud-
dhism). Han’guk chonggyo yo ̆n’gu(Journal of Korean Reli-
gions) 2 (2000): 159–193.
Lee, Peter H., ed. Sourcebook of Korean Civilization,Vol. 1. New
York: Columbia University Press, 1993.
Pak, Hae-Dang. “Chogyejong u ̆i po ̆pt’ong so ̆l e taehan ko ̆mt’o”
(A Critical Research on the Dharma Lineages of the Chogye
School). Ch’orhak SaSang(A Journal of Philosophical Ideas)
11 (2000): 43–62.
JONGMYUNGKIM
CH’O ̆NT’AE SCHOOL. SeeTiantai SchoolCHRISTIANITY AND BUDDHISMFrom their beginnings Buddhism and Christianity
reached out beyond the region of their birth. It was in-
evitable that their paths would cross, but for the first
fifteen hundred years these encounters were of little
significance to either faith. A brief period of enthusi-
asm by Christian missionaries for Buddhist teachings
followed, only to be extinguished by a posture of con-
frontation that lasted for nearly four hundred years. It
was not until the twentieth century that full and mean-
ingful contact between the two religions developed.Antiquity
The greatest missionary effort of Buddhism was con-
centrated between the third century B.C.E. and the
eighth century C.E., by the end of which it had reached
virtually all of Asia. Buddhist history records no Con-
stantine or Holy Roman Empire to elevate the reli-
gion to the stature of a multinational force; Buddhism
participated in no colonial exploits such as those that
transported Christianity around the globe from the
sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries. Emblematic fig-
ures, such as the Greek king Menander who con-
verted to Buddhism in the second century B.C.E.,
Emperor AS ́OKAwho established a Buddhist kingdom
in third-century B.C.E. India, and Prince SHOTOKU
who proclaimed a Buddhist-inspired constitution in
seventh-century Japan, were able to secure ascen-
dancy for Buddhism at a local level, but had no im-
perial designs on neighboring countries, let alone on
the West.
The Christian mission was a different story. Already
from its earliest years it turned east to establish com-
munities in predominantly Zoroastrian Persia and in
India. The Gnostic Christian Mani is said to have trav-
eled from Persia to India in the third century, declar-
ing the Buddha a special messenger of God alongside
Moses and Jesus. Despite certain doctrinal coinci-
dences—especially in the case of Gnosticism—specu-
lation concerning the influence of Buddhism on the
Essenes, the early Christians, and the gospels is with-
out historical foundation. Indeed, aside from a brief
report in the writings of Clement of Alexandria (200
C.E.), based largely on Greek historians, there is no ex-
tended record of Buddhist beliefs in Christian litera-
ture until the Middle Ages.CHRISTIANITY ANDBUDDHISM