tribal religious practices. The martyrdom of Ich’adon,
a loyal minister, provoked King Po ̆phu ̆ng (r. 514–540)
to finally recognize the new religion in 527 C.E.
Po ̆phu ̆ng had promulgated legal codes for the king-
dom in 520, and he prohibited killing throughout the
land two years after recognizing Buddhism.
Buddhism introduced a number of new religious
practices and ideas to Korea: Buddhist MONKSwere
clearly set apart from the rest of the society; images of
BUDDHASand BODHISATTVASoffered a clear focus for
devotion; and Buddhist scriptures contained soaring
philosophical ideas with an expansive COSMOLOGYand
advanced moral teaching. In addition, a host of new
cultural phenomena accompanied Buddhism, includ-
ing architecture, craftsmanship, a writing system, cal-
endrics, and medicine. Buddhist monks were not
simply religious figures, they were magicians, doctors,
writers, calligraphers, architects, painters, and even
diplomats and political advisers. Although many years
passed before Korean Buddhists had a solid under-
standing of the philosophical subtleties of Buddhist
teachings, its material culture alone was sufficient to
win the hearts of the kings and nobles, as well as the
common people.
Expansion of Buddhist influence
It was Silla, the least developed of the three kingdoms,
that benefited most from Buddhism after Silla leaders
turned Buddhism into a powerful ideology of the state.
As a source of religious patriotism, Buddhism played
an important role in Silla’s unification of the divided
peninsula. King Chinhu ̆ng (r. 540–576), the successor
of Po ̆phu ̆ng, was the first Silla monarch who allowed
his subjects to become monks. Po ̆phu ̆ng himself be-
came a monk at the end of his life, taking the Buddhist
name Po ̆bun (Dharma Cloud), an act that demon-
strated the unity of the state and the san ̇gha. Beginning
with Po ̆phu ̆ng, many Silla rulers adopted Buddhist
names, including S ́uddhodana, Maya, and S ́rmala, for
themselves and their families. Buddhism had clearly
become a force for legitimizing royal authority.
Eminent monks, such as Wo ̆n’gwang (d. 630) and
Chajang (ca. seventh century), became spiritual lead-
ers of both the san ̇gha and the state. Wo ̆n’gwang is
best known for his sesok ogye(five precepts for laypeo-
ple), which he presented at the request of two patri-
otic youths. The precepts stipulated that one must
serve the sovereign with loyalty, serve parents with fil-
ial piety, treat friends with sincerity, never retreat from
the battlefield, and not kill living beings indiscrimi-
nately. Instead of offering the traditional five precepts,
Wo ̆n’gwang adapted Buddhist ethics to the pressing
needs of the Silla kingdom during a crucial period of
its history.
Chajang, a Silla nobleman, traveled to Tang China
in 636 and spent seven years studying Buddhism. Upon
his return, he was given the title of taegukt’ong(Grand
National Overseer), one who supervises the entire
san ̇gha. Chajang established the ordination platform
for monks at T’ongdo Monastery and strictly enforced
the Buddhist VINAYAthroughout the san ̇gha. He is also
credited with building a magnificent nine-story pagoda
in the compound of Hwangnyong Monastery, the na-
tional shrine of Silla.
Although the rulers and aristocratic families were
attracted to Buddhism mainly for its material benefits,
such as the protection of the state and the welfare of
the family, many monks avidly studied and lectured
on important Chinese Buddhist texts. Almost all the
major Mahayana texts, which had played an important
role in the formative period of Chinese Buddhism,
were introduced into Korea. Buddhist monks from
Koguryo ̆and especially Paekche subsequently played
seminal roles in the transmission of Buddhism and
Sinitic culture to Japan.
Buddhist thought flourished in Korea once the Silla
rulers unified the three kingdoms in 680. The contri-
butions of the eminent monks U ̆ISANG(625–702) and
WO ̆NHYO (617–686) were particularly important.
U ̆isang had traveled to China and studied under Zhiyan
(602–668), the second patriarch of the HUAYAN
SCHOOL. Upon his return to Silla, he became the
founder of the Korean Hwao ̆m (Huayan) school, the
most influential doctrinal school in Korean Buddhism.
The founding of many famous monasteries in Korea,
such as Hwao ̆msa, Puso ̆ksa, and Po ̆mo ̆sa, are attrib-
uted to U ̆isang, and his Hwao ̆m ilsu ̆ng po ̆pgye to(Chart
of the One-Vehicle Dharma-Realm of Huayan) sets forth
the gist of Hwao ̆m philosophy in the form of 210 Chi-
nese characters arranged in a square diagram.
Wo ̆nhyo, commonly regarded as the greatest
thinker in Korean Buddhism, was a prolific writer who
produced no less than eighty-six works, of which
twenty-three are extant either completely or partially.
By his time, most of the important sutras and trea-
tises had flowed into Korea from China, and they were
causing a great deal of confusion for Silla Buddhists,
as they had for the Chinese. It was Wo ̆nhyo’s genius
to interpret all of the texts known to him in a way that
would reveal their underlying unity of truth without
sacrificing the distinctive message of each text. HeKOREA