With his vast scholarship on Yogacara Buddhist
doctrine and other philosophical trends within the In-
dian tradition, Wo ̆nch’u ̆k significantly contributed to
the development of Chinese Buddhism, influencing
the doctrines of the Chinese HUAYAN SCHOOLand the
especially the thought of FAZANG(643–712). However,
Wo ̆nch’u ̆k’s influence was not limited to China. Even
though he never returned to Korea, Wo ̆nch’u ̆k’s the-
ories were inherited by the Korean monks Toju ̆ng (ca.
640–710) and T’aehyo ̆n (fl. 753), despite their lack of
any direct contact with him. Wo ̆nch’u ̆k also played an
important role in the formation of the Japanese branch
of Yogacara, the Hosso(Chinese, Faxiang) school, and
his works were admired by Gyosin (ca. 750), Genju
(723–797), and Gomyo(750–834). The controversies
and debates surrounding the issues that Wo ̆nch’u ̆k and
other Faxiang scholars explored in China challenged
Japanese Yogacara exegetes at the very moment that
the school was founded during the Nara period. This
admiration for Wo ̆nch’u ̆k’s scholarship changed
around the end of Heian and into the Kamakura pe-
riods. At that time, the Hossoschool instead took as
authoritative the three patriarchs of Chinese Faxiang—
namely Kuiji, Huizhao (650–714), and Zhizhou
(668–723)—and Hossomonks designated some views
as “orthodox” and others as “heretical.” In addition,
Wo ̆nch’u ̆k’s commentary on the Samdhinirmocana-
sutrawas translated into Tibetan during the ninth cen-
tury and was cited extensively by TSONG KHA PA
(1357–1419) and his DGE LUGS(GELUK) successors.
Wo ̆nch’u ̆k’s views were therefore influential in the
subsequent development of Tibetan Buddhism.
Bibliography
Cho, Eunsu. “Wo ̆nch’u ̆k’s Place in the East Asian Buddhist Tra-
dition.” In Currents and Countercurrents: Korean Influences
on the East Asian Buddhist Traditions,ed. Robert E. Buswell,
Jr. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2004.
EUNSUCHO
WO ̆NHYO
Wo ̆nhyo (Break of Dawn, 617–686) is widely consid-
ered to be the most influential thinker, writer, and
commentator in Korean Buddhist history. Arguably
the first major contributor to the development of an
indigenous approach to Korean Buddhist doctrine and
practice, Wo ̆nhyo wrote over eighty treatises and com-
mentaries on virtually every influential MAHAYANA
scripture then available in Korea, of which over twenty
are extant. Reflecting the dynamic cultural exchanges
and flourishing doctrinal scholarship and meditative
practice occurring within East Asian Buddhism during
his time, Wo ̆nhyo’s scholarship embraced the full spec-
trum of East Asian Buddhism, from the Mahayana PRE-
CEPTSto the emblematic teachings of Madhyamaka,
Yogacara, Tiantai, Pure Land, NIRVANA, TATHAGATA-
GARBHA, and Huayan. Wo ̆nhyo’s writings were dis-
seminated throughout East Asia and made important
contributions to the development of Buddhist doctri-
nal exegesis.
Wo ̆nhyo’s life has fascinated readers even in mod-
ern times and his biography has been the subject of
novels, film, and television drama in Korea. Spending
the early part of his career as a monk in Korea, Wo ̆nhyo
made two attempts to travel to Tang China (618–907)
with his lifelong friend U ̆ISANG(625–702) to study un-
der XUANZANG(ca. 600–664), a Chinese scholar-
pilgrim who was the most respected doctrinal teacher
of his time. On the second attempt, Wo ̆nhyo’s biogra-
phies state that he had an enlightenment experience
that was intimately related to the mind-onlytheory of
the YOGACARA SCHOOL. The accounts vary, but they all
revolve around Wo ̆nhyo having a revelation after
falling asleep one evening during his travels. In the
most drastic version, recorded in a later Chan hagio-
graphical collection, Wo ̆nhyo takes refuge from a
storm in a sanctuary, but awakens thirsty in the mid-
dle of the night and looks in the dark for water. Find-
ing a bowl of water, he drinks it and, satisfied, goes
back to sleep. The next morning after he awakens, he
finds to his disgust that the place where he had slept
was in fact a crypt and what he had taken to be a bowl
of water was actually offal in a human skull. Realizing
that what he thought was thirst-quenching the night
before was disgusting now, he reveled, “I heard that
the Buddha said the three worlds are mind-only and
everything is consciousness-only. Thus beauty and un-
wholesomeness depend on my mind, not on the wa-
ter.” The narrative power of this story helped shape
East Asian images of enlightenment as a dramatic
awakening experience. After this experience Wo ̆nhyo
turned back from his journey, proclaiming that there
was no need to search for truth outside one’s mind.
His friend U ̆isang, however, continued on to China,
later returning home to found the Korean branch of
the HUAYAN SCHOOL(Korean, Hwao ̆m).
Wo ̆nhyo’s later affair with a widowed princess pro-
duced a son, So ̆l Ch’ong (d.u.), one of the most famous
literati in Korean history, and helped to seal his repu-
tation as someone who transcended such conventionalWO ̆NHYO