distinctions as secular and sacred. After an illustrious
career as a writer and Buddhist thinker, Wo ̆nhyo lived
primarily as a mendicant, wandering the cities and
markets as a street proselytizer. As his biography in the
SAMGUK YUSA(MEMORABILIA OF THETHREEKING-
DOMS) states, “He used to... sing and dance his way
through thousands of villages and myriad hamlets,
touring while proselytizing in song. Thus, everyone in
the country came to recognize the name ‘Buddha’ and
recite ‘Homage to Buddha.’” This same source relates
that Wo ̆nhyo died in a hermitage in March 686, leav-
ing no direct disciples. The Samguk sagi(Historical
Records of the Three Kingdoms) also notes that he died
as a householder (ko ̆sa), a male lay Buddhist.
Wo ̆nhyo’s thought system is structured around the
concept of “one mind,” as illustrated in his commen-
taries to the AWAKENING OFFAITH(DASHENG QIXIN
LUN). One mindis another term for the mind of SEN-
TIENT BEINGS, which is intrinsically pure and un-
changing, but appears externally to be impure and
ephemeral. Even though every deluded thought arises
from the mind, at the same time, it is that mind itself
that provides the capacity to achieve enlightenment.
Wo ̆nhyo outlines a threefold structure for experi-
encing enlightenment: ORIGINAL ENLIGHTENMENT
(HONGAKU), nonenlightenment, and actualizing en-
lightenment, which are mutually contingent and mu-
tually defining. Original enlightenment provides the
theoretical basis for enlightenment; nonenlighten-
ment is the misconception about the nature of origi-
nal enlightenment; and actualizing enlightenment is
the incitement to practice. Practice here is based on
the conditional definition of nonenlightenment, that
is, the insubstantiality of defilements. Practice, there-
fore, does not really involve removing something; it
instead is correct knowledge that the defilements we
experience in daily life are unreal. The distinction
Wo ̆nhyo draws between original and nonenlighten-
ments, and the attempts he makes to integrate the two,
set the stage for notions of the universality of bud-
dhahood in later East Asian Buddhism. The Awaken-
ing of Faithitself originally provided the conceptual
frame for this notion, but it was Wo ̆nhyo’s elabora-
tion in his commentary to that treatise that provided
a more coherent interpretation of this construct and
proposed a solution to the tensions inherent in the de-
finition of enlightenment in Buddhist history. This
elaboration helped to establish a unique cognitive
framework for East Asian Buddhism, and made
Wo ̆nhyo’s commentary one of the most influential
texts in the East Asian Buddhist tradition.
See also:Faxiang School; Korea; Madhyamaka School;
Tiantai SchoolBibliography
Buswell, Robert E., Jr. The Formation of Ch’an Ideology in China
and Korea: The Vajrasamadhi-Sutra, a Buddhist Apocryphon.
Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1989.
Buswell, Robert E., Jr. “Hagiographies of the Korean Monk
Wo ̆nhyo.” In Buddhism in Practice,ed. Donald S. Lopez, Jr.
Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1995.
EUNSUCHOWORSHIPWorship in the Buddhist tradition takes many forms
and is directed toward many different beings and ob-
jects, from images of the Buddha, to his physical re-
mains (relics), to visualized BODHISATTVAS.
The question of the proper form and purpose of
worship is addressed in several places in early Buddhist
texts. Some texts stress that the Buddha should not be
worshiped at all, but rather that the dharma (Pali,
dhamma) should be the focus of Buddhist practice.
Thus, in the Samyuttanikaya(Connected Discourses), a
monk named Vakkali expresses his desire to see and
worship the Buddha, who sharply rebukes him: “What
is the sight of this putrid body to you? He who sees the
dhamma,Vakkali, he sees me; he who sees me, he sees
the dhamma” (SN3.120). Variations of this attitude
toward worship of the Buddha can be found in a va-
riety of early texts. In the Dlghanikaya(Group of Long
Discourses), for instance, there is a scene in which the
Buddha, having been showered by flowers from a blos-
soming tree, tells his chief disciple and faithful atten-
dant, ANANDA, that such outward displays of worship
are not appropriate; rather, the best form of worship
of the Buddha is following the dharma (DN2.138).
Likewise, in the MAHAPARINIRVANA-SUTRA (Pali,
Mahaparinibbana-sutta; Great Discourse on the Nir-
vana), when Ananda learns that the Buddha is about
to die and is in anguish at the thought of the loss of
his beloved teacher, the Buddha tells him that his phys-
ical presence is not necessary, for he has left the
dharma, and that is the only guiding light that Ananda
and the other disciples will need. Scholars and Bud-
dhists alike have frequently taken this famous episode
as indicative of the Buddha’s own attitude toward wor-
ship: Focus on learning and following the dharma, not
on worshiping the physical form of the Buddha, which
leads only to grasping.WORSHIP