356 Part IV: East Asian Civilization
ters for the three assemblies where Maitreya would preach when he descends
to earth to attain final Buddhahood. There was concern that the true dharma
would decay before Maitreya returned, and so when Miruk Monastery was
built, the Diamond Sutra was inscribed on gold plates and hidden in the mon-
astery (and later rediscovered). Thus, it appears that Buddhist effort in Paekche
during this period was less about individuals working out their own Enlighten-
ment than about the state transforming itself into the place where Maitreya
would establish his Pure Land.
In Silla, the Maitreya cult took a different form. The nobility of Silla had
instituted a youth-military system where bands of young men known as hwa-
rang had ritual and military functions to protect Silla from the other kingdoms
and to expand Silla. The term literally means “flower boys,” which connotes
something more delicate than grizzled fighters. One expert guesses at the
nature of these hwarang:
As a social organization for boys and young men somewhat like the Boy
Scouts of our modern world, the hwarang order was a means of instilling
military and wilderness training, instructing future leaders, preserving and
developing indigenous cultural and poetic forms, and absorbing ideas and
practices from the Sinitic cultural sphere. (McBride 2010:56)
Aristocrats of the era would commission images of Maitreya and bury them (as
in Japan they were burying sutras), praying for strong sons who would protect
the kingdom. Buddhist monks associated with bands of hwarang, leading them
to meditation centers in the mountains. The Bodhisattva Maitreya is often por-
trayed in Korea as a sylph-like figure much as the hwarang are often described.
(For a famous example, see Miroku, #13, in the illustration “Buddhist Iconog-
raphy” in chapter 6.)
In Silla, there is no mention of rebirth in Tusita Heaven at this time. But
there are various stories about youths who turn out to be Maitreya, often
appearing to monks and being reported in their writings. These Maitreya incar-
nations don’t seem to save anyone or transform anything, they just wander
about in the world, indicating that Silla is already a place where Maitreya will
come and go. Silla, it seems, was already nearly a Pure Land. And the cult of
Maitreya fused with the hwarang under state patronage (Yeonshik 2015).
Historical materials on the hwarang are scarce. During the Japanese colo-
nial period the hwarang began to be interpreted as an ancient Korean form of
samurai with a similar code of Bushido. A passage in the best source, the
twelfth-century text, Records of the Three Kingdoms (Samguk Sagi), suggests that
women had once been hwarang, but after two noblewomen engaged in a deadly
rivalry they were expelled.
Afterward, handsome youths were chosen instead. Faces made up and beau-
tifully dressed, they were respected as hwarang, and men of various sorts
gathered around them like clouds. The youths instructed one another in the
Way and in rightness, entertained one another with song and music, or went