Notes

SŎN BUDDHISM
Perhaps the most important cultural legacy of this period was the promotion
of Sŏn Buddhism under the Ch’oe. At this time, Buddhism in Korea
had become divided into Kyo, or textual, Buddhism, which emphasized
the study of sutras and elaborate rituals, and Sŏn, or meditative, Buddhism.
The civil aristocracy patronized Kyo and lavished great wealth on
temples that supported a large number of monks. Kyo temples became
major land and slave owners. The military rulers, while patronizing
shamanist shrines, also sought to support Sŏn, which was more austere
and centered in mountain temples far from the capital and its politics. By
shifting patronage to Sŏn temples they also weakened the Kyo temples as
a power base for the aristocrats that supported them. Partly as a result of
this support, meditative Buddhism flourished during the late twelfth and
thirteenth centuries.
A key development in Korean Buddhism at this time was its revitalization
under the monk Chinul, also known as Pojo Kuksa (National
Preceptor Pojo) (1158–1210). Born in an aristocratic family, he took and
passed the monk exams. But he quickly became disenchanted with the
atmosphere of official Buddhism with its wealthy temples and politically
ambitious monks. He sought to reestablish the spirit of Buddhism by
working outside the official court-sponsored religious hierarchy. Trained
in the Sŏn tradition, he spent most of his active years in remote mountain
areas and founded Sŏngwang-sa temple in Chŏlla Province, which became
an important center for his teachings. Chinul was the first Korean
Buddhist to practice koans (to use the Japanese term), the insoluble or
nonsense problems that are designed to jolt one into sudden intuitive
enlightenment. Derived from Chinese practice, the koan came to be practiced
in Korea about the same time it was introduced to Japan. But for
Chinul it was only a minor “supplementary” technique.4 His aim was to
bring together and reinvigorate the various Buddhist practices.
More successfully than the earlier effort by Ŭich’ŏn, Chinul established
a Buddhist doctrine and practice that could embrace the many scholastic
teachings with the antitextual Sŏn, a form of Sŏn that became known as
Chogye. He did so by developing an original synthesis combining the
emphasis on sudden enlightenment of the Sŏn and the stress on careful
study emphasized by the Kyo lineages of Korean Buddhism. This synthesis
was summed up in the terms tano chŏmsu (sudden enlightenment and
gradual cultivation) and chŏnghye ssangsu (twofold training in quiescence
[meditation] and activity). Chinul has been credited with unifying Korean
Buddhism by creating a broad-based doctrine that was able to incorporate
the major strands of Buddhism into a blended whole. Under his immediate
successor, Hyesim (Chin’gak Kuksa), Chogye received the patronage
of the military rulers of Korea, beginning with Ch’oe U.
Under Chinul and his successors Korean Buddhism deviated somewhat
from the path of development of Buddhism in China, evolving its
own distinctive body of tradition and practices. One of the major features
of Korean Buddhism became the tradition of syncretism. Kyo and Sŏn
practices began to blend, and sects were defined more by separate lines
of transmission from a master than by sharp doctrinal differences. Within
this syncretic tradition, Sŏn practices of meditation, austerity, and the
disciplined seeking of enlightenment became central, and the influence of
Chinul profound. To this day, the majority of Korean Buddhists belong to
the Chogye sect of Buddhism.