Shapers of Korean Buddhism

1. Shapers of Korean Buddhism • January 30, 2014

2. Review • What does “real” mean in philosophical Buddhism? • What is the dominant approach to Buddhism in Korea? • Who was Wonhyo? • Why would Buddhists bow to a little green frog?

3. Wonhyŏ’s Philosophical Buddhism • “consciousness-only” but also tried to include various “contradictory” philosophies within his overall philosophy. • Flower Garland Buddhism--everything in the world of experience is caused by everything else. Therefore the phenomenal world is “unreal,” since only the uncaused and unchanging can be real. • 4 stages of enlightenment: • 1) aware of self-centred behavior • 2) abstain from self-centred behavior but still have self-centred thoughts • 3) Act like a Bodhisattva--but think you are a selfless bodhisattva • 4) realize there is no subject/object dichotomy, and no self.

4. Wŏnhyo and Buddhist Practice • Arouse Your Mind and Practice!) What does it mean to engage in Buddhist practice? Adopting thoughts and actions that help you eliminate the three poisons (greed, hatred, and delusion). • Wŏnhyo’s 5 different approaches to spiritual cultivation: • 1) giving • 2) keeping precepts • 3) patient endurance • 4) energetic effort • 5) calmness and insight: Calmness means quieting the discriminating mind. Insight means understanding the universal network of mutual causation that constitutes the world as we experience it.

5. Enlightenment through understanding • Consciousness-only “self and dharmas do not exist; emptiness and nonexistence do not nonexist. Leaving behind existence and nonexistence, conform to the Middle Way.” • The Flower Garland School--mutual interpenetration and identification, as manifest in the Diagram of the Dharmadhatu according to the One Vehicle: “True nature is very profound and supremely fine. It has no self-nature but arises from causation.....The one is the all, the many are the one.”

6. Buddhist Art • Hyangga--songs (poems) sung in Korean rather than in Chinese. Most, but not all, are Buddhist.Sculpture: Sŏkkuram Grotto was built with mathematical proportions: 12 feet-wide entrance, and a radius of 12 feet for the grotto circle. 12 feet from top of Buddha’s head to tip of grotto dome. Buddha’s height is square root of 2, if 12 Chinese feet is equal to one. • Architecture: Pulguksa: Designed so that you climb (walk up stairs) into it, rising above the mundane world.

7. Buddhism and the state • In the Three Kingdoms, Mature Silla, and Koryŏ, Buddhism was supported by the state. Buddhism was valued for its ritual power, the ability it was believed to have to protect the throne. • Government-run clerical exams in Koryŏ, divided into sutra-based and meditative. • Government-promoted printing of Buddhist texts: • First book ever printed with movable metal type was a Koryŏ Buddhist text. • Koryŏ Tripitaka is the pre-modern world’s most complete collection of Mahayana texts (over 81,000 woodblocks)

8. Koryŏ Buddhism • Ŭich’ŏn (1055-1101) Son of King Munjong. Snuck into Liao and then Song China to study Buddhism. • Returned to Korea with 3,000 books. • He promoted Ch’ŏnt’ae Buddhism--the teaching of perfect harmony, based on the principle that all is one, and one is all. He wanted to end the dispute between the doctrinal and the contemplative branches of Korean Buddhism.

9. Chinul (1158-1210) • Rejected state-supported Buddhism • Insisted on the need for gradual cultivation after sudden enlightenment. • Introduced the use of the Koan to Korea • Said the purpose of meditation was to “trace the radiance back to the mind” • Seen as the founder of the largest Korean order today.

10. Chinul and Koryŏ Buddhism • Chinul (1158-1210) was active during the period of military rule. (The military rulers shifted state support from doctrinal Buddhism to contemplative Buddhism). • Unhappy with the corruption of many official monasteries, he retreated to a mountain in southern Korea with some like-minded monks and laymen and founded a community for Buddhist practice. • He is best known for combining study and meditation, and teaching that sudden enlightenment must be followed by gradual cultivation.

11. Chinul (1158-1210) • Said that the goal of Buddhist practice was to “rest all conditioning, empty the mind, and then remain centered there quietly, without looking for anything outside.” • We need to awaken suddenly to the fact that we are a Buddha, After that, we can begin graduate elimination of the bad habits we acquired before that enlightenment. For this we need both faith and understanding. Trace back the radiance, remember that the mind is Buddha, and that you can “see the nature and achieve Buddhahood.” • He promoted “koan” (verbal puzzles) as a tool for reaching enlightenment. Seen as founder of the Chogye (曹溪) order.

12. Buddhism after Chinul • T’aego Pou (1301-1382) Unlike Chinul, he spent some time in China. • Brought back from China an emphasis on sudden enlightenment, without talking much about gradual cultivation afterwards. • Become a royal preceptor. • In Korea today, married monks tend to be members of the T’aego Order, while celibate monks are members of the Chogye Order.

13. Buddhism in Chosŏn Korea • “Persecution”--an end to significant state support • Kiwa argues for compatibility with Confucianism • retreats to the mountains • number of denominations reduced significantly • becomes a larger part of the folk religion • monks used as a defense force. 71-year-old Monk Hyujŏng was a military commander against Japanese invaders.

14. Buddhism in Modern Korea • Japanese restored many temples, and protected temples and their art as national cultural treasures. • Japanese encouraged monks to marry and eat meat. • post-1945 Purification Movement • Buddhism has had to respond to the challenge of Christian proselytizing • Has now overcome its image as a religion for village women and ignorant monks.

15. Philosophical Buddhism • What is the purpose of Buddhist practice in philosophical Buddhism? • How does Wonhyo’s Buddhism differ from meditative Buddhism? (Sŏn) • Does philosophical Buddhism believe that individual existence is real?

16. Popular Buddhism • What is the goal of popular Buddhist practice? • Why do Buddhists pray to Amitabha Buddha? • Who is Maitreya? • Who is the Healing Buddha? • What is the difference between a Buddha and a Boddhisatva? • Who is Kwanŭm (Guan Yin)?

17. Objects of the Buddhistspiritual gaze • Sakyamuni “Sŏkkamoni-bul) • Vairocona (Pirojana-bul) • Amitabha (Amit’a-bul) • Maitreya (Mirŭk-bul) • The Healing Buddha (Yaksayŏrae) • The Boddhisatva Guan Yin (Kwanŭm Posal)

18. Buddhist “syncretism” • Why do you think Korean Buddhism is often labeled “syncretic”? • Are meditative Buddhism and devotional Buddhism compatible? • What is said to be the relationship of Wonhyo to popular Buddhism? • Do philosophical Buddhists and popular Buddhists agree on what happens if you violate the Buddhist precepts?

19. The gods of Buddhism • What is the difference between anthropomorphic religion and anthropocentric religion? Which category does Buddhism fall under? • Is the folk tradition anthropocentric or anthropomorphic? • Are all Buddhists theists? • Is Buddhism monotheistic or polytheistic?