Session 203: Reconstructing Medieval Korean Buddhism

Organizer: Richard D. McBride, II, Washington University, St. Louis

Chair and Discussant: Robert E. Buswell, UCLA

The Buddhist church on the Korean peninsula passed through a crucial period of transitions stretching from the late Silla through the Koryŏ periods (ca. 800–1392). Close contact between Korean and Chinese monks continued during the late Silla period (ca. 668–935). Despite the Tang’s decline and demise in 907 and threats from the Qidan in the north, fruitful interaction continued with the Wu-Yue state in southern China. The Koryŏ period proper enjoyed a new flowering of Buddhism, increased cultural developments, and close religious contacts with Song and later Yuan China. Hitherto, Korean and Japanese scholars of this period have typically emphasized the continuity of the Buddhist beliefs, practices, and rituals of the later Silla period in Koryŏ times: the completion of the "Nine Mountains of Sŏn," the reinstitution of Buddhist rituals among the royalty, and the revitalization of exegetical Buddhist traditions. Although Western scholars have executed much seminal research, many issues remained to be explored regarding this period of Korean Buddhism. The presentations on this panel will shed new light on this seminal time in the development of Korean Buddhism by emphasizing such things as: (1) connections between Korean Sŏn monks and Chan monks in the contemporary Chinese states as reflected in the Chodang chip, (2) hidden monastic agendas in efforts to "revitalize" Korean Sŏn by using the rhetoric of Linji Chan, and (3) the deployment of Maitreya cult symbolism by Korean hegemonic rulers to bolster royal authority.

The Chodang Chip and Korean Buddhism

Sem Vermeersch, Keimyung University

The Chodang chip (Patriarch’s Hall Collection) is the first extant collection of texts that seeks to portray Chan as a distinct tradition of Buddhism. Created in the kingdom of Wu-Yue about 950 C.E., it is mainly biographic in nature, though it also contains "encounter dialogues" and other typical Chan texts in a nascent form. Despite the considerable recent interest in Chinese Chan literature, this collection has not been widely studied, so there are still a lot of questions surrounding its authorship and its importance for the developing Chan school. I will focus on the Korean connection of the Chodang chip: it is well known that the text was rediscovered in Korea at the beginning of the twentieth century, but it is also noteworthy for containing comparatively more biographies of Korean monks than any other Chinese Buddhist work. Although I do not go as far as some Korean scholars in suggesting that the whole work was actually compiled in Korea, I will try to demonstrate that the Korean connection is no mere accident either. There was a very intensive exchange of students and monks between the Koryŏ and Wu-Yue kingdoms, leading to a cross-fertilization on equal terms (compared with the often one-way traffic of Chinese Buddhist texts to Korea in previous times). Against this background, I will argue that the incorporation of Korean Son Buddhism was thought to be an important task in defining a Chan tradition that was in many ways still in a formative process.

The Transmission of Lin-chi Chan in Late Koryŏ: A Reappraisal

Patrick R. Uhlmann, UCLA

The Late Koryŏ is considered a crucial period in which the preeminence of the meditative Sŏn school and its lineages were molded, subsequently influencing doctrine and practice of Korean Buddhism down to the present. This development has been identified with monks, foremost among them T’aego Pou (1301–1382) and Naong Hyegŭn (1320–1376), who introduced the newest form of Lin-chi Chan from Yuan China to Korea in order to "revitalize" a Buddhism perceived to be in a state of doctrinal stagnation and institutional decline. In this paper, I analyze the trajectory of these monks within the broader socio-political context and argue that, rather than doctrinal, socio-political factors motivated them to seek the transmission of Lin-chi Chan. For example, Pou and Hyegŭn followed a similar trajectory: both used the prestige of their confirmation from Linchi monks to build a network of connections providing them access to the Yuan and Koryŏ rulers as well as their appointment as royal and national preceptors. Notwithstanding, or rather because of, these similarities, Pou and Hyegŭn, as well as their disciples, perceived each other as rivals and differentiated themselves on a doctrinal level by advocating divergent versions of Lin-chi Chan. However, I argue that the primary criterion differentiating Pou from Hyegŭn are monk-examinations. In contrast to Pou and his disciples, Hyegŭn and most monks of his entourage did not take or pass any monk-examinations.

Why Did Kungye Claim to be the Buddha Maitreya? The Maitreya Cult and Royal Power in the Silla-Koryŏ Transition

Richard D. McBride, II, Washington University, St. Louis

Kungye (d. 918), rebel and founder of the state of Later Koguryŏ (901–18), renamed his kingdom T’aebong in 911 and declared himself to be Maitreya, the future Buddha, and his generals to be bodhisattvas. Although noting that the assumption of the title "Maitreya" by rebel leaders was common in medieval China (ca. 317–907), scholars have typically sought to locate the meaning of Maitreya worship in the late Silla (ca. 668–935) and early Koryŏ (918–1392) periods as based upon the divination and cultic practices of Silla exegetical monks such as Chinp’yo (fl. mid-eighth century). Much more is going on, however. Aspects of mainstream cultic worship, old Paekche and Koguryŏ symbols of political legitimacy and royal power, and widely held conceptualizations of the decline of the Buddhadharma converge to explain why being Maitreya was seminal to Kungye’s plan for the conquest and re-unification of the Later Three Kingdoms. The important connection between the Maitreya cult and royal power, particularly in the old Paekche territory helps to explain why Wang Kŏn (r. 918–943), who had Kungye executed and who founded Koryŏ, and his Koryŏ successors also deployed Maitreya cult symbolism as part of their comprehensive program to pacify their enemies and to bolster royal authority by building up older Maitreya cult sites and founding monasteries associated with the future Buddha.