Preface

With the rapidly growing interest in Buddhism, and especially the Zen tradition, in the West today, it is surprising that there is still such general ignorance about the Buddhism of Korea. Korea preserves a rich Buddhist culture and undoubtedly the healthiest Mahāyāna the branch of Buddhism that emphasizes the goal of becoming a bodhisattva for the benefit of all sentient beings church in East Asia. A thriving scholastic tradition combined with intensive Zen practice makes the Buddhism of the peninsula one of the best-kept secrets in the religious world. Unfortunately, there is little material available in Western languages for the student of the tradition, and virtually nothing has been published on the philosophical stance of Korea’s Buddhist schools. This gap will, I hope, begin to be filled by this study and translation of the works of the founder of the native Korean Zen tradition: Chinul (1158–1210).

Together with the Silla dynasty scholiast Wonhyo (617–686), Chinul is one of the two most important figures produced by Korean Buddhism. Chinul was the inheritor of a mature tradition already rich after seven hundred years of symbiotic development with its Chinese counterpart. The Buddhism of his time was, however, a religion suffering from a deep split: on the one hand were the adherents of scholastic sects who relied upon the teachings found in the Buddhist scriptures; on the other were the students of Zen (known in Korea as Sŏn) who followed what they considered to be a special transmission that transcended the canonical instructions. After centuries of royal patronage, the religion was also showing severe signs of the decadence which is all too often characteristic of entrenched state religions. As a confirmed student of Sŏn who retained a profound interest in the scriptures, Chinul confronted the task of reestablishing the tradition on a footing that would be able to draw on the teachings of the scholastic sects without abandoning the practical application of those teachings in formal Sŏn practice. Drawing on his vast knowledge of the scriptures and deep experience in Sŏn meditation, Chinul produced some of the most important writings ever to appear in Korea. In fact, his insights on the problem of syn-