The Life and Thought of Chinul

As Buddhism developed into a popular movement, it was seen as a miracle religion full of the bizarre and supernatural. Thaumaturgic (wonder-working) elements that had been vital in the northern Chinese tradition became central in Korean Buddhism as well. Indeed, this contact was so intimate that some authors have gone so far as to say that the early tradition was a thoroughgoing amalgamation of Buddhism and native Korean shamanism.³

This popular orientation of early Buddhism in Korea led to a strong interest among the people in procuring present happiness rather than future salvation. The constant perils faced by the populace due to their geographic vulnerability made it natural that the Koreans would place their greatest faith in peace, security, and physical well-being in this life, not the unknown quantities of the future. Indeed, it was the orientation of Buddhist piety toward present prosperity that made the religion so attractive on both an individual and a national level and led to its quick acceptance by the country.⁴

In evaluating Chinul’s contributions to the development of Korean Buddhism, it will be well to keep these various features of the early tradition in mind: a need for harmony at all levels, close ties with the ruling families, an infusion of native and popular elements, and an emphasis on mundane benefits rather than spiritual achievement.

Introduction of Buddhism into Korea: The Three Kingdoms

By the latter half of the fourth century, approximately three centuries after the introduction of Buddhism into China, the tribal leagues that had ruled over Korean territory since the time of the early migrations into the peninsula had matured into full-fledged kingdoms.⁵ Over the first centuries of the common era, the Koguryŏ clan, which was affiliated with the larger Puyŏ tribe,⁶ conquered the neighboring tribal leagues of Okcho on the northeast coast, Tongye on the coast just south of Okcho, and finally the remaining Puyŏ tribes in central Manchuria. The Han colony of Hyŏnt’o (Chinese: Hsüan-t’u) was overrun early in the second century, and in 313, Koguryŏ conquered the ancient Han colony of Nangnang (Chinese: Lo-lang) and its southern extension Taebang (Chinese: Tai-fang), ending four centuries of Chinese suzerainty in Korea. Thus was formed the earliest of the three kingdoms of ancient Korea: Koguryŏ,⁷ which ruled over both the northern portions of the peninsula and south-central Manchuria.

Following soon upon Koguryŏ’s lead, a tribal league in the old Mahan federation in the extreme south of the peninsula developed by the middle of the third century into the Paekche kingdom, which came to rule the southwestern peninsula.⁸ Somewhat later, by the middle of the fourth century, the Saro tribe centered near the southeastern coastline matured into the kingdom of Silla, the state which eventually unified the entire peninsula under a single banner.⁹