Introduction

...sūtra by Lokakṣema.³⁴ By the time of the transmission of Buddhism into Koguryŏ, many other important texts which would form the foundation of the Mahāyāna tradition in China had been translated, including the Sad-dharmapuṇḍarīka-sūtra (Lotus Sūtra), Vimalakīrtinirdeśa-sūtra, and Daśabhūmika-sūtra. As neither the Āgama (early discourses) texts nor the Sarvāstivādin Abhidharma (philosophical analysis) canon were translated until after 383, we are safe in surmising that the scriptures which Sundo brought were texts from this early Mahāyāna corpus.³⁵

In Paekche, in addition to this predominantly Mahāyāna material coming via China, Vinaya (monastic discipline) texts also received an early introduction. The Paekche monk Kyŏmik (active sixth century) is said to have traveled to India via the southern sea route and studied Sanskrit, specializing in Vinaya studies. He returned to Paekche in 526, accompanied by the Indian monk Paedalta (Vedatta), carrying five different recensions of the Vinaya as well as Abhidharma materials. As head of a translation bureau of twenty-eight monks established in the Paekche capital, Kyŏmik translated seventy-two fascicles of texts, and his disciples Tamuk and Hyerin wrote a thirty-six fascicle commentary to this new Vinaya. For this reason, Kyŏmik is considered the effective founder of the Vinaya school in Korea.³⁶

Through the initiation of the courts of Koguryŏ and Paekche, most of the major scriptures and commentaries were imported from China and many monks were sent there to study the doctrines of the major schools of Chinese Buddhism and introduce their teachings into Korea. Among schools which flourished in these two kingdoms we have evidence for the existence of the schools of Samnon (Chinese: San-lun), Sarvāstivādin Abhidharma, Nirvana, Ch'ŏnt'ae (Chinese: T'ien-t’ai), and Satyasiddhi.³⁷ Simultaneous with the consolidation of the religion on the peninsula itself, Koguryŏ and Paekche began to send Buddhist missionary teams to Japan carrying scriptures and images. Paekche—a seafaring kingdom with well-developed sea lanes—made this propagation a national effort, and Buddhist iconographers, artisans, and architects were dispatched. Thus the rudiments of Chinese culture and civilization were transmitted to the Japanese and the foundations were laid for the rich Buddhist culture of the Asuka and Nara periods.³⁸

Unified Silla Dynasty (668–935): The golden age of scholasticism

The Silla conquest of the rival kingdoms of Paekche in 663 and Koguryŏ in 668 brought about the first political unification of the Korean peninsula³⁹ and ushered in a golden age of Buddhist scholasticism. Buddhist philosophical thought in Korea flourished to an extent never equaled again in its history. The strength of the dynasty and its staunch support of the church brought rapid development in both the scale and the profundity of Buddhist doctrinal investigations. A diversity of schools arose, and a number of great monks appeared who performed the creative work that sustained the tradition during later periods of weakness.