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Formation of a Chosŏn Buddhist Tradition: Dharma Lineage and the Monastic Curriculum from a Synchronic and Diachronic Perspective
Open accessAbstract
A new Buddhist tradition was formed in the seventeenth century in Korea that was a projection of the aim and identity of Chosŏn Buddhism at the time.Ironically, this took place during a period of great change in the international geopolitical order and during a time when wars changed the contours of East Asia.Until Chosŏn Buddhism was fully established, there were two diverging identity narratives; one that combined the various dharma lineages of the Koryŏ tradition, and the other based on the Chinese orthodox Linji lineage.In the end, the narrative of China-centered orthodoxy prevailed, which I argue to be reflective of a diachronic and synchronic situatedness.Furthermore, the monastic education that was established in the seventeenth century is examined, wherein the importance of both Sŏn and doctrine (Kyo) were openly adopted.The synchronicity of the situatedness of Buddhism and Confucianism in a close relationship of inter-adaptation is discussed through a comparison of the monastic educational process and Confucian education system.In the end, Chosŏn Buddhism was not an isolated island that was suppressed internally and isolated externally from the larger East Asian world.Past research on Chosŏn Buddhism has limited its scope to the area of Chosŏn and, relative to Confucianism, as existing under a cloud of heterodoxy and removed from the center of power.The current essay proposes the adoption of diachronic and synchronic perspectives in order to expand the scope and breadth of research on Chosŏn Buddhism, whereby an active and dynamic Buddhism can be revealed.
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TL;DR
The paper argues that a distinct Chosŏn Buddhist tradition formed in the early seventeenth century through two linked developments: an official dharma lineage emphasizing Chinese Linji orthodoxy and a monastic curriculum combining Sŏn and Kyo. Using diachronic and synchronic perspectives, it presents Chosŏn Buddhism as dynamically engaged with East Asian and Confucian contexts rather than simply suppressed and isolated.
Key findings
- The 2017 excavation at Tobong sŏwŏn/Yŏngguksa uncovered a stele fragment with 35 lines and about 360 sinographs, including the 8 lines/88 sinographs preserved in the *Taedong kŭmsŏksŏ*; this identifies Tobong Yŏngso as State Preceptor Hyegŏ (ca. 900–974), a Koryŏ Fayan-school monk and the first patriarch in Hŏ Kyun’s lineage claim.
- Two competing seventeenth-century lineage narratives emerged: Hŏ Kyun’s inclusive genealogy linking Fayan, Caodong, Linji, and Koryŏ Sŏn (Tobong Yŏngso through seven generations to Naong Hyegŭn and then to Ch’ŏnghŏ Hyujŏng), versus P’yŏnyang Ŏn’gi’s exclusive Chinese Linji orthodoxy (Shiwu Qinggong → T’aego Pou → … → Hyujŏng); the latter became the accepted official lineage.
- The monastic curriculum consisted of three stages—Fourfold-Texts Course (*sajipkwa*), Fourfold-Teachings Course (*sagyogwa*), and Great-Teaching Course (*taegyogwa*)—and by 1630 Ŏn’gi had expanded Hyujŏng’s collected works to seven books and helped complete and distribute the curricular system.
- The paper finds synchronic parallels between Buddhist dharma lineage and Confucian transmission of the Way, and between the monastic curriculum and Yi I’s proposed reading order of principle, mind, and history, indicating Buddhism-Confucianism inter-adaptation.
Methods
- Historical-textual study using diachronic (origins and historical context) and synchronic (simultaneous situatedness and contemporary aims) perspectives.
- Sources include the newly excavated Yŏngguksa/Tobong stele fragment, the *Taedong kŭmsŏksŏ*, collected works and steles of Hyujŏng, Yujŏng, Ŏn’gi, and Yŏngwŏl Ch’ŏnghak, the *National Code*, and Confucian writings by Yi I.
- Analysis traces competing dharma-lineage claims and the structure, texts, and transmission of the monastic curriculum, then compares Buddhist and Confucian educational frameworks.
Limitations
- Stated in the paper: it is difficult to determine exactly when the monastic curricular system was first formed; some early lineage figures predating Chiŏm seem questionable; and it is not clear whether Yi I actually entered a temple to become a monk.
- Evident from the text: the argument relies on fragmentary epigraphic evidence and later genealogical or polemical sources, so some identifications and synchronic parallels are interpretive rather than conclusive.
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Claims the paper makes
70 Own interpretation · 48 Own result · 43 Sources not found · 12 No basis given · 6 Not checked yet
In the paper
“It includes the eight lines (88 sinographs) contained in the paper rubbing of the stele preserved in the Epigraphical Texts of the Great East (Taedong kŭmsŏksŏ 大東金石書), compiled by Yi U 李俁 (1637-1693) in 1668.”
§ Formation of a Chosŏn Buddhist Tradition: Dharma Lineage and the Monastic Curriculum from a Synchronic and Diachronic Perspective > Rediscovery of Tobong Yŏngso
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Ch'oe 2018, 180-183
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plainSingle case- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
- Not matched
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“But beyond this, the stele's excavation has meant the rediscovery of the original Hyegŏ 慧炬, who had been almost entirely forgotten.”
§ Formation of a Chosŏn Buddhist Tradition: Dharma Lineage and the Monastic Curriculum from a Synchronic and Diachronic Perspective > Rediscovery of Tobong Yŏngso
plainstates a causeSingle case- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
In the paper
“In the recent excavation, a roof tile was found that included the sponsor ledger of those who had donated to Yŏngguksa Temple.Among the names was Hyoryŏng taegun 孝寧大君 (1396-1486), a monk and also the elder brother of King Sejong (r.1418-1450), who was listed as a ''great donor'' (Yi 2019, 44-48).”
§ Formation of a Chosŏn Buddhist Tradition: Dharma Lineage and the Monastic Curriculum from a Synchronic and Diachronic Perspective > Rediscovery of Tobong Yŏngso
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Yi 2019, 44-48
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plainSingle case- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
- Not matched
The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Moreover, the system of monastic education and practice were organized at about this same time.”
§ Formation of a Chosŏn Buddhist Tradition: Dharma Lineage and the Monastic Curriculum from a Synchronic and Diachronic Perspective > Introduction
plainstates an association- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: unclear — It is unclear why the paper says it holds.
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In the paper
“It was not much later, in 1573, that Yŏngguksa Temple becomes covered in earth and its memory sealed under the construction of a Confucian school, the Tobong sŏwŏn.”
§ Formation of a Chosŏn Buddhist Tradition: Dharma Lineage and the Monastic Curriculum from a Synchronic and Diachronic Perspective > Rediscovery of Tobong Yŏngso
plainstates a cause- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
- It may state two separate claims as one. 99
- Probably not a substantial claim. 45
- The quote only partly states this claim. 1
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Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
Each contradiction between two passages listed here was confirmed by an independent check.
Rated major: it would touch a result — a value a result rests on, reported and recomputed p-values on opposite sides of the significance level, two passages that conflict with no sign which is right, or a cited work retracted before this paper was published.
In the paper
§ Formation of a Chosŏn Buddhist Tradition: Dharma Lineage and the Monastic Curriculum from a Synchronic and Diachronic Perspective > tion of Analyses and Verses [on Ancient Precedents] of the Sŏn School,
“In this way, the pedagogical structure is in a corresponding order and format as the reading order outlined by Yi I: 1) principle, 2) mind, and 3) history.”
§ Formation of a Chosŏn Buddhist Tradition: Dharma Lineage and the Monastic Curriculum from a Synchronic and Diachronic Perspective > Meditation and Doctrinal Study and the Structure of the Monastic Education Process
“There, it is indicated that the monastic curriculum consisted of a sequence of three stages: the Fourfold-Texts Course (sajipkwa 四集科), Fourfold-Teachings Course (sagyogwa 四敎科), and the final level of the Great-Teaching Course (taegyogwa 大敎科).”
Rated minor: it would not touch a result — a value no result rests on, a p-value that stays on the same side of the significance level, or a conflict that is clerical, resolved elsewhere in the paper, or outside its own findings.
In the paper
§ Formation of a Chosŏn Buddhist Tradition: Dharma Lineage and the Monastic Curriculum from a Synchronic and Diachronic Perspective > Linji Genealogy and the Greater Awareness of China-centered Orthodoxy
“From master Pyŏkkye Chŏngsim and onwards, the listed patriarchs remained unchanged.”
§ Formation of a Chosŏn Buddhist Tradition: Dharma Lineage and the Monastic Curriculum from a Synchronic and Diachronic Perspective > Rediscovery of Tobong Yŏngso
“His teachings were transmitted through Nambong Sunŭng 南峰修能 → Chŏngsim Tŭnggye 正心登階 → Pyŏksong Chiŏm 碧松智嚴 → Puyong Yŏnggwan 芙蓉靈觀 and to Ch'ŏnghŏ Hyujŏng 淸虛休靜.”
Citations
Cites
Sung-Eun Thomas, K. I. M. (2020) · International Journal of Buddhist Thought and Culture · doi:10.16893/ijbtc.2020.06.30.1.205 · Cited by 4
Kim, S.-E. T. (2019) · Journal of Korean Religions · doi:10.1353/jkr.2019.0011 · Cited by 4
Research works printed but not linked: 8
- Sŏnwŏn chejŏn chip tosŏ (Preface to the collection of Chan sources) 禪源諸詮集都序, vol. 1 (T 48.401c).
- P'yŏnyangdang chip (Collected works of P'yŏngyang) 鞭羊堂集, vol. 2, ''Sŏn'gyo wŏllyu simgŏm sŏl'' 禪敎源流尋釰說 (HPC 8.256-257);
- P'yŏnyangdang chip, vol. 2, ''Kyŏngp'anhubal'' 經板後跋 (HPC 8.255).
- Chewŏldang taesa chip 霽月堂大師集 vol. 2, ''Chewŏl tang taesa haengjŏk'' 霽月堂大 師行蹟 (HPC 8.126-127).
- Ch'ŏnghŏdang chip 淸虛堂集 (Collected works of Ch'ŏnghŏ), vol. 7, ''Sangwansan nobuyun sŏ'' 上完山盧府尹書 (HPC 7.719-721).
- --. 2013. ''Changes in Seventeenth-Century Korean Buddhism and the Establishment of the Buddhist Tradition in the Late Chosŏn Dynasty.'' Acta Koreana 16(2): 537- 563.
- --. 2012. ''Monastic Education and Educational Ideology in Late Chosŏn Buddhism.'' Journal of Korea Religions 3(1): 65-84.
- Yi Pyŏngto. 2012. Tugye Yi Pyŏngto chŏnjip 9 Chosŏn sidae ŭi yuhak kwa munhwa [Collected works of Tugye Yi Pyŏngto, vol. 9, Chosŏn-period Confucian studies and culture]. Paju: Han'guk haksul chŏngbo.
Cited by
Lee, J.-R. (2021) · Religions · doi:10.3390/rel12040252 · Cited by 3
Kim, S.-E. T. (2023) · Religions · doi:10.3390/rel14121471
“When this rhetoric was applied to the Buddhist tradition, T’aego and Naong’s direct con‑ nection to the Chinese tradition was the basis for claims of legitimacy of the teachings and the lineages they transmitted (Kim 2020, pp. 112–13).”
MethodKim, S.-E. T., & Bhang, W.-I. (2025) · Religions · doi:10.3390/rel16030299
Metadata
- Authors
- Yongtae, K.
- Venue
- Journal of Korean Religions
- Publisher
- Project MUSE
- Published
- 2020
- Volume
- 11
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 103-133
- ISSN
- 2093-7288 (ISSN-L)
- 2167-2040
- OpenAlex
- W3107043181
- Cited by
- 4
- References
- 1
- Citations by year
- 2025: 2 · 2023: 1 · 2021: 1
- FWCI
- 4.53
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Journal of Korean religions (publishedVersion)
- Project Muse (Johns Hopkins University) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Research Foundation
- Dongguk University
- Seoul National University
- National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF-2011-361-A00008)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Religious studies › Indian and Buddhist Studies
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Study and Philosophy of Religion
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History › Chinese history and philosophy
- Keywords
- Confucianism, monastic education, East Asian Buddhism, heterodoxy
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