The Three Kingdoms of Korea by Richard D. McBride II;

Author:Richard D. McBride II;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Reaktion Books Ltd.

The Cults of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas in Mahāyāna Buddhism

The Buddhism that entered the early Korean kingdoms was a form of Mahāyāna Buddhism that integrated Indian-inspired Buddhist doctrines and the veneration of buddhas and bodhisattvas with mainstream Chinese social mores. Worship of the historical Buddha Śākyamuni (Siddhartha Gautama) is fundamental in most forms of Buddhism. An ideal Buddhist king who promotes the Buddhist teaching is called a cakravartin, a ‘king who turns the wheel of the dharma’. In sixth-century Silla, King Chinhŭng (r. 540–76) named his sons after two of the four kinds of wheel-turning kings: Tongnyun (‘bronze wheel’) and Saryun (or Kŭmnyun, ‘golden wheel’), showing how Buddhist principles were shaping Silla ideas of kingship. Chinhŭng modelled himself on the ancient Indian king Aśoka (traditionally r. 268–232 BCE) and the more recent Liang emperor Wu (r. 502–49), who distinguished himself as a pious patron of Buddhism. In 566 Chinhŭng founded Hwangnyong Monastery, a massive Buddhist educational and ritual centre, on a site east of the royal palace complex at Wŏlsŏng. He originally planned to build a new palace but desisted after sighting a yellow dragon. Hwangnyong Monastery was continually renovated and enlarged and became the state palladium and locus of Buddhist rituals for the protection of the royal family and the country. Stories were circulated that asserted deep connections between Silla and India. One such story was that a curiously shaped stone behind Hwangnyong Monastery was the actual site where the Buddha Kāśyapa of the previous aeon sat when he obtained enlightenment.

Tongnyun’s son eventually came to the throne and ruled as King Chinp’yŏng (r. 579–632). Chinp’yŏng’s given name was Paekchŏng (Śuddhodana) and his brothers’ names were Paekpan (Śuklodana) and Kukpan (Drotodana), the names of Śākyamuni’s father and brothers. His wife’s name was Lady Maya, the same as the mother of Śākyamuni. Thus, if Chinp’yŏng had had a son, it would be as if the Buddha had been born in Silla. Chinp’yŏng, however, only had daughters. His daughter Tŏngman (perhaps Guṇāmālādevī) succeeded him and ruled as Queen Sŏndŏk (r. 632–47), and her cousin Sŭngman (Śrīmālādevī), the daughter of Kukpan, ruled as Queen Chindŏk (r. 647–54) after her. Sŭngman corresponds to Śrīmālādevī, the name of a famous Buddhist queen found in Mahāyāna Buddhist literature. Sŏndŏk began work on an enormous nine-storey wooden pagoda at Hwangnyong Monastery in 645. She also identified Mount Nang in the Silla capital as Trāyastriṃśā, the heaven where the 33 gods of the Indian pantheon reside at the top of the axis mundi, Mount Sumeru. Sŏndŏk had herself buried on Mount Nang; later, in 679, King Munmu built Sach’ŏnwang Monastery on the site to invoke for Silla the protective power of the Four Heavenly Kings, deities that guard the four directions.

Although the ruling family of Silla imagined themselves as being of the ká¹£atriya (warrior) caste, the royalty and nobility of both Paekche and Silla appear to have invoked the Bodhisattva Maitreya, the future Buddha, under whose eyes the Buddhist faithful will enjoy peace and prosperity unknown in previous times.

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