Esoteric Buddhism under the Koryŏ in the Light of ... - Buddhism.org

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Henrik H. Sørensen: Esoteric Buddhism under the Koryŏ
problematic.
In a recent article on the two Esoteric Buddhist denominations of
the Koryŏ, the Sinin 神 印 and Ch’ongji 總 持 schools, the origins of
which are shrouded in the mist of mythology, this author has argued
against the existence of a direct historical connection between these and
the Esoteric Buddhist tradition of the Silla (Sørensen 2005a). Despite
the fact that most Korean scholars insist that some sort of relationship
existed between these later schools of Esoteric Buddhism and the Silla,
nobody have so far been able to provide any serious, historical evidence
for such a connection. 8 Hence, both the Sinin and Ch’ngji schools
would appear to be products of the Koryŏ Furthermore, there are
strong indications that the monks associated with them were foremostly
ritual specialists working for the Koryŏ court, monks who may have
hailed from some of the established Buddhist denominations such as
the Hwaŏm 華 嚴 or the Pŏpsang/Yuga 法 相 / 瑜 伽 schools.
When looking at the other forms of Esoteric Buddhism that
existed in the various cultures on the East Asian Mainland, excluding
that of Xixia to which we shall return below, we find that it existed
mostly as a trans-sectarian movement linked to the performance of
rituals of different kinds. As far as I know in neither the Song, Liao
nor the Jin did proper Esoteric Buddhist schools exist in the
institutional sense, although Esoteric Buddhist practices as such
flourished in all three empires. As was the case under the Koryŏ
Esoteric Buddhism was foremostly practised within all the established
schools including the Huayan 華 嚴 (Kor. Hwaŏm), Chan 禪 (Kor. Sŏn),
Tiantai 天 台 (Kor. Ch’ŏnt’ae), the Faxiang 法 相 (Kor. Pŏpsang) and the
Lŏ 律 (Kor. Yul). 9
8 It appears that in this regard most Korean scholars have remained satisfied with referring to
information found in the Samguk yusa 三 國 遺 事 (Bequeathed Records from the Three Kingdoms,
HPC.6.245a-69c). I have previously refuted the scholarly use of this collection of myths and
folktales as a primary source for the study of Buddhism during the Three Kingdoms period
(Sørensen 2000b).
9 There is scattered evidence in the extant sources which may be taken as indications that there
existed something akin to Esoteric Buddhist schools in both Song China, the Liao and the Jin
empires. See Lü (1995: 432-95). For the Southern Song we have the highly, localized form of