ŬICH'ŎN

Ŭich'ŏn (Taegak kuksa, 1055–1101) was the fourth son of King Munjong (r. 1047–1083) of the Korean Koryŏ dynasty. Ŭich'ŏn became the head of Buddhist saṅgha UŬ in Koryŏ at the age of thirteen. Well versed in Buddhist scriptures, particularly the teachings of the Hwaŏm (Huayan) school, he nevertheless decided to further his study in China after a long period of correspondence with the Song monk Jinshui Jingyuan (1011–1088). In 1085, after leaving a letter to his mother and his brother, the new King Sŏnjong (r. 1083–1094), Ŭich'ŏn surreptitiously boarded a merchant's ship and sailed to Song dynasty China to embark on his pilgrimage. During his fourteen-month sojourn in China, he met and consulted some fifty leading masters on the Chan, Huayan, and Tiantai schools of Buddhism, while studying with Jingyuan at Hiuyin Monastery in Hangzhou.

Ŭich'ŏn brought a number of important Huayan texts to China, which enabled Jingyuan to redefine the Huayan lineage. As Jingyuan's favorite disciple, Ŭich'ŏn was a prominent figure whose celebrity also helped boost the popularity of the master's monastery, which became known as the Koryŏ Monastery. After returning to Koryo UŬ and becoming the abbot of Hŭngwangsa, he managed to synthesize the Sŏn (Chinese, Chan; Japanese, Zen) school and the Kyo (scholastic) forms of Buddhism in Korea. He also founded a revitalized Ch'ŏnt'ae (Chinese, Tiantai) Buddhism in Koryŏ. In his monastery, Ŭich'ŏn built a library and a collection of important Buddhist texts, for which he compiled a catalogue called Sin'pyŏn chejong kyojang ch'ongnok (New Catalogue of Buddhist Sectarian Writings). The catalogue and his writings, the Taegak kuksa munjip and the Taegak kuksa woejip, remain important sources for the study of Korean Buddhism.

See also:Huayan School; Tiantai School