Korea Journal of Buddhist StudiesISSN:1598-0642(Print)불교학연구회

Eui-Jeok(義寂) was one of the great buddhist scholars in the 7th century Korea. He left more than 20 Buddhist writings. But only few of them are extant, and his life have remained mostly unknown for a very long time. Usually he has been known as a Hua-yan scholar because of a story which depicted his conversion from a former Fa-xiang scholar to a Hua-yan scholar. This conversion is known to have happened after his argument had been corrected by Eui-Sang(義相), the founder of the Korean Hua-yan school. Yet whether he really converted to the Hua-yan school or not is uncertain at best, as none of his writings seem to have been based on the Hua-yan doctrine, and none of his words is known to have been quoted by other supposedly fellow Hua-yan scholars. In fact, on the contrary many of his writings are based on Fa-xiang doctrines and his theories are frequently quoted in other Fa-xiang scholars' works. We'd better regard him as a representative Fa-xiang scholar of the Shilla dynasty, and try to understand the characteristics of his thoughts and their influences upon the Korean Fa-xiang school.Though there remains none of Eui-Jeok's writings based on Fa-xiang theories, several Japanese Fa-xiang writings do contain quotations from those writings, especially the Beob-won Eui-rim Jang(法苑義林章), an expository text consisted of 12 volumes. According to the examinations of those quoted material, Eui-jeok opposed the theories of Kui-Ji(窺基), the Chinese Fa-xiang patriarch, and suggested his own ideas. For example, he considered the Lotus-sutra and Prajna-sutra to be the utmost teachings, when other Fa-xiang scholars regarded them as imperfect teachings. He has been regarded by the Japanese Buddhists as a different kind of Fa-xiang scholar because his theories harmoniously clicked with the teachings of the Buddhist schools rather than the Fa-xiang school.This special characteristic of Eui-Jeok's thoughts is also shared by those of Won-Hyo(元曉) and Tae-Hyeon(太賢), both of whom were revered as patriarchs of the Korean Fa-xiang school. These three scholars were all well versed in Fa-xiang theories, and the sutras on which they wrote commentaries were all very similar. They all had much interest in Pureland belief and Brahmajala commandments. It is a possibility that Eui-Jeok would have been revered as one of the patriarchs of the Fa-xiang school just like Won-Hyo and Tae-Hyeon. There are some mentions made by Eui-Cheon(義天) in his writings, that Eui-Jeok settled at the Geumsan-sa(金山寺) temple which was a place far away from the capital. There has been a general belief that the temple became famous because it was the place where Jin-Pyo(眞表), the sacred monk who evaporated the repentant Mitreiya belief across the country and built many temples which became the important Fa-xiang temples of the Koryo dynasty, had stayed. But considering the fact that Eui-Jeok's time preceded Jin-Pyo's for nearly 100 years, it seems much more likely that during his stay at the Geumsan-sa temple Eui-Jeok taught the Fa-xiang theories which would have become the basis of Jin-Pyo's thoughts.