Korea Journal of Buddhist Studies ISSN:1598-0642(Print) 불교학연구

There have been two famous and important Buddhist practice communities in Korean dynasties, one was the practice community of the Meditation and wisdom (定慧結社) by Ji-nul (知訥), the other was the practice community of White Lotus (白蓮結社) by Yo-sae (了世). Even if the point of the former still exists through Koan meditation, the purpose of the latter which was the gathering of the repentance method of the Lotus Samādhi would be hard to find these days. The epitaph of Yo-sae, the first president of the community of White Lotus, says: ‘It was the first time to recommend dhyāna-contemplation (禪觀) and reciting sūtras (誦經) to the public through opening the practicing site of Samantabhadra since the introduction of Buddhism in Korea.’ In essence, the community of White Lotus was the meeting to clarify and actualize the essential of the One Vehicle in Lotus sutra. Again in four aspects, the four ones [四一]: the first, to unite the three other teachings in one subtle dharma is called ‘the teaching of one vehicle (敎一)’, the second, including many other practices like recitation or meditation are one and the same way to the ultimate enlightenment called ‘the sole Buddha procedure (行一)’, the third, the thinking that everybody regardless of sex, age or class is none other than Buddha is called ‘men all and only as Buddha (人一)’, the fourth, the understanding that Noumenon and phenomena are non-dual is called ‘one ultimate truth of the reality of all existence (理一)’.