(
617 -
686 ) was one of the leading thinkers, writers and commentators of the
Korea n
Buddhist tradition.
With his life spanning the end of the
Three Kingdoms Period and the beginning of the Unified
Silla , Wonhyo played a vital role in the reception and assimilation of the broad range of doctrinal Buddhist streams that flowed into the Korean peninsula at the time. Wonhyo was most interested in, and affected by
Tathāgatagarbha ,
Yogācāra and
Hwaom thought. However, in his extensive scholarly works, composed as commentaries and essays, he embraced the whole spectrum of the Buddhist teachings which were received in Korea, including such schools as
Pure Land ,
Nirvana ,
Sanlun and
Tiantai (''
Lotus Sūtra '' school).
He wrote commentaries on virtually all of the most influential
Mahāyāna scriptures, altogether including over eighty works in over two hundred fascicles. Among his most influential works were the commentaries he wrote on the ''
Awakening Of Faith '', ''
Nirvana Sutra '' and ''
Vajrasamādhi Sutra '', along with his exposition on the meaning of the two hindrances, the ''
Ijangui ''. These were treated with utmost respect by leading Buddhist scholars in
China and
Japan , and served to help in placing the ''
Awakening Of Faith '' as the most influential text in the Korean tradition.
Wonhyo spent the earlier part of his career as a monk. In 661 he and a close friend -
Uisang (625–702, founder of the Korean
Hwaom school) - traveled to a port in the
Paekche region. During the journey, the pair were caught in a heavy downpour and forced to take shelter in what they believed to be an earthen sanctuary. Upon waking the next morning, however, they discovered much to their amazement that their shelter was in fact an ancient tomb littered with human skulls. Moved by the experience of believing a gruesome site to be a comfortable haven, Wonhyo was astonished at the power of the human mind to transform one’s perceptions. After this "
Consciousness-only "
Enlightenment experience, he left the priesthood and turned to the spreading of the ''Buddhadharma'' as a layman. Because of this aspect of his character, Wonhyo ended up becoming a popular folk hero in Korea. He was a colleague and friend of the influential Silla
Hwaom monk
Uisang , and an important result of their combined works was the establishment of Hwaeom as the dominant stream of doctrinal thought on the Korean peninsula. Wonhyo's twenty-three extant works are currently in the process of being translated into English as a joint project between
Dongguk University and
State University Of New York At Stony Brook .
Wonhyo had a son,
Seol Chong , who is considered to be one of the great Confucian scholars of Silla.
The
International Taekwondo Federation Pattern "Won-Hyo" is named in Wonhyo's honor.
