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The Development of Buddhism and Confucianism in Korea

  

In the sections below, we will look at such great thinkers, choosing five from the Buddhist tradition and five from the Confucian tradition. Through a brief examination of their thought, we will try to elucidate more precisely the uniqueness of the Korean character as it is manifest within the context of their respective traditions.

	Classical Korean philosophy began during the Three Kingdoms period, and with Mahayana thought, bloomed around the time of Shilla's unification of the Three Kingdoms. With the introduction of Chinese, all Three Kingdoms actually studied Confucianism first; however the outstanding thinkers of the period were initially Buddhists. In particular, Buddhist culture was a leading force within the Shilla and Paekche Kingdoms. Confucianism and Buddhism have had a decisive influence on the minds and thoughts of Koreans for at least 22 centuries. Both of these religious traditions have profound, religious world-views and intricate doctrinal systems which form an integrated whole.
	Consequently, neither of these systems could be introduced piecemeal, and the doctrinal content of Confucianism and Buddhism in Korea therefore did not change. In particular, the tradition of Neo-Confucianism (a philosophical movement that appeared in song China) was strictly maintained and developed in Korea. For this reason, modern scholars have often criticized Choson-period Neo-Confucian thinkers as dogmatic and cliquish. This evaluation appears valid if a particular thinker is seen in isolation, but if one considers all the great Neo-Confucian thinkers who lived during the late-Koryo and early-Choson periods, one realizes that this was a group of highly creative intellectuals. Even more impressive is the series of great thinkers one encounters when studying the long history of Korean Buddhist thinkers from the Three Kingdoms to the Choson period.

Temple  on Serak Mtn.

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