Korean Buddhism: History—Condition—ArtStarr, Frederick
Religion
Korean Buddhism: History—Condition—Art
Starr, Frederick
Art -- Korea; Buddhism -- Korea; Buddhist art
_Hwui Lun_, a Corean, otherwise called Prajñavarma, came by sea from
his own country to _Fuchau_, and proceeded thence to Chang’an.
Following after the priest _Hiuen-chiu_, he reached the West, and
during ten years dwelt in the Amravat country and in the Sin-ché
Temple (north of the Ganges). Passing through the eastern frontiers,
and thence proceeding northward he came to the Tu-ho-lo (_Tukhâra_)
Temple. Beal: _Life of Hiouen-Tsiang_, pp. xxix-xxx, xxxvi.
[2]Jones in his admirable discussion of the Eunjin miriok makes an
interesting suggestion regarding its location:
But the special interest these facts have for us in connection
with the great Buddha lies in the fact that it may have been here
that Buddhism itself first entered Pakche. Buddhism was a foreign
importation, being sent to the peninsular kingdoms by the Eastern
Tsin dynasty of China (A.D. 317-19) and effecting an entrance
almost simultaneously at two points—in the north into Koguryu and
in the south into Pakche. Of this latter event the native
historians tell us:—“In the year A.D. 384 the barbarian monk
Maranant’a came from Tsin. King Chip-yu accorded him a most
courteous and ceremonious reception and Buddhism was established
as the national religion.” We do not know at what point the
monk-missionary landed, but it is not so unlikely that he may have
come to this well-known port, and that one day among the ships
making up that inextricable mass of masts and rudders at Si-jin
there may have come the imperial junk of Tsin bearing “the
barbarian monk Maranant’a” with his images, incense, bells, books
and vestments to plant in Korea that cult which was to dominate
the people for a thousand years, thus landing close to the place
where in later years the greatest monument that Buddhism possesses
was to stand. And two hundred years later (A.D. 552) there
probably embarked from this port that band of Pakche priests sent
by their king to carry to the mikado of Japan the golden images of
Buddha and the triad of precious ones, the sutras and sacred
books, and to give the faith of Buddhism to the Sun-rise Empire.
And it is said that these relics exist to this day and are
preserved in the city of Nagano in Japan. Colossal Buddha: p. 62.
[3]It occurs in the inscription regarding the Seoul pagoda and is
particularly interesting as a contemporary description of a temple
of remarkable splendor.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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