Esoteric Buddhism and the Cross-cultural Transfiguration of Śūraṃgama-sūtra Faith in Goryeo
Year: 2014
Type: article
Abstract: This paper presents an investigation into cross-cultural transfiguration of Buddhist faith in Goryeo Dynasty, with a focus on $\acute{S}\bar{u}$ raṃgama-s $\bar{u}$ tra that used to be in vogue in East Asia. There are three major types of $\acute{S}\bar{u}$ raṃgama-s $\bar{u}$ tra faith in Goryeo: the first one was concerned about the scripture itself including its citation and publication and the compilation of its annotation books; the second one involved establishing Buddhist rituals related to the scripture; and the final one was to create Dh $\bar{a}$ ran $\bar{i}$ stone poles with Dafoding Dh $\bar{a}$ ran $\bar{i}$ in Volume 7 of the scripture engraved in stone. While it was the common practice to engrave Zunsheng Dh $\bar{a}$ ran $\bar{i}$ in China, the number of stone poles on which Dafoding Dh $\bar{a}$ ran $\bar{i}$ was engraved was overwhelmingly large. There are a couple of reasons behind the difference: first, there was a tendency of Zunsheng Dh $\bar{a}$ ran $\bar{i}$ being worshiped at the national level in Goryeo, which probably explains why the percentage of Zunsheng Dh $\bar{a}$ ran $\bar{i}$ stone poles designed to pray for a personal mass for the dead by engraving Dh $\bar{a}$ ran $\bar{i}$ on a stone pole was considerably low. In addition, there were esoteric sects in Goryeo, and it is estimated that they must have got involved in the establishment of Dafoding Dh $\bar{a}$ ran $\bar{i}$ stone poles in the former half of Goryeo. Furthermore, the Zen sects had a deep non-Zen understanding of Esoteric Buddhism and tended to practice Dh $\bar{a}$ ran $\bar{i}$ in Goryeo. It is estimated that Dafoding Dh $\bar{a}$ ran $\bar{i}$ stone poles were set up in large numbers in Goryeo as the prevalence of $\acute{S}\bar{u}$ raṃgama-s $\bar{u}$ tra faith that continued on since the former half of Goryeo was combined with the Zen sects' active position about Dh $\bar{a}$ ran $\bar{i}$ .
Author: Sooyoun Kim
Institution: University of Southern California
Language: English
Topic: Indian and Buddhist Studies
Subfield: Religious studies
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2313020994