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Cross-national Buddhism and Identity Construction in Ch’oe Ch’iwŏn’s “Four Mountains Stele”

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Abstract

This paper aims to evaluate how Chan Buddhism played a part in Buddhist discourses reflecting an increased sense of legitimacy in ninth-century East Asia. It may not surprise us that the sinicisation of Buddhism implies a process of identity construction to place China in the centre. Culture and religion joined together in this process, first in China and then in Korea. However, the location of centrality or marginality was not fixed in Buddhist ontology. Rather, innovative Buddhist intellects such as Ch’oe Ch’iwŏn (b. 857 A.D.) ventured to create a reversal of centre and margin. In Ch’oe Ch’iwŏn’s inscriptions for four Korean Sŏn schools (the total of nine schools are also known as nine mountains), an attempt to supersede China through Chan Buddhism is conspicuous. It is particularly interesting to note that, in the context of the cross-border transmission of Buddhism, the mobility of “Chan patriarchs” was essential in maintaining the legitimacy and continuity. This characteristic of the mobility of Chan patriarchs is seen in the Korean masters depicted by Ch’oe Ch’iwŏn’s, namely Chingam, Ranghye and Chijŭng.

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Notes

  1. The most explicit discussion on “Zen” as a modern construct in our time and the connection between Zen and Japanese nationalism can be found in Sharf (1993, 1994).

  2. A distinguished case study of the collective identity of Japan can be found in Chap. 7 in Haas (1997).

  3. For discussions on relations between Tang and her neighbours, see Wang (2005), D’Haeseleer (2011).

  4. For the discussions in the Chinese views concerning the Buddhist centre, see Sun (2014: 35–62), Wang (2005: 94–101).

  5. The concept of a “borderland complex” was proposed by Antonino Forte in the 1980s and received much attention by Jinhua Chen. See Chen (2010), Chen and Yang (Forthcoming). For examples from ninth century Japan, see Chaps. 5 and 6 in Lin (2012)‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬.

  6. The relationship between Korean Buddhism and political legitimation is examined thoroughly in Buswell (1996, 1998).

  7. The Sasan pimyŏng has invited a great deal of interest from contemporary academia. For annotations, Ch’oe (1865), Ch’oe (1987, 1990), Yi (1995). Collated and translated into modern Korean, see Yi (1995). The most recent Chinese compilation is Li and Zhan (forthcoming). Two among the four steles have been translated by Patrick R. Uhlmann (2015). Furthermore, two complete English translations are: Chen and Yang (Forthcoming); Ryang (2012).

  8. For the political history of the Silla Kongdom and its relation to Tang, see Bai (2003).

  9. For the tension and interaction between Sŏn and Hwaŏm during the introduction of Sŏn, see Ch’oe (1976). The author regards the rise of early Sŏn as a reaction against “scholastic Buddhism” (kyohak pulgyo 教学佛教), see especially pp. 268–278.

  10. However, we are aware that this conception of Korean Buddhism has been criticised by a younger generation of scholars, both Korean and westerners, during the last two decades or so, mainly because the notion was a modern response to the influence of Japanese Buddhism in the colonial period.

  11. The Nine Mountains of Sǒn were founded over a period of 100 years from the late Silla period onwards. Each of the Nine Schools takes its name from the mountain on which its central monastery is located: Kaji san 迦智山, founded by Toǔi (d. 825); Silsang san 实相山, founded by Hongch’ǒk 洪陟(fl.826); Tongni san 桐里山, founded by Hyech’ǒl 惠彻 (785–861); Sagǔl san 阇崛山, founded by Pǒmil 梵日 (810–889); Pongnim san 凤林山, founded by Hyǒnuk 玄昱 (787–869); Sajasan 狮子山, founded by Toyun 道允 (797–868); Hǔiyang san 曦阳山, founded by Tohǒn 道宪 (824–882); Sǒngju san 圣住山, founded by Muyǒm; and Sumi san 须弥山, founded by Iǒm 利严 (869–936).

  12. Takemura (2003: 27–50), especially p. 28–35 for the background of Ch’oe Ch’iwŏn and his contemporaries in Tang China.

  13. A great number of Korean and Japanese students came to study in China in order to pass this examination during the Tang Dynasty. Their cultural identities show acceptance of Chinese centre-periphery world view on one hand and resistance towards Chinese cultural hegemony on the other hand. Ch’oe Ch’iwŏn and Abe no Nakamaro are two representatives, see Kawamoto (2003).

  14. It was said that a Korean ruler sent a missionary to acquire the skull of the Sixth Chan Patriarch Huineng and stored it in the Ssanggye Monastery, but this story was rejected in the biography of Huineng in the Chinese lamp records, Jingde chuandenglu (Ch’oe 1976: 280). It indicates the symbolic value of Patriarch Huineng during the initial stage of Sŏn Buddhism in Korea and his importance as a figure to the Silla ruling class.

  15. For studies and analyses of the social and political background reflected from these inscriptions, see Sim (2014), Bai and Li (2012), Kodō (2006), Ch’oe (1976: 267–79), Jorgensen (2005: 723–4).

  16. In Tangwen shiyi 唐文拾遗44, collected in the final volume of Quan Tang Wen, Vol. 11: 10864–7; Chŏsen kinseki sŏran: 66–72. (Engl. transl.: Uhlmann and Jorgensen 2015: 65–98).

  17. Tangwen shiyi 44: 10867–10873; Chŏsen kinseki sŏran,Vol. 1: 72–83. (Engl. transl.: Uhlmann and Jorgensen 2015: 99–170).

  18. Tangwen shiyi 44: 10874–10878.

  19. Ibid, p. 10864b.

  20. Ibid, p. 10864b.

  21. Ibid, p. 10872b.

  22. Xitang was the most important disciple of Mazu Daoyi (709–788) and succeeded to leadership of the monastery left by Mazu. Xitang travelled widely and visited some other famous masters, such as Nanyang Huizhong 南阳慧忠 (677–775), and the Oxhead school’s Jingshan Faqin 径山法钦 (714–792). The recognition of his inheritance of Mazu is spelled out by the famous Tang writer Li Shangyin 李商隐 (c.818–c.858). His Tang Zizhou Huiyi jingshe Nanchanyuan Sizhengtang beiming 唐梓州慧义精舍南禅院四证堂碑铭 stresses the “southern” tradition of Huineng. (Quan Tang Wen xinbian 全唐文新编 780: 9291–3) On the other hand, another group of monks claim that Xingshan Weikuan 兴善惟宽 (755–817) received the highest teachings from Mazu and was active in the North, as is written in Bai Juyi’s Xijing Xingshansi Chuanfatan beiming 西京兴善寺传法堂碑铭. (Quan Tang Wen 678: 62a) As Ishii Shūdō concludes, the relationship between Xingshan and Xitang is analogous to the North–South division between Huineng and Shenxiu. (Ishii 1978: 280–284, especially p. 283).

  23. In assessing Xitang’s influence in Korea, Ishii only mentions three founders who learned from Xitang, but Chijŭng is not included. (Ishii 1978: 284).

  24. Tangwen shiyi 44: 10877b.

  25. (静众无相、常山慧觉、禅谱益州金、镇州金者,是东归则前所叙北山义、南岳涉而佭之, 大安徹国师、 慧目育、 智力闻、双溪照、 新兴彦、涌岩体、珍丘休、双峰云、孤山日、两朝国师圣住染。) (Ibid, p. 10874b.).

  26. See the account in Xu gaoseng zhuan (“The Continued Biography of Eminent Monks”). (T 50: 596c).

  27. John McRae’s study on Oxhead demonstrates that the connection between Daoxin and Farong is fabricated because they never met each other (See MacRae 1983: 169–252; see especially the part on these two patriarchs on pp. 180–196).

  28. (杜口禅那, 归心佛陀, 根熟菩萨, ……去传密印,来化新罗。) Tangwen shiyi 44: 10867a.

  29. In this epitaph, it is said that Ranghye was called the tenth Perfect-Enlightenment patriarch 圆觉祖师, and received the transmission from Fazang in a dream. His biography was full of magical stories: in his childhood, he had extraordinary memory ability, and in adulthood, he once survived fatal danger in a sea trip.

  30. Tangwen shiyi 44: 10869b.

  31. (俾冠禅侯于东土, 往钦哉!则我当年作江西大儿, 后世为海东大父,其无惭先师矣乎!) Ibid: 10869b–10870a.

  32. The Japanese counterpart is significant but cannot be covered in this article. For reference concerning the “borderland complex,” see footnote 5.

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    Pei-Ying Lin

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Lin, PY. Cross-national Buddhism and Identity Construction in Ch’oe Ch’iwŏn’s “Four Mountains Stele”. Fudan J. Hum. Soc. Sci. 8, 81–94 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40647-015-0059-x

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