This dissertation seeks to locate the place of Taehyon (ca. 8th century CE), a Silla Korean Yogacara monk, within the broader East Asian Buddhist tradition. My task is not confined solely to a narrow study of Taehyon's thought and career, but is principally concerned with understanding the wider contours of the East Asian Yogacara tradition itself and how these contours are reflected in Taehyon's extant oeuvre. There are problems in determining Taehyon's doctrinal position within the traditional paradigms of East Asian Yogacara tradition, that is, the bifurcations of Tathagatagarbha and Yogacara; Old and New Yogacara; the One Vehicle and Three Vehicles; and the Dharma Nature and Dharma Characteristics schools. Taehyon's extant works contain doctrines drawn from across these various divides, and his doctrinal positions therefore do not precisely fit any of these traditional paradigms. In order to address this issue, this dissertation examines how these bifurcations originated and evolved over time, across the geographical expanse of the East Asian Yogacara tradition. The chapters of the dissertation discuss in largely chronological order the theoretical problems involved in these bifurcations within Yogacara and proposes possible resolutions to these problems, by focusing on the works of such major Buddhist exegetes as Paramartha (499-569), Ji (632-682), Wonhyo (617-686), Fazang (643-712), and, finally, Taehyon.

Korean Buddhism is often described as showing few signs of creativity and being virtually dead in the latter half of Chosŏn (1392-1910), the last dynasty of Korea, because of harsh persecution by the Confucian ruling class. My dissertation explores Korean Sŏn (C. Chan) Buddhism in the early nineteenth century, focusing on the monks Paekp'a Kŭngsŏn (1767-1852) and Ch'oŭi Ŭisun (1786-1866). The purpose of this study is not only to challenge this common misperception, but also to present a more accurate picture of Chosŏn Buddhism, particularly its unique development of Sŏn theories. My dissertation, first of all, demonstrates the presence of active interactions between Buddhism and Confucianism during late Chosŏn. In particular, it shows that many Confucian literati provided extensive financial and ideological support for Buddhism and pursued their interest in the religion as an alternative for Confucianism. As a case study of the development of Korean Sŏn theories of this time, my dissertation explores Paekp'a and Ch'oŭi's unique ideas on the relationship between Sŏn and Kyo (doctrinal studies). Paekp'a reconciled the soteriological tension between the Heze and Linji schools, regarding the utility of doctrinal studies. In doing so, he integrated the kanhwa (C. kanhua) technique of the Linji school into the Heze scheme of "sudden enlightenment followed by gradual cultivation." With this synthetic path, Paekp'a limited the soteriological validity of doctrinal teachings or studies by describing them as unable to achieve the final perfect enlightenment on their own. Ch'oŭi, on the other hand, argued for the unity of of Sŏn and Kyo by introducing new definitions of these two strands of Buddhism. He argued that Sŏn and Kyo were not fundamentally different from each other. Their different rhetorical styles not only reflect the same quality of the Buddha's enlightenment but also serve equally as skillful means to help sentient beings with different capabilities attain the ultimate Buddhist goal. Hence, for Ch'oŭi, there is no hierarchy between Sŏn and doctrinal teachings. My dissertation not only undermines the colonialist image of Korean Buddhism, but also demonstrates the uniqueness and continuity of Korean Sŏn Buddhism within the East Asian Buddhist tradition.

This dissertation investigates the early formation of Wŏn Buddhism by situating it in the larger socio-cultural and religious contexts of early-twentieth-century Korea, such as the emergence of indigenous new religions and Buddhist reform movements. It analyzes the texts, practices, and belief systems created by this new Buddhist religion by drawing on archival materials, such as diaries, personal essays, daily reports, and other written documents that testify to the actual historical voices of people’s everyday experiences and beliefs. I examine how the new Tonghak movement’s notion of sich’ŏnju (revering God within one’s heart 侍天主), which encouraged egalitarianism in Korean society at the end of the nineteenth century, influenced both Buddhist reform movements and new religious movements. I focus my analysis on the novel concept of the “congregation of a thousand buddhas and a million bodhisattvas” that the founder of Wŏn Buddhism, Pak Chungbin 朴重彬 (1891-1943), articulated. Pak proposes that his Pulpŏp Yŏn’guhoe (The Society for the Study of the Buddhadharma 佛法硏究會), which was later renamed Wŏnbulgyo (Wŏn Buddhism 圓佛教), was a “congregation of a thousand buddhas and a million bodhisattvas.” This reconceptualization of the saṃgha captures a way of reforming Korean Buddhism from commoners’ point of view by demonstrating how all living beings, including both male and female, ordained and lay, young and old, colonized and colonizer, and intellectual and non- intellectual, could become buddhas and bodhisattvas through the practices and teachings of Buddhism. In deploying this concept, Pak and his disciples laid out the fundamental teachings of Buddhism in a way that would be accessible to all classes of people and applicable to their daily lives, and sought to make their community a religious institution for realizing that vision. I argue that the new praxes and belief systems of Wŏn Buddhism developed through the complex interplay between East Asian Buddhist practices, colonial modernity, and contemporary interpretations of the concept of “religion.” The new methods taught in Wŏn Buddhism, such as mindful “bean-counting” meditation (t’aejosa 太調査) and keeping spiritual journals, provided the tools for common people to attain greater agency in their Buddhist religious pursuits. My dissertation presents the stories of how nameless ordinary rural people, both male and female, created new identities for themselves by becoming Buddhist practitioners. I explore how they developed their insights to see the world in a new Buddhist way, how their worldview was shaped by Buddhism, and how they adapted in their own lives the “mind-praxis” that Pak taught within the Wŏn Buddhist community. My dissertation’s detailed accounts of ordinary people’s practice will expand the intellectual horizons of the field of Buddhist Studies to include more of the lived experiences of ordinary Buddhists. In this, my work makes a key contribution to the literature on East Asian new religions and Buddhist reform movements, Korean Buddhism, colonial modernity, and the lived religious experience of everyday people.

This dissertation analyzes the editorship of Lingyin monastery’s six monastic gazetteers compiled over the past five centuries, by focusing on both the genealogy and the editorial process followed in compiling the gazetteers themselves. This research investigates how gazetteers were compiled, the motives behind their compilation, and the significance of these gazetteers to Buddhist historiography in both Chinese and East Asian historical contexts. Unlike Buddhist canonical texts, the monastic gazetteer is a structured compilation that sheds light on Buddhist historiographical writing; it serves as a conduit through which scholars may enter a monastery’s past. In addition to the extensive prefaces to the monastic gazetteers, I examine specific fascicles, including writings on monastic history, the geographic landscape of the monastic territory, the monastery’s dominant dharma lineage and writings of or on notable clergy, and tourists’ poems preserved in the gazetteers. The Lingyin monastic gazetteers demonstrate that the monastery adapts and revises the content of existing writing to represent the life of notable individuals in the monastery’s history, omits unfavorable writings that would bring potential political persecution, and utilizes literary content to shape the preferred image of the monastery. The gazetteers’ final products reflect the Buddhist clergy’s stance, and demonstrate how the relationships between the clergy, literati, and the state changed over time. The texts also show how editorial processes establish and restore the monastery’s self-image, or its religious and institutional brand. I focus on the monastic gazetteer as a genre, the similarities and differences of its content and structure with other concurrent publications, and how its structure was reorganized so that the gazetteer became one in a series that portrayed the desired image of the monastery. On the surface, the gazetteer appears to be the monastery’s outreach to an external readership, providing descriptive information on the monastery itself and honoring its secular donors. However, I argue that the Lingyin monastic gazetteer editors’ true focus was not on its local or cultural context but instead its religious content, honoring late or incumbent abbots and promoting the Sanfeng (or Three-Peaks) school of the Chan (Jp. Zen) lineage. These efforts were successful throughout the Qing dynasty. A case study of the Lingyin monastic gazetteers allows us to reconstruct the monastery’s rich history through providing an account of the monastery’s major historical events in chronological sequence. It reveals critical aspects of how the monks coordinated with literati to promote the monastery, how Buddhists portrayed themselves, and how monasteries branded themselves to the public through textual means. The products show the flexibility of the clergy-literati collaboration and present the changing strategies in responding to socio-political change over time. Through the publication of monastic gazetteers, the clergy brands and rebrands the monastery as well as keeps the monastic records archived and updated. Gazetteers thus allow the monastery to properly present its own self-image, securing its own religious tradition and attracting potential support from various forces.

This study seeks to move academic discourse on Wŏn Buddhism beyond didactic introductions and official narratives. Delving into tensions between a complex constellation of text, redaction, narrative, belief, praxis, and personal experience, I explore the quick transformation of Pak Chungbin’s small Buddhadharma Research Society into the contemporary and international Wŏn Buddhist order. On an immediate level, this study reveals a disparity between text and praxis that emerges after the death of the charismatic founder. On a broader level, it reveals the concrete ways adherents in a nascent religious order immediately alter text and praxis to fit their desires and needs, despite the trajectory on which the charismatic founder set his order. The Introduction provides a thorough review of existing English literature on Wŏn Buddhism, discusses historiographic and methodologic concerns, deliberates on the source material, and reveals the need for more sustained and focused investigations of Wŏn Buddhism. Chapter One surveys official narratives around Pak and the founding of the order. It also investigates the divine status of Pak as the Maitreya Buddha, which followers claimed after his death. Chapter Two provides an accounting of the early texts of the order, examines the redaction of Pak’s Pulgyo chŏngjŏn, and locates Pak’s teaching firmly within broader East Asian Mahāyāna Buddhist worldviews and schemata. Chapter Three provides a much-needed outline and accounting of the community: types of membership, governance, education of ordinands, and the daily life of the ordained in a variety of settings. This chapter also provides a complete accounting of temple structure, rituals, and the performance of dharma meetings. Chapter Three closes with three important critical issues facing the community: self-autonomy of ordained members, gendered discrimination, and the invisibility of LGBT members. Throughout this study, I include an extensive personal ethnography, weaving in my own subjective experience with the Wŏn Buddhist community.