Relation Between Esoteric Buddhism and Korean Primeval Religion

8/9/2019 Relation Between Esoteric Buddhism and Korean Primeval Religion

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Religious Syncretism in the ShillaPeriod : The Relationship between

Esoteric Buddhism and KoreanPrimeval Religion

JAMES UNTLEY RAYSONMethodist Theological Seminary, SeoulINTRODUCTIONReligious syncretism, the mixture of folk religion with one of the religionsfrom the so-called " great traditions," is an important element in thedevelopm ent of Bud dhis m in the ancient states of Korea. As we shalldemo nstrate in the course of this stud y, syncretism was from the verybeginning the process by which B uddhism gained acceptance in theKorean states, and the influence of this syncretic Buddhism may be foundin even the m ost sophisticated relics of high Budd hist culture and art.I n sp ite of its great importance, however, stu dies of ancient KoreanBuddhism seldom make reference to the syncretism which was typicalof that period. Usually one is left with the impression that Buddhismin the ancient period was unaffected, unadulterated by the indigenousreligion and that the two religions existed side by side in two separateworlds (Han 1970: 99-102). This paper, then, will illustrate the de-velopment of syncretic Buddhism in Korea by considering the stagesof the growth of Buddhism in the kingdom of Shilla.Because Shilla defeated its rivals for supremacy on th e Ko reanpeninsula, the kingdoms of Koguryd &@I nd Paekche E R , i n themid-seventh century, the historical records for this state are compara-tively greater, an d consequ ently it will be easier to show th e developm entof syncretism through th e course of Shilla history. I n this paper, itwill be shown that there are four essential stages: a period of contact,a period of accomodation, a period of maturation, and a period of asophisticated synthesis. Each successive stage built o n the stage before

Asian Folklore Studies, Vol. 4 3 , 1984, 185-198.


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it with the final result being a form of Buddhism perfectly acclimatedto Korean culture.Before we may discuss the development of syncretism, however,we must first examine some of the characteristics of the indigenousreligion, Korean primeval religion, to which we now turn.KOR EANRIMEVALELIGIONT h e first point to note ab out th e primeval religion of Korea is that itderives from th e traditions of N ortheast Asia and Siberia and n ot fromChina. T h e Korean people are the product of the union of variousNeo-Siberian tr ibes, principally the Tungus, and the several Palaeo-Siberian tr ibes which had inhabited the peninsula since the UpperPalaeolithic period. T h e racial union of these grou ps was completedsome time after 600 B.C. in the nor th and by 200 B.C. in the south.Following this period of racial mixture, incipient trib al states beganto emerge during the final quarter of the first millenium B.C. Amongthe most important of these were the states of Ancient Chos6n &@#,Puy6 &&, Kogury6, and Paekche. Shilla did not emerge as a stateuntil m uch later, perhaps th e fif th century A.D. By the term " primevalreligion of Korea," I mean th e religion which was characteristic of theseearly tribal states. Althou gh itself derived from earlier, prehistorictraditions, by t he adv ent of Budd hism, this primeval religion had un der-gone a process of maturation which had adapted it to the settled natureof the society of a state (Grays on 1979: 59-61).The second point to make about the primeval religion of Korea isthat it belongs to that broad family of religious traditions which an-thropologists call shaman ism. M od ern Korea n folk religion, Koreanprimeval religion, and modern Siberian shamanism all have their originsin th e most ancient traditions of N ortheast Asian shamanism.In the ancient period, there were in Korea religious figures calledch'dn'gzm ( XW , " Prince of Heaven ") who acted as intercessors for theirpeople at certain great yearly ceremonies. Th es e figures inherited theirpositions and were in many cases the political rulers of their people.There were also lesser iigures who were concerned with the curing ofdisease and the dispatch of the souls of the dead to the next world.These three primary concerns of the primeval religion, namely inter-cession, curing a nd th e dispatch of th e souls of th e dead, likewise remainthe principal concerns of modern Korean folk religion (Yu 1975: 345-346).T h e great shama ns held important ceremonies either at hilltopshrines or in sacred groves called sodo a& n which they resided. T h esacred character of these groves is indicated by the fact that criminals


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RELIGIOUS SYNCRETISM IN T H E SHILLA PERIOD 187fleeing from justice could find refuge within their precincts in th e sameway that in medieval times in Europe outlaws sought asylum within th esanctity of a church.

Most of the ancient states had important r ites connected with theagricultural cycle at which the ch'dn'gun officiated. T h e Puy b had theharv est festival called Ybnggo iQ8, th e Ko gury b, th e To ng m aen g%!T Fest ival , the Tongnye, the Much'bn $$*estival, and the Hantribes in the south, Suritnal and Sangd al held in the fif th and tenthluna r mon ths respectively. Th ese ceremonies were addressed to thehigh god called Han6lnim or Ch'6nshin *$$,he Lord of Heaven. T h eshamanistic character of these rites is indicated by the words used todesc ribe them. T h e charac te r fo r d rum, go 8 , appears in the wordyonggo and the word much'on mean s dancing before Heaven . D ru m -ming and dancing are two means by which the sham an enters an ecstaticstate in order that his soul might journey to Heaven, or by which hemight draw dow n a spirit into his body. Su ritnal means the day of theeagle. Ornitholog ical motifs are com mon sham anistic sym bols as theyrepresent the flight of the shaman's soul (Grayson 1979: 41-48).

T h e third point to make abo ut the primeval religion of K orea isthat in addition to a rich cosmology of gods, spirits and daemons, therewas a belief in a high god, the Ch'bnshin, from whom the royal familywas descended. Fr om the area of the state of Ancient Cho sbn, there isa stele dated to 85 A.D. which is dedicated to the Lord of Heaven andwhich contains a petition for a bountiful harvest. T h e connection ofthe ruling family to the Lord of Heaven is attested by the myth ofTan 'gun (@ g , ord of the Sandalwood Tr ee), which is recorded in theSamguk yusa (S?l?&S,Memorabilia of the Three Kingdoms ").Order in social relationships, civilization, and the state are created inthis myth w hen th e Son of the Lord of Heaven descends to earth on topof Paektu-san Q@m. His son Tan'gun, the offspring of a bear, be-comes the founder of the first ruling house of a Korean state.The myth of Tan 'gun conta ins two important e lements . I n t h efirst place, the descent of the Son of the Lord of Heaven and his sub-sequent m arriage with the E arth Spirit symbolizes the union of Heavenand Ea rth. I n the second place, the offspring of this union founds afamily which becomes the intermediary between th e heavenly and earthlyspheres. T h e royal houses are in effect families of hereditary shaman swhich Yu calls shinin ($$A," divine men " ; Yu 1975: 33-45).Recent excavations in Ky6ngju &4I'I, the capital of Shilla, haveshown not only the splendor of that ancient kingdom but also have givenus a bette r idea of the shamanistic role of the early kings. Am ong th emany objects recovered from th e royal tum uli are the magnificent golden


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188 JAMES HUNTLEY GRAYSON

crowns and belts worn by the kings of ancient Shilla. The crowns areformed of uprights of beaten gold sheets in the shape of antlers andtrees from which dangle various golden ornaments and curved pieces ofjade called kogok &Z . Tree and deer motifs are common shamanisticsymbols, and the kogok resemble bear or tiger claws, used by modernshamans on their clothing for their animistic power. The splendid goldbelts are likewise full of many dangling objects, such as the kogok, fish,and gold plates. Covered with brilliant, dangling objects, the kings ofancient Shilla must have appeared to the ordinary people as radiantgod-like beings (Grayson 1979: 113-1 19).THE RANSMISSIONF BUDDHISMNTO EASTASIAAs Buddhism traveled eastward through Central Asia toward China, itacquired various characteristics which were markedly different from theBuddhism which existed in India. Mahiiyiina Buddhism developed toa remarkable degree the ability to accomodate itself to the customs,rites, and patterns of belief of the societies to which it was transmitted.Surprisingly, the development of this syncretic form of Buddhism aidedin the acceptance of Buddhism in northern China following the collapseof the state of Western Jin (BE,265-315).The demise of this universal empire led to the creation in northChina of a series of ephemeral states ruled by various barbarian tribalchieftains who proved to be particularly susceptible to the persuasivetechniques used by Buddhist missionaries arriving from Central Asia.These missionaries came from countries where the mixing of Buddhismand the native religion had already taken place, and. hence they knewhow to appeal to the barbarian rulers to win them over to their pointof view. Magic and occult practices were the principal means used.One of the greatest practitioners of these occult techniques wasFo-tu-deng {%a@, ho arrived in northern China in 310 and served atthe court of Later Zhao (@B, 19-352). Fo-tu-deng claimed controlof various spirits as his personal messengers, and was said to have per-formed such feats of magic as creating a lotus out of a bowl of water,finding water in a dry well, and predicting rain. Lest we think of himas a charletan pretending to be a magician, however, he did speak forth-rightly about the essence of Buddhism. When asked by the king whatwas the principal ethic of Buddhism, Fo-tu-deng replied that it was theprohibition against killing any living thing (Ch'en 1964: 78-80). Th issyncretic form of Buddhism became established in northern China duringthe fourth century and was transmitted to the Korean states by the latterpart of the same century.Often there were political or diplomatic reasons for the transmission


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RELIGIOUS SYNCRETISM IN T H E SHILLA PERIOD 189

of Bud dhism into Korea. Although there is good evidence to showtha t there must have been a B uddhist presence in Koguryii by the middleof th e fourt h century, formally it was introduced thro ugh the agency ofthe emperor of one of the barbarian states of northern Ch ina. T h eEmperor Fu-qian 357-383) of Former Jin ($%, 351-394) sent aBuddhist monk and his entourage to the court of King So-su-rim (I]\%H z , 371-383) of Koguryii in 372. In his message to the king, theemperor stressed the efficacy of Buddhism as a means of protecting thestate from both internal and external danger (Lee 1969: 30-31). T h i sis one clue to the fact that t he B uddhism which was transmitted initiallyto Ko rea was a syncretic type with shamanistic overtones. Th ou ghpracticed first only as a cult of the court, Buddhism eventually becamefirmly established in Koguryii society. Fr om th e first part of th e fifthcentury, missionaries from Koguryii armed with an understanding ofBudd hist syncretism moved sou th and began to sp read this sophisticateddoct rine into the territo ry of the incipient state of Shilla.BUDDHIST EVELOPMENTN SHILLA RIOR TO OFFICIAL CCEPTANCEBuddhism was present in Shilla nearly a hundred years before it wasofficially recognized. M os t of the eviden ce for the existence of B ud-dhism p rior to the reign of Kin g P6p-hiing (&gE,14-539) is containedin a record from the Koryii Dynasty (BE, 936-1392), the Haedongkosung chdn (.&gs@#,ives of Eminent Korean M o n k ) . This bookgives us the names of four missionaries from the fifth century and ofth e ma rtyr w hose d eath w as the alleged reason for th e official sanction ofBudd hism. T h e four Buddhist missionaries of that period are given asMyiil-gu-bi $@&a, hiing-bang Ek, uk-ho-ja ZMT, and A-do NZ.We know nothing of the first two other than the fact that theirmartyrdom was revealed by a secret believer to a later missionary, Huk-ho-ja. T h is indicates not only that their work had been effective, bu ttha t local officials m ust have been co ncerned a bou t the im portation of aforeign religion which migh t und ermi ne traditional practices. At a laterdate, however, Huk-ho-ja whose presence had come to th e attention ofthe court was called to the royal palace to cure the daughter of KingNul-chi ( a g z , 417-457). The cure was effected by burning incensean d incanting a charm. A similar experience is recorded at a later timefor A-do (Lee 1969: 51-52). These incidents show that the king andhis court must have viewed the Buddhists as powerful shamanisticpractitioners of occult arts. T h e fact that Huk-ho-ja and A-do didperform these rituals indicates that they, like Fo-tu-deng, were notadverse to using these techniqu es to gain a hearing for B uddhism.T h is evidence would indicate that Budd hism was practised as a


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190 JAMES HUNTLEY GRAYSON

private cult at the court of Shilla from the time of King Nul-chi. Bythe early sixth century, Kin g Pbp-hiing was ready to proclaim Buddhismas the state religion, but hesitated to do so for fear of aristocratic op-position. I n desperation, the king and a young Buddhist aristocratnamed I-ch'a-don g&@ secretly schemed to create an incident whichwould result in the martyrdo m of the aristocrat for the sake of B uddhism.T h is plot involved I-ch'a-don a minor official at court, using hisoffice to authorize th e construction of a Budd hist temple. I t was hopedthat this usurpation of royal perogative would result in the conservativearistocracy being roused to deman d his execution. T h e king and I -ch'a-don both expected tha t the m artyrdom of the young aristocratwould result in a miracle which would provide a pretext for sanctioningth e official acceptance of B uddhism .

According to the Haedong koszing chdn, the ruse worked and I-ch'a-do n was condem ned to death. Before his execution he predicted theoccurence of two miracles, namely the transformation of his blood intomilk and th e flight of his severed head to th e top of a mo untain. Late rgenerations believed that the occurence of these two events so awedthose present at the execution that opposition to the formal acceptanceof Buddhism collapsed.T h e Haedong koszing chdn also mentio ns th e ins titutio n of an annu almem orial service to appease t he spirit of I-ch'a-don (Lee 196 9: 57-61).The official acceptance of Buddhism in Shilla was thus not due to anappreciation of its superior doctrine, but to an awareness that withinBud dhist practices there was powerful occult magic. T h e success ofth e missionaries of th e fifth century an d of I-ch'a-don mu st be attributedto these occult practices, practices which were similar to the shamanismindigenous to Shilla. Occult Buddhism m ust have been understood bythe people of Shilla as a superior form of shamanism.THE IXTHCE N T U RY :THE FFICIAL CCEPTANCEF BUDDHISMW ith the martyrdo m of I-ch'a-don, Bud dhism became established inShilla. Kin g Pbp-hiing personally propagated the religion for ten yearsafter this martyrdo m, th en he and his queen retired to separate monasticqua rters to spend the remainder of their days. Following P6p-hiing'sretirement, his nephew Chin-hiing (@@3, 39-575) ascended thethrone. Although Bu ddhism became established under Pbp-hting'sreign, it is in Chin-hiing's reign that we notice the first signs of thedevelopment of a uniquely Korean form of syncretic Buddhism.As we have seen , the kings of the ancien t states acted as intercessorsfor their people in the great state ceremonies, imploring the protectionof Heaven, and that the Emperor Fu-qian recommended Buddhism to


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R E L I G IO U S S Y N C R E T I S M I N T H E S H IL L A P E R IO D 191the King of Kogury6 because of the divine protection which it gave thestate. In Chin-hiing's reign, we see the first performance of Buddhistrites for the protection of the state.

In 551, the first paekchwa-hoe (-BE@,Assembly of One HundredSeats) was held for the purpose of reading one of two esoteric scriptures,the Jin Guang-ming Jing &%i%#$$ nd the Ren-wang Jing IzEg. Thesesutras contain a vow made in the first instance by the Four HeavenlyKings and in the second instance by Buddha to protect the person orthe state offering the ceremony. Likewise, prayers for national safetyand the dispatch of the souls of fallen warriors were offered in 551 and572 in a similar ceremony called a p'algwan-hoe (AN&,Assembly of theEight Commandments; Lee 1969: 64-67). Both the paekchwa-hoe andthe p'algwan-hoe have a distinctly shamanistic flavor about them in thatthey feature intercession on behalf of the people and propitiation of thedead.

This assimilation took place on other levels as well. For example,in 553 Chin-hiing ordered the construction of a detached palace, butwork was stopped upon the discovery of a yellow dragon living in thatarea. Later, construction was completed but the building was dedicatedas a Buddhist temple called the Hwangnyong-sa (%%+, Temple of theYellow Dragon). During the ancient period, propitiation of localspirits and the dedication of shrines to them was a common practice, butnow we see these spirits becoming transferred to the Buddhist pantheon,and the shrines which would have been dedicated to them becomingtemples and monasteries. The core beliefs and practices still derivefrom Korean shamanism, but they now begin to appear in a Buddhistguise.

King P6p-hiing and his successor Chin-hiing viewed themselves asBuddhist monarchs but not in the sense of being mere patrons of thenew religion. They were cakravarti-rzja or wangsbn EIh, divine rulersakin to the bodhisattvas. P6p-hang's reign name means the "Advance-ment of the Dharma " and that of Chin-hiing means " the Advancementof Truth " (Grayson 1979: 152-158). Just as the royal ancestors stoodas intermediaries between Heaven and Earth, so too their Buddhistsuccessors mediated between the new gods and their people. By theclose of the sixth century, traditional rites, practices and nomenclaturehad assumed a Buddhist guise.THESEVENTH ENTURY:THEFORMATIONF A KOREAN YNCRETIC

BUDDHISMThe continued development of a Korean syncretic Buddhism is bestillustrated by the life and work of three monks from the early and mid-


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RELIGIOUS SYNCRETISM IN THE SHILLA PERIOD 193My6ng-nang is a lesser known and more mysterious figure thaneither W6n-gwang or Cha-jang. Because his mother was a sister ofCha-jang, Mybng-nang was a collateral member of the royal family.

He was in China from 632-638 studying the doctrines of esoteric Bud-dhism. Th is was at the same time Cha-jang was residing in Tang, andin fact the nephew preceeded his uncle in pursuing studies of esotericBuddhism. My6ng-nang was particularly interested in the use of theoccult speech (mantra) and the mystic diagrams (mandala), which formedimportant parts of the rituals of the occult sects. After his return toShilla, he founded the Shinin Sect j@iipS, which emphasized the use ofthe mandala. In 668, during the peninsular wars for unification, whenit seemed that Tang would invade Shilla, he was asked to use his powersto avert an impending disaster. Myijng-nang's first thought was tocreate a giant mandala in the form of temple, but as there was not enoughtime, he gathered together twelve other practitioners of occult Buddhismand performed a rite called munduru pimilbop *ag%@&, that is, asecret mandala rite. Exactly what scriptures were recited and whatinvocations chanted are not known, but the Samguk yusa does claim thatthe Tang navy was sunk. This occult rite was repeated in 669.Ten years later, in 679, the Sach'iinwang-sa (DXE+, Temple ofthe Four Heavenly Kings) was built according to My6ng-nang's in-structions (Yi 1975: 55-57). I t was a giant mandala, a cosmic diagramof great power to defend the state. As a portion of sacred space, it wascomparable to the ancient sodo. The Four Heavenly Kings for whomthe temple is named are the guardians of the four cardinal points of theuniverse and important figures in the worship of occult Buddhism.One who could control the mandala / temple and the rites which wereperformed there would have been seen as a powerful intercessor be-tween this world and the world of the spirits.There were other practitioners of occult Buddhism. Mil-bon @$was noted for the cure of Queen Sbn-diik ($!$fS*E, 632-646) and herprime minister (Yi 1975: 153-155). Hye-t'ong gz was renowned forthe cure of the daughter of the emperor Gao-zong (XS, 649-683) ofTang and of the daughter of King Hyo-so (*Ex, 692-701) of Shilla.According to a legend, when soldiers came to arrest Hye-t'ong for someoffense, he climbed up on his house roof holding a bottle. He painteda red circle around the neck of the bottle and instantly a red line ap-peared around the neck of every soldier. Hye-t'ong then threatened tobreak the neck of the bottle and thus was able to secure his safety (Yi1974: 154-155). By the end of the seventh century, occult Buddhistpractice had supplanted traditional shamanistic rites. The aims andpurposes of these foreign rituals were much the same as those of the


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194 JAMES HUNTLEY GRAYSONindigenous ones, but were more sophisticated and complex.THE IGHTHCENT URY A SOPHISTICATEDYNTHESISFrom the end of the seventh century through to the end of the eighthcentury, the classical schools of orthodox Buddhism, called the Ogyo3% or Five Sects, flourished in Shilla. Parallel to this developmentwas the growth of formalized schools of esoteric Budd hism. W e havealready observed the foundation of the Shinin Sect by My6ng-nang.The monk Chin-p 'yo &@ came under the influence of the esoterict ea ch ings of t he F a- xiang S choo l & $ ~ sounded by the peripateticmonk Xuan-zang ZE, ho had drunk deeply of these doctrines at theirsource in India . Chin-p'yo subsequ ently had an ecstatic vision of th eBodhisattva Maitreya, an important figure in occult Buddhist ritual.He is said to have received from the bodhisattva a copy of a book ofdivination called th e Zhan-xh a Jing an d 189 divination sticks.H e later initiated a n annual service of divination and helped foun d theyogcZcCra school in Shilla (Yi 1975 : 145-147).My6ng-hyo was another figure important in the establishmentof formalized esoteric Budd hism. H e came under th e influence of theIndian esoter ic Vajrabodhi, founder of the Zhen-yan S ect R g Z , whowas resident in Tang during the first quarter of the eighth century.My6ng-hyo paid special reverence to the MahZvairocana Szitra whichlauded the Dhyan i Buddha Vairocana as the Great Sun. T h e mixtureof occult rituals and the cult of the sun would have accorded well withth e primeval religion of Sh illa (Yi 1975: 425-428).Probably the best known figure of eighth century Buddhism isHye-ch'o SB. He went to China to s tudy esoter ic Buddhims underVajrabodhi and his India n disciple Amogha. Th ese Indians wereresponsible for founding the Zhen-yan School, which believed in thecompulsive power of certain sutras, in particular the MahdvairocanaSzitra, and of certain occult chants and ritual formulae. T h e sacreddiagram or mandala was mu ch used. Hye-ch'o so impressed his teacherstha t they sent him on to In dia to s tudy the esoteric doctrines more fullythere. H e travelled widely in Ind ia and left a record of his travels, th eWang och'onch'ukguk chdn @XXSHB. Although Hye-ch'o is usuallyremem bered for this valuable record of his sojourn on th e subco ntinent,it is not often recognized that he was an active propagator of occultBuddhism. Up on his return to China, he helped Amogha in Changanto translate a n esoteric sutra devoted to the occult f igure Maiijuiri. I tmay be supposed that he had a tremendous effect on the Buddhism ofhis day in Shilla (Yi 1973: v. 41, 1729).W ithou t question, th e greatest artistic treasure of th e eighth century


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Fig. 1. View of the entrance to the grotto chamber of the Sbkkur-amshowing the central Buddha figure. (Photograph courtesy of the NationalMuseum of Korea, Kycngju Branch)

is the magnificent S6kkur-am grotto ( Z a g , Stone Cave Hermitage)located at the top of T'oham-san I & ~ L L I near I


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196 JAMES HUNTLEY GRAYSONan entrance hall, a connecting corridor, and the grotto chamber itself.Each of three chambers represents a part of the progression from theprofane world to the sacred world. The outer chamber has eightsculptures of the p'albushin I\%@ or eight guardian deities on the leftand right walls. On the walls flanking the entrance to the connectingcorridor are two carvings of the muscular vajrapiini, superior guardianfigures. The connecting corridor, representing an intermediate areabetween the fully profane and fully sacred spheres, is composed of fourstone panels with images of the Four Heavenly Kings, the guardians ofthe four cardinal points of the universe to whom the vajrapiini andp'albushin are subordinate. The division between the sacred and profaneis clearly marked by a gate between the connecting corridor and thegrotto proper, which bears a striking resemblance to the gates at theGreat Stupa at Sanchi in India.The grotto chamber itself consists of a wall of fifteen panels ofvarious Buddhist figures and is surmounted by a series of ten nichescontaining statues of various beings. Above this level rises the domeof the chamber, which consists of five layers of ten stones each, each layerof carved stones being progressively smaller than the layer beneath it.In the center of the dome is a massive stone in the shape of a lotuswhich is the cap which locks the pieces of the dome in place. Thegrotto illustrates a very high degree of mathematical complexity. Forexample, the width of the entrance is equal to the radius of the plancircle. The height of the wall and the radius are also identical. Acircle drawn from the head of the great central Buddha figure willdescribe the dome. This is a mathematically perfect world, and in thecenter of this perfect universe sits a figure of Buddha of indescribablebeauty (Jeon 1974: 220-223).

This Buddha is surrounded by fifteen panels of various figuressymbolizing the sacred character of the universe. From the entrancetoward the back there are seven pairs of matched panels and one paneldirectly behind the great figure of Buddha. The first pair of panelsdepicts the gods Brahma and Indra, the second the Bodhisattvas Saman-tabhadra and Maiijuiri, and the remaining five pairs depict the tenprincipal disciples of Gautama Buddha. The central rear panel is of theesoteric Buddhist figure Avalokiteivara as EkBdaQamukha.

The grotto is a great cosmic diagram, a mandala of immense power.Brahma is the creator and ruler of all worlds while Indra is the lord ofthe spirits. The Bodhisattvas MaiijuQri and Samantabhadra are bothconnected with cults of the esoteric school of Buddhism and usuallyform part of a triad of figures along with the Dhyani Buddha Vairocana.The ten disciples, although supposedly historic figures, all have stories


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connected with them about their return to earth as Bodhisattvas. T h euse of a figure of E kadaiamu kha, an imp ortant personage i n the pantheonof esoteric savior beings, also conforms to a magical interp retatio n of th egrotto . Because of th e prese nce of the se cult figures of esoteric Bu d-dhism, in particular Maiijuiri and Samantabhadra, I believe that thegreat f igure in the center of the grotto must be the Dhyani BuddhaVairocana, the supreme Buddha from whom the universe eminates.Many Korean scholars feel that the statue might be Amitlbha sittingin the Western paradise. Either interpretation gives credence to theidea that this great artistic monument cannot be understood solely onaesthetic or doctrinal ground s, but tha t it must be thou ght of as a cosmicdiagram, a mandala. T h e S6kkur-am is not the first instance of thecreation of such a giant diagram; we have seen an earlier example inth e construction of th e Sach'iinwang-sa by My 6ng-nang . Sacredspace was essentially a shamanistic concept, as was the idea that it waspossible to implore or coerce the forces of the universe through the useof the correct esoteric words and rituals. I t is therefore not surprisingthat great Buddhist monuments should have been created to help con-trol or intercede with the powers of the universe. I n early times, therewere shamans residing in their sodo; later the intercessors became monksliving in great mandala / temples.CONCLUDINGEMARKST h e development of a uniquely Korean syncretic Budd hism took placein four stages. I n the fif th century missionaries coming from thenorth made contact with Shilla, gaining the acceptance of its peoplethrough a demonstration of the greater power of Buddhist occult ritesover similar traditional practices. I n th e second stage, after Bud dhis mhad been officially sanctioned by the king, the rulers drew analogiesbetween themselves and various traditional r ites on the one hand andthe bodhisattvas and B uddhist occult r ituals on the other. I t wasduring this t ime that the concept of the wangsdn developed, and thepaekchwa-hoe and p'algwan-hoe ritu als were first institu ted.I n the thir d phase, the great leaders of the B uddhist church w erenoted as much for their proficiency in the esoteric rituals as for theirknow ledge of ortho dox Budd hist doctrine. Cha-jang not only helpedto reorganize Shilla Buddhism, h e also introduced the cult of M aiijuiri.By the eighth century, Buddhism in Shilla had entered a fourthstage, in which the sophisticated synthesis of traditional beliefs andpractices with esoteric Buddhism found expression in some of themost important artistic remains of the period, such as the S6kkur-am.Although scholastic and doctrinal Buddhism had their place in the


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Relation Between Esoteric Buddhism and Korean Primeval Religion