Origins of Zen in Korea

Zen Master Dàoxìn

Four generations after Bodhidharma introduced Chán Buddhism to China, Buddhism and the Zen sect began to flourish in Korea having been originally brought to Korea from China by Sŏn Master Pŏmnang, a Korean disciple of the Fourth Chinese Ancestor of Chán, Dàoxìn. Zen Master Dàoxìn was thirty–first in direct apostolic succession from Śākyamuni Buddha. Although Pŏmnang Sŏnsa was give formal transmission of the Dharma from Chán Master Dàoxìn, his lineage eventually died out in Korea.

The hallmark of the Korean Sŏn Buddhist practice since the time of Sŏn Master Chinul’s dharma heir Sŏn Master Chingak (1178-1234) is the huàtóu or kōan meditation, a uniquely Chán Buddhist technique of “cultivating great doubt” through the contemplation on the exchanges of the ancient teachers of the Chán transmission lineage. Chinul is the one who first introduced this technique to Korea although he himself had no direct contact with Chinese masters but discovered this methodology indirectly through reading Dàhuì’s (1089-1163) Records, which consequently brought him to his third and final awakening experience. This culminating experience was so transformative, according to his memoirs, that he concluded that this special technique was the most effective short-cut to enlightenment. Even though Chinul considered the huàtóu method superior he provided his students of lesser capacity with two other approaches. The first method was the simultaneous cultivation of meditation and wisdom through the study of the Platform Sūtra, and the other was a sudden approach utilizing the student’s great faith through the study of Lidong-xuan’s interpretation of the Avatamsaka (Huáyán) Sūtra.

This uniquely Korean Línjì style of practice followed the modified practices of Dàhuì as well as other aspects handed down through the Mǎzǔ sects in China. However; Chinul’s triple approach to Buddhahood or true humanity consequently accepted, among the three approaches, the huàtóu meditation to be the exclusive, effective method for cutting off conceptual adherence to words and form and thereby attaining final enlightenment.

A partial adaptation of Línjì Chán is further witnessed by Chinul’s utilization of Línjì’s various instructional devices. Chinul uses specifically the so-called three mysteries of dark gates and four processes of liberation from subjectivity and objectivity as instructional devices as presented in the Línjì-lù. The former was utilized by Chinul to analyze and classify entire Buddhist scriptures including Chán writings, while the latter was included in the ten kinds of No-mind practice.