Chinul

Chinul (1158–1210). A Korean (see Korea) Sŏn monk of the Koryŏ period (918–1392) who worked to reform the monastic order and provide a rationale for Sŏn practice. Observing that the commercialization of monastic activities (in the form of fortune-telling, services for paying clients, and so on) had brought many into the order for questionable motives, he sought to create a reform group called the ‘concentration and wisdom society’, which found a home when he established the Sŏngwang Temple on Mt. Chogye. At the same time, he concerned himself with theoretical issues relating to the controversy between gradual and sudden enlightenment, and the relationship between meditative experience and doctrinal/textual studies. In the former case, he adopted the typology of the Chinese Ch'an and Hua-yen master Tsung-mi (780–841), which advocated sudden enlightenment followed by a gradual deepening and cultivation as the norm. In order to serve this purpose, he proposed meditation on kōans as the best method of practice. As to the latter, he advised that Korean Sŏn not follow the example of the more extreme trends towards rejection of scriptural and doctrinal study exhibited by Chinese Ch'an, but that it keep the two together as an integrated whole. He was particularly interested in incorporating the Hua-yen philosophy of the Chinese lay hermit Li T'ung-hsüan (635–730) into Sŏn practice as its basis and rationale. Chinul produced many eminent and accomplished disciples, and is arguably one of the most influential monks in the history of Korean Buddhism.