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Wŏnhyo

Wŏnhyo

617 CE686 CE · Amnyang (Gyeongsan)

617–686 CE

Wŏnhyo (617–686 CE) is the most celebrated thinker of Korean Buddhism. Born in the Silla kingdom, he famously turned back from a planned study-trip to Tang China after a night-time realization that 'everything is made by the mind,' and went on to a prolific career reconciling the competing Buddhist doctrines of his day into a unified vision, writing influential commentaries (notably on the Awakening of Faith). He also worked to bring Buddhist practice to ordinary people beyond the monasteries. He is a securely historical and well-documented figure.

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Amnyang (Gyeongsan)

What they did here

Birthplace of Wŏnhyo.

About Amnyang (Gyeongsan)

Amnyang, in the area of modern Gyeongsan in North Gyeongsang Province, South Korea, was within the Silla kingdom and is given as the birthplace, in 617, of Wŏnhyo — one of the most important thinkers in the history of Korean Buddhism, known for his commentaries and his teaching of doctrinal reconciliation (hwajaeng).

See other sages who lived in Amnyang (Gyeongsan)

The world in their lifetime

Thinkers and teachers of other traditions whose lives overlapped with Wŏnhyo’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn purely from recorded birth and death years.

Works

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