Abstract

This article looks at how the prominent East Asian Buddhist thinker Wonhyo viewed humans and how he practiced his thoughts. While Buddhism proclaimed humanism, it is paradoxically hard to find any Buddhist texts discussing humans. Wonhyo, who left behind a vast collection of writings of more than 70 copies and 150 volumes, is no exception. In terms of methodology, the first two sections of the present article cover the background to understand Wonhyos’ view of human beings. Section 2 looks at the humanistic character of Buddhism; Section 3 looks at all of the words related to human beings in Wonhyo’s writings and summarizes their definitions as well as their use by Wonhyo; Section 4 clarifies that Wonhyo’s view that all humans were equal was formed based on the Doctrine of Ilsim, or One Mind, in the Mahāyāna-śraddhotpādaśāstra; and finally, Section 5 interprets his conduct of non-obstruction that did not hesitate to break the precepts from the perspective of edifying all living beings as a religious mission of a bodhisattva who has not left home, or gṛha-pati. Wonhyo found all human beings equal in the sense of endless death and reincarnation of One Mind but simultaneously recognized the difference between bodhisattva and all living beings and urged the former to edify the latter. He emulated Vimalakīrti and devoted himself to the edification of all living beings, which he called non-obstruction, after returning to secular life. Wonhyo’s view that all humans were equal and his altruistic bodhisattva practices are significant in that he both sought the direction Unified Silla should pursue in a Buddhist equal society. His marriage with Princess Yoseok and the appointment of his son by the royal family, which led the unification of the Three Kingdoms, implies that Wonhyo’s view of humans and conduct to edify all living beings responded to the demand of the times. Thus, the 13th-century Buddhist historian Iryeon attributed the spread of Buddhism in Silla to Wonhyo. At the same time, Wonhyo was devoted to investigating the universal mind of humans like doctrinal-study monks from the perspective of Vijñānavāda and did not focus on the human body or the natural environment. In this sense, he represented the view of humans of doctrinal Buddhism.