DAIGAK GUKSA

born 1055, Korea died 1101, Korea also spelled Taegak Kuksa, secular name Uich'on Korean Buddhist priest who founded the Ch'ont'ae sect of Buddhism. A son of the Koryo king Munjong, Uich'on became a Buddhist monk at age 11, and in 1084 he went to the Sung court of China and stayed a year and a half studying and collecting Buddhist literature. When Uich'on returned home to Korea, he brought with him the doctrines of the Chinese T'ien T'ai (Korean pronunciation Ch'ont'ae) sect of Buddhism. Uich'on became the chief propagator of the Ch'ont'ae sect in Korea; this sect attempted, with considerable popular success, to reconcile the conflicting doctrines of the two chief Buddhist sects in Korea, the Kyo, or Textual, School and the Son (Chinese Ch'an, Japanese Zen) School. Uich'on propagated the Ch'ont'ae doctrine as one that adherents of both of the major schools could embrace. The Ch'ont'ae doctrines initiated a new phase in the development of Buddhism in Korea; in particular they stimulated the reorganization of the Son school into the Chogye school, and these three sects (Chogye, Textual, and Ch'ont'ae) henceforth became the three main divisions of Buddhism in Korea. In Korea Uich'on also applied himself to collecting, cataloging, and publishing Buddhist writings. While working as a master priest at the Hungwang-sa temple, he published some 4,750 books of Buddhist scriptures he had collected, including the second publication of the Tripitaka (a complete collection of Buddhist scriptures) in Korea. He also published an authoritative catalogue of Buddhist sectarian writings.