Jinul Quotes on Knowledge

Jinul (Bojo Jinul, 1158–1210) — the Korean Seon (Chan/Zen) master whose monastic reform at Songgwangsa established the institutional foundation of subsequent Korean Buddhism — gave classical Korean Buddhist philosophy its most influential synthesis of the Chinese Chan and the doctrinal-textual Hwaeom (Huayan) traditions. The central project, articulated across the Excerpts from the Dharma Collection and Special Practice Record (Beopjip Byeolhaengnok Jeoryo) and the broader corpus, is the integration of sudden awakening (the Chan recognition of the originally enlightened nature of mind) with the gradual cultivation through which that recognition is brought to mature realization — together with the parallel coordination of doctrinal study and meditative practice that distinguishes Korean Seon from its Chinese sources. The framework supplied the principal philosophical foundation of subsequent Korean Buddhism through the Joseon period and remains the canonical Korean Buddhist statement of the doctrinal-meditational synthesis.