Wonhyo Quotes on Knowledge
Wonhyo (617–686) is the most important philosopher of the Korean Buddhist tradition. The principal philosophical achievement is the doctrine of harmonization (hwajaeng) — the systematic reconciliation of the apparently competing schools and treatises of the East Asian Buddhist canon by tracing each to a different aspect of a single underlying reality — developed across more than eighty works of which roughly twenty-three survive. The Treatise on the Awakening of Faith and its Korean reception in Wonhyo's commentaries supply the central organizing framework: the One Mind that is at once the realm of suchness (tathata) and the realm of becoming (samsara), and whose adequate philosophical recognition dissolves the apparent conflicts among the doctrinal schools. The framework defined the trajectory of Korean and East Asian Mahayana philosophy for the following millennium.
Quotes
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Attributed to Wonhyo:
“Doctrines fight only when their followers do not yet understand.”
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Attributed to Wonhyo:
“Wisdom is the song one sings in the marketplace as well as in the monastery.”
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“晉譯華嚴經疏序 Hwaeomgyeong so seo (Preface to the Commentary on the Jin Translation of the Flower Ornament Sutra )”
Now, in the unhindered and unobstructed dharma-opening of the dharma-realm there is no dharma, and yet no non-dharma; no opening, and yet no non-opening. Thus it is neither large nor small, neither in a hurry nor taking its time; neither moving nor still, neither one nor many. Since it its not large, it can become an atom, leaving nothing behind. Since it is not small, it can contain all of space -
“Now, in the unhindered and unobstructed dharma-opening of the dharma-realm there is no dharma, and yet no non-dharma; no opening, and yet no non-opening. Thus it is neither large nor small, neither in a hurry nor taking its time; neither moving nor still, neither one nor many. Since it its not large, it can become an atom, leaving nothing behind. Since it is not small, it can contain all of space ”
Translated by A. Charles Muller. -
“佛說阿彌陀經疏 Bulseol Amitagyeong so (prolegomenon to the Commentary on the Amitabha Sutra Spoken by the Buddha )”
The mind of sentient beings as it is in itself has neither marks nor nature. It is like the ocean, like space. Since it is like space, there are no marks that are not subsumed within it. How could it contain a direction such as east or west? Since it is like the ocean, there is no nature that is preserved. -
Attributed to Wonhyo:
“Skull water taught me that all is mind.”
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Attributed to Wonhyo:
“Quarrels among the schools of Buddhism arise from the limits of language, not from the truth itself.”
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“晉譯華嚴經疏序 Hwaeomgyeong so seo (Preface to the Commentary on the Jin Translation of the Flower Ornament Sutra )”
Now, in the unhindered and unobstructed dharma-opening of the dharma-realm there is no dharma, and yet no non-dharma; no opening, and yet no non-opening. Thus it is neither large nor small, neither in a hurry nor taking its time; neither moving nor still, neither one nor many. Since it its not large, it can become an atom, leaving nothing behind. Since it is not small, it can contain all of space -
“Now, in the unhindered and unobstructed dharma-opening of the dharma-realm there is no dharma, and yet no non-dharma; no opening, and yet no non-opening. Thus it is neither large nor small, neither in a hurry nor taking its time; neither moving nor still, neither one nor many. Since it its not large, it can become an atom, leaving nothing behind. Since it is not small, it can contain all of space ”
Translated by A. Charles Muller. -
“佛說阿彌陀經疏 Bulseol Amitagyeong so (prolegomenon to the Commentary on the Amitabha Sutra Spoken by the Buddha )”
The mind of sentient beings as it is in itself has neither marks nor nature. It is like the ocean, like space. Since it is like space, there are no marks that are not subsumed within it. How could it contain a direction such as east or west? Since it is like the ocean, there is no nature that is preserved.