Master Kyeong-heung

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Zhen Li
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Master Kyeong-heung

Post by Zhen Li »

In the Kyōgyōshinshō Shinran refers to a Master Kyeong-heung and quotes from his commentary on the Larger Sūtra. Does anyone have any biographical information about this master? Is he Korean?
Varis
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Re: Master Kyeong-heung

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Zhen Li wrote: Fri Jul 31, 2020 2:35 am In the Kyōgyōshinshō Shinran refers to a Master Kyeong-heung and quotes from his commentary on the Larger Sūtra. Does anyone have any biographical information about this master? Is he Korean?
There's a section on Kyong Hung in the book Currents and Countercurrents: Korean Influences on the East Asian Buddhist Traditions by Robert Buswell, Jr.
"I have never encountered a person who committed bad deeds." ― Ven. Jìngkōng
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FiveSkandhas
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Re: Master Kyeong-heung

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His name is also transliterated as Kyeongheung, Kyong Hung, Kyonghung, Gyeongheung, 憬興 in Chinese, and きょうごう in Japanese.

I found some patchy information in Japanese on him. From what I gather, he was active in the late 7th century Silla kingdom of what is now Korea. He was revered as a national scholar by the Silla state. He was associated with the Korean Buddhist Jeongto doctrinal school. He wrote prominently on Pure Land matters, but seems to have been formally a Yogacara specialist by training, at least at one point in his career. It is noted he was an exponent of the "Latter age of the Dharma" theory (末法思想) and was skeptical about people's ability to practice through self-power in the final degenerate age, which presumably influenced his pure land loyalties. Nevertheless he is also noted as a thinker who tried to harmonize Pure Land thought with with other doctrines and strike a balance (a persistent endeavor among medieval Korean Buddhist masters, I've noticed). He also appears to have made attempts to reconcile Confucianism with Buddhism.

Apparently a lot of information on this once-prominent thinker has been lost.

It also appears Master Shinran was mistaken about the title of his commentary when citing him in the Kyōgyōshinshō.

That's all I can scrape up at the moment.
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Zhen Li
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Re: Master Kyeong-heung

Post by Zhen Li »

Thank you so much Varis and Five Skandhas. Very helpful.
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