of the masses. While the exact content of the teachings of the first two of the former three figures is not quite clear, it is known that Weonhyo specialized in the transmission of the Pure Land practice of yeombul. Pure Land would end up becoming extremely popular in Korea, not only as a pervasive mode of practice for the common people, but as a major topic of inquiry for many of Korea’s most influential scholar-monks. Because later histories were usually written by and for educated aristocrats who were adherents of the scholarly schools of Buddhism, the deep and widespread interest that Pure Land held in the Korean religious consciousness tended to be ignored in these historical works, a practice which has influence down to the present.

The Silla ischaracterized by Buddhist historians as having two distinct periods which closely correspond to the political fortunes of the dynasty. The first, which is the period of the flowering of intellectual brilliance, is directly correlated to the period of political stability, when members of the aristocracy had the leisure to immerse themselves in scholarly inquiry. The latter period, starting from around 780 (the beginning of the intense political turmoil) is a time of decline in intellectual vitality. But the strong negative characterization of this second period is obtained largely from an aristocratic-scholarly view of the situation. On the other hand, it was during this period that there began to be importation, and rapid development of Chinese Chan Buddhism, known in Korea by the name of Seon.

Developments in Silla Scholarly