Wongwang

Who is Wongwang?

Won Gwang, also known as Won Gwang Beop Sa meaning "Won Gwang Teacher of the Law", was the name of a renowned Buddhist monk, scholar, and teacher of the Silla kingdom during the reign of King Jinpyeong.

His layname was Seol or Bak. Like a great number of other Korean Buddhist monks of the 6th-8th centuries, Won Gwang traveled to China in search of a more thorough grounding in the sacred texts of Buddhism. In 589 Wongwang went to Sui China, where for eleven years he was educated in the major texts of both Hinayana and Mahayana Buddhism.

Won Gwang returned to Silla in 600 and promulgated the Mahayana form of Buddhism. His method was to teach the faith to the common people free of complex jargon and employing common words.

Won Gwang is best known for his "Five Commandments for Secular Life", which later were attributed as a guiding ethos for the Hwarang. These five commandments were to serve as moral guideposts for the Buddhist layperson. They are an interesting fusion of the Buddhist beliefs and strong sense of patriotism that characterized Silla Buddhism. To Won Gwang, viewing Silla as a true Buddha Land and under constant threat from the neighboring kingdoms of Baekje and Goguryeo, the defense of that land and a Buddhist piety were not at all contradictory. These five principles were as follows: