Three Kingdoms and Silla

Buddhism reached Korea from China in the fourth century, during the Three Kingdoms period, and reached Silla in the southeast through Goguryeo. Kings used its ideas to strengthen their rule, and Silla’s thinkers studied the Yogācāra and Madhyamaka schools. In Silla, Wonhyo, often counted the most prominent philosopher of Korean Buddhism, worked out his philosophy of the One Mind, and Uisang founded the Korean school of Flower Garland (Hwaeom) Buddhism. Late in the period Seon, the Korean form of Chan, arrived from China.