Philosopher
Bak Jungbin
1891–1943
Also known as Sotaesan, Sot'aesan, Park Chungbin
Founder of Won Buddhism, known as Sotaesan, who reworked Buddhist teaching for lay people around the image of the One Circle, a symbol of the Buddha-nature of all beings.
Bak Jungbin, known as Sotaesan, had no formal Buddhist training. He came to Buddhism after an experience of enlightenment that he found matched Buddhist descriptions of it, and founded Won Buddhism, a modern movement that keeps mainly to Buddhist teachings while making them accessible to lay people.
Its doctrine is set out in The Scripture of Won Buddhism. Its goal, Buddhahood, is that of other Buddhist traditions, but its forms are reshaped for modern life.
Key ideas
- The One Circle
- At the centre of Won Buddhism is the ‘One Circle Form’ (irwonsang), a symbol of the essence of all beings and Buddhas: a circle because being and non-being turn endlessly into one another, showing both their emptiness and their completeness.
- Beyond clergy and laity
- Buddhism should not divide clergy from lay people, or Buddhas from ordinary beings. Won Buddhism restates Buddhist teaching so that lay people can practise it.
- Fourfold grace and three practices
- The way to Buddhahood runs through recognising four graces in human life, from heaven and earth and from parents among them, and through three practices.
- Tradition
- Korean
- Region
- Korea
- Period
- Modern Korea
Key works
- The Scripture of Won Buddhism (Won Bulgyo gyojeon)
Terms on this page
- irwonsang
- The ‘One Circle Form’ at the heart of Won Buddhism: a circle symbolising the dharma-body of the Buddha, the essence of all beings, and the endless turning of being and non-being.
Sources
- Lucy Hyekyung Jee, Korean Buddhism, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy