Volume 2: 知訥 Chinul Selected Works

Chinul 知訥 (1158-1210), usually known in Korea by his funerary name ofState Preceptor (kuksa 國師) Puril Pojo 佛日普照 (and often abbreviated as simply Pojo kuksa),1 is one of the two most important figures ever produced within the Korean Buddhist tradition, rivaled only by the Silla-dynasty scholiast Wo˘nhyo 元曉 (617-686). Chinul was an adept in a Buddhist church already rich with tradition after 700 years of symbiotic development with its Chinese Buddhist counterpart. The Buddhism of his time, however, was riven by a deep split between adherents of Buddhist doctrinal schools, or Kyo 教, who placed pride of place on the scriptural teachings of the Buddhist canon, and adherents of So˘n lineages (C. Chan, J. Zen 禪), who followed what they considered to be a special transmission of Buddhism that was independent of those scriptural teachings.