Cheontae is the

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

n descendant of the Chinese Buddhist school

Tiantai Tiantai or T'ien-t'ai () is an East Asian Buddhist school of Mahāyāna Buddhism that developed in 6th-century China. The school emphasizes the ''Lotus Sutra's'' doctrine of the "One Vehicle" (''Ekayāna'') as well as Mādhyamaka philosophy, ...

. Tiantai was introduced to Korea a couple of times during earlier periods, but was not firmly established until the time of Uicheon (1055-1101) who established Cheontae in

Goryeo Goryeo (; ) was a Korean kingdom founded in 918, during a time of national division called the Later Three Kingdoms period, that unified and ruled the Korean Peninsula until 1392. Goryeo achieved what has been called a "true national unificati ...

as an independent school. Due to Uicheon's influence, it came to be a major force in the world of Goryeo Buddhism. After he returned from

Song China The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the rest ...

in 1086, Uicheon sought to ease conflict between the doctrinal Gyo () schools and

Seon Seon may refer to: * Seon, Switzerland, a municipality in the canton of Aargau * ''Seon'', a type of arranged marriage in South Korea * Korean Seon, a Zen school of Korean Buddhism * Seon (food), steamed vegetable dishes with fillings in Korean cui ...

() schools, believing that the Cheontae doctrine would be effective to this end. Cheontae doctrine holds the

Lotus Sutra The ''Lotus Sūtra'' ( zh, 妙法蓮華經; sa, सद्धर्मपुण्डरीकसूत्रम्, translit=Saddharma Puṇḍarīka Sūtram, lit=Sūtra on the White Lotus of the True Dharma, italic=) is one of the most influ ...

as the peak of the

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a śramaṇa, wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was ...

's teachings, and postulates the following: * All things are empty and without essential

reality Reality is the sum or aggregate of all that is real or existent within a system, as opposed to that which is only imaginary. The term is also used to refer to the ontological status of things, indicating their existence. In physical terms, r ...

. * All things have a provisional reality. * All things are both absolutely unreal and provisionally real at once. In accordance with the Cheontae doctrine, all experiences in the sensory world are in fact expressions of Buddhist law (

Dharma Dharma (; sa, धर्म, dharma, ; pi, dhamma, italic=yes) is a key concept with multiple meanings in Indian religions, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism and others. Although there is no direct single-word translation for '' ...

), and therefore contain the key to

enlightenment Enlightenment or enlighten may refer to: Age of Enlightenment * Age of Enlightenment, period in Western intellectual history from the late 17th to late 18th century, centered in France but also encompassing (alphabetically by country or culture): ...

. This explains the extravagant altars and the colorful dynamism found at Seon temples using Dancheong coloring, differing from the austere and monochromatic aesthetic of the Zen school, intellectually predominant in Japan from the

Kamakura period The is a period of Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the Genpei War, which saw the struggle bet ...

onwards. Cheontae as a school has been largely absorbed into the

Jogye The Jogye Order, officially the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism (대한불교조계종, 大韓佛敎曹溪宗), is the representative order of traditional Korean Buddhism with roots that date back 1200 years to the Later Silla National Master D ...

Seon tradition, but an independent Cheontae school has been revived and has an estimated 2 million adherents. The school's headquarters are at Guinsa in Chungcheongbuk-do, near Danyang. The school also funds and operates the Buddhist university, Geumgang University.

References

External links

Cheontae
(in Korean) *A. Charles Muller (trans)

Buddhism in Korea {{Korea-hist-stub

See also

References

External links