Person1520 – 1604

Hyujeong (Seosan Daesa)

Also called: Seosan Daesa

Buddhist master who, as supreme commander of monks, raised monk soldiers across the country in the Imjin War and joined the recapture of Pyongyang

He was called Seosan Daesa from his long stay on Myohyangsan, the "western mountain". When the Imjin War broke out, though past seventy, he answered Seonjo's appeal by sending a call to arms to temples across the country, and his disciples Yujeong, Cheoyeong and others led monk soldiers in many regions. Monk soldiers fought alongside the allied Joseon-Ming army when it retook Pyongyang in 1593. He sought to unite meditative (Seon) and doctrinal (Gyo) Buddhism and wrote the Seonga gwigam on the essentials of meditation.

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2 related events

1592 – 1598Imjin Warmilitia leader
A seven-year war that began with Japan's invasion of Joseon in 1592 and lasted until 1598. Ming China sent troops, turning it into an East Asian international war.
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1593Recapture of Pyongyangmilitia leader
Ming relief forces under Li Rusong and Joseon troops retook Pyongyang, and Konishi Yukinaga's army fell back south.

People who appear alongside

Yujeong (Samyeong Daesa)1544 – 1610
Hyujeong's disciple who led monk soldiers in the Imjin War and after the war went to Japan to negotiate and bring captives home
King Seonjo1552 – 1608
Fourteenth king of Joseon; fled to Uiju and asked Ming for help
Toyotomi Hideyoshi1537 – 1598
Unified Japan and launched the invasion of Korea
Yi Sun-sin1545 – 1598
Admiral of the Joseon navy, victorious at Okpo, Hansando and Myeongnyang
Ryu Seong-ryong1542 – 1607
Chief State Councillor who directed the war effort during the Imjin War, proposed the Hullyeon Dogam, and wrote the Jingbirok
Sin Rip1546 – 1592
General who made a back-to-the-river stand at Tangeumdae, Chungju, early in the Imjin War and died when routed by Konishi Yukinaga
Li Rusong1549 – 1598
Ming general who led the relief army and retook Pyongyang with Joseon forces
Konishi Yukinaga1558 – 1600
Led the first Japanese division from the Busan landing up to Pyongyang

Themes this person appears in

Imjin War1592 – 1598
From the Japanese invasion to the Battle of Noryang — the righteous armies, Yi Sun-sin at sea, and Ming intervention
Ming, Qing and Edo Japan1500 – 1800
The age when the Ming, shaken by northern raiders, southern pirates and the silver economy, fell to Li Zicheng’s rebels, and the Manchu Qing reached its greatest extent and prosperity under Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong — as Japan was unified out of the Warring States into the Edo shogunate’s bakuhan order and closed country, and Joseon, after two great wars, met its neighbours through embassies to Edo and the Northern Learning
Islamic Empires and the Atlantic World1500 – 1800
Three centuries in which the Ottomans of Suleiman I, the Mughals of Akbar and the Safavids of Abbas I flourished and then faltered, while across the Atlantic the slave trade and colonies transformed the Americas, leading to American independence
Reformation and Absolutism1517 – 1796
From Luther’s Ninety-five Theses to Catherine the Great — the wars of religion of a divided Christendom ended at Westphalia, and absolute monarchs armed with divine right, standing armies, bureaucracies and mercantilism, followed by the enlightened despots of eastern Europe, contended for the balance of power among sovereign states
Pyongyang194 BC – 2007
From Wanggeom-seong of Gojoseon to the inter-Korean summits — capital of Goguryeo, Western Capital of Goryeo, the great city on the Taedong