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Wongwang

Silla monk who, back from Sui China, gave Gwisan and Chuhang the Five Precepts for Secular Life and drafted the plea for Sui troops

He studied Buddhism in Chen and Sui China and returned around 600. The Five Precepts for Secular Life he gave Gwisan and Chuhang - serve the king with loyalty, parents with filial piety, be faithful to friends, never retreat in battle, and kill with discrimination - became the code of the hwarang. When writing the plea for troops in 608 he said that destroying others to save oneself was not a monk’s work, but since he lived on the king’s land and ate its water and grass he could not refuse. The episode is cited as an example of state-protecting Buddhism.

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2 related events

  1. 1
    AD 576Hwarang Made a State Institution; Five Precepts for Secular Liferelated figure

    King Jinheung abolished the wonhwa and made the hwarang a state institution; later the monk Wongwang gave the hwarang the Five Precepts for Secular Life.

  2. 2
    AD 608Wongwang’s Plea for Troopsauthor

    Beset by Goguryeo raids, King Jinpyeong had the monk Wongwang write a memorial asking Sui China for troops.

People who appear alongside

  • King JinheungAD 534 – AD 576

    Twenty-fourth king of Silla, who took the Han River basin and Daegaya, raised border steles and organized the hwarang

  • Kim Yu-sinAD 595 – AD 673

    Silla general of Geumgwan Gaya royal descent who defeated Gyebaek and led the unification wars

  • Kim Dae-mun

    True-bone scholar under King Seongdeok who recorded Silla traditions in the Hwarang segi, Goseungjeon and Hansangi

  • Sadaham

    Silla hwarang who was first through the gate in the conquest of Daegaya in 562

  • King JinpyeongAD 632

    Twenty-sixth king of Silla, who added government offices and sought Sui help against Goguryeo