Hyegwan (

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

: was a priest who came across the sea from

Goguryeo Goguryeo (37 BC – 668 AD) (; ; Old Korean: Guryeo) also later known as Goryeo (; ; Middle Korean: 고ᇢ롕〮, ''kwòwlyéy''), was a Korean kingdom which was located on the northern and central parts of the Korea, Korean Peninsula an ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

in the

Asuka period The was a period in the history of Japan lasting from 538 to 710, although its beginning could be said to overlap with the preceding Kofun period. The Yamato period, Yamato polity evolved greatly during the Asuka period, which is named after the ...

. He is known for introducing the Chinese Buddhist school of Sanlun to Japan. Hyegwan studied under

Jizang Jizang ( zh, c=吉藏, p=Jízàng, w=Chi-tsang. Japanese: ) (549–623) was a Persian- Chinese Buddhist monk and scholar who is often regarded as the founder of East Asian Mādhyamaka. He is also known as Jiaxiang or Master Jiaxiang ( zh, t=嘉� ...

and learned Sanron. In 625 (the 33rd year of

Empress Suiko (554 – 15 April 628) was the 33rd monarch of Japan,Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō''): She introduced Buddhism in Japan and built many Buddhist temples, but she held the balance between Buddhism and Shintoism. Under her rule, Japan ...

), he was dispatched to Japan by an order of King

Yeongnyu of Goguryeo Yeongnyu (?–642) was the 27th monarch of Goguryeo, the northernmost of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, from 618 to 642. Background He was the younger half-brother of the 26th monarch Yeong-yang, and son of the 25th king Pyeongwon. He assumed t ...

,''

Nihon Shoki The or , sometimes translated as ''The Chronicles of Japan'', is the second-oldest book of classical Japanese history. It is more elaborate and detailed than the , the oldest, and has proven to be an important tool for historians and archaeol ...

'', volumes 22, Story of Suik

and became the founding patriarch of Japanese Sanron. He lived at Gangō-ji (元興寺 Gangō temple) by an Imperial command. However, Gyōnen wrote that Hyegwan did not lecture on Sanron or start the Japanese tradition, although he "held the jade" (i.e., possessed knowledge of the teachings).Green, Ronald S. and Chanju Mun (2018). Gyōnen's Transmission of the Buddha Dharma in Three Countries. , p. 120

Notes

References

* Green, Ronald S. and Chanju Mun, Ronald S. Green and Chanju Mun Gyōnen's Transmission of the Buddha Dharma in Three Countries, Leiden: Brill, 2018. p. 120-12

* Fumihiko Sueki, Sueki, Fumihiko 末木文美士: "The Sanron School in Japan: A Study of a Chapter of Gyōnen's Sangoku Buppō Denzū Engi" 「三國佛法傅通縁起」日本三論宗章研究, The Memoirs of the Institute of Oriental Culture 東洋文化研究所紀要, No.99, 1986-02, p. 71-15

Korean Buddhist monks Goguryeo Buddhist monks Sanron Buddhist monks Buddhist clergy of the Asuka period {{Japan-reli-bio-stub