Taego Bou (, 23 October 1301 – 27 January 1383), alternatively

romanized In linguistics, romanization is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and transcription, ...

as Taego Bowoo or Taego Bowu, was a

Korean Seon Seon or Sŏn Buddhism (; ) is the Korean name for Chan Buddhism, a branch of Mahāyāna Buddhism commonly known in English as Zen Buddhism. Seon is the Sino-Korean pronunciation of Chan, () an abbreviation of 禪那 (''chánnà''), which is a ...

master who lived in

Goryeo Goryeo (; ) was a Korean state founded in 918, during a time of national division called the Later Three Kingdoms period, that unified and ruled the Korea, Korean Peninsula until the establishment of Joseon in 1392. Goryeo achieved what has b ...

, was the cofounder of the

Jogye Order The Jogye Order, officially known as the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism, (대한불교조계종, 大韓佛敎曹溪宗), is the leading order of traditional Korean Buddhism, with roots dating back 1,200 years to the late Silla period. Around ...

with Jinul, and is credited as the founder of the modern Taego Order. He entered into the monastery at 13, and at 25 passed the examination. He practiced at a temple in the mountains north of

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

. In 1346 he visited

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

for two years, and trained under Shiwu. Upon returning to Korea, he adopted the precepts of Pai Chang, and under the auspices of Gongmin of Goryeo, he opened a new Buddhist administration office. His sect remained small in number, and receded shortly after his death. According to tradition, he unified five different branches of

Buddhism Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

and nine different Seon lineages into a single order which still continues. For his efforts, he was appointed as a supreme patriarch for the dynasty. This helped set the standard for Korean Buddhism by bringing both doctrinal and practice-oriented sects together under a single umbrella.

Popular culture

* Portrayed by Jung Min in the 1983

KBS1 KBS 1TV is a South Korean free-to-air television channel that launched on 31 December 1961 and is owned by Korean Broadcasting System. The channel offers more serious programming than its sister channel KBS2, and airs with no commercials. Hi ...

TV series '' Foundation of the Kingdom''

References

1301 births 1382 deaths Goryeo Buddhist monks Seon Buddhist monks Monastery prisoners {{Korea-bio-stub