Paper Regarding Religion In The Silla Kingdom

Jude Sleadd
Period 7
Paper regarding religion in Silla. Introduction
Throughout all of human history religion has always seemed to be there, whether it be the gods from Greek plays or Jesus in the Middle East. This trend continues with Korea's Silla kingdom, which existed during the Three Kingdoms period (57 CE-936 CE). The Silla kingdom was home to various religions and religious ideas such as Buddhism, which came from the West through China, the Cult of Maitreya, a very impactful Buddhist sect that originated from the Korean peninsula, dragons, which were seen as ancient creatures that protected or cursed the lands, and Shamanism, which focused on more ritualistic practices as a way to please spirits in heaven. Although some of these ideas

Around 722 CE the government began giving people land to move toward a newly instated capital. This caused more families to be condensed closer to each other. This cultivated a community, primarily because of the proximity. It also most likely was very difficult because of the roots that would be removed when moving. The generational factors would be a very important part of excepting the land from Silla due to the fact that many families lost ancestral shrines, which served as connections to the past (Lee Kidong, Kim

Historians have two main beliefs as to how Buddhism was able to make its way to the peninsula. The first is that as monks started to renounce the world and live in far-off mountains, they started to travel further away from China, eventually ending up on the Korean peninsula. The second way that Buddhism would have traveled to the peninsula is through Nobel councils. They think that as Nobles of the kingdoms of the Korean peninsula met with their Chines counterparts more, Buddhism would have had to have been mentioned. Thus, out of respect, the Nobles would begin to practice Buddhist traditions. Buddhism was able to stay and gain a good foothold because, the commoners aspired to be like the royal and thus, began to study Buddhism. This also stemmed from trying to please the royals (Keith Pratt).
The fact that it derived from China is a critical aspect of understanding Buddhism in the Silla Kingdom. The Buddhist faith, which had originally been shared from India to China, is very dissimilar to the Buddhism that arrived on the Korean peninsula. The Buddhism they got, was Mahayana, a version that contained more typical religious beliefs like heaven and holy beings that helped the Buddha, which was called bodhisattvas. This is a very important detail because, without the belief of the bodhisattvas, there is no existence of the main cult within Silla, the cult of the pure land of Maitreya (Choe