The Cult of the Hwaŏm Pure Land of the Koryŏ Period as seen through Self-Power and Other-Power

The classifications of self-power and other-power are important analytical tools in the discussion of Pure Land thought. During the Three Kingdoms period, Wŏnhyo early on presented a method of practice that differentiated between self-power and other-power. Nevertheless, there has been no attempt to pursue the meaning or significance of the Pure Land cult in the Hwaŏm tradition during the Koryŏ period from the standpoints of self-power and other-power. In this study I will attempt to analyze the cult of the Pure Land in the Hwaŏm tradition in the Koryŏ period from the standpoints of these two methods of faith. In order to accomplish this purpose, I will analyze Kyunyŏ’s views on the Pure Land of the Lotus Storehouse Realm in the early Koryŏ period and Ch’ewŏn’s belief in Avalokiteśvara in the late Koryŏ period in the context of the adoption and development of Chinese Huayan. The result is that the distinctive features of the Pure Land thought of these two Hwaŏm monks can be explained as “absolute self-power” and the “interfusion of self-power.”