Changing the Course of Joseon's Waters: Queen Munjeong and Buddhism

 

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Changing the Course of Joseon's Waters: Queen Munjeong and Buddhism

By Kim Seong-eun

The Joseon Dynasty was a nation founded on the fundamental ideology of Neo-Confucianism, built upon a policy of suppressing Buddhism and revering Confucianism. Yet, in a peculiar turn amidst 500 years of Confucian history, Joseon became a nation of Buddhism for a period of 20 years. This was during the reign of King Myeongjong—or more precisely, the 21-year period from when Queen Munjeong began her regency until she passed away. How was such a thing possible in a nation of Confucian scholars? At the center of this great paradox was Dowager Queen Munjeong, who changed the course of history through her "regency from behind the curtain."

To understand why Queen Munjeong of the Yun clan was so dedicated to Buddhism, we must return to her vulnerable days as a young queen consort. Chosen as King Jungjong's second queen at the age of 17, she found the king's heart already belonged to his favored concubine, Royal Noble Consort Gyeong of the Park clan. During a long period where even jealousy was a luxury, she immersed herself in countless books. A brilliant girl who had been praised by her father as being better than her brothers, she read Chinese histories and political texts, learning the nature of power and the ruthlessness of politics.

Initially, the one who supported her selection as queen was her nephew's maternal uncle, Yun Im of the same Papyeong Yun clan (the "Greater Yun" faction). Before long, however, Yun Im came to see her as a political threat and plotted her dethronement. To survive, she had to cling to King Jungjong, experiencing firsthand the harsh reality that the palace was like walking on thin ice, where even a queen could never be secure without children. Her only refuge may have been her cold bookshelves and, perhaps, a desperate Buddhist faith that could embrace her fragile self.

The event that lit a fire of hope in this lonely battle was the birth of her son, the future King Myeongjong. Now, she was no longer a vulnerable queen but a mother who had to protect her child. The anecdote that she changed her son's sleeping quarters every night and had court ladies guard his door to protect him from political enemies gives us a glimpse into the fear and desperation she must have felt. Surrounded by enemies in the form of Neo-Confucian scholars, Queen Munjeong realized something crucial: to protect herself and her son and to implement her own politics, she desperately needed a new ideological and political foundation outside of Confucianism. Buddhism became both an object of her deep faith and the most powerful—and only—strategic choice to keep the Sarim (scholar-official) faction in check.

Thus, Queen Munjeong's policy to revive Buddhism was gradually, systematically, and ardently pursued. Throughout her eight-year regency, and even after it ended, she carried out her will through her filial son, King Myeongjong. She revived the Seon (meditative) and Gyo (doctrinal) schools of Buddhism, reinstated the docheopje (monk certification system), and finally reopened the seunggwa (monastic examination), throwing open the path for Joseon's elites to enter the Buddhist clergy. The site of the modern-day COEX in Seoul was the very location of this examination hall. Queen Munjeong appointed the great monk of the era, Master Bou, as the head of Bongeunsa Temple, making him the central figure in her "Buddhist Renaissance."

The atmosphere of the Buddhist Renaissance created by Queen Munjeong permeated all of Joseon society. Yulgok Yi I, who would later become a towering figure of Joseon Confucianism, particularly of the Seoin (Western) faction, lost his mother, Shin Saimdang, at the age of sixteen and entered Geumgangsan (the Diamond Mountains) to become a monk. During that year, Yulgok received great comfort and healing from Buddhism, which allowed him to return to the world of Confucianism and stand firm. Great Master Samyeong (Samyeongdaesa), who had also been studying Confucianism to pass the state civil service exam, chose to become a monk after losing his parents. The fact that these two Confucian scholars entered the Buddhist path was heavily influenced by the trend of the times—the Buddhist revival. In this inclusive atmosphere of "coexistence between Confucianism and Buddhism," there was less resistance to a yangban (aristocratic) Confucian scholar becoming a monk. After passing the monastic examination, Samyeongdaesa stayed at Bongeunsa Temple, where he exchanged letters and interacted with numerous yangban officials. The person who opened this marvelous era, a time when intellectuals versed in both Confucianism and Buddhism acknowledged and engaged with one another, was Queen Munjeong.

The seeds of Buddhist revival that Queen Munjeong planted bore valuable and surprising fruit in a completely unexpected place. Twenty-seven years after her death, the Japanese invasions of Korea (Imjin War) broke out. When the nation was on the brink of collapse, King Seonjo relied on the righteous armies of monks led by Great Master Seosan and Great Master Samyeong—talents nurtured through the seunggwa system she had revived. Following the king's command, Seosandaesa raised a monk army and marched toward Pyongyang, where Samyeongdaesa joined him with his own forces, playing a major role in recapturing the fortress. Samyeongdaesa's role was immense, both during and after the war. At the request of the royal court during the war, he visited the stronghold of the Japanese general Katō Kiyomasa in Ulsan to negotiate. After the war, he was summoned by the court to cross over to Tsushima Island to deliver a letter resuming diplomatic relations. Then, based on prior communication with Seosandaesa, he traveled to Kyoto in mainland Japan and negotiated with the shogunate's supreme ruler, Tokugawa Ieyasu, successfully repatriating 3,000 abducted Korean civilians. He brilliantly performed his duties as a civilian diplomat. The seunggwa was more than just an exam to select monks; it was a system for cultivating national talent, intellectuals who comprehended both Confucian texts and Buddhist scriptures. Samyeongdaesa's diplomatic achievements were a testament to its outstanding results. The fact that Joseon, a nation of "Buddhist suppression" and Neo-Confucianism, was saved by the power of Buddhism and its monks is one of history's most dramatic ironies.

The paradox of Queen Munjeong's Buddhist cultural legacy does not end there. The establishment of the Seowon (Neo-Confucian academies), which became the spiritual, material, and social homes for the Sarim faction throughout the mid and late Joseon period, also began thanks to her recognition and support. During Queen Munjeong's regency, Yi Hwang (Toegye), who was serving as the magistrate of Punggi County, proposed that the Baegundong Seowon, founded by his predecessor Ju Sebung, be granted official state recognition. Queen Munjeong and King Myeongjong approved the request, bestowing upon it the name "Sosu Seowon" along with a royal charter plaque and property, making it the first royally chartered academy. The Confucian scholars who criticized Queen Munjeong, both in her time and later, conveniently ignored and remained silent about the fact that the establishment and expansion of the Seowon—their own power base—was a result of her supportive policies.

Queen Munjeong's progressive nature was evident not only in her Buddhist revival and support for the Seowon but also in her challenge to discrimination. She was the one who eased the discrimination against the seo-eol (children of concubines), opening a path for the children of her brother, Yun Won-hyeong, and his wife, Jeong Nan-jeong (who was elevated from concubine to legal wife), to marry into the aristocracy and continue their lineage as yangban. Queen Munjeong's will to create cracks in the rigid class system and Confucian society was a radical move that broke the framework of the era's social structure. She was a leader with a vision far ahead of her time, a vision that connects with the later ideas of Heo Gyun, who sought to appoint talented individuals regardless of their social status.

After Queen Munjeong's death, the Buddhist systems and revival policies she had resurrected were dismantled and vanished into the annals of history amid fierce criticism from Confucian officials and the Sarim faction. However, when the nation faced a crisis, Joseon relied on the monk-generals she had nurtured, Seosandaesa and Samyeongdaesa. The model for the Seowon, which would lead Joseon's intellectual spirit, also began at her hand. Queen Munjeong was more than a heroine or a devout Buddhist; she was a pioneer of her era. She was a brilliant strategist who carved a new path called Buddhism into the great river of Neo-Confucianism, changing the flow of history. Queen Munjeong's 21 years within the 500-year history of Joseon should be remembered as a most paradoxical and beautiful period.