A book that explores the life and thoughts of Wonhyo, a giant of East Asian Buddhism born in Silla in the 7th century.
Wonhyo became a monk at an early age, but after his relationship with Princess Yoseok, he returned to secular life and lived the latter half of his life as a lay Buddhist monk.
He was a great writer who explored the vast Mahayana Buddhist scriptures in search of Buddhist truth and wrote about 70 volumes and 150 books. At the same time, he was a practitioner who dedicated himself to helping the socially disadvantaged through Buddhism.
His writings and thoughts were transmitted to China, Japan, and even India, contributing greatly to the establishment of East Asian scholastic Buddhism.

This book examines the Buddhist thinker Wonhyo in a new light, focusing on the three core concepts of Wonhyo's thought: 'one mind', 'no obstacles', and 'harmony'.
The author, in particular, broke away from the perspective of national history and focused on East Asia, emphasized the historical perspective, and paid attention to Wonhyo's life as a lay Buddhist. Through this research, he reached the conclusion that his Buddhism aimed for 'a Buddhist teaching of lay Buddhists where monks and laymen are not dualistic.'
In that respect, the title of this book, ‘The Discovery of Wonhyo,’ refers to the Buddhist truth discovered by Wonhyo and the Wonhyo discovered by the author of this book.

Wonhyo once said that our search for truth is like groping for an elephant in the dark.
Those who touched the ears said the elephant resembled a large fan, those who touched the legs said it resembled a round pillar, and those who touched the nose said it resembled a snake.
In that respect, I believe that although each person's claim is not the complete truth, it does not mean that they did not speak to some aspect of the truth.
Through this book, the author explores the life and thoughts of Wonhyo, a giant of East Asian Buddhism in the 7th century, and concludes that Wonhyo's Buddhism aimed for 'a Buddhist teaching where monks and laypeople are not dualistic.'
Although we cannot say for certain that this is Wonhyo's true nature, we hope that this is the right direction toward a complete image of Wonhyo.
And with that meaning in mind, the title of this book was ‘The Discovery of Wonhyo.’
It is the Buddhist truth that Wonhyo discovered, and it is also the Wonhyo that I discovered.
---From the author's note

Since the establishment of modern Buddhist studies, the number of research results on Wonhyo has exceeded 1,000, which is comparable to any other research topic in Korean studies.
Additionally, since the 1990s, volumes of Wonhyo have been published one after another, reflecting the deepening of Wonhyo research.
However, despite the quantitative accumulation, a comprehensive and systematic understanding of Wonhyo's writings and thoughts is still insufficient.

---From “Chapter 1: Beyond the Modern Wonhyo Statue”

The question that remains is whether the union of a monk and a princess, though somewhat unconventional, can be limited to a union of just two people.
Given similar instances in Chinese Buddhist history that have caused controversy, it is questionable whether the meeting between the two could have taken place without the king's consent.
Even looking at the previous story, the first person to understand Wonhyo's meaning after hearing his enigmatic song and responding actively was King Taejong Muyeol.
This suggests that the meeting between the two was not accidental, but planned from the beginning.
Therefore, it can never be ordinary, and it is open to interpretation as more than just a problem between two people.

---From "Chapter 4 Relations with the Royal Family"

When approaching Wonhyo through the Samguk Yusa, the first thing to keep in mind is the issue of 'temporality', which means that not all of the materials mentioned by Iryeon can be considered to accurately reflect the facts of Wonhyo's time.
For example, there are materials from around 100 years after Wonhyo's death, such as the "Golden Hall Ten Sages' Articles of Heungryunsa Temple, Donggyeong" in Volume 3 of the Samguk Yusa, while there are also materials compiled during the Goryeo Dynasty, such as the "Sarijo of the Pre- and Post-war Period" in Volume 3.
During the 600 years that passed between Ilyeon (1206-1289) and Wonhyo (617-686), the materials that Ilyeon encountered were also slightly modified over time.
However, as the biography was lost and the two steles were damaged, the Wonhyo Buddhist Chronicles (hereinafter referred to as “Wonhyo Buddhist Chronicles”) in Volume 4 of Samguk Yusa became the only domestic tradition of Wonhyo’s biography after the Joseon Dynasty.
Therefore, many researchers have used the “Wonhyo Bulgijo” as a standard in restoring Wonhyo’s biography.

---From “Chapter 5: Changes in the Perception of Wonhyo”

With the advancement of modern scholarship, it has become a current fact that the Diamond Sutra is an apocryphal scripture created in Silla in the mid-7th century.
As a result, it no longer had the authority of a Buddhist teaching and became merely an object of academic analysis.
However, the fact that contemporary East Asian Buddhists, including Wonhyo, unanimously revered the Diamond Sutra as a true scripture is also an obvious historical fact.
---From “Chapter 8, Commentary on the Diamond Sutra”

Wonhyo, who deeply reflected on the inner world of humanity, finally concluded that all life, all humanity—Buddhists, of course, but also the Ilcheonje who either knew nothing about Buddhism, or who, even if they knew, did not believe in it, or even criticized it—could be saved by Buddhism.
The task remaining for Wonhyo was the religious mission of realizing in reality the equal human relationship based on the Buddhist ideal.
---From “Chapter 12: Relationships with Humans and the Practice of Saving Living Beings”

Wonhyo did not limit himself to Silla Buddhism, but expanded his horizons of understanding to encompass the entire Mahayana Buddhist scriptures circulating in East Asia in order to respond to changes in the Buddhist community.
Based on a comprehensive understanding of Buddhist scriptures, he advocated the viewpoint of harmonization (和諍主義) that actively sought to reconcile conflicting doctrines, and personally practiced altruism (利他行) to return it to the common people.
In that respect, it can be said that he completely restored the spirit of non-contradiction in the time of Shakyamuni and the Bodhisattva path of Mahayana Buddhism.
The Ilsim thought established through this process is the core of Wonhyo's thought and a reflection of the spirit of the times.

---From “Chapter 13: The Significance of Wonhyo’s Thought”