Hyegwan

Hyegwan (Japanese: Ekan (慧灌, year of birth and death unknown; 7th century CE) was a priest who came across the sea from Goguryeo to Japan in the Asuka period. He is known for introducing the Chinese Buddhist school of Sanlun to Japan.^[1][2]

Hyegwan
Japanese name
Kanji	慧灌
Hiragana	えかん
Transcriptions Revised Hepburn Ekan
Korean name
Hangul	혜관
Hanja	慧灌
Transcriptions Revised Romanization Hyegwan McCune–Reischauer Hyekwan

Hyegwan studied under Jizang and learned Sanron. In 625 (the 33rd year of Empress Suiko), he was dispatched to Japan by an order of King Yeongnyu of Goguryeo,^[3] and became the founding patriarch of Japanese Sanron. He lived at Gangō-ji (元興寺 Gangō temple) by an Imperial command. However, Gyōnen wrote that Hyegwan did not lecture on Sanron or start the Japanese tradition, although he "held the jade" (i.e., possessed knowledge of the teachings).^[4]

Notes

1. Keown, Damien (2008). A Dictionary of Buddhism, Oxford University Press, 3rd ed. ISBN 0192800620, p. 252
2. Bunyiu Nanjio (1886). A short history of the twelve Japanese Buddhist sects, Tokyo: Bukkyo-sho-ei-yaku-shupan-sha; p. 46
3. Nihon Shoki, volumes 22, Story of Suiko. Archived June 16, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
4. Green, Ronald S. and Chanju Mun (2018). Gyōnen's Transmission of the Buddha Dharma in Three Countries. ISBN 9789004370388, p. 120

References

• Ronald S. Green and Chanju Mun Gyōnen's Transmission of the Buddha Dharma in Three Countries, Leiden: Brill, 2018. p. 120-121.
• Sueki, Fumihiko 末木文美士: "The Sanron School in Japan: A Study of a Chapter of Gyōnen's Sangoku Buppō Denzū Engi" 「三國佛法傅通縁起」日本三論宗章研究, The Memoirs of the Institute of Oriental Culture 東洋文化研究所紀要, No.99, 1986-02, p. 71-151.