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132 : Šramaņa, Vol 58, No. 1/January-March 2007
while the founder of Won-Buddhism, Sot'aesan, regraded Sākyamuni Buddha as "the sage among sages" and the "fountainhead" of his new religion, he strongly denounced some aspects of Korean Buddhist practices.
The founder of Won-Buddhism is park Chung-bin(18911943). better known by his Dharma name, Sot'aesan. In his boyhood and into his early adulthood, Sot'aesan had many spiritual questions, which his confucian schoolmaster was unable to answer. Sotaesan's inability to find a teacher who could answer his questions was a recurring theme into his early adulthood. He even sought the help of Mountain Spirits for five years, but to no avail. According to the History of Won-Buddhism, "During his search for religious guru, he encountered Taoist sages, Samanas and other religious figures," but could not find an appropriate spiritual master."
Sot'aesan decided to give up the search and practice meditation without guidance from any particular teacher. After four years of self-guided meditation that was very much ascetics in nature, he finally realized enlightenment on April 28, 1916.
The beginning of Won-Buddhism as a religious movement is very unique. According to the tradition. Sot'aesan started his religious movement with a community-based farm project, known as the "Embankment". In 1918, Sot'aesan organized his community to portion off a large area of brackish tidal land near the southwestern coast of Korea and turn it into fields. After a year of work, the project was finished. This gave solidarity to the new followers and also would provide revenue to the organization in times to come.
Today, Won-Buddhist mission teaches several foreign countries all over the world. There are 22 Won-Buddhist temples in USA, 12 in Europe, 6 in Japan, 8 in China and 1 in Nepal as well.
