What I’ve discovered

 

Hyujong (also Hyoojung) was the great Buddhist monk So-San ‘west mountain’ (also Susan-Daesa).

 

 After the Yi dynasty gained control, Neo-Confucianism took over as the state religion, and Buddhists

 were forced to keep a low profile.

 

Beginning life as a Neo-Confucian, he was unhappy with the teachings and went on to study Buddhism,

he became a great teacher in his day and his influence is still felt in Korean Buddhism today through

 study of his great text, ‘Seon Gugam’ (also Songa-gwigam) a Buddhist moral guide.

 

So-San believed that Buddhism should be unified and his teaching seems to be founded on that of

Won-Hyo.

 

During the Japanese Invasion (the Imjin Wars), Sosan led the Uisa ‘righteous monk movement’,

which consisted of several thousand monks who harassed the Japanese invaders using guerrilla tactics.

 

Due to his old age So-san appointed his closest disciple Samyong to be the field commander.

The monks’ army was a critical factor in the eventual expulsion of the Japanese forces, who were

harried at sea by Admiral Yi Sun-Sin (see Choong-Moo), and by General Kim Duk Ryang in the

 Honam province.

 

So-San created a fighting style that is the origin of the modern art of Hapkido.