gender-conscious than Confucianism . 31 Buddhism was used by Silla royalty to accentuate their claims of authority : Buddhism required a single community of believers , and if the rulers were the most important sponsors of Buddhism , then the believers would also be united behind a Buddhist leader . 32 With its acceptance of nuns and female Bodhisattvas , Buddhism presented no philosophical problems for Silla queens , of which there were at least three . In Korean culture , bone-rank ( bloodlines ) trumped gender hierarchies : women ruled and participated in Korean public life . 33 Here is another example of cultural syncretism in the Post-Classical era .
Koreans of Unified Silla saw a veritable building boom of beautiful temples , and an influx of relics , artifacts and sculpture designed to compliment and adorn the temples , especially in the Silla capital of Kyongju . “ Throughout the peninsula , the increasingly close association of Buddhism and the state is signaled by the erection of temples and crafting of icons at royal expense .” 34 Gandharan art — the Buddha presented with Greco-roman robes with Indian facial characteristics — was also brought to Korea and placed in Silla-built temples . 35 “ Many eminent monks journeyed to Tang China or even to far away India to study the way of the Buddha .” 36 Korean monks can be added to the Chinese monks who made the arduous treks eastward along the Silk Road . Korean scholars also traveled to China and even to India to learn from other masters and to collect texts . Buddhism also influenced Silla Korean art forms : art and architecture of the period reflected Buddhist spirituality with its concepts of idealized beauty and contemplation . 37
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Not surprisingly , given Unified Silla ’ s close contacts with Tang China , Confucianism came to rival Buddhism as an alternate system of thought during the Unified Silla period . The establishment of a national Confucian college in 682 was one result of this development . “ This national educational institution made possible the inauguration of a state examination system for the selection of government officials in 788 , and candidates who passed this examination were given appointments on the basis of their proficiency in reading Chinese texts .” 38
Confucianism was especially appealing to the lesser aristocrats , whose bone-rank dictated fixed positions in the government hierarchies . The examination system , on the other hand , held out the idea of a meritocracy , thereby bypassing one ’ s bone-rank . 39 Korean scholars traveled to China for ideas and for books .
Korean scholars had already adapted Chinese script , and paper books imported from China made the information exchange even easier . 40 Silla Korea “ developed wood block printing into order to reproduce a variety of texts , especially Buddhist sutras and classical Confucian writing .” 41 The world ’ s earliest extant wood-block printed text is a Korean Buddhist spell sutra from a pagoda dating to 751 .
This article is based on a presentation delivered at The Korea Society in August 2006 .
Silla Korea and the Silk Road : Golden Age , Golden Threads
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