ravellers are impressed by the
columns of rock projecting from the soil and carved into images
(miriok), by the painted walls of the temples and by the huge
rolled-up pictures which are painted and displayed on festival days.
But there is little real originality in art: in literature and
doctrine none at all. Buddhism started in Korea with the same
advantages as in China and Japan but it lost in moral influence
because the monks continually engaged in politics and it did not win
temporal power because they were continually on the wrong side. Yet
Korea is not without importance in the annals of far-eastern Buddhism
for, during the wanderings and vicissitudes of the faith, it served as
a rest-house and depot. It was from Korea that Buddhism first entered
Japan: when, during the wars of the five dynasties the T'ien-t'ai
school was nearly annihilated in China, it was revived by a Korean
priest and the earliest extant edition of the Chinese Tripitaka is
known only by a single copy preserved in Korea and taken thence to
Japan.

For our purposes Korean history may be divided into four periods:

I. The three States (B.C. 57-A.D. 668).
II. The Kingdom of Silla (668-918).
III. The Kingdom of Korye (918-1392).
IV. The Kingdom of Chosen (1392-1910).

The three states were Koguryu in the north, Pakche in the south-west
and Silla in the south-east.[896] Buddhism, together with Chinese
writing, entered Koguryu from the north in 372 and Pakche from the
south a few years later. Silla being more distant and at war with the
other states did not receive it till about 424. In 552 both Japan and
Pakche were at war with Silla and the king of Pakche, wishing to make
an alliance with the Emperor of Japan sent him presents which included
Buddhist books and images. Thus Korea was the intermediary for
introducing Buddhism, writing, and Chinese culture into Japan, and
Korean monks played an important part there both in art and religion.
But the influence of Korea must not be exaggerated. The Japanese
submitted to it believing that they were acquiring the culture of
China and as soon as circumstances permitted they went straight to the
fountain head. The principal early sects were all imported direct from
China.

The kingdom of Silla, which became predominant in the seventh century,
had adopted Buddhism in 528, and maintained friendly intercourse with
the T'ang dynasty. As in Japan Chinese civilization was imitated
wholesa