Muyŏm

Muyŏm (無染, 800–888) is the founder of the Sŏngjusan school, one of the Nine Mountain Schools of Korean Seon, and one of the most influential figures of late Silla Buddhism^[1]. Born to a noble family of the True-Bone aristocracy, he travelled to Tang China around 821 and trained under Magu Baoche, a heir in the Mazu Daoyi line^[1]. After more than two decades in China — long enough to be regarded by his Chinese hosts as a fully Chinese master — he returned to Silla in 845 and established Sŏngjusa on Mount Sŏngjusan in the Boryeong region. Muyŏm's lineage produced thousands of students, his temple became a major training centre, and his Mugŏlbong Munpŏp ('Tongueless Sermon') is preserved as a touchstone of early Korean Sŏn rhetoric — its insistence that the dharma is finally beyond words mirrored the teaching style of his Hongzhou-line master and grounded the Korean reception of Chan in the same direct-pointing tradition^[2].