Naong Hyegeun

Naong Hyegeun (懶翁惠勤, 1320–1376) was — alongside Taego Bou — the second great late-Goryeo master through whom Yuan-dynasty Chinese Chan reached Korea, and the teacher who carried the dharma into the early Joseon^[1]. Travelling to Yuan China in 1347, he studied at the great Mongol-period monastery on Mount Yan, received Linji transmission from Pingshan Chulin, and crossed paths with the Indian master Zhikong (Śūnyādiśya), whose memory he later helped to establish in Korea^[1]. On returning to Korea he served as Royal Preceptor under King Gongmin and re-articulated the inheritance from China through hwadu practice. His most consequential disciple, Muhak Jacho, in turn taught Hamheo Gihwa and became state preceptor to the founding Joseon king Yi Seong-gye — making Naong the conduit through which the late-Goryeo Linji line continued, however precariously, into the Confucian-suppressed early Joseon^[2].