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Alyssa Owens

Dr. Vogt

Worship and Rule

2 December 2018

Buddhist Theology in East Asian Rulership

Rulers in China, Korea, and Japan have used figures from Buddhist myth and the

symbols surrounding them to justify their own claims to rule, primarily by claiming to embody a

bodhisattva or to be descended from a prominent Buddhist teacher. The most important

legitimizing form of kingship present in Korean, Japanese, and Chinese rulership is the concept

of the cakravartin king, or ‘universal monarch’. Somewhat similar to the idea of the Heavenly

Mandate, which espouses that a certain king is chosen, a cakravartin ruler endorsed Buddhist

theology (making it a state sponsored or protected religion) while also claiming to be some form

of Buddhist divine, making them a sort of ‘chosen’ ruler. The prominence of this form of rule in

each country greatly increased the ability of each ruler to claim legitimacy within a Buddhist

context and incorporate previous religious or cultural ideas of rulership into the cakravartin

model.

Throughout Chinese history there has been an emphasis on using Buddhism as a way to

legitimize rule. One example of this that encompasses many rulers and defines part of the way

Chinese rulers were perceived for a period of time is the concept of the Emperor as bodhisattva,

or a buddha-to-be. This form of kingship, along with the tradition of Cakravartin kingship in

which the ruler endorsed Buddhist theology and might claim to be “an incarnation or avatar of

Buddhist divinities” all play into the larger scheme used by Wu Zetian to sediment her place as
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the first and only female emperor of China (Rothschild, “Emperor Wu Zhao” 13). In fact, N.

Harry Rothschild argues that Buddhist texts written during her rule (it is heavily implied that the

monks who wrote such texts were intentionally designing the material) were the primary way in

which she was able to sediment her position as Cakravartin ruler (Rothschild, “Wu Zhao China’s

Only Woman Emperor” 145).

Part of Wu Zetian’s claims to legitimacy rested within the male line, with Buddhist

ancestors like King Asoka (Sui Wendi) who endorsed the Buddhist faith and helped unify China

(Rothschild, “Emperor Wu Zhao” 14). Wu Zetian used feasts to reinforce her symbolic ties to

King Asoka, relating the symbology of the feasts to his compassion and mercy and his eventual

renunciation of the world, declaring himself bodhisattva and Cakravartin (Rothschild, “Wu Zhao

China’s Only Woman Emperor” 149) A majority of the figures she used to justify her position

were female, allowing her to claim that there was precedence for her position, which was a

reversal of the traditional Confucian and cosmological ideas that had an unstated rule that put

men in the position of power (Rothschild, “Emperor Wu Zhao” 2). Some examples of the

critiques she faced as a woman ascending the throne include being blamed for animal

abominations and natural disasters, all of which stemmed (from the Confucian mode of thought)

from her upsetting the normal order of the emperor being male (Rothschild, “Emperor Wu

Zhao” 3). To combat the Confucian model, she used the example of women like Maya, the

mother of the historical Buddha in addition to a number of Buddhist devis and goddesses

(Rothschild, “Emperor Wu Zhao” 194). Wu Zetian emphasized mothers when introducing new

political ancestors within each belief system to further prove her ability to rule in spite of (or

perhaps because of) her own motherhood (Rothschild, “Emperor Wu Zhao” 195). She used the

symbolism of Maya (particularly the white elephant that represents the Buddha’s immaculate
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conception) to solidify the tie between herself and the Buddha’s birth (Rothschild, “Emperor Wu

Zhao” 201). Connecting herself to the symbology of the “divine mother” drew a clear parallel

to her title as “Sage Mother” and “Divine Sovereign”, allowing her to not only justify her place

on the throne as a woman, but also as mother of the nation, effectively overshadowing the

Confucian teachings that set precedence for a male to hold the throne (Rothschild, “Emperor Wu

Zhao” 205).

Wu Zetian also made her ascent appear to be inevitable by tying it to a series of

prophecies that supposedly foretold the ascent of a female emperor to the throne (Rothschild,

“Emperor Wu Zhao" 208). The most compelling use of prophecy is her use of the Great Cloud

Sutra, a prophecy written 200 years before her birth that recounts the Buddha telling “-the

Celestial Maiden of Purity and Light that she ‘will take the body of a woman and obtain a quarter

of the places governed by a Cakravartin’” (Rothschild, “Wu Zhao China’s Only Woman

Emperor” 146). Using these prophecies, she claimed that she represented the Devi of Pure

Radiance, a female devi who would destroy “-the external religions and the perverse and

heretical visions-” (Rothschild, “Wu Zhao China’s Only Woman Emperor” 146). By claiming to

be the result of prophecy and sent to champion Buddhism, she ensured support from Buddhist

factions.

In Japan, Prince Shotoku continued the use of Cakravartin leadership by being considered

one of the founders of the Buddhist tradition in Japan and embodying Maitreya, pegging him as

both a defender of Buddhism and Dharma ruler (Como 28). Like Wu Zetian, prophecies were

connected to Prince Shotoku that foretold Maitreya would come “-in the form of a prince who as

a youth would turn the wheel of the Buddhist Law” (Como 28). Shotoku being connected with

Maitreya represented a larger movement called Maitreyan messianism that claimed Maitreya
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would come to earth to rid it of evil and begin a golden age (Como 28). Also like Wu Zetian,

Shotoku represented a connecting force by marrying state and religion through his Cakravartin

leadership (Lee 35).

Mythic stories surrounding Shotoku’s birth further connected Shotoku to bodhisattvas. It

was said that before his birth his mother saw the world-saving bodhisattva enter her womb in a

dream right before he was born. He was supposed to have been able to speak from birth and had

the power to predict the future (Lee 36). Obviously, these accounts are hardly trustworthy, but it

does indicate a willingness to connect Shotoku’s origins, birth, childhood, and later adulthood to

a complete devotion to Buddhism all connected to these visions and prophecies, further utilizing

Buddhism to establish his rulership rights.

It is worth noting that the concept of the emperor as bodhisattva wouldn’t be completely

new to a Japanese audience at the time, as there was already an association with the emperors as

kami (Ohnuki-Tierney 211). The idea that kami and Shintoism were precursors to Buddhism and

buddhas is called shinbutsu shugo or “the unification of kamis and buddhas” (Lee 62). Because

there was already an established tradition that allows the emperor to take on mythic origins it

isn’t surprising that Buddhism was used in the same way to justify Prince Shotoku’s rise to

power (Ohnuki-Tierney, 211). The Imperial House itself is founded on the belief that they

descend from Amaterasu, goddess of the sun (Ohnuki-Tierney 203). It’s not such a stretch to

label emperors as buddhas or bodhisattvas when they were already accepted as direct

descendants of Amaterasu, who, when shunbutsu shugo overtook, might be considered a buddha

or bodhisattva herself.

Like the previous two examples, Korea also utilized the cakravartin model to justify their

ruler’s legitimacy, especially in the case of King Chinhung. King Chinhung was compared to
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Sankha, and Silla the pure land, both found within the Sutra (Keel 14). Utilizing the symbology

surrounding the universal monarch (cakravatin), Chinhung named his sons Kumnyun (Gold

Wheel) and Tongnyun (Bronze Wheel), symbols of the cakravartin to show his devotion to the

model (Keel 14). Also like the other rulers, Chinhung utilized figures like King Asoka, creating

memorials in his honor. One of the most significant instances of this is when Chinhung claimed

to have made Buddha statues out of the gold and wood that King Asoka had intended for the

project. This feat had supposedly never been accomplished by anyone until Chinhung himself

managed to complete the task (Panjack 21).

Chinhung wove Buddhism into the ancestral worship system that was popular in Silla up

until that time. According to N.M Panjack, Chinhung utilized Buddhist rituals to support the

system of ancestor worship by amending them to sacralize ancestors (Panjack 18). The title of

Buddha was eventually bestowed on rulers, a result of “a major adaption... made by the Northern

Wei in the institutional premise of Buddhism- “(Panjack 18). The hwarang, a force of young men

from the nobility were also accorded status as an incarnation of Maitreya, a bodhisattva (Keel

13-14). This allowed for the legitimization of the military force that was meant to unite Silla.

Given the use of the cakravartin model in China, Japan, and Korea along with the use of

Buddhist figures to legitimize ruling authority, an interesting topic of study would be to trace the

migration of the cakravartin model, looking to see if it was used in sequence in China, Korea,

and then Japan or if it developed independently as a result of the Buddhist system. It is also

possible to relate the concept of the Heavenly Mandate to the cakravartin ruler, given that they

allow the ruler to claim a certain sovereignty as universal monarch based on being ‘chosen’.

Because Heavenly Mandate became known throughout China and then spread to other regions, it

would be interesting to compare and contrast the Heavenly Mandate and the cakravatin model to
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determine if Buddhism was the natural next step in the sequence of ruling legitimacy for a

‘heavenly’ or ‘universal’ monarch.

Final Grade: A
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Works Cited

Carr, Kevin. Plotting the Prince Shotoku Cults and the Mapping of Medieval Japanese

Buddhism. University of Hawai’i Press, 2012.

Como. Shotoku: “Ethnicity and the Founding Legend of Buddhism”. Oxford University Press,

2008.

Keel, S. “Buddhism and Political Power in Korean History”. The Journal of the International

Association of Buddhist Studies, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 9-24

Lee, Kenneth Doo Young. The Prince and the Monk Shotoku Worship in Shinran’s Buddhism.

Albany: State University of New York Press, 2007.

Panjack, N.M. The Buddhist Transformation of Silla Kingship: Buddha as a King and King as a

Buddha.

Rothschild, N. Harry. Emperor Wu Zhao.

Rothschild, N. Harry. Wu Zhao China’s Only Woman Emperor. Pearson, 2008.

Ohnuki-Tierney, Emiko. “The Emperor of Japan as Deity (Kami)”. Ethnology, Vol. 30, No. 3

(Jul., 1991), pp. 199-215