WŎNHYO (617–686), Buddhist philosopher and putative founder of the Pŏpsŏng (Dharma-Nature, also called Haedong) school of Korean Buddhist thought. Wŏnhyo is indisputably the greatest Buddhist exegete produced by the Silla kingdom's Buddhist tradition, if not Korea's premier philosopher of all time.

Wŏnhyo was born into the Sŏl clan, a tribal league of the Chinhae region of the southern Korean peninsula, which had been assimilated into the Silla aristocratic system (yuktu p'um) in the early years of the common era. After his ordination into the Buddhist order, Wŏnhyo and his close friend, Ŭisang (625–702), founder of the Korean Hwaŏm (Chin., Huayan) school, twice decided, we are told, to undertake a pilgrimage to China in order to study with the renowned Chinese translator Xuanzang (d. 664). On their first trip in 650 the two Silla pilgrims were arrested as spies...