ABSTRACT
DESPITE the strength of Confucianism, Kory had been founded as a Buddhist state and T'aejo, in the first of ten precepts that he left for the guidance of his successors, had insisted that their security would always depend on the protective power of Buddha. They were to support both the Zen and the traditional scripture-based communities and appoint the abbots who led them. Under these provisions monastic institutions continued to grow in size and wealth and the great temples, of which Kaes ng had 75, and the major festivals, held at government expense, involved the whole nation. When, under Confucian influence, official examinations were set up for monks, there were separate forms according to whether they were of the textual or the Zen persuasion, a paradox that might have amused some of the original Masters of Zen for whom it had cost, if not an arm and a leg, at least a finger.
