Buddhism in Modern Terms — Wonhyo's Philosophy of Hwajaeng: A One-Mind Philosophy That Holds Contradiction

Chapter 2 Overview: A Philosophy That Ends the Fighting

Wonhyo (617–686) was the greatest Buddhist thinker of the Silla era. Watching the endless disputes between Buddhist schools of his time, he asked a simple question: “Why can’t seemingly different teachings all be right?”

Hwajaeng literally means “to reconcile disputes.” It isn’t a philosophy that erases difference — it’s one that discovers a larger frame within which differences can coexist.

1. Wonhyo’s Core Insight — One Mind

The core of Wonhyo’s philosophy is One Mind (ilsim). In his commentary on the Awakening of Faith in the Mahāyāna, he writes:

“The nature of mind is like the great ocean. When the wind blows, waves rise, but the ocean itself does not change.”

In modern terms: our emotions, thoughts, and conflicts are waves. Anger is a wave, joy is a wave, anxiety is a wave. Waves rise and then vanish. But the deep nature of mind — One Mind — is the still ocean beneath all those waves.

Realizing this is the beginning of Buddhist freedom: not being swept away by emotion, but becoming the one who observes it.

2. The Logic of Hwajaeng — Contradiction Resolves at a Higher Vantage Point

Wonhyo lived in an era when two major currents of Buddhist thought — Emptiness (Śūnyatā) and Consciousness-Only (Yogācāra) — were seen as contradicting each other.

Emptiness: nothing has inherent existence; there is nothing to cling to.
Consciousness-Only: everything is a function of mind; the mind itself must be transformed.

Wonhyo’s answer: both are right. What looks like contradiction from one angle turns out, from a higher vantage point, to be a complementary relationship in which each needs the other.

“That which neither arises nor ceases is Suchness (tathatā); that in which arising and ceasing occur together is the realm of arising-and-ceasing. Yet Suchness and the realm of arising-and-ceasing are not two.”

— Wonhyo, Commentary on the Awakening of Faith in the Mahāyāna

In modern terms: the unchanging (essence) and the ceaselessly changing (phenomena) appear to be opposites, but they are actually two facets of a single, unified reality.

3. Hwajaeng’s Five-Step Method

Wonhyo offers a concrete method of thought for reconciling disputes.

Step	Name	Content
1	Opening and Combining	Lay out each claim fully, on its own terms
2	Common and Distinct	Distinguish what’s shared from what differs
3	Sameness and Difference	Hold sameness and difference in view at once
4	Being and Non-Being	Consider existence and non-existence together
5	Convergence	Encompass everything from a higher dimension

This isn’t mere compromise. It is understanding deeply why each position came to make its claim, and discovering the larger truth beyond it.

4. Applying Hwajaeng to Modern Conflict

Hwajaeng was a tool for Buddhist debate, but its logic applies to every conflict we face today.

Political conflict

Progressives and conservatives clash. The Hwajaeng question: “What is each side genuinely trying to protect? Are their core values actually mutually exclusive, or are they pursuing the same goal by different means?”

Interpersonal conflict

The belief that “I’m right and the other person is wrong.” A Hwajaeng approach: “How does this situation look from the other person’s point of view? Does that view carry some validity too?”

Inner conflict

The endless internal debate over “should I do this or not.” Hwajaeng insight: both voices are part of you. Rather than suppressing one, find the higher vantage point that listens to both.

5. Learning Hwajaeng from Wonhyo’s Life

Wonhyo is famous for the story of drinking water from a skull on his way to study in Tang China, and reaching an awakening from it.

“At night it was sweet water; in the morning I saw it was a skull. Once I knew it was a skull, I felt sick. But then I realized — the water hadn’t changed. What changed was my mind.”

In modern terms: the world we experience isn’t the object itself, but a world constructed by the mind. The same event can become beauty or revulsion depending on perspective. The heart of Hwajaeng is noticing this constructive activity of mind.

Key Takeaways

Wonhyo’s One Mind is the underlying nature of mind from which every phenomenon arises.
Hwajaeng isn’t about eliminating contradiction — it’s about opening a larger view that contains it.
Suchness (the unchanging) and the realm of arising-and-ceasing (the changing) are not two — they are two facets of the same reality.
Facing conflict, asking “what is the larger truth here?” instead of “who is right?” is the Hwajaeng attitude.

Next lecture: Hwaeom thought — the world of Indra’s net. We explore how the Hwaeom insight that everything is interconnected meets modern ecology and systems thinking.