In Shilla, it was the common people who were first attracted to Buddhism. Among some of the aristocrats, there was considerable resistance to the new culture. It was only after the martyrdom of Ich'adon, in the reign of King Pophung (r. 514-540) in 527 CE, that Buddhism gradually became the national religion of Shilla.

Firstly, "the Koguryo monk, Ado, came to Shilla in the 2nd year (263) of the reign of the 13th King Mich'u (r. 262-284)." This information comes from a record quoted in Samguk-yusa. Master Ado's father was an envoy to Koguryo and his moth-er, a Koguryo woman, was called Kodonyong. Ado went to Wei to meet his father at the age of 16 and then he studied under Master Hsuan-chang. He returned to Koguryo when he was 19 and went to Shilla to teach Buddhism, following his mother's advice. This was in 263, the 2nd year of King Mich'u. Before journeying to Shilla, Master Ado heard from his mother that there were seven temple sites in Shilla where the past seven Buddhas had been. But when he tried to teach Buddhism to the Shilla people, they tried to kill him. Ado hid himself at the house of Morye at Ilsson and stayed there until he cured a daughter of King Mich'u of a terrible sickness. Only then, was he able to build a temple in Ch'on-gyong forest and teach Buddhism. As soon as King Mich'u died, the people tried once more to harm him. And so he returned to Morye's house and lived there till he died.

Secondly, we have another record concerning a different monk. "Master Mukhoja stayed at the house of Morye at Ilsson in the reign of the 19th King Nulji (r. 417-458)." This is quoted in the Samguk-yusa. Mukhoja se-cretly lived in the cellar inside Morye's house and then left. Before he left, he taught the people about the use of incense, and he cured another princess.

Thirdly, we have another reference to Master Ado. "Master Ado came to Morye's house with three attendants and stayed there, in the reign of King Pich'o (r. 479-500)." There we read that Master Ado stayed at Morye's house for a num-ber of years with his three attendants and then he returned healthy to Koguryo. He left his three attendants in Shilla to teach sutras and the Vinaya and they made many followers. This record adds that Ado looked like Master Mukhoja.

Fourthly, Master Ado came to Morye's house on the 11th of the 3rd month, 527, the 14th year of King Pophung. Morye, on seeing Ado, was surprised and frightened. He hid Master Ado in a secret place inside his house, explaining that two Koguryo monks, Chongbang and Myolguch'e who had come before him had been killed. And so Morye cared for and served Master Ado. Just at that time, Ado found out that a foreign envoy had brought incense to King Pophung. And so Master Ado went to the palace. The foreign envoy showed Master Ado respect and "this showed the king, for the first time, that Buddhist monks should be respected. The king then allowed Buddhism to be accepted."

This record is of particu-lar value as it introduces a new aspect of the beginning of Buddhism in the Shilla Kingdom. At first the two monks were martyred. Then the king accepted Buddhism after seeing the foreign envoy show respect to Master Ado. Here the martyrdom of Ich'adon is not mentioned, unlike other records.

According to the four above records, there are three differ-ent Master Ados who introduced Buddhism to Shilla. Though the con-tents are very similar, the chronology of events is unreli-able. We must therefore conclude that we can neither know who introduced Buddhism to Shilla nor when it was introduced precise-ly. The above records are all legends which were handed down among the people and it seems that the transmission was not achieved on the level of a national exchange but rather as a continuous series of missions of monks. Legends tell us that a few Koguryo monks secretly introduced Buddhism again and again, and that the area they worked in was around Ilsson and especially Morye's house. The missionary monks were not just one or two, they were many. Also they had to work secretly without revealing their proper names or identity.

In addition, the names, Mukhoja and Ado (or Adu), might not be the specific names of individual monks, but words used to indicate monks in general. For we are told that "... when the name of a monk is not known, he was called 'Adu-samma.'" This is the long form of "Adu" or "Ado," a common name for a monk.

Since Buddhism was introduced to Shilla in that way, we can guess that the next king, Chinhung (r. 540-576), wanted to make Buddhism official as soon as he acceded to the throne. However, this was not to be. Stubborn, conservative ministers and offi-cials of the court objected to Buddhism. King Chinhung, who was deeply convinced that Buddhism would bring good fortune to the people and help his kingdom, was greatly troubled by the resist-ance of his ministers. It was under these circumstances that a young minister, Ich'adon, knowing the king's problems, died a martyr for the kingdom, the king, and Buddhism.