Abstract

The Korean Cheontae order presents an apparent tension: though founded as a new Buddhist movement in the post-liberation period, it has successfully established itself as the legitimate heir to the historical Tiantai/Cheontae tradition. This article examines how the order navigated this tension by constructing historical legitimacy through transnational exchange with Chinese and Japanese Tiantai communities, reinterpreting its central practice of Guanyin prayer in light of Tiantai doctrine and practice, and re-transmitting its tradition to China. The Korean Cheontae order is one of the most successful new Buddhist movements to emerge following Korean independence in 1945. This study analyzes how the order appropriated the name “Cheontae” by defining its relationship to that tradition and specifying which elements of Tiantai thought and practice it claims to inherit, even as discrepancies between the order’s official narrative and internal sources complicate that claim. The findings reveal how a postcolonial Korean Buddhist organization has adapted and transformed Chinese Buddhist traditions through importation, reinterpretation, and re-transmission, shedding light on what, according to the order itself, makes this movement meaningfully “Cheontae.”