How Fast Is “Sudden”? Time, Body, and the Theory of “Sudden Awakening Sudden Cultivation” from Zongmi to Daeji

The Joseon Seon master Daeji cites the gradual southern pilgrimage of Sudhana as a paradigm of Sudden Awakening Sudden Cultivation, thereby exposing the concept’s intrinsic tension: how can cultivation be characterized as sudden? What’s the exact meaning of sudden? By comparing Zongmi and Yanshou and Daeji, this study finds that: Zongmi employs a samsaric temporal view together with a doctrine of spiritual capacity to dissolve sudden cultivation into the gradual perfuming of multiple lifetimes; Yanshou establishes it as the most vital gateway for attainment in the present life; Daeji reveals a subsumptive structure in which the gradual is contained within the sudden. To account for these divergent interpretations, this study identifies a tripartite framework of the body, comprising the Spiritual Body, the Karmic Body, and the Physical Body, from the thought of Zongmi, Yanshou and Daeji. This study argues that these disparities arise from their distinct emphases on different dimensions of the practicing subject: Zongmi focuses on the longitudinal constraints of the Karmic Body; Yanshou anchors his path in the Physical Body of the present life; and Daeji demonstrates how the gradual process carried by the Karmic Body can be subsumed within the horizon of the Physical Body. Thus, cultivation can be called “sudden” not because it lacks duration, but because it is rooted in the present-life body or subsumed under a sudden framework—and the precise meaning of “sudden” shifts with the body-dimension each master prioritizes.