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Pseudonym of the great monk Choi Hyong Ung (1520-1604) during the Lee Dynasty. He organized a corps of monk soldiers with the assistance of his pupil Sa Myung Dang. The monk soldiers helped repulse the Japanese pirates who overran most of the Korean peninsula in 1592.

Little is known of the early life of Seosan other than that he was born in 1520 and that he became a monk. As was common for monks in this time, he travelled from place to place, living in a succession of monasteries. Buddhist monks had been forced to keep a low profile since General Yi Seonggye had been forced to eject Buddhism from its state of total permeation of government, in order to gain the support of Neo-Confucian scholar-officials to consolidate his position against his Buddhist political opponents when he overthrew King Gongyang in 1392 to become King Taejo of Joseon.

Before ever having tested his hand as a military commander, Seosan was a first-rate Seon (Korean Buddhism) master and the author of a number of important religious texts, the most important of which is probably his "Seon gugam," a guide to Seon practice which is studied by Korean monks even today. Like most monks of the Joseon period, Seosan had been initially educated in Neo-Confucian philosophy. Dissatisfied, though, he wandered through the mountain monasteries. Later, after making a name for himself as a teacher, he was made arbiter of the Seon school by King Myeongjeong, who was sympathetic towards Buddhism. He soon resigned from this responsibility, though, returning to the itinerant life, advancing his Seon studies and teaching at monasteries all around Korea.

The mountains where the monasteries were located were dangerous, and so the monks had to learn to defend themselves. Seosan recognized that the development of armor made striking and kicking much less effective, but he also noticed that wherever the armor bends, so does the body. He saw that by manipulation of these joints one could defeat an armored opponent on the battlefield. He also applied this same principle to the use of a rope or belt as a weapon, which he discovered can be wrapped around the body of your attacker, trapping weapons and, when necessary, breaking joints as it wraps. It was used by Seosan and the soldiers he trained to immobilize, carry and even kill their opponents. Wrapped around the mouth and nose the rope would prevent the opponent from breathing, bringing about unconsciousness and allowing them to be taken as a prisoner. Many of these techniques were adopted and developed to give birth to the modern art of Hapkido.

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