Within the East Asian Buddhist tradition, the Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment is associated above all with its Chinese transmission. Traditional sources attribute the Chinese version of this scripture (圓覺經, Yuanjue jing) to the translator Buddhatrāta (佛陀多羅), a monk active during the Tang dynasty. This attribution situates the text firmly within the classical Chinese Buddhist canon and provides the basis upon which later Zen and Seon traditions received and interpreted it. Through this Chinese form, the sutra came to be revered as a key contemplative scripture, especially in traditions concerned with sudden enlightenment and meditative insight.

In the Korean context, the sutra did not emerge as an entirely new translation project but rather as a profound reception of the already established Chinese text. Korean Seon masters drew upon the Chinese version, allowing it to permeate their doctrinal expositions, meditation instructions, and commentarial literature. Historical records do not clearly preserve a single, definitive name for a Korean translator comparable to Buddhatrāta in China, and the tradition instead highlights the role of Korean commentators and teachers who unfolded the sutra’s meaning for their communities. In this way, the scripture’s journey into Korean Seon reflects less a change of wording than a deepening of interpretation, as the same Chinese text was read through the lens of Korean spiritual experience.