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These chosen young noblemen were then trained in all known forms of martial combat. As part of this training, they were instructed by Buddhist monks who, through years of meditation, had refined the knowledge of Ki to a point where it was no longer simply a method of rebalancing the Um (Yin) and Yang in the human body. This advanced Ki training taught the young Hwa Rang how to channel Ki energy, first internally to strengthen their bodies against the fierce Korean climate, and then externally in order to become more powerful warriors in battle.
As Buddhism, for the most part, simply passed through China and was not thoroughly absorbed, the Korean peninsula was the first East Asian region to truly accept the doctrine. It was the belief of the Hwa Rang that meditation took place not only in the traditional fashion, in a sitting posture, but was also achievable when individuals focused their personal spirit and then entered into battle with a highly refined purpose and a vision of victory. The battles the Hwa Rang fought thus became spiritual exercises in enlightenment.
The Hwa Rang were the first group of trained warriors ever to posses a spiritual attitude toward warfare. Though the Chinese wrote great philosphic works on warfare, such as The Art of War (Sun Tzu), their focus was on the Confucian concept of political loyalty, not on refined spirituality leading to ultimate enlightenment, as Korean Buddhism taught. This spiritual warrior code developed by the Hwa Rang was first passed on to Japan in the sixth century A.D. From this, the famed Samurai tradition was eventually born.
Once a Hwa Rang was fully trained, he was put in command of a military troop of several hundred common soldiers. The battles won by the Hwa Rang brought about the unification of Korea. History would not be served, however, if it were not acknowledged that this unification was achieved by very bloody conflicts in which a large percentage of the Korean population was killed.
After the unification of Korea and the defeat of the invading Tang Dynasty, the mind of the Korean people rapidly began to shift from conflict to more philosophic thoughts. As warriors, the Hwa Rang fell into decline by the end of the seventh century. Their refined knowledge of Ki and its healing abilities caused them to become known as a group specializing in Buddhist philosophy, healing, and poetry. No longer, however, did they maintain the high status of royal warriors.