## Overview
Shin Don (辛旽, ?–1371) was a Buddhist monk who led reform politics during the reign of King Gongmin. His birth name was Pyeonjo (遍照), and he was from Yeongsan County. King Gongmin, after the [[Red Turban invasions of Goryeo]] and the Heungwangsa Rebellion strengthened the powerful aristocratic families and military leaders, sought to change the political situation by entrusting government to an outsider who belonged to no faction. During Shin Don's rise to power, which lasted from 1365 to 1371, reforms of land and slaves through the Jeonmin Chujeong Dogam, the reconstruction of the Sungkyunkwan, and revisions to the personnel system were carried out. **The dates in this article and its timeline are based on the lunar calendar.** Because most of the sources consulted give dates only to the month, no conversion to the solar calendar was made.

## Background
- **Social and economic disorder**: Since the period of Yuan interference, powerful families increasingly seized the land of others to expand their estates and turned free commoners into slaves. The Red Turban invasions destroyed household registers, further weakening the state's control.
- **Balance of political forces**: In the course of repelling the Red Turbans and suppressing the Heungwangsa Rebellion, military leaders such as Choe Yeong gained greater influence, while the established powerful aristocratic families remained strong. The Encyclopedia of Korean Culture explains that King Gongmin, seeking a figure bound to neither the existing aristocrats nor the military leaders, chose Shin Don.
- **First meeting**: Around 1358 (7th year of Gongmin), he first met the king through an introduction by Kim Wonmyeong.

## Development
### Rise to Power (1365)
In May 1365 (14th year of Gongmin), Shin Don became the king's mentor and took part in state affairs. This occurred shortly after Princess Noguk died. Soon afterward, Chanseongsa Choe Yeong was demoted to magistrate of Gyerim, and officials from the military faction were exiled. In June, Kim Bo became prime minister. Shin Don was enfeoffed as Marquis Jinpyeong in July, and in December he received the highest titles, including Yeongdo Cheomuisasa, Panjung Bangamchalsasa, and Chwiseong Bu-wongun, thereby seizing real power.

### Establishment of the Jeonmin Chujeong Dogam (1366)
In May 1366, Shin Don expanded the Hyeongin Chujeong Dogam, which had been set up to calm public unrest during a drought, into the Jeonmin Chujeong Dogam (田民推整都監), and he himself became its chief. This agency, often called the Jeonmin Byeonjeong Dogam (田民辨正都監), returned land seized by powerful families to its original owners, and it freed people who were wrongfully enslaved when they appealed that they were free commoners. The Encyclopedia of Korean Culture records that this measure won broad popular support, and that the slaves called Shin Don a "sage" (聖人).

The Jeonmin Byeonjeong Dogam was not first created in Shin Don's time. It was first established in 1269 to handle the property of Kim Jun, and it was set up several more times, in 1288, 1301, and 1352, among others. It was also re-established in 1381 and 1388 after Shin Don's time. Since these agencies mostly aimed to settle the property of powerful families who had fallen from power, the 1366 agency under Shin Don stands out in terms of its scale and its popular impact.

### Revival of the Sungkyunkwan and Personnel Reform (1367–1368)
In May 1367, King Gongmin accepted a proposal from Im Bak and ordered the Sungkyunkwan (National Academy) to be rebuilt on the former site of the Sungmun Hall. The quota for students (saengwon) was increased, and the Oegyeong Sasaejae was established to strengthen education in the Confucian classics. Yi Saek was appointed Daesaseong, and young scholars such as Jeong Mong-ju and Yi Sung-in became instructors. These men later became the core of the new Confucian scholar-officials of the late Goryeo period ([[Assassination of Jeong Mong-ju]]). In August of the same year, officials without active posts (sangwan) were also required to come to the capital and serve, and in December 1368 a seniority-based promotion system (sunjagyeokje), which promoted officials according to length of service, was introduced in an effort to prevent patronage and bribery.

### Opposition and Downfall (1366–1371)
Opposition began early. In April 1366, Jeong Chu and Yi Jon-o submitted petitions impeaching Shin Don. Plots to remove Shin Don were discovered repeatedly in October 1367 and October 1368. In February 1369, when Shin Don attempted to also take the post of Odo Dosasimgwan, King Gongmin refused. From around 1369, public sentiment worsened as Japanese pirate raids ([[Wokou raids on Goryeo]]), labor levies for the construction of the mausoleum of Princess Noguk, and famine all occurred together. In May 1370, an edict from the Ming emperor warned against the political involvement of monks, and in October of the same year King Gongmin declared that he would personally handle state affairs (chinjeong), which effectively ended Shin Don's era. In July 1371 (20th year of Gongmin), Shin Don was exiled to Suwon on charges of plotting rebellion, and two days later he was executed there. About 60 of his close associates, including Yi Chun-bu, were also eliminated.

## Evaluation
The *Goryeosa* placed Shin Don in its biographies of rebels and disparaged him as a "sorcerous monk" (妖僧) and an "old fox" (老狐), among other terms. However, this reflects the view of the ruling class that had lost profits from the reforms, and some have pointed out that negative accounts may have been added after his death. In particular, the founders of the Joseon dynasty used the theory that Kings U and Chang were not of the Wang clan (우창비왕설) and the argument for deposing rulers of illegitimate lineage (폐가입진론) to install Gongyang as king, and in this process Shin Don's negative image became more firmly fixed. By contrast, the people of his time called him a sage, a divine monk, and even an incarnation of the bodhisattva Manjusri. The Encyclopedia of Korean Culture evaluates his reforms as both addressing social and economic problems and strengthening royal authority. However, because the reforms depended heavily on Shin Don's personal power, after his fall the work of the Jeonmin Byeonjeong Dogam was transferred to bodies such as the Pandosa and faded away, and the fundamental resolution of the land problem passed to the discussions on the [[Gwajeonbeop]] in the late Goryeo period.

## Alternative Views
- The names Jeonmin Chujeong Dogam and Jeonmin Byeonjeong Dogam are used together to refer to the same agency. The Encyclopedia of Korean Culture writes the 1366 agency as "Jeonmin Chujeong Dogam."
- Some sources record the date of Shin Don's execution down to the day, but this article gives only the month.

## References
- [Encyclopedia of Korean Culture, "Shin Don"](https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0032783)
- [Encyclopedia of Korean Culture, "Jeonmin Byeonjeong Dogam"](https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0049408)
- [Korean Wikipedia, "Gongmin of Goryeo"](https://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/공민왕)