During the reign of King Chinhung, the Sangha developed enormously, particularly the Bhikkuni Sangha.

King Chinhung was a grand nephew of King Pophung. He became king when he was only seven, and it was the queen of King Pophung, a devoted Buddhist, who ruled as regent. King Chinhung performed many great services for the development of Korean Buddhism due to the powerful influence of the Queen Regent. For example, he officially permitted anyone, men or women, to be ordained in the 5th year of his reign. This was the year of the completion of Hungnyun-sa, a great temple. After giving permission for ordination, the king established a rank system of monks and nuns to promote the well-being of and to organize the Sangha. He became a monk later on in life and chose Sammaekchong (which means sami, sramanera) as his posthumous designation. From the 11th year of his reign, King Chinhung appointed monks to various important positions. The job of these officials was to superintend the other monks and nuns. The mere fact that special people were elected to oversee the Sangha suggests that there were quite a large number of ordained people, possibly, also, the monks and nuns may have been too powerful for the king and so had to be controlled by special officials from their own group.

Toyunarang was the title given to the head of the Bhikkuni Sangha and the very existence of this post suggests that the number of bhikkunis must have been considerable and that their role in society could not be overlooked. Unfortunately, there is no record of the precise duties and activities of this position existing today.

There are, however, two different views about the role of the toyunarang. One comes from a Japanese scholar who says, "the toyunarang could have been a woman who was a kind of priest." But the Korean scholar Lee Ki-baik, in his article entitled The Transmission of Buddhism to the Three Kingdoms and its Social Characteristics, states that toyunarang was a bhikkuni. He points to the social status of women in Buddhist society during the early Shilla Period, and adds that toyunarang was one of the official positions which was the same as that from the Chinese Northern and Southern Dynasties; it was originally introduced from China to Koguryo.