Samguk Yusa

by Ilyon

  73. The Image of Bhechadjagura in Punhwang Temple and the Bell of Pongdok Temple

  A year after the casting of the Hwangnyong-sa bell, King Kyong-dok had a bronze image of Bhechadjagura weighing 306,700 pounds cast and placed in Punhwang Temple. It was the work of Kanggo-Naemi of Ponp'i-pu. Moreover, the King donated 120,000 pounds of copper for the casting of a bell to be dedicated to his deceased father King Songdok. When this bell was completed by his son Kon-un (King Hyegong) in December of Ta-li, the year of the dog (770), it was hung in the belfry of Pongdok Temple, which had been built by King Hyo-song in the twenty-sixth year of Kai-yuan in the year of the tiger (738). The bell bears the inscription, “Great King Songdok's Heavenly Bell.”

  King Songdok was the father of King Kyongdok, King Hyosong's brother, with whose gift of gold and copper the bell was made.

  74. The Sixteen-Foot Golden Buddha at Yongmyo Temple

  The Biography of Yangji Popsa contains a minute description of the building of Yongmyo Temple and of the sixteen-foot Golden Buddha there during the reign of Queen Sondok. In the twenty-third year of King Kyongdok (764) this image was gilded anew and the expenses paid with 23,700 sok (one sok is about five bushels) of rice-(The Biography of Yangji Popsa actually says that this amount of rice covered the initial production cost of the image.)

  75. The Four-Buddha Mountain, the Buddha-Digging Mountain and the Ten-Thousand Buddha Mountain

  To the east of Chuknyong (Bamboo Pass) about one hundred li away, soaring high into the sky, there stands a mountain. In the ninth year of King Chinp'yong, the year of the monkey (587), this mountain shook with a thundering sound, and from its peak in the heavens a great rock fell. It was ten feet square, carved with Buddhist images on all sides, and wrapped in a red silk cloth.

  Hearing of this marvellous event, the King journeyed to the place. There he prostrated himself before the wonderful rock and ordered a temple built nearby, calling it Taesong-sa (Greater Vehicle, i.e. Maha-yana). A monk who had recited the Lotus Sutra all his life was put in charge of the temple and told to burn incense before the four Buddhas day and night without stopping once. The mountain was called Sabul-san (Four-Buddha Mountain). When the monk died and was buried, a lotus flower bloomed on his grave.

  One day while King Kyongdok was traveling to Paengnyul-sa (Temple of Pinenuts and Chestnuts) he heard a voice from underground on a mountainside crying “Namuami Tabul! Namuami Tabul! Namuami Tabul!” (Ritual calling on the name of Buddha). Intrigued,. he ordered his servants to dig in the place from whence the sound came. No sooner had they begun to dig than they unearthed a great rock with Buddha images carved on it facing in the four directions. In great joy, the King ordered a temple built on this auspicious site and called it Kulbul-sa (Buddha-Digging Temple). This temple has now fallen in ruins, leaving only the stone with the Buddhas facing in the four directions standing by the roadside to remind travelers of this wonderful story.

  King Kyongdok learned that Emperor Tai-tsung of the T'ang Dynasty in China was a worshipper of Buddha. He therefore had an artificial mountain made (ten feet high) on a five-colored canvas, with sandalwood, gold and jewels, and with representations of hills, streams, flowers, trees, birds, butterflies, dancers and musicians, and also towers, palaces, whales and fish (striking bronze bells), temples, monks, nuns and myriad Buddhas. It was called Manbul-san (Ten Thousand Buddha Mountain).

  When the wind blew there arose from this beautiful miniature landscape the harmonious sounds of birdsong, musical instruments, chanting monks, bells, and rushing cataracts, while dancers in quaint costumes swung round with the fluttering butterflies.

  The King sent this creation as a gift to the T'ang Emperor, who was astonished at its superhuman workmanship and praised it as a heavenly treasure. He spread a fan of nine lights above the mountain crests in the Silla work, which he called Buddha's Light. On the eighth day of the fourth moon (Buddha's birthday) the Emperor held a great festival during which he exhibited the Manbul-san in his palace and ordered monks to worship the ten thousand Buddhas. He also bade the visiting Indian priest Samjang Pulgong to chant the Diamond Sutra in praise of Silla for her great achievement in Buddhist art as seen in this creation.

  Song of Praise to the Ten Thousand Buddhas

  Heaven has sent four-direction Buddhas bright as the moon,

  Earth sped upward illuminating hills and hair;20

  Wondrous hands chiseled ten thousand Buddhas in mercy meet,

  Nine holy lights flood heaven, earth and man.

  76. The Stone Image of Maitreya Buddha at Saeng-ui Temple

  During the reign of Queen Sondok there lived at Tojung Temple a kind-hearted monk whose name was Saeng-tu. During a noonday nap one day he dreamed that he met a white-haired monk who led him to the summit of South Mountain in Kyongju and bade him tie some tall grass into a knot to mark the place where they were. Then when they had climbed down to the southern foot of the mountain the strange monk said, “I am buried deep in this valley. Dig me up and let me stand on the mountaintop.”

  When the monk awoke from his dream he went to South Mountain with a friend. Sure enough, high on the summit he found a bunch of knotted grass. In great curiosity he hastened to the valley, where he soon discovered a stone image of Maitreya buried in the ground. He set it up on the crest of Samhwa-ryong (Three-Flower Peak).

  In the twelfth year of Queen Sondok, in the year of the dragon (644) the good monk built a temple near this image and lived in it thereafter. After he died people called it Saeng-ui-sa after his name. It was to this stone Maitreya that the renowned Silla monk Ch'ungdam offered tea of his own making twice a year, on March 3 and September 9.

  77. The Pohyon Bodhisattva in the Mural at Hungnyun Temple

  During the reign of King Kyongmyong (917-924) the south gate of Hungnyun Temple and the long covered shelters on its two sides were destroyed by fire. Chonghwa and Honggye, two of the temple monks, were planning to rebuild the gate and its annexes by collecting donations when on the fifteenth of May in the seventh year of Chen ming, in the year of the snake (921) the god of Chesok21 descended to the Left Palace of Buddha in the temple (i.e. Hongnyun-sa) and sat on a lofty throne there for ten days, covering the halls, pagodas and trees in the temple precincts with fragrant five-colored clouds, while the fish and dragons in the South Pond leaped for joy.

  Multitudes of people from far and near gathered in the temple and worshiped Buddha in gratitude for these unusual and auspicious signs, offering him gold, jewels, brocades and food grain, which were heaped mountain high. Moreover, famous architects came to help in the reconstruction, and in a few days the lost buildings were restored to their former beauty and grandeur.

  When the god of Chesok rose from his throne to return to his lotus palace in heaven, the two monks prostrated themselves before him and said, “We wish to draw thy august face so that we may offer daily sacrifices to it in recompense for thy heavenly grace. We pray thee to pose for this drawing so that thy holy portrait may bring perpetual peace to the human world under the heavens.”

  The voice of the god rang out: “My power of mercy is no match for the universal creative strength of the Pohyon Bodhisattva,22 the Buddha of universal wisdom; hence thou shalt make a likeness of his figure and offer him thy sacrifices day and night with devoted hearts.” With these words he soared high into the sky, riding the same five-colored clouds.

  Obeying the command of the Chesok god, the two monks had a mysterious portrait of the Pohyon Bodhisattva painted on the wall of Hungnyun Temple, where it is still to be seen, a fine work of art.

  78. The Three Portraits of Kwanum at Chungsaeng-sa

  (The divinity referred to in this section derived from the Indian Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, who was a man. Somehow, as Mahayana Buddhism developed in China, a change of sex occurred, and the divinity, whose Chinese name is Kuan Yin, became popularly known and worshipped as the “goddess of mercy.” Her name is pronounced Kwanum in Korean and Kannon in Japanese.)

  An old
Silla book contains this story. Once upon a time, the Celestial Emperor of China had a favorite whose beauty was unexcelled by any other woman in the kingdom, nor was her like to be found in any pictures of girls as fair as May roses or June peonies in all ages and climes. Wishing to look upon her always in the bloom of her youth and beauty, the Emperor decided to have her portrait painted.

  The court artist was therefore ordered to paint the portrait. The name of this artist is not known with certainty, but he is believed to have been Chang Seng-yao, a renowned painter of the state of Wu. During the time of Liang T'ien-chien he served the kingdom of Wu-ling as court artist, right general and magistrate of Wu-hsing. If this be true, then the emperor in the story must have ruled between the Liang and Chen periods. The Silla book refers to him as a T'ang emperor, but this is simply because the people of Silla were accustomed to refer to China as T'ang. (The T'ang Dynasty ruled China during most of the Unified Silla period.)

  Whoever he was, the artist painted a faithful portrait of this peerless beauty. However, while he was adding the finishing touches to the picture, he was so filled with rapture at the beauty of the woman unfolding before him that his hand trembled and let the brush slip, and it made a mark like a mole just below the portrait's navel. In consternation he tried to paint it out, but could not. “It must be one of her birthmarks,” thought the artist, “but even in a picture women are ashamed of moles on the innermost parts of their bodies.”

  When the portrait was presented to the throne the Emperor scrutinized it closely and then spoke angrily to the artist: “This picture is too realistic! How could you have known there was a mole under her navel, and how could you dare to put it in your picture?” The infuriated Emperor had the artist imprisoned and gave orders for his execution the next day, for his burning jealousy of the man's evident intimacy with his beloved knew no bounds.

  The artist was fairly caught. He would have been hanged immediately but for the intervention of the prime minister, who said, “He is as straight as a bamboo, and has known no woman but his wife.”

  The Emperor nodded and spoke again to the artist. “Since you are so wise as to paint the mole on my woman when you have not seen it, paint a lifelike picture of the lovely woman whom I saw in a dream last night and you shall have my special pardon.”

  The artist painted the graceful figure of the eleven-faced Kwanum Bodhisattva and presented it to the throne. “This is she!” exclaimed the Emperor. “Now you shall have your liberty.”

  After this narrow escape the artist no longer wished to live in his native country. Accompanied by a wise man named Pun-chol, he crossed the sea to Silla, and there he made portraits of the Merciful Goddess in three incarnations, which were placed in Chungsaeng-sa (Temple of the Myriad Creatures). The people of Kyongju admired the holy beauty of these pictures and prayed to the goddess to fulfill their wishes with heavenly blessings.

  During the closing year of Silla, in the T'ien-cheng period (926-'929), the childless wife of the nobleman Ch'oe Un-song prayed to Buddha at Chungsaeng-sa to give her a son. Her prayer was heard, and she soon conceived and bore a baby boy. But before the child was three months old the tiger general of Later Paekje (Chin Hwon) sacked Kyongju, and many people lost their wives and children. Carrying the tiny baby in his arms, Un-song fled to the temple and implored the aid of the merciful Bodhisattva, saying “The enemy soldiers run amuck in the King's capital, attacking women and killing babies. If my son was born through your holy blessing, care for him now and nourish him in your bosom till I come again.” He wrapped the child warmly and laid him beside the lotus pedestal of the seated goddess, said a tearful farewell and departed.

  Two weeks later, when the enemy had evacuated the city, Ch'oe Un-song returned to the temple and found the child in robust health. His body was as white as if he had been newly washed, his breath smelled of fresh milk, and his face beamed with a bright smile. Ch'oe picked the child up in his arms and took him home, where he grew up to be a strong and intelligent man.

  This was Ch'oe Sung-no, who rose to the highest posts in the government and had many children who also achieved high position at court, generation after generation. Ch'oe Un-song had followed Kim Pu (King Kyongsun, the last Silla monarch) to Koryo and had been ennobled by that court.

  In March of the tenth year of T'ung-huo (992), Song-t'ae, the abbot of Chungsaeng-sa, knelt before the image of the goddess and said, “I have lived at this temple for many years and I have kept the incense burning in the censer day and night. But now the income from the temple lands has ceased, so that it is impossible for me to continue this service. I must bid you farewell and move to another place.”

  As he finished speaking, the monk was suddenly attacked by drowsiness and fell into a trance. In this state, he heard the low, sweet voice of the goddess whisper in his ear: “My good monk, do not leave, but abide with me yet. I will go round and get donations for the temple supplies.”

  The monk awoke joyfully from his trance and remained in the temple. Two weeks later two stout countrymen led into the temple grounds a caravan of horses and oxen fully loaded with supplies. The sexton ran out to meet them. “Where have you come from?” he enquired.

  “We have come from Kumju (Kimhae),” they replied. “A few days ago a strange monk came to our village and told us that he had lived at Chungsaeng Temple in the Eastern Capital (Kyongju) for many years. He said that he had come to ask for donations for the temple, which was in great want, and so we collected six large bags of rice and four large bags of salt as gifts. We placed them on the backs of our strong horses and oxen, and here they are. Please come and help us to unload them.”

  “No monk from this temple has gone out to ask for alms,” the abbot said. “Perhaps you have come to the wrong place.”

  “The monk guided us,” the countrymen replied, “as far as a well which he called Sinkyon-jong (God seeing Well) below the hill, and pointed to this temple, saying, 'Go carefully up the mountain, and you will find a temple above the clouds. I will join you on the temple grounds.' So here we are.”

  In wonderment the monk entered the Golden Hall with the two countrymen. He was amazed to see them prostrate themselves before the image of Kwanum, whispering to each other that it looked exactly like the monk who had come asking for donations. From that time gifts of rice and salt never ceased to flow into the temple to nourish the Bodhisattva and her devotees.

  One evening the temple gate caught fire. All the people living nearby rushed up the hill to help put out the fire, and went into the Golden Hall to rescue the image of Kwanum first of all. But when they arrived it was not there, and was found outside in the courtyard. All were astonished at this wonder-working of the almighty Bodhisattva.

  In the thirteenth year of Ta-ting, the year of the snake (1173) a monk named Chomsung lived at Chungsaeng-sa. He was illiterate, but his inward eye saw Buddha's mind, and he kept the incense-burner alight with holy flame from morning till night as he knelt before the image of the merciful Bodhisattva.

  Another monk who wanted the temple for himself appealed to the Angel of Shirts, saying, “Chungsaeng Temple was created to invoke Buddha's grace and blessings on all the myriad creatures in this nation, and therefore a learned person should be its proprietor. This poor monk knows only enough to say 'Namuami-Tabul' and 'Kwanum Bodhisattva' waking and sleeping. He should be turned out of the temple.”

  “Very well,” the angel replied, “I will test him.” The written appeal was presented upside down to Chomsung, and he took it and read all the sentences aloud in a musical voice, without making a mistake.

  The angel was astonished at this unusual intelligence and clapped his hands, saying “Again!” But this time Chomsung remained stubbornly silent. “Thy soul is aflame with holy inspiration. Such a monk as thou art Silla's boast,” the angel exclaimed. “Stay where thou art and be happy, and may Buddha bless thee!”

  This story was told to the village elders near the temple by the hermit Kim In-pu, who had been a bedf
ellow of the wonderful monk Chomsung. It has been relayed from mouth to mouth throughout Silla until today.

  (Since the Silla Kingdom had ceased to exist more than two centuries before the date given, fly on must be using the name in a purely geographical sense, to indicate the area of the old kingdom before the unification. This is an excellent example of his efforts to preserve oral traditions which might otherwise have been lost.)

  79. Paengnyul-sa (Temple of Pinenuts and Chestnuts)

  (Translator's note; The name “Kumgang” used here is derived from the Kumgang-gyong, the Diamond Sutra, the scripture most read in Far Eastern Buddhism. The names used to describe temples and rocks are also derived from this scripture and have nothing to do with actual precious stones, although the mountains so named are known to foreigners as the Diamond Mountains. The Kumgang near Kyongju is a miniature version of the mountain range in Kangwon Province, about fifty miles in diameter, where the “Twelve thousand sky-kissing peaks,” picturesque rocks, deep ravines full of green vegetation, sapphire pools and cataracts above and below antique monasteries form a veritable fairyland in all seasons. It was here that the Hwarang of Silla used to go for mental and physical training so as to increase the nation's military power.)

  The North Mountain of Kerim (Kyongju) is called Kumgang-nyong (Mountain of Diamond Peaks). On the southern side of this mountain is a monastery called Paengnyul-sa, and seated in its Golden Hall is a Buddha image which has worked many wonders. Although the history of the image is unknown, tradition says that it was made by heavenly sculptors from China as was the image at Chungsaeng-sa, at about the same time. This Buddha is said to have ascended to Tori-ch'on (one of the thirty-three heavens) and to have re-entered the Golden Hall after stamping his feet on the stone steps at the entrance, leaving footprints which are still there today. But other accounts claim that the Buddha made these footprints when he returned triumphantly with Puryerang, a renowned Hwarang (Flower Youth) whom he had rescued from a pagan people in the north who were enemies of Silla. The story is as follows.