Samguk Yusa

by Ilyon

  Later, in the year of the horse (eleventh year of King Wonjong, 1270), when the King returned with his court to Kaesong, great disturbances arose on land and sea. Rebels under the command of local heroes who contended for mastery fought battles fiercer than those in the year of Imjin (when the court had moved to Kanghwa. The “rebels" were the leaders of diehard resistance to the Mongols, to whom the government had now submitted.) Amid the tumult of war a monk named Simgam, braving all dangers, took Buddha's tooth to a place of safety. The King rewarded him by placing him in charge of Ping-san temple. I heard this story from the monk himself.

  In the sixth year of Chen T'ien-chia (565) when King Chinhung was on the throne of Silla, the Chen state in southern China sent to Silla an envoy named Liu Szu and a monk named Ming-kuan, who brought with them 1,700 volumes of Buddhist commentaries. In the seventeenth year of T'ang Chen-kuan (643) Chajang Popsa brought back from China three Buddhist scriptures, consisting of the Buddha's teachings, the laws and commentaries in 400 boxes and preserved them at T'ongdo Temple. (This description would fit the full Buddhist canon, or Tripitaka, the “three baskets” of Buddhist scriptures.) During the reign of King Hungdok, in the first year of T'ang Ta-huo (827), Kudok, a former Koguryo monk who had been studying in China, brought back more boxes of Buddhist scriptures from the Celestial Empire. The King, followed by Silla monks, received the gift at Hungnyun Temple.

  In the fifth year of Ta-chung of T'ang (851) Won Hong, the Silla envoy, also brought back valuable Buddhist books from China, and Poyo Sonsa, a great Silla monk, twice visited Wu and Yueh in southern China and returned with large shipments of Buddhist books. He was the founder of Haeryong-wang-sa (Sea Dragon Temple).

  In the year of the dog (1094) during the reign of Ta-sung Yuan-yu, a poet eulogized the portrait of Poyo Sonsa: “Glory to the founder priest! How graceful his noble features look! Twice he went to Wu and Yueh and twice he brought back gems of Buddhist books. The King bestowed on him the glorious title 'Poyo' (Light of the Universe) in a royal prescript proclaimed over the four seas on this happy occasion. His moral integrity shines above the white moon and the cool breeze.”

  During the years of Ta-t'ing (in the reign of King Oijong, 1146-1170) another poet, P'aeng Cho-jok, in his book Hannam Kuan-gi, praised Poyo in the following lines: “Floating between water and cloud is the quiet temple where dwells the Buddha; protected under heavenly wings are its peaceful precincts, where crouches the sea-dragon. Who in succession will keep this holy abode of Buddha, who descended from the southern heaven to this eastern land?” In a note added to the poem the writer told the following story.

  While our immortal monk Poyo Sonsa was on his first return voyage from Nan-Yueh bringing Buddhist books to Silla, a storm raged at sea and his tiny ship was almost swallowed by an angry sea-dragon, which bellowed at him to throw the treasured books overboard. He pronounced a spell over the monster, saying, “Sir dragon! No more of your mischievous frolic! It is a sin against Buddha and threatens my life. Instead, escort the ship, and I will provide you a peaceful abode on land far better than the sea.” Immediately the howling wind grew calm and the roaring waves subsided, and the sea became as smooth as a crystal mirror. The white-sailed ship glided over the blue water as swiftly as an arrow and on the morrow made port in Silla, with the sea-dragon pushing it to the shore. The monk traveled to all the famous mountains (in Silla) to find a quiet place for the abode of Buddha and of the dragon.

  When Poyo Sonsa climbed a certain high mountain, auspicious clouds descended from heaven to its top. Aided by Honggyong, his chief disciple, he built a beautiful temple under its crest and called it Haeryong-sa (Temple of the Sea Dragon). P'aeng Cho-jok concludes, “The eastward spread of Buddhism really began at that time.”

  The Hall of the Sea Dragon King at this temple has worked many wonders since the dragon escorted the ship carrying Buddhist scriptures.

  In the third year of Hou T'ang T'ien-cheng (928) Muk-Hwasang (the Silent Monk) brought back more Buddhist scriptures from China, and when King Yejong was on the throne of Koryo” (1105-1122) the renowned monk Hyejo purchased three copies of the same books, which had been compiled in the state of Liao. These still exist, one copy being preserved at Chonghye-sa, one at Haein-sa and one at the home of Ho Ch'am-jong.

  In the second year of Liao Ta-an (1086), during King Sonjong's reign, Uich'on, another great monk, visited China and brought back a large shipment of Buddhist books called Ch'ondae Kyo-kuan. In addition many other monks went abroad and brought back innumerable Buddhist works to Silla and Koryo, thus bringing Buddhist religion and Buddhist culture and art from India to the east through China and making the young Koryo Kingdom and the two-thousand-year-old India of the Deer Park one in the Buddhist world. (The Deer Park at Benares in India is said to have been the place where Buddha preached his first sermon.)

  (The paragraphs which conclude this section are not Ilyon's. A note in the original informs us that they were written by Muguk, his chief disciple.)

  According to the account of Uisang in the present work, in the early T'ang Ying-hui period (650) he traveled to China, where he visited Chih-yen, a mysterious monk in that country. But an inscription on a stone monument at Pusok Temple says that Uisang was born in the eighth year of T'ang Wu-te (625) and became a monk as a young man in the first year of T'ang Ying-hui (650). Accompanied by Wonhyo (another famous Silla monk) he started out on the long journey to China by way of Koguryo, but was forced to turn back because of a war in that country.

  In the first year of T'ang Lung-shuo (661) Uisang succeeded in reaching China, where he studied under Chih-yen until the latter's death in the first year of Tsung-chang (668). In the second year of T'ang Hsien-heng (671) he returned to Silla, where he died in the second year of Chang-an (702) at the age of seventy-eight. Therefore he would have received the tooth of the Buddha from the palace in heaven some time between Sin-yu (661) and Mu-jin (668), after he had participated with Chih-yen in the Buddhist service conducted by Hsuan-lu-shu.

  In the year of the dragon (1232) when King Kojong moved his court to Kanghwa Island, he thought that the seven-day period of the tooth's sojourn on earth had expired, but this was a mistake, for in the Torich'on heaven one day and one night are equal to a hundred years on earth. Thus at this date 693 years would have passed since Uisang first arrived in China in the year of the cock (661). (Here and in the next paragraph Muguk's arithmetic is obviously faulty.)

  The year of the rat (1240) in the reign of King Kojong would be the seven-hundredth year, when the heavenly seven-day period expired, and the seventh year of Chih-yuan (1270) when the court moved back to Kaesong was the 730th year, thirty years after the expiration date. If the Buddha's tooth returned to heaven on the seventh day of its sojourn on earth as the heavenly emperor had stipulated, then the tooth which Sin-gam Sonsa carried from Kanghwa and presented to the King in Kaesong could not have been the genuine one.

  Before leaving Kanghwa for Kaesong the King assembled all the leading monks in the detached palace and prayed for the discovery of Buddha's tooth and the sari which had been lost, but to no avail. Perhaps they had already ascended to heaven at the expiration of their stay on earth.

  In the twenty-first year of Chih-yuan (1284), when the Golden Pagoda of Kukch'ong Temple was repaired, the King and his Queen Changmok-Wanghu visited Myogak Temple, where he worshipped the tooth of Buddha presented by Sim-gam, the Naksan crystal rosary and the Yo-ui-ju (a special kind of sari said to have magical powers). He then placed them in the pagoda amid the profound reverence of the courtiers and of the great multitude of people who had gathered there. I had the honor to be present at this ceremony, and I saw the Buddha's tooth with my own eyes. It was about three inches long, but there were no sari with it.

  —Written by Muguk

  82. The Fairy Flower of Maitreya (Miruk Sonhwa), Mirirang and Chinja

  (This is the legendary account of the founding of the Hwarang order. Modern historians believe it was actually a developmen
t from ancient tribal custom. The word “fairy” here is to be understood as indicating a sort of divine or semi-divine being, not in the sense it has in European folklore.)

  The family name of King Chinhung (the twenty-fourth Silla sovereign) was Kim, and his childhood name was Sam-nung-jong or Sim-nung-jong. Upon ascension to the throne in the sixth year of Liang Tai-t'ung (450) he devoted himself to the worship of Buddha and had many temples built throughout the country, as his uncle King Pophung had done.

  The King loved elegance and physical beauty and believed in Sin-son and Son-nyo (male and female fairies). He chose pretty maidens by holding beauty contests and called them Wonhwa (original flowers), and taught them modesty, loyalty, filial piety and sincerity so that they would become good wives and wise mothers.

  In one such contest Nammo and Chunjong, two of these “original flowers,” were the leading contenders among three or four hundred budding Silla beauties. Becoming jealous of Nammo, Chunjong invited her to a party and made her drunk with strong wine. She then led Nammo to the bank of the Northern Stream, where she struck her fair brow with a stone and buried her body in the sand.

  Nammo's admirers missed their queen and could not find her, so they sang a doleful song and went back to their homes. But someone who knew of the crime composed an elegy and had it sung by all the children in the streets. Finally the followers of the murdered beauty found her body beside the stream.

  Infuriated, the King had Chunjong put to death and issued a royal decree abolishing Wonhwa. In its place he created Hwarang (Flower Youth), for which he recruited noble young men of physical beauty and mental virtue. He believed that he could enhance the fortunes of the kingdom by training young men in a decorous mode of life. They were taught the five cardinal principles of human relations (kindness, justice, courtesy, intelligence and faith), the six arts (etiquette, music, archery, horsemanship, writing and mathematics), the three scholarly occupations (royal tutor, instructor and teacher), and the six ways to serve the government (holy minister, good minister, loyal minister, wise minister, virtuous minister and honest minister). A youth named Sol-Wonnang was made head of the order with the title of Kukson. There is a stone monument at Myongju (now Kang-nung) which was erected in his memory. This was the beginning of Hwarang.

  During the reign of King Chinji (576-579) there was a monk named Chinja at Hungnyun Temple who worshipped the image of Maitreya Buddha, praying that the Buddha be incarnated as a Hwarang so that he might attend him as chief servant. One night he saw an old priest in a dream. “If you go to Suwon Temple in Ungch'on (Kongju),” the priest said, “you will meet a Maitreya Flower Youth.”

  Joyfully the monk woke and went immediately to the temple, where he met a noble youth of great physical beauty. The youth smiled and showed him into a guest room in the temple.

  “I am a stranger to you,” the monk said. “Why this kind reception?”

  “I am also a traveler from Kyongju visiting this temple,” the youth replied. “It is simply my duty to be kind to a fellow human creature.” After a short conversation the youth left the room and disappeared.

  While the monk was pondering this singular event, the abbot of the temple told him to go to Ch'onsan (Thousand Mountains), where he might meet superhuman beings. The monk climbed into the hills, and there he saw a mountain-god who changed into a white-bearded old man. “What are you doing here and whom do you seek?” the old man asked.

  “I want to see a Maitreya Flower Youth,” the monk replied.

  “You saw him at the entrance to Suwon Temple, didn't you?” said the old man. Chinja was surprised and returned to his temple in Kyongju.

  King Chinji heard this story and summoned the monk to court. “I understand the Maitreya Flower Youth told you he lived in Kyongju,” the King said. “Sages and Buddhas do not lie. Why don't you seek him within the city?”

  Chinja gathered his followers and sought the flower youth. Soon he caught sight of a handsome youth strolling under a big tree northeast of Yongmyo Temple. In rapture the monk approached the youth and said, “You are the Maitreya Flower Youth (Miruk Sonhwa)! What is your name and where is your home?”

  “My given name is Miri,” the youth replied, “but I do not know my family name since I lost my parents in infancy.”

  Chinja conducted the youth to the palace in a palanquin. The King loved Miri and put him at the head of all the Hwarang. The wondrous youth taught his Hwarang disciples social etiquette, music and song and also gave them lessons in patriotic behavior, raising the fair name of Hwarang to its zenith. After seven years he disappeared into the fairyland of Sin-son, and the King and all the people missed his noble qualities.

  Chinja's grief at the loss of Miri-rang knew no bounds, but when he meditated on the flower youth, his image in his Maitreya form was reflected on his inward eye and he was comforted in his solitude. Chinja purified his heart after the model of Miri-rang, and finally his awakened soul was transported to the spiritual world, leaving his life's end on earth shrouded in mystery to this day.

  Scholars say that this story is partly based on the fact that the Chinese characters for the name “Miri” can also be pronounced “Miruk" (Maitreya) in Korean. People called a sin-son (fairy) a Miruk-Sonhwa (Fairy Flower of Maitreya) and the leader of the Hwarang Kukson. (This last works out to “National Fairy,” which sounds a little strange but made sense in the traditional Korean scheme of things.) “Miri” was a divine go-between according to the tradition handed down by the monk Chinja.

  Not only moved by the devoted heart of Chinja but also attracted by predestined affinity, the great Buddha often appeared in Silla in human form.

  Song of Praise to the Fairy Flower

  I wandered looking for my Fairy Flower, thinking of him with every footstep.

  I've run over hill and dale, but he has vanished from my sight;

  Wilt thou not blossom on my breast in the next spring

  As Shanglin-hung blooms before her royal lover in his flowery garden?

  (“Shanglin-hung" —literally “Upper Forest Red”—is an allusion to the court beauties of the Han dynasty, who are compared to red flowers pressed to the hearts of their royal lovers.)

  83. Nohil Puduk and Tal-tal Pak-pak, the Two Saints of the White Moon Mountains

  This account is taken from the Biography of the Two Saints who Became Living Maitreyas in the White Moon Mountains.

  Paegwol-san, the White Moon Mountains, rise in the north of Kusa County (Uian-gun) in Silla. Thousands of grotesque peaks soar into the sky in a long undulating ridge overlooking ten thousand deep ravines over a distance of several hundred li, making the place a veritable fairyland.

  White-haired mountaineers say that long, long ago the T'ang Emperor carved a lotus pond in a valley, with a lion-rock in the middle, and under the moonlight the majestic rock cast its shadow over the glimmering wavelets, which reflected the dancing flowers on the hills all around.

  The Emperor commanded a painter to make a picture of the mountain and the pond and then dispatched an envoy to compare this picture with the actual landscape, of renowned grandeur and beauty. The envoy went to Silla and visited the wonderful mountains, where he found the lotus pool and the lion-rock, with a three-peaked hill called Hwasan (Flower Mountain) nearby, just as they were in the picture.

  Unable to be completely sure of the picture's accuracy, the envoy left one of his shoes on the lion-rock and returned home to report on his experiences in Silla. The shadow of the T'ang envoy's shoe was also reflected in the pool under the full moon, so the Emperor called it (the picture?) the White Moon Mountains. Strange to say, there were no shadows on the pool ever afterwards.

  Approximately three thousand paces southeast of these mountains there was a quiet village called Sonch'on-ch'on (Village of the Fairy Stream). Here lived two men, Nohil Puduk and Tal-tal Pak-pak, who possessed uncommon physical beauty and who meditated deeply on life. At the age of twenty they both became monks, shaving their heads and living with their wives at
two temples close to each other, working on their farms by day and worshipping Buddha by night. (There were and still are orders of married monks in Korea.)

  Food was plentiful, the joy of married love was overflowing, and their homes were like paradises on earth. But the two monks reflected that earthly pleasures were not half so good as the joy of the lotus pool in heaven,23 where they could chant the call of everlasting life with a thousand Buddhas and disport themselves with parrots and peacocks.

  The two men left their homes and their wives behind in the mundane world and hid themselves in a deep valley where, after their long journey, they fell fast asleep. The dying moon in the west flooded their faces with radiant white light, and in its beams a golden hand descended from heaven and smoothed the foreheads of the sleeping monks. They awoke in astonishment and told each other their dreams, and when these were found to correspond exactly they were even more delighted, and entered a deeper valley called Mudung-gok. Here Pak-pak built an eight-foot square log cabin by the lion rock under the northern peak in which to live and worship. Puduk made his cell in a rocky cave under the eastern peak. Puduk worshipped Maitreya and Pak-pak devoted his heart and soul to Kwanum, the goddess of mercy.

  Three years passed, and in the eighth year of King Songdok (706) on Buddha's birthday (eighth day of the fourth moon) a young woman of twenty came to the cell of Pak-pak. She was not only a graceful and elegant beauty, but fragrant with the scents of rock-orchid and musk-deer which emanated from her body in the twilight breeze.

  “Where the traveler goes the sun sets too soon,

  A thousand mountains are veiled in the evening mist;

  The way is long and the city is far—

  I wish to rest my weary feet in your cell.