Miracles in Korea SERIES VII THEOLOGY AND RELIGION VOL. 306 PETER LANG New York (cid:121) Washington, D.C./Baltimore (cid:121) Bern Frankfurt (cid:121) Berlin (cid:121) Brussels (cid:121) Vienna (cid:121) Oxford Hong Manjong Miracles in Korea Translated by Dal-Yong Kim PETER LANG New York (cid:121) Washington, D.C./Baltimore (cid:121) Bern Frankfurt (cid:121) Berlin (cid:121) Brussels (cid:121) Vienna (cid:121) Oxford Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Hong, Man-jong, 1643–1725. Miracles in Korea / Hong Manjong; translated by Dal-Yong Kim. p. cm. — (American university studies. VII, Theology and religion; v. 306) Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Korea—Biography. 2. Hermits—Korea—Biography. 3. Taoists—Korea—Biography. I. Kim, Dal-Yong. II. Title. DS905.H64 299.5’140922519—dc22 2010050489 ISBN 978-1-4331-0965-2 ISSN 0740-0446 Bibliographic information published by Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek. 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Printed in Germany ★ Contents Translator’s Preface .......................................................................... vii Bibliographical Introduction ............................................................... 1 Preface ................................................................................................. 5 I Dangun ................................................................................................ 9 II Hyeokgeose ....................................................................................... 17 III King Dongmyeong ............................................................................ 21 IV Four Divine Taoists ........................................................................... 25 V Okbogo .............................................................................................. 27 VI Two Divine Taoists Named Kim Gyeomhyo and So Ha .................. 29 VII Daese and Guchil .............................................................................. 31 VIII Damsi ................................................................................................ 33 IX Kim Gagi ........................................................................................... 35 X Choi Chiwon ..................................................................................... 39 XI Gang Gamchan .................................................................................. 43 XII Enlightened Taoist Gwon .................................................................. 47 XIII Kim Siseup ........................................................................................ 59 XIV Hong Yuson ...................................................................................... 63 XV Jeong Bung and Jeong Sugon ........................................................... 67 XVI Jeong Huiryang ................................................................................. 69 XVII Nam Chu ........................................................................................... 75 XVIII A Divine Taoist in Mt. Jiri ................................................................ 77 XIV Seo Gyeongdeok ............................................................................... 79 vi Contents XX Jeong Yeom....................................................................................... 85 XXI Jeon Uchi .......................................................................................... 91 XXII Yun Gungpyeong .............................................................................. 95 XXIII A Divine Taoist in Mt. Hanla ............................................................ 97 XXIV Nam Sago .......................................................................................... 99 XXV Park Jihwa ....................................................................................... 103 XXVI Lee Jiham ........................................................................................ 107 XXVII An Old Buddhist Monk in Mt. Hangye ........................................... 111 XXVIII Yu Hyeongjin .................................................................................. 113 XXIX Jang Hanung .................................................................................... 119 XXX A Divine Taoist in the South Sea .................................................... 123 XXXI Jang Saeng....................................................................................... 125 XXXII Gwak Jaeu ....................................................................................... 129 Postscript ......................................................................................... 133 Index ............................................................................................... 135 ★ Translator’s Preface Miracles in Korea is a collection of thirty-eight stories about Korean mountain wizards, Taoist hermits with supernatural powers, divine Taoists, and divine beings, who enjoy perennial youth, longevity, and immortality and sometimes ascend to heaven. Its author, Hong Manjong (1643–1725), drew upon A Survey of the Geography of Korea and several unauthorized chronicles and compiled the stories in chronological order from the Ancient Joseon Age (2333 B.C.–346) to the Joseon Dynasty (1392–1910). Jeong Dugyeong drew up the “Preface” to this collection, Song Siyeol wrote the “Postscript,” and Hong Manjong’s adopted son added some anecdotes. Hong Manjong showed that the idea of a mountain wizard and Taoist thought had always existed as underlying presences within Korean history. He implicitly argued against the widespread belief that they failed to develop religious denominations or cultural sects. Miracles in Korea enumerates a large number of anecdotal details in illustration of the idea of mountain wizardry and presents the idea as an inherent traditional form of Korean spirituality which later merged with Taoist thought. The thirty-eight anecdotes demonstrate that mountain wizardry, Taoism, and supernaturalism have survived to influence all classes of the Korean people in their pursuit of eternal youth, longevity, and immortality and in their practices of fortune-telling, animism, totemism, geomancy, and sun worship. Traditional Korean spirituality is a syncretic multiplicity of conventional religions including Buddhism, Neo-Confucianism, and Taoism. The elective and contrastive components of the religions have produced a strong sense of cultural dynamism. Korean mountain wizardry, Taoism, and supernaturalism did not act as the primary ruling ideologies of ancient Korean kingdoms but have formed the spiritual backbone of the common people. Hong Manjong’s book provides much information about the people, activities, and customs associated with the original aspects of Korean religiosity. viii Translator’s Preface Hong Manjong was a scholar and poetry critic during the middle of the Joseon Dynasty who went by the nickname of Uhae and by the pen name of Hyeonmukja or Jangju. He passed the first state examination for office in the first year (1675) of the reign of King Sukjong and was appointed to several government posts. He later resigned from government service and engaged in Korean and Chinese studies. He wrote books on history, geography, narrative literature, songs and ballads, and poetry and published Fifteen Critical Essays. He also compiled The Complete Catalogue of the Eastern Country’s Chronicles, The Dense Wood of Poems and Narratives, and Miracles in Korea. Hong Manjong presented Korean mountain wizards, Taoist hermits, divine Taoists, and divine beings as weary of social activism and aware of the fragility of human achievements. They usually retreated to a countryside or mountain setting to commune with natural beauty. The wizards, the hermits, and the divine Taoists composed or recited poetry about nature or painted pictures of natural settings in their attempts to capture the creative forces at the center of nature’s vitality. They shared their outings with friends, drinking a bit of wine, and enjoying the autumn leaves or the moon. The author included the founders of the ancient Korean kingdoms in the list of the Korean mountain wizards and supernatural beings of divine birth, perennial youth, longevity, and immortality. All of the founders including Dangun, Park Hyeokgeose, and King Dongmyeong existed before Chinese Taoism was first introduced to the Goguryeo Kingdom (37 B.C.–668). It was in the seventh year (624) of the reign of King Yeongnyu that Chinese Emperor Gaozu of the Tang Dynasty sent a Taoist preacher to teach The Classic of Morality. Hong Manjong traced the original source of Korean Taoism to the birth myths of ancient Korean kingdoms. He made his book a precious source for the study of Korean mountain wizards, Taoist hermits, and supernatural beings. Korean mountain wizardry, based on mountain worship, formed the basis of Korean primitive religions. The idea of mountain wizardry is a key component of almost all the myths and folk narratives of the Korean people. The idea was also associated with modern folk religions that appeared after the Eastern Learning Revolution in the North Jeolla region in 1894. Korean mountain wizardry generated the birth myths of ancient Korean kingdoms, whose original archetype is the Dangun mythology. The wizardry, along with Korean shamanism, has served as the background knowledge for Korean popular spirituality. As Choi Chiwon (857–?) in “A Preface to the Epitaph of Gentleman Nan” explains, Korean mountain wizardry demonstrates a romantic turn of mind that later materialized into the profound reason and immeasurable arts of the flowers of youth in the Silla Dynasty (57 B.C.–935). The system of Silla chivalry began to be put into practice in the thirty-seventh year (570) of the reign of King Jinpyeong and appropriated the care-free and elegant lifestyle of the four Translator’s Preface ix mountain wizards of Silla. Sill chivalry replenished the style with Confucian, Buddhist, and Taoist virtues. The chivalry aimed at excelling in beauty, bravery, and military arts and functioned as a basic instrument for educating the talented youths of the kingdom. Indigenous Korean mountain wizardry merged with the disciplinary Chinese Taoism introduced in the wake of frequent cultural exchange between the Unified Silla Kingdom and the Tang Empire. The scholars of the Silla Kingdom who returned home from studying in Tang introduced disciplinary Taoism to the Korean people. Mountain wizardry became the most unique and remarkable folklore legacy of Korean Immortal Taoism, or Korean Taoism immersed in mountain wizardry and supernaturalism. Miracles in Korea deals with the identity and personality traits that led Korean Taoist hermits to transform themselves into Korean mountain wizards. Miracles in Korea compiles the lives of various Korean Taoist hermits and mountain wizards by drawing upon a diversity of sources: expositions, comments, direct observations and the like. Hong Manjong picks out more than thirty personages of various backgrounds who typify Korean Taoism and mountain wizardry and concentrates on their dominant religious traits to the exclusion of other aspects of personality. The hermits and wizards demonstrate the nature of Korean religiosity by revealing their moral qualities, ethical standards, and religious principles through their actions, speech, thoughts, and outward appearances. More than thirty Korean Taoist hermits and mountain wizards are, however, identifiable individualized variants of a traditional type built around the single idea of Korean Immortal Taoism. They are all portrayed with much individualizing detail and subtle particularity in various moral temperaments, psychological motivations and spiritual leadership, so they are named “mountain wizards,” “Taoist hermits with supernatural powers,” “divine Taoists,” or “divine beings,” respectively or interchangeably, in English terms. However, their lives provide readers with direct and immediate access to many distinguished aspects of that inner Taoist life, i.e., to the intellectual, emotional, and moral complexities of Korean Taoist personality that lie behind the title of a Korean Taoist. The lives of Korean Taoist hermits and mountain wizards probe and explore the puzzling questions of Taoist human existence. Miracles in Korea gives meaningful insights into Korean Immortal Taoism and provides a comprehensive vision of ancient Korean life. Taoism is based upon the ideas and attitudes of Laozi (580 B.C.?–480 B.C.?) and Chuangzi (370 B.C.?–280 B.C.?), two Chinese scholars who dedicated their lives to balancing their inner spirit. These scholars lived at the time of social disorder and religious skepticism after the collapse of the Zhou Kingdom. They developed the notion of the Tao (way of life) as the origin and force of all creation, speaking of the Tao as unknowable in its essence but observable in its manifestations. Almost all Taoists believe that the Tao lies not only behind the functions and changes of the natural world but also behind the