The Slave Girl Ungmyeon Chants the Buddha's Name and Rises to the West郁面婢念佛西昇

The slave girl Ungmyeon chants the Buddha's name and rises to the west.

In the reign of King Gyeongdeok, several dozen good men of Gangju〔It is the present Jinju. In some places it is written Gangju (剛州), in which case it is the present Sunan.〕 set their hearts on seeking the Western Paradise, built Mitasa within the district, and formed a society pledged for ten thousand days.

At that time there was a slave girl in the house of Gwijin (貴珍) of the rank of agan, and her name was Ungmyeon (郁面).

She followed her master to the temple, stood in the courtyard, and chanted the Buddha's name along with the monks.

Her master hated her for neglecting her work, and always gave her two seok of grain to pound in a single evening.

The slave girl finished the pounding by the first watch and went to the temple to chant〔The saying 'My own work is pressing, yet the master's pounding hurries me' probably comes from this.〕, never slackening in the least, day or night.

She set up long stakes to the left and right of the courtyard, threaded a cord through both her palms and tied them to the stakes, and moved her joined hands left and right to spur herself on.

Then a voice from heaven called in the air, "Lady Ungmyeon, enter the hall and chant the Buddha's name."

The people of the temple heard it, and urged the slave girl to enter the hall and practice with them in due order.

Not long after, heavenly music came from the west, and the slave girl shot upward, broke through the roof beam, and went out.

She went westward to the outskirts of town, cast off her body, and appeared transformed in her true body, seated on a lotus seat, giving off a great light, and slowly went away. The sound of the music did not cease in the air.

It is said that the hole she broke through is still in that hall today.〔Up to here is the native account.〕

Looking at the Seungjeon, it says this:

"The master builder Paljin (八珍) was a manifestation of Avalokitesvara.

He formed a society of a thousand people, divided into two: one group labored with their strength, the other practiced with devotion.

Among those who labored, the one in charge of affairs failed to keep the precepts, fell into the path of beasts, and became an ox at Buseoksa.

Because it had once carried sutras on its back, by the power of the sutras it was reborn as a slave girl in the house of Gwijin of the rank of agan, and her name was Ungmyeon.

On some business she went to Hagasan, was moved by a dream, and at last raised the mind that seeks the Way.

The agan's house was not far from Mitasa, which the master Hyesuk had founded. The agan always went to that temple to chant the Buddha's name, and the slave girl went along and chanted in the courtyard."

She did this for nine years.

In the year eulmi, on the twenty-first day of the first month, she worshipped the Buddha, broke through the roof beam, and went.

When she reached Sobaeksan she dropped one shoe, and Borisa was built on that spot. When she reached the foot of the mountain she cast off her body, and the second Borisa was built on that spot.

On its hall a tablet was hung reading 'Hall of Ungmyeon's Ascent to Heaven (勗面登天之殿).'

The hole in the roof ridge was about ten arm spans around, yet even in driving rain and heavy snow nothing got wet.

Later someone fond of such things cast a small gold pagoda and set it on the ceiling directly under the hole, to record the marvel, and the tablet and the pagoda remain to this day.

After Ungmyeon was gone, Gwijin too, saying his house was the place where an extraordinary person had been born, gave it up to be a temple, called it Beopwangsa, and donated fields and people.

Long after, it fell into ruin and became a mound, and the great master Hoegyeong (懷鏡), together with Yu Seok of the rank of seungseon and Yi Wonjang of the rank of sogyeong, made a vow and rebuilt it.

Hoegyeong did the earth and timber work himself. When he first hauled the timber, an old man in a dream gave him a pair of hemp shoes and a pair of arrowroot shoes.

He also went to the old shrine, instructed it in the principles of the Buddha's law, cut timber from beside the shrine, and finished in five years.

He also added slaves, and it became a famous monastery of the southeast, and people said Hoegyeong was Gwijin reborn.

In discussion it is said this.

Looking at the old record handed down in the district, Ungmyeon belongs to the reign of King Gyeongdeok. But according to the biography of Gwijin〔The character 'jing' should probably be written 'jin,' and the same below.〕, it was in the time of King Aejang, in the third year of Yuanhe, the year muja.

After King Gyeongdeok came the five reigns of Hyegong, Seondeok, Wonseong, Soseong, and Aejang, sixty years and more in all.

With Gwijin first and Ungmyeon after, this contradicts the native account. But both are kept, and the doubtful point is left open.

In praise it is said:

In the old temple to the west the Buddha's lamp burns bright. She finished the pounding and came back at the second watch of night. She vowed to herself that one call would make one Buddha, pierced her palms with a cord, and forgot her body straightway.