King Beopheung Raises the Buddha's Law and Ichadon Gives Up His Body原宗興法 厭髑滅身

King Beopheung raises the Buddha's law〔This is a hundred years and more after the reign of King Nulji.〕 and Yeomchok gives up his body.

The Basic Record of Silla says, "In the fourteenth year after Great King Beopheung ascended the throne, the humble minister Ichadon gave up his body for the law." That is the eighth year of Putong (普通) of the Xiao Liang (蕭梁), the year jeongmi, the year Bodhidharma of the Western Regions came to Jinling.

In the Yuanhe (元和) years the monk Illyeom (一念) of Namgansa (南澗寺) wrote the Text of the Society for Worshipping the Buddha at the Fragrant Tomb of Chok (髑香墳禮佛結社文), which records this affair in great detail. Its substance is this.

Long ago Great King Beopheung, governing with folded hands in the Jageukjeon (紫極殿), looked down on the eastern land and said, "Long ago Emperor Ming of Han was moved by a dream, and the Buddha's law flowed east. Since I came to the throne I have wished to build, for the sake of the people, a place to cultivate blessings and wipe out sins."

But the court ministers〔The local record says Gongmok, Algong, and others.〕 could not fathom his deep intent. They followed only the great principle of governing the state and would not go along with his wondrous plan to build a temple.

The great king sighed. "Alas. I, without virtue, have inherited the great work. Above, I mar the harmony of yin and yang; below, the people have no joy. In the pauses of the myriad affairs I set my heart on the teaching of the Buddha, but who will be my companion?"

At that time there was one who served close to the king. His surname was Bak (朴) and his courtesy name Yeomchok (厭髑).〔He is also called Icha or Icheo, which are differences of dialect. Translated by meaning, it is 'to dislike.' Chok, don, do, do, dok, and the rest all follow the convenience of the writer and are simply particles. Here the first character is translated by meaning and the second is not, so he is called Yeomchok, and also Yeomdo and so on.〕

He was then twenty-two years old and served as sain (舍人). Looking up at the king's face, he understood his mind, caught his eye, and said:

"Your servant has heard that the ancients asked even grass cutters for counsel. I wish to speak, at the risk of a grave crime."

The king said, "This is not for you to do."

The sain said, "To give up one's body for the country is the great integrity of a minister, and to spend one's life for the king is the plain duty of a subject. If you punish your servant and cut off my head for passing on your words wrongly, then all the people will bow down and no one will dare to disobey your command."

The king said, "There was one who cut his flesh and weighed his body to ransom a single bird, and one who spilled his blood and gave his life out of pity for seven beasts. My intent is to benefit people. How could I kill one who is innocent? Though you would gain merit, it is not as good as avoiding the crime."

The sain said, "Of all things, none is harder to give up than life. Yet if your humble servant dies in the evening and the great teaching is practiced in the morning, the sun of the Buddha will rise again to the zenith and the holy king will be at peace forever."

Then the great king put on a show of majesty, set blades to east and west and spears to north and south, and called his ministers and asked, "I wish to build a temple, and you make it difficult on purpose?"

The ministers trembled with fear, swore hastily, and pointed with their hands east and west.

The king called the sain and rebuked him, and the sain lost his color and had no words to answer. The great king in anger ordered him beheaded, and the officials bound him and brought him below the office.

The sain made a vow, and the jailer cut off his head, and white milk gushed out a jang high.〔The local record says the sain vowed, "The holy king of the law wishes to raise up the Buddha's teaching, so I give no thought to my life and bind karmic bonds widely. Let heaven send down a good omen and show it to all the people." Then, it says, his head flew off and fell on the peak of Geumgangsan.〕

The sky darkened on every side, and the light of dusk hid its brightness for him. The earth shook six times, and flowers fell scattering like rain.

The king grieved, and tears wet his dragon robe. The ministers sorrowed, and sweat ran down their caps. The sweet spring suddenly dried up, and fish and turtles leaped in a frenzy. Straight trees broke first, and the monkeys cried in flocks.

Those who looked at the coffin and heard the news felt as if they had lost their parents.

At last he was buried on the western ridge of the northern mountain.〔That is Geumgangsan. It is said he was buried where his head flew and fell. Why is that not mentioned here?〕

The people of the palace grieved, chose a fine site, and built a temple there, naming it Jachusa (刺楸寺).

In the fifth year after Great King Jinheung ascended the throne, the year gapja, the great Heungnyunsa (大興輪寺) was built.〔Looking at the Guksa and the local record, in fact it was first opened in the fourteenth year of King Beopheung, the year jeongmi, and in the twenty-first year, the year eulmyo, Cheongyeongnim was cut down on a large scale and the work begun. The timber for the beams and pillars was all taken in plenty from that grove, and the steps, foundation stones, and stone niches were all there. In the fifth year of King Jinheung, the year gapja, the temple was completed, and so it says gapja. The Seungjeon says the seventh year, but that is wrong.〕

Temples stood spread out like stars, and pagodas rose in rows like wild geese in flight. Dharma halls were raised and temple bells hung. The monks became a field of blessing for the world, and the greater and lesser teachings became clouds of compassion over the capital.

Ah. Without this king there would have been no such minister, and without this minister there would have been no such merit. It may be called the beauty of the fish and water of Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang, or of clouds and dragon meeting.

King Beopheung raised up what had fallen and built the temple, and when the temple was complete he laid down his crown, put on the monk's robe, and gave his royal kinsmen as servants of the temple.〔The servants of the temple are still called royal descendants today.〕

He lived at that temple and took on the work of spreading the teaching himself.

King Jinheung carried on his virtue and doubled his holiness. He took the throne and led all the officials, and his commands were complete. For this the temple was given the tablet Great King Heungnyunsa (大王興輪寺).

The former king (King Beopheung) was of the Gim clan. He became a monk under the name Beobun (法雲), with the courtesy name Beopgong (法空).〔The Seungjeon and various accounts say the queen became a nun under the name Beobun, or that King Jinheung was Beobun, or that Jinheung's queen was named Beobun, so there is much doubt and confusion.〕

In the year eulmyo, when the work first began, the queen also built Yeongheungsa (永興寺), and together with the king she shaved her head and became a nun under the name Myobeop (妙法). She lived at Yeongheungsa and died after several years.

The Guksa says, "In the thirty-first year of Geonbok the clay image at Yeongheungsa collapsed by itself, and not long after, the nun who had been King Jinheung's queen died."

On examination, Jinheung was the nephew of Beopheung, and his queen, Lady Sado of the Bak clan, was the daughter of Yeongsil of the rank of gakgan from Moryangni. She too became a nun, but she was not the founder of Yeongheungsa. So the character 'jin' (眞) should probably be 'beop' (法). It refers to the death of Lady Pajo, King Beopheung's queen, who had become a nun, because she was the one who built the temple and set up the image.

That the histories do not record the two kings giving up the throne and becoming monks is because it is not a lesson for governing the world.

Again, in the first year of Datong (大通), the year jeongmi, a temple was built in Ungcheonju (熊川州) for the emperor of Liang and named Daetongsa (大通寺).〔Ungcheon is Gongju, and at that time it belonged to Silla. But it was probably not the year jeongmi. It was built in the first year of Zhongdatong, the year giyu. In the year jeongmi, when Heungnyunsa was first being built, there would have been no leisure to build a temple in another district.〕

In praise it is said:

Holy wisdom has always planned for ten thousand ages, while the petty talk of the crowd is a useless autumn hair. The wheel of the law knows how to turn after the golden wheel of the king, and the sun of Shun will now stand high with the sun of the Buddha.

— In praise of King Beopheung

To follow duty and make light of life is astonishing enough, but the heavenly flowers and the white milk move the heart still more. In an instant, after a single blade ended his body, the bells of temple after temple ring through the capital.

— In praise of Ichadon