King Bojang Honors Daoism and Bodeok Moves His Hermitage寶藏奉老 普德移庵

The Basic Record of Goguryeo (高麗本記) says this.

At the end of Goguryeo, in the Wude (武德) and Zhenguan (貞觀) years, the people of the country vied to honor the Way of the Five Pecks of Rice (五斗米教). Gaozu of Tang heard of it and sent a Daoist priest with an image of the Celestial Worthy (天尊像) to lecture on the Daodejing, and the king and the people of the country listened. This was the seventh year after the twenty-seventh king, King Yeongnyu, ascended the throne, the seventh year of Wude, the year gapsin.

The next year an envoy was sent to Tang to study Buddhism and Daoism, and the emperor of Tang〔This means Gaozu.〕 allowed it.

When King Bojang ascended the throne〔It was the sixteenth year of Zhenguan, the year imin.〕 he too wished to raise up the three teachings together. At that time the favored minister Gae Somun (蓋蘇文) told the king that Confucianism and Buddhism both flourished but Daoism alone did not, and so a man was specially sent to Tang to seek Daoism.

At that time the monk Bodeok (普德和尙) was at Ballyongsa (盤龍寺). Grieved that a false teaching was set against the true one and the fortune of the country was in danger, he remonstrated many times, but he was not heeded.

So by spiritual power he flew his abbot's cell (方丈) and moved south to Godaesan (孤大山) in Wansanju (完山州)〔It is the present Jeonju.〕 and lived there. That was the first year of Yonghui (永徽), the year gyeongsul, in the sixth month.〔His biography says it was the second year of Qianfeng, the year jeongmyo, on the third day of the third month.〕

Not long after, the country perished.〔The country perished in the first year of Zongzhang, the year mujin, which counting from the year gyeongsul is nineteen years.〕

The Flying Cell (飛來方丈) now at Gyeongboksa (景福寺) is said to be it.〔Up to here is from the Guksa.〕

A poem left by Lord Jillak (眞樂公) is in that hall, and Lord Munnyeol (文烈公) wrote a biography that circulates in the world.

Again, looking at the Book of Tang (唐書), it says this.

Before this, when Emperor Yang of Sui attacked Liaodong, there was a lieutenant general (裨將) named Yang Ming (羊皿). When the army was losing and he was about to die, he swore, "I will surely become a favored minister and destroy that country."

When the Gae clan (蓋氏) controlled the court at will and took Gae (蓋) as its surname, that was the fulfillment of Yang Ming (羊皿).

Again, looking at the Old Record of Goguryeo (高麗古記), it says this.

Emperor Yang of Sui, in the eighth year of Daye (大業), the year imsin, led three hundred thousand troops across the sea and attacked. In the tenth year, the year gapsul, in the tenth month, the king of Goguryeo〔At that time it was the twenty-fifth year after the thirty-sixth king, King Yeongyang, ascended the throne.〕 sent up a memorial begging to surrender.

At that time a man secretly carried a small crossbow inside his robe and followed the envoy bearing the memorial onto Emperor Yang's ship. As the emperor took the memorial and read it, the crossbow fired and struck him in the chest.

The emperor, about to turn his army home, said to those around him, "I, the master of all under heaven, attacked a small country in person and failed. I will be a laughingstock for ten thousand generations."

Then Yang Ming, minister of the right (右相), said, "When your servant dies he will become a great minister of Goguryeo and will surely destroy the country and avenge Your Majesty."

After the emperor died, he was born in Goguryeo, and at fifteen he was clever and marvelous in the arts of war. At that time King Muyang (武陽王) heard of his worth〔The Guksa gives King Yeongnyu's name as Geonmu or Geonseong, but here it says Muyang, so the details are not known.〕 and called him in to make him a minister.

He called himself Gae (蓋) by surname and Geum (金) by name, and his rank rose to somun (蘇文), which is the post of chief minister (侍中).

Gae Geum reported, "A cauldron has three legs, and a country has three teachings. Your servant sees that in this country there are only Confucianism and Buddhism and no Daoism, and so the country is in danger."

The king agreed and asked Tang for it, and Taizong sent eight Daoist priests, Xu Da (叙達) and others.

〔The Guksa says, "In the eighth year of Wude, the year eulyu, an envoy was sent to Tang to seek Buddhism and Daoism, and the emperor of Tang allowed it." By this, if Yang Ming died in the year gapsul and was reborn here, he would have been barely ten years old or so, yet it says the favored minister persuaded the king to send for it. One of these dates must be wrong. Both are kept here.〕

The king was pleased. He turned Buddhist temples into Daoist halls (道館) and honored the Daoist priests, seating them above the Confucian scholars.

The Daoist priests went about suppressing the famous mountains and rivers of the country. The old fortress of Pyongyang was shaped like a crescent moon, so the priests cast spells on the dragon of the southern river and had the walls built out into the shape of a full moon. For this it was named Yongeonseong (龍堰城), and a prophecy was made calling it Yongeondo (龍堰堵), also Cheonnyeon bojangdo (千年寶藏堵). They also bored through and broke a sacred stone.〔The common people call it Dojeam or Jocheonseok. It is because long ago a holy king rode this stone to attend the court of the Lord on High.〕

Gae Geum also proposed that a long wall be built from northeast to southwest, and at that time the men labored and the women plowed. The work took sixteen years to finish.

In the reign of King Bojang, Taizong of Tang led the six armies in person and came to attack, but again he failed and went home.

In the first year of Zongzhang under Gaozong, the year mujin, Liu Rengui (劉仁軌), minister of the right, the great general Li Ji (李勣), Gim Inmun (金仁問) of Silla, and others attacked and broke the country, captured the king, and returned to Tang. A son of King Bojang by a concubine led more than four thousand households and went over to Silla.〔This differs a little from the Guksa, so both are recorded.〕

The details are in the Guksa, and the rest is fully recorded in his biography and the Seungjeon.

The master had eleven outstanding disciples.

The monk Musang (無上和尙) with his disciple Geumchwi (金趣) and others built Geumdongsa (金洞寺). The two masters Jeongmyeol (寂滅) and Uiyung (義融) built Jingusa (珍丘寺). Jisu (智藪) built Daeseungsa (大乘寺). Ilseung (一乘) with Simjeong (心正), Daewon (大原), and others built Daewonsa (大原寺). Sujeong (水淨) built Yumasa (維摩寺). Sadae (四大) with Gyeyuk (契育) and others built Jungdaesa (中臺寺). The monk Gaewon (開原和尙) built Gaewonsa (開原寺). Myeongdeok (明德) built Yeongusa (燕口寺).

Gaesim (開心) and Bomyeong (普明) also have biographies, all as in the main biography.