Baengnyulsa栢栗寺

The northern peak of Gyerim is called Geumgangnyeong (金剛嶺), and on the south side of the mountain is Baengnyulsa (栢栗寺).

The temple has one image of Great Compassion (大悲像). No one knows when it was made, but its divine wonders are quite well known. Some say it was made by the marvelous craftsman from China at the same time he made the image of Jungsaengsa.

People say that this great sage once went up to the Trayastrimsa heaven and came back, and the footprints on the stone that it stepped on when entering the Dharma hall have not worn away to this day.

Some say they are the traces it showed when it came back after rescuing Buryerang (夫禮郎).

In the third year of Tianshou (天授), the imjin year, on the seventh day of the ninth month, King Hyoso made Buryerang, son of Daehyeon of the rank of salchan (薩飡), the gukseon (國仙).

His followers numbered a thousand, and among them he was especially close to Ansang (安常).

In the fourth year of Tianshou, the gyesa year, in the last month of spring, he led his followers on an outing to Geumnan (金蘭), and on reaching the region of Bungmyeong (北溟) he was carried off by barbarian raiders.

His retainers all lost their heads and returned, and only Ansang followed his trail. This was on the eleventh day of the third month.

When the great king heard of it he could not contain his alarm and said, "The former king obtained the divine flute and passed it to me, and now it is kept in the inner storehouse together with the black zither. How is it that the gukseon has suddenly become a captive of raiders? What is to be done?"〔The matter of the zither and the flute is fully recorded in another account.〕

At that time an auspicious cloud covered the Cheonjongo (天尊庫) storehouse. The king, alarmed again, had it inspected, and inside the storehouse the two treasures, the zither and the flute, had vanished.

Then he said, "Why am I so lacking in fortune? Yesterday I lost the gukseon, and now I have lost the zither and the flute as well."

He imprisoned Kim Jeonggo (金貞高) and four other clerks in charge of the storehouse. In the fourth month he proclaimed throughout the country, "Whoever finds the zither and the flute will be rewarded with a year's tax."

On the fifteenth day of the fifth month, the young man's two parents went before the image of Great Compassion at Baengnyulsa and prayed devoutly for several nights.

Suddenly the two treasures, the zither and the flute, were found on the incense table, and the two men, Buryerang and Ansang, had come and were standing behind the image.

The two parents, startled and overjoyed, asked how it had happened, and Buryerang said:

"After I was carried off, I became a herdboy in the house of Daedoguna (大都仇羅) in Paguk (波國), and I was tending animals on the plain of Daeorani.

Suddenly a monk of dignified appearance came with a zither and a flute in his hands and comforted me, saying, 'Do you think of your homeland?' Without knowing it I knelt before him and said, 'How could I put into words my longing for my king and my parents?'

The monk said, 'Then you should follow me,' and at last he led me to the seashore, and there I also met Ansang.

Then he split the flute in two and gave the halves to the two of us, each to ride on one, while he himself rode the zither. We floated along and came back, and in no time we arrived here."

When this was reported in full, the king was greatly amazed and sent men to receive the young man, and had him enter the palace following the zither and the flute.

He gave the temple two sets of five gold and silver vessels each, each weighing fifty nyang, five manap robes, three thousand bolts of fine silk, and ten thousand gyeong of fields, to repay its grace.

He declared a great amnesty throughout the country, raised the people three ranks in office, and exempted the people from taxes for three years.

He enfeoffed Buryerang as daegakgan (大角干),〔this is the title of the chief minister of Silla〕 made his father Daehyeon achan a daedaegakgan, made his mother Lady Yongbo mistress of Gyeongjeong Palace in Saryang-bu, made the Dharma master Ansang daetong, and released all five men in charge of the storehouse and raised each of them five ranks.

On the twelfth day of the sixth month a comet appeared in the east, and on the seventeenth it appeared again in the west.

The astrologer reported, "It is because no title was conferred for the auspicious sign of the zither and the flute."

So the divine flute was invested with the name Manmanpapasik (萬萬波波息), and the comet then vanished.

Afterward there were many divine wonders, but the text is lengthy and they are not recorded here.

The world says that Ansang was one of the followers of Junyeongnang (俊永郎), but this is not known in detail. Among the followers of Yeongnang only Jinjae (眞才), Beonwan (繁完), and a few others made their names known, and they too were men beyond measure.〔The details are seen in another account.〕