Relics Brought and Enshrined, Earlier and Later前後所將舍利

Relics brought and enshrined, earlier and later.

The National History says that in the third year of Daqing under King Jinheung, the gisa year, the Liang envoy Shen Hu (沈湖) sent several grains of relics.

In the reign of Queen Seondeok, in the seventeenth year of Zhenguan, the gyemyo year, what the Dharma master Jajang brought was a skull bone of the Buddha, a tooth of the Buddha, a hundred grains of the Buddha's relics, and one robe of red silk with gold dots that the Buddha had worn.

The relics were divided into three: one part was placed in the pagoda of Hwangnyongsa, one part in the pagoda of Taehwasa, and one part, together with the robe, at the ordination platform of Tongdosa. Where the rest are is not known in detail.

The platform has two tiers, and in the middle of the upper tier is set a stone lid like an upturned cauldron.

Popular tradition tells this. Long ago in this dynasty, two royal inspectors (廉使) in succession paid homage at the platform and lifted the stone lid to venerate it. The first saw a long serpent inside the casket, and the second saw a great toad crouching in the belly of the stone. From then on no one dared lift it.

Recently the supreme general Kim Isaeng (金利生) and the sirang Yu Seok (庾碩), having received orders in the reign of Gojong to take command in Gangdong, came to the temple bearing their tallies of office and meant to lift the stone and look up at it in reverence. The temple monks, citing what had happened before, thought it a hard thing, but the two men had soldiers lift it regardless.

Inside was a small stone casket, and in the casket was a glass tube, and the relics in the tube were only four grains.

They passed it around to look at and venerate. The tube had a small crack where it was damaged. So Lord Yu offered a crystal casket he happened to have with him, had it kept together with the rest, and set this down in writing. This was in the eulmi year, the fourth year after the court moved to Gangdo.

The old record says a hundred grains were divided and kept in three places, but now there are only four. Since they hide or appear depending on the person, their being many or few is nothing to wonder at.

Popular tradition also says that on the day the Hwangnyongsa pagoda burned, a large stain first appeared on the east face of the stone lid, and it is still there today.

That was the third year of Yingli of the Great Liao, the gyechuk year, the fifth year of Gwangjong of this dynasty, and the third time the pagoda burned.

The poem left by Muuija (無衣子) of the Jogye school, "Hearing the news of the day the Hwangnyongsa pagoda burned, one face was scorched in turn, showing there is no gap between," refers to this.

Since the gapja year of Zhiyuan, envoys of the great court and envoys of this country have come one after another to pay homage, and practitioners from all four directions have flocked to worship. Sometimes the lid is lifted, sometimes not.

Besides the four grains of the true body, transformed relics broken fine as sand have appeared outside the casket, and a strange fragrance so strong that it does not fade for days has occurred again and again. This is a marvel of one region in the latter age.

There is the tooth of the Buddha brought by the envoy Wonhong (元弘), who went to the Tang court in the fifth year of Dazhong, the sinmi year.〔Where it is now is not known in detail. This was in the reign of King Munseong of Silla.〕

The images of the five hundred arhats brought by the envoy Yun Jil (尹質), who went to the court of Later Tang in the first year of Tongguang, the gyemi year, the sixth year of the reign of Taejo of this dynasty, are now at Singwangsa on Buksungsan.

The tooth of the Buddha brought by the tribute envoys Jeong Geugyeong (鄭克永), Yi Jimi (李之美), and others in the first year of Xuanhe of the Great Song, the gimyo year,〔the fifteenth year of Yejong〕 is the one now kept and venerated in the inner hall.

It is passed down like this.

Long ago the Dharma master Uisang went into Tang and came to the place of the venerable Zhiyan at Zhixiangsi on Zhongnanshan. Nearby was the Vinaya master Xuan (宣律師), who always received offerings from heaven; every time he held the meal service, food was sent from heaven's kitchen.

One day the Vinaya master invited Lord Uisang to the meal service. Uisang came and took his seat, and a long time passed, but the offering from heaven did not arrive though the hour was past.

So Uisang went back with an empty bowl, and only then did the messenger of heaven arrive.

The Vinaya master asked, "Why were you late today?"

The messenger of heaven said, "The whole valley was full of spirit soldiers (神兵) blocking the way, and I could not get in."

At this the Vinaya master knew that Lord Uisang had a divine guard, and he admired the excellence of his Way. He left the offering vessels as they were, and the next day he again invited the two masters, Zhiyan and Uisang, to the meal service and told them the reason in full.

Lord Uisang calmly said to the Vinaya master Xuan, "Master, you already receive the reverence of the lord of heaven. I have heard that in the palace of Indra there is one tooth among the forty teeth of the Buddha. What if you were to ask that it be sent down to the human world for our sake, so that we may make merit?"

The Vinaya master later conveyed this wish to the supreme lord through the messenger of heaven, and the supreme lord sent it with a limit of seven days.

Lord Uisang paid it full reverence and then received it and enshrined it in the palace.

Later, in the reign of Emperor Huizong of the Great Song, Daoism was honored all the more.

At that time a prophecy circulated among the people of the country: "The golden man (金人) will ruin the country."

The Yellow Turban crowd incited the court astrologer to report, "The golden man means Buddhism. It will bring harm to the state."

They deliberated and decided to wipe out the Buddha's teaching, bury the monks in pits, and burn the scriptures. Then they built a separate small boat, loaded the Buddha's tooth on it, and set it adrift on the great sea, leaving it to float and land wherever its affinity led.

Just at that time an envoy of this dynasty had arrived in Song and heard of the matter.

With fifty pieces of cheonhwayong (天花茸) and three hundred bolts of ramie he bribed the naesa in charge of the boat, secretly received the Buddha's tooth, and only an empty boat was set adrift.

When the envoys brought the tooth back and reported it, Yejong was greatly pleased and enshrined it in a small hall to the left of Sibwonjeon (十員殿).

The hall door was always kept locked, incense and lamps were set outside, and on every day the king went there in person the hall was opened and it was venerated.

In the imjin year, when the king moved his seat, a palace official forgot it in the haste and rush and failed to gather it up.

In the fourth month of the byeongsin year the monk Ongwang (蘊光) of Sinhyosa, the royal prayer temple, asked to pay reverence to the Buddha's tooth and reported this to the king. An order was given for the inner ministers to search the palace thoroughly, but it could not be found.

At that time the baekdae sieosa Choe Chung (崔冲) ordered Seol Sin (薛伸) to search the various chamberlains' quarters in haste, but no one knew what to do.

The inner minister Kim Seungno (金承老) reported, "Please look at the Jamun Diary (紫門日記) from the move in the imjin year."

This was done, and the diary said, "The imnaesi daebugyeong Yi Baekjeon (李白全) received the casket of the Buddha's tooth."

Yi Baekjeon was summoned and questioned, and he said, "Let me go home and look again in my private records." He went home and looked, found a record that the left-shift chamberlain Kim Seoryong (金瑞龍) had received the casket of the Buddha's tooth, and brought it to present.

Seoryong was summoned and questioned, and he had nothing to say in answer.

Also, on the basis of Kim Seungno's report, the guards of the royal Buddha hall and Gyeongnyeongjeon during the five years from the imjin year to the present byeongsin year were imprisoned and questioned, but the answers went this way and that and nothing was settled.

Three days later, in the middle of the night, there was the sound of something being thrown inside the garden wall of Seoryong's house. They lit a light and looked, and it was the casket of the Buddha's tooth.

The casket was originally, from the inside, one layer of aloeswood box, the next layer a box of pure gold, the layer outside that a casket of white silver, the layer outside that a casket of glass, and the layer outside that a casket of mother-of-pearl, and each had a wrapping cloth as well. Now there was only the glass casket.

Rejoicing at finding it, they brought it inside and reported.

The officials in charge proposed that Kim Seoryong and the guards of the two halls all be executed, but the Jinyang-bu reported, "It is not right to harm many people over a matter of the Buddha," and all were spared punishment.

A further order was given to build a special Hall of the Buddha's Tooth (佛牙殿) in the middle of the courtyard of Sibwonjeon to enshrine it, and to have generals and soldiers guard it.

An auspicious day was chosen, and Ongwang, the abbot of Sinhyosa, was ordered to lead thirty followers into the palace, hold a service, and venerate it.

That day the seungseon Choe Hong, who was on night duty, the supreme general Choe Gongyeon, Yi Yeongjang, the naesi dabang, and others stood in attendance in the courtyard of the hall and in turn raised it on their heads in veneration.

In the hollows of the Buddha's tooth there were relics beyond counting, so the Jinyang-bu placed them in a white silver box and enshrined them.

Then the king said to his ministers:

"Since I lost the Buddha's tooth, four doubts have arisen in me of their own accord.

The first doubt was whether the seven-day limit of the heavenly palace had run out and it had gone up to heaven; The second doubt was whether, with the country in such disorder, the tooth, being a divine object, had moved to a country with the right affinity and no troubles; The third doubt was whether some petty man greedy for goods had stolen the casket and wrappings and thrown it into a ditch; The fourth doubt was whether someone who stole it for gain had no way to bring it out and had hidden it in his house.

Now the fourth doubt has proved true."

Then he lifted his voice and wept aloud, and all who filled the courtyard shed tears and prayed for his long life. There were even those who burned their scalps and scorched their arms, more than could be counted.

This true record was obtained from the great meditation master Gagyu (覺猷), formerly of Jirimsa, who tended the incense in the inner hall at that time. He told what he had seen with his own eyes and had me write it down.

Then in the gyeongo year, in the turmoil of leaving the capital, the stumbling and falling was worse than in the imjin year.

The meditation master Simgam (心鑑), overseer of Sibwonjeon, carried it on his person without regard for his own life, and it escaped the calamity of the bandits.

When he reached the palace, his merit was greatly rewarded and he was moved to a famous temple; he now lives at Bingsansa. This too was heard from him directly.

In the reign of King Jinheung, in the sixth year of Tianjia, the eulyu year, the Chen envoy Liu Si (劉思), together with the monk Mingguan (明觀), shipped over more than one thousand seven hundred scrolls of Buddhist sutras and treatises.

In the seventeenth year of Zhenguan the Dharma master Jajang shipped over more than four hundred cases of the Tripitaka and enshrined them at Tongdosa.

In the reign of King Heungdeok, in the first year of Taihe, the jeongmi year, the monk Gudeok (丘德) of Goguryeo (高麗), who had been studying abroad, brought back several cases of Buddhist sutras, and the king went out with the monks of the various temples to meet him on the road in front of Heungnyunsa.

In the fifth year of Dazhong the envoy Wonhong, who went to the Tang court, brought back several scrolls of Buddhist sutras.

At the end of Silla the meditation master Boyo (普耀禪師) went twice to Wuyue (吳越) and shipped over the Great Canon; he is the founding patriarch of Haeryongwangsa.

In the gapsul year of Yuanyou of the Great Song, someone wrote this praise on his portrait:

Great is the founding patriarch, lofty his true form. Twice he reached Wuyue and won merit with the Great Canon. The name Boyo was bestowed, and the royal edict was sealed four times. If you ask his virtue: the white moon and the clear wind.

Also, in the Dading years, Peng Zuti (彭祖逖), hannam gwangi, left this poem:

In a temple of water and cloud the Buddha dwells, And more, a divine dragon rests at ease in one place. Among famous temples, which in the end could equal it? The first transmission of the teaching came from the south.

There is a colophon that says this:

"Long ago the meditation master Boyo first sought the Great Canon in Nanyue, and on the way back a sea wind suddenly rose and the small boat sank and rose among the waves.

The master said at once, 'It seems the divine dragon wishes to keep the scriptures here.'

At last he chanted and prayed with sincerity, and resolved to honor the dragon and take it home with him, and at this the wind fell and the waves ceased.

After he returned to the country he looked over the mountains and rivers everywhere for a place fit to enshrine them. When he came to this mountain he suddenly saw auspicious clouds rising above it. So with his outstanding disciple Honggyeong (弘慶) he established a community there. Thus the spread of Buddhism eastward truly began here. Written by Peng Zuti, hannam gwangi."

The temple has a Dragon King Hall with many divine wonders; this is the dragon that followed the scriptures at that time and stayed. It is still there today.

Also, in the third year of Tiancheng, the muja year, the Monk Muk (默和尙) went into Tang and likewise shipped over the Great Canon.

In the reign of Yejong of this dynasty the state preceptor Hyejo (慧照國師) went west to study by royal edict and bought three sets of the Liao edition of the Great Canon and brought them back; one set is now at Jeonghyesa.〔There is one copy at Haeinsa, and one copy at the house of Councilor Heo.〕

In the second year of Da'an, in the reign of Seonjong of this dynasty, the useseungtong Uicheon (義天) went into Song and brought back many of the Tiantai teachings on doctrine and meditation.

Besides these, what eminent monks and faithful laymen carried back and forth that is not recorded in books cannot be set down in detail.

How the great teaching flows eastward, wave upon wave; how joyful it is.

In praise it is said:

The moon of China and the wind of the borderlands are still parted by mist, Two thousand years have passed since the Deer Park and the crane grove. That it flowed and spread beyond the sea is truly worth rejoicing, The eastern land and the western sky share one heaven.

Looking at this record, the Biography of Uisang says, "At the beginning of Yonghui he went into Tang and met Zhiyan."

But according to the original stele of Buseoksa, Uisang was born in the eighth year of Wude and went forth as a monk while still a boy with his hair in tufts. In the first year of Yonghui, the gyeongsul year, he set out west together with Wonhyo, but on reaching Goguryeo they met with trouble and turned back. In the first year of Longshuo, the sinyu year, he went into Tang and studied under Zhiyan. In the first year of Zongzhang Zhiyan passed away; in the second year of Xianheng Uisang returned to Silla; and in the second year of Chang'an, the imin year, he died, aged seventy-eight.

So it seems that his attending the meal service with Zhiyan at the place of the Vinaya master Xuan and asking for the Buddha's tooth from the heavenly palace was something that happened within the seven or eight years between the sinyu and mujin years.

To suspect that the imjin year, when Gojong of this dynasty entered Gangdo, was the time the seven-day limit of the heavenly palace ran out is a mistake.

One day and night in the Trayastrimsa heaven equals a hundred human years. Moreover, counting from the sinyu year when Lord Uisang first went into Tang to the imjin year of Gojong is six hundred and ninety-three years, so only in the gyeongja year would seven hundred years be complete and the seven-day limit run out.

Up to the gyeongo year, the seventh year of Zhiyuan, when the court left the capital, it is seven hundred and thirty years. If, as heaven said, it returned to the heavenly palace after seven days, then what the meditation master Simgam carried out and presented when leaving the capital is probably not the true tooth of the Buddha.

In the spring of that year, before leaving the capital, famous monks of the various schools were gathered in the palace to pray for relics from the Buddha's tooth; though their devotion was earnest, not a single grain was obtained, which comes close to showing that the seven-day limit had run out and it had gone up to heaven.

In the twenty-first year of Zhiyuan, the gapsin year, the golden pagoda of Gukcheongsa was repaired, and the king, with Queen Jangmok, went to Myogaksa, gathered people, and held a celebration of praise. When it was over, the Buddha's tooth mentioned above, the crystal rosary of Naksan, and the wish-fulfilling jewel were looked up to, held, and raised on the head by the king, the ministers, and the whole assembly, and afterward all were placed together inside the golden pagoda.

I too took part in this gathering and saw with my own eyes the thing called the Buddha's tooth. It was about three chi long, and there were no relics.

Written by Mugeuk.