The Five Holy Ones of Woljeongsa on Odaesan臺山月精寺五類聖衆
1Seen through the feather, they were all beasts
按寺中所傳古記云,慈藏法師初至五䑓欲覩真身,於山麓結茅而住,七日不見而到妙梵山創淨岩寺.後有信孝居士者,或云㓜童菩薩化身.家在公州,飬母純孝.母非肉不食,士求肉出行山野,路見五䳽射之有一䳽落一羽而去.士執其羽遮眼而見人,人皆是畜生.故不得肉,而因割股肉進母.後乃出家,捨其家爲寺,今爲孝家院.
Looking at the old record handed down in the temple, it says this.
When the Dharma master Jajang first came to Odaesan wishing to see the true body, he wove a thatched hut at the foot of the mountain and stayed, but for seven days he did not see it. So he went to Myobeomsan (妙梵山) and built Jeongamsa (淨岩寺).
Later there was a man called the layman Sinhyo (信孝居士), who some say was an incarnation of the bodhisattva Yudong (幼童菩薩), the Youthful One.
His home was in Gongju, and he served his mother with utmost filial devotion. His mother would eat nothing but meat, so the layman went through the mountains and fields seeking meat.
On the road he saw five cranes and shot at them, and one of them dropped a single feather and flew away.
The layman picked up the feather, held it over his eyes, and looked at people, and the people were all beasts.
So he could not get meat, and instead he cut the flesh of his own thigh and offered it to his mother.
Later he went forth as a monk and gave up his house to be a temple; it is the present Hyogawon (孝家院).
2The feather fits the missing panel of the robe
士自慶州界至河率見人多是人形.因有居住之志,路見老婦問可住處,婦云,“過西嶺有北向洞可居.”言訖不現.士知觀音所教,因過省烏坪入慈藏初結茅處而住.俄有五比丘到云,“汝之持來袈裟一幅今何在.”士茫然,比丘云,“汝所執見人之羽是也.”士乃出呈.比丘乃置羽於袈裟闕幅中相合.而非羽乃布也.士與五比丘别後方知是五類聖衆化身也.
When the layman went from the region of Gyeongju to Hasol (河率) and looked at people, most had human form. So he felt a wish to live here.
On the road he saw an old woman and asked where he might live, and the woman said, "Cross the western ridge and there is a valley facing north where you can live." When she finished speaking she vanished.
The layman knew that Avalokitesvara had told him this, and he passed Seongopyeong (省烏坪), went into the place where Jajang had first woven his thatched hut, and stayed there.
Soon five monks arrived and said, "The one panel of the robe you brought with you, where is it now?"
The layman was bewildered, and the monks said, "The feather you held when you looked at people is it."
So the layman took it out and presented it. The monks set the feather in the missing panel of the robe, and it fit exactly. It was not a feather but cloth.
Only after the layman parted from the five monks did he know that they were incarnations of the five holy ones.
3How Woljeongsa became a great temple
此月精寺慈藏初結茅,次信孝居士來住,次梵日門人信義頭陁來創庵而住.後有水多寺長老有縁來住,而漸成大寺.寺之五類聖衆·九層石塔皆聖跡也.相地者云,“國内名山此地最勝,佛法長興之處云云.”
At this Woljeongsa, Jajang first wove a thatched hut; next the layman Sinhyo came and stayed; and next the ascetic Sinui (信義頭陀), a disciple of Beomil, came, built a hermitage, and stayed.
Later Yuyeon (有緣), an elder of Sudasa (水多寺), came and stayed, and it gradually became a great temple.
The temple's five holy ones and its nine-story stone pagoda are all holy traces.
One who reads the land said, "Among the famous mountains in the country this ground is the finest; it is a place where the Buddha's teaching will flourish for a long time."