The Stone Inscription at Baryeonsu on Pungak in Gwandong關東楓岳鉢淵藪石記

The stone inscription at Baryeonsu on Pungak in Gwandong.〔This record was composed by the temple master Yeongjam, and the stone was raised in the fourth year of Cheng'an, the gimi year.〕

The Vinaya master Jinpyo was a man of Daejeong-ri, Donasan village, Byeokgol-gun, Jeonju.

At the age of twelve he resolved to go forth as a monk, and his father allowed it.

The master went to the Dharma master Sunje at Geumsansa and shaved his head.

Sunje gave him the novice precepts, one scroll of the Secret Method of the Order of Transmitting the Teaching and Making Offerings, and two scrolls of the Sutra on Divining the Retribution of Good and Evil Karma, and said:

"Hold these precepts, earnestly seek repentance before the two sages Maitreya and Ksitigarbha, receive the precepts in person, and pass them on to the world."

The master received the teaching, took his leave, and went around the famous mountains, and by then he was twenty-seven.

In the first year of Shangyuan, the gyeongja year, he steamed twenty mal of rice and dried it for provisions, went to Boan-hyeon, and entered Busauibang on Byeonsan.

He made five hop of rice his daily allowance, but set aside one hop to feed the mice.

The master diligently sought the precepts before the image of Maitreya for three years, but received no prophecy.

Roused, he threw himself down below the rock, and suddenly a boy in blue clothes caught him in his hands and set him on the stone.

The master again set his resolve, fixed a term of three sevens of days, practiced diligently day and night, and repented by striking himself against the stone.

On the third day his arms broke and dropped off.

On the night of the seventh day the bodhisattva Ksitigarbha came shaking a golden staff in his hand and gave him his blessing, and his arms were as before.

The bodhisattva then gave him a robe and a bowl, and the master, moved by this divine response, redoubled his effort.

When the three sevens of days were complete, he obtained the heavenly eye and saw the host of the Tusita heaven coming with due ceremony.

Then Ksitigarbha and Maitreya appeared before him.

Maitreya stroked the crown of the master's head and said, "Good, great man. To seek the precepts like this, sparing not your life and earnestly seeking repentance."

Ksitigarbha gave him the text of the precepts, and Maitreya further gave him two tallies, one inscribed 'nine' and one inscribed 'eight'.

He told the master, "These two tallies are the bones of my fingers, and they stand for the two awakenings, initial and original.

Also, 'nine' is the Dharma as it is, and 'eight' is the seed of buddhahood newly cultivated; from these you should know the fruits of karma.

After you cast off this body and receive the body of a king of a great country, you will be born in Tusita."

Having spoken thus, the two sages at once hid themselves. This was on the twenty-seventh day of the fourth month of the imin year.

Having received the Dharma of the teaching, the master came down the mountain meaning to build Geumsansa.

When he reached Daeyeonjin, a dragon king suddenly came out and offered a jade robe, and leading eighty thousand attendants he escorted him to Geumsansa.

People came from all four directions, and it was finished in only a few days.

Again there was the response of Maitreya riding down on a cloud from Tusita and giving the master the Dharma of the precepts.

The master urged donors to form affinities and cast a sixteen-foot image of Maitreya.

He also painted the ceremony of Maitreya descending and conferring the precepts on the south wall of the golden hall.

It was cast on the ninth day of the sixth month of the gapjin year and placed in the golden hall on the first day of the fifth month of the byeongo year, which was the first year of Dali.

The master left Geumsansa and headed for Songnisan, and on the road he met a man riding a cart yoked to oxen.

The oxen knelt before the master and wept.

The man on the cart got down and asked, "Why do these oxen weep when they see you, monk? Where do you come from?"

The master said, "I am a monk named Jinpyo of Geumsansa. I once entered Busauibang on Byeonsan and received the Dharma of the precepts and the true tallies in person before the two sages Maitreya and Ksitigarbha. I am on my way to find a place to build a temple and cultivate the Way for a long time.

These oxen are foolish on the outside but bright within; they know that the Dharma of the precepts I received is a weighty Dharma, and so they kneel and weep."

The man heard this and said, "If even beasts have such a believing heart, how much more I, who am a man; how could I be without one?"

At once he took a sickle in his hand and cut off his own hair.

The master, out of compassion, shaved his head for him and gave him the precepts.

Walking on, he came into a valley of Songnisan, saw a place where the auspicious grass grew, and marked it.

Heading back toward the coast of Myeongju and going slowly, he found fish, turtles, great turtles, alligators, and such creatures coming out of the sea and linking their bodies before him like dry land.

The master walked on them into the sea, recited the Dharma of the precepts, and came out again.

Walking on, he came to Goseong-gun, entered Gaegolsan, and first built Baryeonsa and opened a divination Dharma assembly.

He stayed seven years.

At that time the grain in the region of Myeongju did not ripen and the people starved. The master preached the precepts for them, and every person upheld them and paid reverence to the Three Treasures.

Soon on the coast of Goseong countless fish died of themselves and came ashore, and the people sold them to get food and escaped death.

The master left Baryeonsa and came again to Busauibang, and after that went to his home district to see his father, and at times lived in the room of the daedeok Jinmun.

At that time the daedeok Yeongsim (永深) of Songnisan, together with the daedeok Yungjong, Bulta, and others, came to where the Vinaya master was and asked:

"We have come, not counting a thousand li as far, to seek the Dharma of the precepts. We pray you, give us the gate of the Dharma."

The master was silent and did not answer.

The three men climbed a peach tree and dropped headlong to the ground, repenting with fierce courage.

At this the master transmitted the teaching and poured water on their heads.

At last he gave them a robe and bowl, one scroll of the Secret Method of the Order of Making Offerings, two scrolls of the Sutra on Divining the Retribution of Good and Evil Karma, and one hundred and eighty-nine tallies.

He further gave them Maitreya's true tallies, 'nine' and 'eight', and warned them:

"'Nine' is the Dharma as it is, and 'eight' is the seed of buddhahood newly cultivated. I have now entrusted these to you; take them and return to Songnisan.

On the mountain there is a place where the auspicious grass grows; build a temple there, and following this teaching save humans and gods widely and spread it to later ages."

Yeongsim and the others received the teaching and went straight to Songnisan, found the place where the auspicious grass grew, built a temple, and named it Gilsangsa (吉祥寺).

Here Yeongsim first held a divination Dharma assembly.

The Vinaya master and his father came again to Baryeonsa, cultivated the work of the Way together, and he fulfilled his filial duty to the end.

When the master passed from the world, he climbed onto the great rock east of the temple and died there.

His disciples did not move the true body but made offerings to it, until the bones scattered and fell, and then they covered it with earth to hide it and made it a hidden palace.

A green pine sprang up at once; with the long passing of years it withered, and another tree grew, and later yet another grew, but their root is one.

To this day the two trees remain.

Whenever someone comes to pay reverence and searches for the bones under the pines, sometimes they find them and sometimes they do not.

Fearing that the holy bones would be buried and lost, in the ninth month of the jeongsa year I went especially beneath the pines, gathered the bones, and put them in a tube, about three hop.

On the great rock, beneath the two trees, I set up a stone and enshrined the bones.

The deeds of Jinpyo recorded in this record differ in places from the Stone Inscription of Baryeon. Therefore what Yeongjam recorded has been selected and set down, and later worthies should examine it.

Written by Mugeuk.