Samguk Yusa by Ilyon

Author:Ilyon
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781608723607
Publisher: Olympia Press
Published: 2016-02-13T16:00:00+00:00

Song of Praise to the Sixteen-Foot Golden Buddha

Buddha's palace is everywhere under the sun,

Yet the fire of his incense burns most brightly in our country;

King Ayuk's gold and iron came to Wolsong

To become the image of Buddha facing its old pedestal.

71. The Nine-Story Pagoda at Hwangnyong Temple

This pagoda was built on the site of its present ruins in the heart of Kyongju in the fifth year of Queen Sondok, the tenth year of T'ang Chen-kuan (636) by Chajang Popsa, the great Silla monk, upon his return from China, where he received an oracle from a divine being. It was completed according to the design of Abiji of Paekje and two hundred Paekje architects who followed him to Kyongju. Igan Yong-ch'un (Yong-su, father of King Muryol) supervised the construction.

According to the old book Ch'alju-gi, the pagoda measured forty-two feet above and 183 feet below the iron base of the tower. The Tongdo Songnip-ki (History of the Eastern Capital) compiled by An Hong, a renowned scholar of Haedong (Korea) says that each of the nine stories represented a people who had attacked Silla, namely, from bottom to top, Japan, Chunghwa, Wu and Yueh, Takna, Ungyu, Malgal, Tankuk, Yojok and Yemaek. The tower was dedicated to Buddha with the prayer that these nations be subdued by Silla and pay her annual tribute.

As the years passed the great tower was damaged by fire and lightning and was repaired many times until the Mongol invasion (1238), when fire destroyed it completely. Now only its foundation stones bespeak its majestic appearance in bygone days.

Tradition says that when the great Silla monk Chajang Popsa was studying the spiritual world of Buddha with the Bodhisattva Munsu deep in the Wutai mountains in China, one day his master said to him, “Your Queen is the incarnation of the King of Chalichong18 in Ch'onch'uk (India), who believed in Buddha. Her people are not so wild as the eastern barbarians, but because of the rugged mountains and ugly streams in her kingdom the characters of her people are coarse and distorted, and so they worship evil spirits, which provokes the wrath of Heaven from time to time. However, the presence of enlightened monks will bring peace to your country, and all shall enjoy Buddha's blessing from the throne to the plow.” With these words, the Bodhisattva disappeared from sight.

Spellbound, the Silla monk rose from his hermitage and wandered about the lotus pool called T'aihuo-ch'ih. There he met a divine being who said to him, “Because your country is ruled by a fair frailty (alluding to the Queen) who does not possess the stamina of royal dignity above her shining virtues, neighboring countries come to attack and rape your fair land. The King Dragon of Hwangnyong Temple is my eldest son. He is now protecting the temple under the orders of King Buddha in India. Go and protect the King Dragon of Buddha at his temple by building a nine-story pagoda before him. Then your neighbors will surrender and the Nine Hans

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