150 t h e a n n a l s o f k i n g t’a e j o
Seven Sacred Sites (Ch’ilso) attended by the king in person, and the sacri-
fices to the constellations held at various temples and shrines were origi-
nally established by the kings of the previous dynasty for their personal
reasons. They still remain because succeeding generations have failed to
abolish them. Should we then continue to preserve those abusive practices
and make them into a permanent law at a time when we have established
a new dynasty with the Mandate of Heaven? We request that they all be
abolished.
“Since Tan’gun^135 is the king who first received the Mandate of Heaven in
the eastern kingdom and Kija^136 is the king who first brought enlightenment
to our people, sacrifices to them should be carried out by P’yŏngyang
Prefecture at the appropriate time.The kings of the previous dynasty,
including Hyejong, Hyŏnjong, Ch’unggyŏng, and Ch’ungnyŏl,^137 ruled the
people with benevolence. We request that you order their spirit tablets to be
moved to the shrine of King T’aejo in Majŏn County so that they can join
their ancestral progenitor and receive the sacrifices together from the
people.”
The king handed down an instruction to the Privy Council, stating, “Look
into the origin of the Hundred Seat Dharma Assembly and the Seven Sacred
Sites and submit a report to me.”12th Day (Sinyu)
Cho Pak and others submitted another memorial to the king: “King Sŏngjong
of the previous dynasty admired the Middle Kingdom [China] so much that
he developed our culture likewise and brought benefits to the people, andthe paekkochwa meeting was first held at Hwangnyong Monastery in 613, during the reign of
King Chinp’yŏng, and Master Wŏngwang was invited to give a sermon. It became fully estab-
lished in the Koryŏ dynasty, which adopted Buddhism as its state religion, but it began to
decline at the end of the dynasty.- The legendary founder of the first Korean kingdom, Old Chosŏn. He was born between
Hwanung, the son of the celestial emperor Hwanin and Ungnyŏ, a bear transformed into a
woman. He established his kingdom near modern P’yŏngyang in 2,333 BCE. - His Chinese name is Jizi. According to ancient records, he is a parental uncle of the
tyrannical King Zhou of Shang. He was imprisoned at the time when the Shang dynasty ended.
Released from the prison by King Wu, with his followers, he traveled to the east, presumably
the modern Korean peninsula and established a kingdom called Kija Chosŏn. But scholars
differ on the exact location of his kingdom. - Hyejong (943–945), Hyŏnjong (1009–1031), Ch’unggyŏng (1313–1330; 1332–1339),
and Ch’ungnyŏl (1274–1308) were the 2nd, 8th, 27th, and 25th Koryŏ rulers, respectively.