Book II 177and the country eventually fell into ruin. King Ŭijong^21 of Koryŏ served
meals to thirty thousand monks every year and visited Buddhist temples
more than ten times a month, but he was eventually murdered at a pond.
King Kongmin also held the Dharma assembly for the worship of Manjusri
(Munsu pŏphoe) and made Pohŏ and Naong^22 his national preceptors
(kuksa). Though small relics were found among the cremated remains of
those monks, they could not save the country from ruin. These instances
clearly show that the Buddhist’s view of cause and effect is not quite
reliable.
“If Your Majesty believes in the Buddhist doctrine of purifying the mind
by removing craving, you should try to emulate the teaching of the sage
kings who emphasized inaction in silence and reverence. If you admire the
Buddhist injunction against killing, you had better think of the benevolent
sage kings who liked to save the lives of people. If you are mindful of the
laws of karma, the natural laws of causation, you should make it a rule to
reward the good and punish the evil. When the crimes appear doubtful, you
should punish them lightly, and when the contributions look doubtful,
reward them generously. If you put all these things into practice, not only
will the people benefit from them, but also the spirits in heaven and earth
will assist you secretly.
“1. One who cultivates the land should remove weeds, and one who builds
a house should harden the ground. The one who governs the state, therefore,
should solidify the foundation of the state by removing the seeds of trouble
in advance.
- The 18th king of Koryŏ, who reigned from 1146 to 1170. He was deposed by military
generals led by Chŏng Chungbu and Yi Ŭibang in 1170 and exiled to Kŏje Island. Three years
later, he was murdered in Kyerim (Kyŏngju) when the attempts of his followers to restore him
to the throne failed. - The renowned monks of late Koryŏ. Pohŏ (1301–1382 AD), commonly called Pou, his
Buddhist name, was ordained at the age of thirteen and had his first awakening six years later.
He visited China in 1346 and studied Chan Buddhism for two years under the master Shi Wu
Jingkong (1270–1352), the patriarch of the Linji Chan school. Shi Wu certified Pou’s awak-
ening and sent him back to spread the Linji (in Korea, Imje) teachings. In 1356, King Kongmin
appointed Pou as his royal preceptor, and, using the support of the king, Pou tried to unify the
various schools of the meditation sects into a single organization and made great contributions
to the development of the Sŏn tradition in Korean Buddhism. Naong (1320–1370 AD), also
called Naong Hyegŭn, his Buddhist name, was a contemporary of master Pou. Despite the fact
that the Imje teaching generally had a tendency to be antischolarly in nature, he showed an
unusual interest in studying scriptures, as well as Neo-Confucianism and Daoism.