the accounts of milbon, hyet’ong and myÖngnang 281
of volume 5 of the Samguk yusa is titled Sinju , meaning “divine
spell”. Sinju (Chinese shenzhou) is originally a Chinese term used for
both mantra, a general Indian term for magic invocations, and dhra,
a Buddhist term for the condensed version of a scripture, which also
has magical properties. The Chinese character zhou is a common
word in Chinese to refer generally to Buddhist and non-Buddhist magic
formulas or spells.^25 The term zhenyan (Korean chinön, “true word”)
however, the standard Chinese Buddhist translation of dhra or mantra,
is not found in the Samguk yusa.^26 I shall examine the passages in the
Samguk yusa dealing with Milbon, Hyet’ong and Myöngnang. These
passages will be translated in full below.^27 Iryön’s insertions contained
in the original text of the Samguk yusa, mostly comments on the sources
or on textual problems, are indicated by ( ) parentheses.
- Translation
2.1. Milbon, the Destroyer of the ErroneousQueen Söndök , Töngman ,^28 had been seriously ill
for a long time.^29 The monk Pöpch’ök 30 of the Hngnyun-sa
31 was summoned to take care of her. [He attended her] for a
long time but [his efforts] were fruitless. At that time there was the monk
Milbon. He was known throughout the whole country for his virtuous
conduct. The ministers asked [the queen] to replace him [Milbon with
Pöpch’ök]. She summoned [Milbon] and invited him to enter the palace.
Milbon stood outside the entrance of the queen’s chamber and recited
(^25) See Abe 1999, pp. 262–264; Strickmann 1990, p. 81.
(^26) See Kojön yön’gusil 1980.
(^27) For the translation of these passages I have relied on the edition of the Samguk
yusa found in HPC, vol. 6, pp. 355–357. I have also used the Japanese translation in
KYIK 28 , pp. 536–542; and the Korean translation in Kim P. 1995, pp. 512–525.
First queen to rule Silla (r. 632–647). Personal name Töngman, posthumous
title Söndök. There is one reference to an illness of Queen Söndök in the section on
the fth year of her reign in the Samguk sagi. See Yi P. 1996, p. 47. According to the
entry in this source she became seriously ill in 636. See Kamata 1987, p. 37; Kamata
1988, p. 143.
(^29) The rst two paragraphs of this story are also included in Grayson 2001, pp.
222–224. The rst paragraph is also cited in Sørensen 1993, pp. 79–80.
(^30) This monk is entered as Pöpch’ang in Yi 1993, p. 108 s.v. Pöpch’ang.
(^31) A temple no longer extant, in the Silla capital Kyöngju. Completed in 544. See
Yi, 1996, pp. 669–671 s.v. Hngnyun-sa.