the accounts of milbon, hyet’ong and myÖngnang 287
They looked at each other with astonishment. Hyet’ong shouted, “If
I break off the neck of this bottle all your heads will be severed [from
your bodies]. How about this?” The soldiers ran away hurriedly. They
went to the king [to show him] their necks with the red [line]. The king
said: “The supernatural powers of the monk are beyond the control
of human power. Leave him alone.”
[Later on] the daughter of the king fell ill. He summoned Hyet’ong
to cure her. He healed her [disease] and the king was very glad. Then
Hyet’ong said: “Chöng Kong became the victim of the dragon and has
been punished too severely by the authorities.” When the king heard
this, he felt remorse [for his decision] and remitted the punishment [he
had in icted on Chöng Kong’s] wife and children. He gave Hyet’ong
the title of kuksa.^63
The dragon had already taken revenge on Chöng Kong and went
to Kijang Mountain ,^64 where it changed into a bear spirit. It
committed still more cruelties and the people were in deep distress.
Hyet’ong entered the mountain. He admonished the dragon and gave
it the precept not to kill [living things], whereupon the spirit stopped
doing harm.
In the beginning, King Sinmun got an abscess on his back and
asked Hyet’ong to examine it. Hyet’ong arrived and said a spell over
it. [The abscess] healed instantly. Then he said: “His Majesty, in times
long past,^65 you were a district steward.^66 By mistake, you decided to
make a slave of the freeborn man Sinch’ung.^67 [Therefore], he
felt resentment [against you]. Rebirth after rebirth he will take revenge.
This malignant abscess is also caused by the curse of Sinch’ung. You
should build a temple for him. If you pray for divine protection, [the
spell] will break.” The king was deeply [impressed by Hyet’ong’s words]
(^63) “National Preceptor”, the highest rank for monks with an outstanding ability in
the Koryö Dynasty. See Han’guk minjok munhwa taebaekkwa sajön, vol. 3, pp. 673–676
s.v. 64 kuksa.
Unidenti ed.
(^65) I.e., in a previous life.
(^66) Chaegwan.
(^67) The same name appears also in another story in the Samguk yusa, titled Sinch’ung
kwaegwan (Sinch’ung Steps out of Of ce), in part 8 of vol. 5. See HPC, vol. 6, pp.
364c10–365a22. The gure in this story was an of cial in the reign of King Hyosöng
(r. 737–741). This is probably a different person of the same name. See KYIK, vol. 10,
p. 540, n. 68. This name is also mentioned in the section on the third year of the reign
of King Hyosöng and on the sixteenth and twenty-second year of the reign of King
Kyöngdök (r. 742–765) in the Samguk sagi. See Yi P. 1996, pp. 90, 93–95.