280 pol vanden broucke and sem vermeersch
freer view.^20 The work contains myths, legends, ballads, an account of
Buddhist history, and ancient Korean poems. Though the title Samguk
yusa refers to the Three Kingdoms (Samguk), the greatest part of the
text deals with Silla only.
The Haedong kosng chön is a collection of Buddhist biographies com-
piled by the monk Kakhun (n.d.) by royal order in 1215.^21 Only
the two rst volumes of this work have survived to date. These volumes
were discovered in 1914 by the abbot of Haein-sa in a small
provincial temple. Compiled in these two volumes are historical facts
about some thirty Buddhist monks of Koguryö, Paekche, and Silla at
the time when Buddhism was rst imported from China.
Of these three works, the Samguk yusa contains several references to
monks who rely on magic practices and who are said to have lived in
the period of the Three Kingdoms. Part 6 of volume (kwön ) 5 of the
Samguk yusa is entirely devoted to the activities of Milbon , Hyet’ong
and My öngnang , three monks who use magic and mantras
to protect the nation and to cure diseases.^22 The Samguk yusa is the only
source of information on these gures. For lack of early sources on
Korean esoteric Buddhism (milgyo ), modern Korean publications
dealing with the early history of esoteric Buddhism in Korea pay much
attention to the stories of these monks recorded in the Samguk yusa.^23
Although the biographies of Milbon, Hyet’ong and Myöngnang are
clearly ctitious, many Korean scholars rely on the Samguk yusa and hold
that milgyo existed as an independent school during Uni ed Silla. But,
since the Samguk yusa was compiled centuries after Silla, questions may
be validly raised concerning the reliability of the whole work.^24 Part 6
(^20) See Kim T. 1976, pp. 30–34; Kim H. 1983, pp. 29–30; KYIK, Shiden-bu vol. 10,
pp. 251–272. English translation in Ha & Mintz 1986. The translation is free and
contains many inaccuracies. For a Japanese annotated translation, see KYIK, Wa-Kan
senjutsu bu, Shiden-bu 21 vol. 10, pp. 273–582 (hereafter KYIK).
On this text, see Kim T. 1976, pp. 18–23. Translated in Lee 1969.
(^22) See HPC, vol. 6, pp. 355a6–357a20.
(^23) See for example the contributions on early Korean esoteric Buddhism in Taehan
Pulgyo Chin’gak-chong Chungang Kyoyuk-wön 1986; Taehan Pulgyo Chin’gak-chong
1998; and Tongguk Taehakkyo Pulgyo Munhwa Yön’guwön 1986. For the history of
esoteric Buddhism in Korea, see Suh 1994; Sørensen 1993; Toganoo 1977, pp. 100–105;
and the book-length survey by Sö 1995. For early Korean esoteric Buddhism, see also
Grayson 1984; Grayson 1989, pp. 59–60, 80–93; Maeda 1919; Ahn 1991, pp. 18–20;
Kamata 1987, pp. 102–107. For a short survey of contributions on milgyo by Western
scholars, see Vanden Broucke 2000. 24
On the problems concerning the historical reliability of the Samguk yusa as a
primary source, see Sørensen 1993, pp. 74–75; Sørensen 2001.