The Spread of Buddhism

the accounts of milbon, hyet’ong and myÖngnang 289

[ ] and the Chus ök-wön 75 on Mo-ak are all sub-
sidiary [temples] of this school.
Someone says that Hyet’ong’s name as a layman was Chonsng
Kakkan.^76 Kakkan^77 is the high rank of grand councillor^78 in
Silla. [But] I have not yet heard of any evidence of Hyet’ong’s career
as an of cial. It has been said that he shot a wolf, but the details remain
unknown.
The eulogy to [Hyet’ong] goes as follows:

The mountain peaches and the apricots in the valley cast an oblique

shadow on the fence.

Spring deepens on the path and the  owers on both banks [are in

bloom].

Fortunately the young master caught the otter in a leisurely way.

He chased the demon and the [teachings] outside [the path] far away

from the capital.

2.3. Myöngnang’s Divine Seal

According to the Pon’gi 79 of the Kmgwang-sa ,^80

Myöngnang was born in Silla. He entered Tang China and studied the

[Buddhist] path. On his voyage back [to Silla] he was invited by the Sea

Dragon. He entered the palace of the dragon where he transmitted the

esoteric teachings.^81 The dragon donated 1,000 yang 82 [to Myöngnang]

dhra. Am is a small Buddhist temple. This temple existed on the Sönggö-san in Kyöng-
gido Province (Yöngnam-myön, Kaep’ung-gun). See Yi 1996, p. 601 s.v. Ch’ongji-sa.

(^75) Yi 1996, p. 551 s.v. Chusök-wön, refers to the Talsöng-sa. A temple which existed
on Mo-ak Mountain (793 m), North Chölla Province (Chong’in-tong, Wansan-gu,
Ch 76 önju-si). See ibid., p. 114 s.v. Talsöng-sa.
Not identi ed.
(^77) The highest of the seventeen of cial ranks in Silla, also called ibölch’an. See Lee
1984, pp. 50–51; KYIK, p. 262.
(^78) Chaesang.
(^79) An otherwise unidenti ed book.
(^80) A temple no longer extant in Kyöngju (Changch’angguk, Nam-san, T’aptong).
See Yi 1996, p. 84 s.v. Kmgwang-sa. But according to Kim P. 1995, p. 522 n. 2, a
former temple in Minam-my 81 ön, Wölsöng-gun, Northern Kyöngsang Province.
This is reminiscent of the Dragon Palace where Ngrjuna (ca. 150–250 AD,
one of the greatest Buddhist philosophers) received the scriptures and comprehended
their ultimate meaning after reciting them for ninety days. See Lee 1969, p. 23 n. 38.
See also Kamata 1988, pp. 142, 147 n. 2. The Paekche monk Hyön’gwang is also
said to have expounded the dharma in the palace of the Sea Dragon while returning
to Korea. See Best 1991, p. 192. For the contacts of Myöngnang and other Korean
monks with the Sea Dragon, see Buswell 1989b, pp. 52–53, 53 n. 29.
(^82) 37.3 kg. See Ogawa 1989, p. 1224.