the accounts of milbon, hyet’ong and myÖngnang 297
- Conclusion
The passages devoted to Milbon, Hyet’ong and Myöngnang are an
interesting combination of historical facts and ctional elements. These
monks are presented as thaumaturges specialised in exorcism or in heal-
ing. Thus they follow in the footsteps of Hkhoja , a legendary
gure thought to have been one of the earliest transmitters of Buddhism
to Silla, who is said to have cured a royal princess.^148 Examples of this
ability to heal daughters of sovereigns are also found in the Chinese
biographies of the esoteric Tang masters ubhakarasiha, Vajrabodhi
(671–741) and Amoghavajra (705–774).^149 This pattern of monks per-
forming miracles reminds us of the idealised biographies found in the
Chinese hagiographic literature.^150 Although much of the material in the
Samguk yusa is clearly ctitious, it is more than likely that in the seventh
century Korean monks had already become acquainted with esoteric
Buddhism in China. Around the time Hyet’ong and Myöngnang are
said to have functioned in China, a number of Chinese and Central
Asian masters had already been active in Tang. Zhitong (± 653)
for example, was translating scriptures devoted to the Avalokitevara
with a thousand hands.^151 And in 652 the Indian monk Atikta arrived
in Chang’an where he performed the rst abhieka (esoteric initia-
tion rite) in China.^152
From the stories in the Samguk yusa it appears that the activities of
Milbon, Hyet’ong and Myöngnang were limited to the court. One
curious instance of the usage of dhra outside the court circles may be
found in volume 2, in the story of Queen Chinsöng (887–898)
who ruled at the end of Uni ed Silla. In this story Queen Chinsöng
is accused of bad government. According to the Samguk yusa, someone
who opposed the corruption of her court scattered lea ets on the road.
These pieces of paper contained a spell, which at rst sight looked like
a dhra, but actually was a criticism against her misrule:^153
(^148) See Lee 1969, p. 51.
(^149) See the examples mentioned in Sørensen 2001, p. 280; Sørensen 1993, p. 80.
(^150) On this subject, see Kieschnick 1997.
(^151) See Kamata 1987, p. 104; Yamasaki 1988, p. 17.
(^152) See Kamata 1987, p. 104; Yamasaki 1988, p. 17.
(^153) See HPC, vol. 6, p. 296a–b; KYIK, p. 357; Kim P. 1995, pp. 186–187.