Guunmong
Author: Kim Man-jung
Publisher: Geulbeot-sa
Contents
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Guunmong
Preface
Introduction to Kim Man-jung
Understanding and Appreciating Guunmong
Seongjin’s Outing to Dongting Lake
The Eight Fairy Maidens on the Stone Bridge
Seongjin’s Meeting with the Eight Fairy Maidens
Seongjin Lost in Thoughts of the World
Seongjin Reborn into the Yang Family
Yang Soyu’s Father Becomes an Immortal
Meeting a Young Lady in Huayin County
Jin Chaebong Sends a Letter.
Meeting a Daoist on Mount Namjeon
Receiving a Geomungo, a Tungso, and Arcane Writings
Longing for Miss Jin
Meeting the Luoyang Gisaeng Gye Seomwol
Sharing the Joys of Cloud and Rain with Gye Seomwol
Monk Duryeon Recommends Miss Jeong
Miss Jeong’s Remarkable Wisdom
Jeong Sado Chooses a Son-in-Law at the Civil Service Examination Hall
Yang Hallim Passes First in the Examination
Miss Jeong’s Ingenious Scheme
Yang Hallim and the Fairy Maiden Meet Again
The Fairy Maiden Transforms into a Ghost
The Two Perfected Ones Read Physiognomy
Chunrang Reveals Herself Before Hallim
Yang Hallim Passes Through Luoyang
Reuniting with Gye Seomwol at Tianjin Bridge
Meeting Jeok Gyeonghong at the Guest House.
The Painful Reunion of Jin Chaebong and Yang Rang
Yang Soyu’s Memorial Concerning Marriage
Sim Yoyeon Comes as an Assassin
Marshal Yang Defeats the Crown Prince of Nanhai
The Empress Dowager and the Princess See Jeong Gyeongpae’s Written Vow.
Princess Nanyang Enters the Palace with Miss Jeong.
Composing a Seven-Step Poem in the Empress Dowager’s Palace
Prime Minister Yang Returns to Jeong Sado’s House
The Scheme of the Two Princesses and Prime Minister Yang
Prime Minister Yang Brings the Great Lady and Holds a Banquet
The Prince of Yue Invites Prime Minister Yang to an Outing
Sim Yoyeon and Baek Neungpa
Drinking the Penalty Cup
Prime Minister Yang’s Memorial of Resignation
Seongjin and the Eight Fairy Maidens Awaken from the Dream.
Guunmong
A masterpiece that will shine forever in the history of Korean literature
Author: Kim Man-jung
Publisher: Nam Sun-jong
Published by: Geulbeot-sa
Preface
This is a masterpiece that will shine forever in the history of our national literature. In the development of ancient Korean fiction, the contributions of Kim Si-seup, Heo Gyun, and Kim Man-jung were immense. Guunmong, the surviving novel by the great Seopo Kim Man-jung of the Sukjong era, may be called, together with The Record of Lady Sa’s Southward Journey, a representative work that brought the Korean-language novel to full maturity.
Guunmong was written in Korean during the reign of King Sukjong to comfort his mother, and it made him a pioneer of fiction in that era. The Record of Lady Sa’s Southward Journey, which he wrote earlier in his place of exile in Namhae in order to bring King Sukjong to repentance, is also one of the most distinguished works in the history of Korean literature.
It is our country’s first “domestic novel,” and it takes as its prototype the historical fact that King Sukjong deposed Queen Inhyeon and took Jang Hui-bin as queen. According to an anecdote from the time, one day King Sukjong ordered a palace maid to read him a storybook; when she read this novel to him, at the passage in which the protagonist Yu Hallim drives out his innocent wife, Lady Sa, and takes the cunning concubine Lady Gyo as his wife, Sukjong is said to have become so excited that he called Yu Hallim the vilest man under heaven.
He also left behind in writing an account of his mother’s life and conduct. That work is “The Conduct of Lady Yun,” wife of a minister of the first rank. It may be seen as the pure crystallization of his longing for his mother, expressed frankly and without embellishment.
Spring, February 12, 1994
Introduction to Kim Man-jung
Kim Man-jung: 1637 (15th year of King Injo)—1692 (18th year of King Sukjong). A civil official and novelist of the Joseon dynasty. His courtesy name was Jungsuk, and his pen name was Seopo.
His father, Ikgyeom, died a loyal death on Ganghwa during the Manchu invasion of 1636, and Kim Man-jung was born after his father’s death.
In 1665 (the 6th year of King Hyeonjong), he placed first in the special civil service examination. In office, he served as Daejehak and Daesaheon, among other posts. Because he entered officialdom on the political foundation of the Westerners, he became entangled in factional strife and was repeatedly impeached and exiled; he died of illness in the place to which he had been banished.
His filial devotion was so profound that, except when he went into exile, he never left his aged mother’s side. Guunmong, too, was written to comfort his mother, and because he composed the entire work in Korean, he became a pioneer of the fiction literature of his time. The Record of Lady Sa’s Southward Journey, written earlier at his place of exile in order to bring King Sukjong to repentance, is also one of the foremost works in Korean literary history.
He also expressed the literary view that only literature written in Korean could be true national literature. He ordinarily held the gasa works of Songgang Jeong Cheol in high esteem and advocated the establishment of Korean literature. In 1698, his official posts were restored, and in 1706 (the 32nd year of King Sukjong), a royal commendation was bestowed for his filial conduct. His writings include Seopo Manpil and Seopo Jip.
Understanding and Appreciating Guunmong
Textbooks -> “Gyohak” “Jihak”
Theme: Wealth, rank, and fame in this world are but a spring dream; the transience of life; taking refuge in Buddhism.
Point of view: Omniscient authorial point of view.
Commentary: This is a work by Kim Man-jung, who is said to have written it after being exiled to Namhae during the reign of King Sukjong for opposing the deposition of the queen, in order to comfort his aged mother in Hanyang. Although the work contains many unrealistic elements, in terms of structure and style it may be called a flawless model of the ancient novel. Guunmong is also the first of the dream-character type novels.
This work fuses Confucian practical utilitarianism, the Buddhist contemplative idea of emptiness, and Daoist hedonism, thereby reflecting the spiritual life of the time as a whole. In other words, it shows through Confucian, Buddhist, and Daoist thought that wealth, rank, and fame in this world are nothing more than a fleeting spring dream.
Its central content idealizes a polygamous life of love; yet whereas most old Korean novels fail to move beyond simple biographical tales, this work deals with the serious problems of human life, and is therefore regarded as a novel with a clear authorial consciousness.
It is noteworthy that Kim Man-jung, a Confucian scholar, gave shape to human problems from a Buddhist theme and perspective, and that, through a coherent structure and concise prose style, he boldly expressed human desire without any restraint.
Its structure is a kind of dream-illusion structure: it contains a dual space, the immortal realm as reality and the human world as dream, and within that dream it again possesses a complex structure involving the real world, the immortal realm, and the Dragon King’s realm.
Seongjin’s Outing to Dongting Lake
Under heaven there were five famous mountains, each situated in the east, west, south, north, and center.
The mountain in the east was the Eastern Peak, named Taishan; the mountain in the west was the Western Peak, named Huashan; the mountain in the south was the Southern Peak, named Hengshan; the mountain in the north was the Northern Peak, named Hengshan; and the mountain occupying the very center was the Central Peak, named Songshan. Together, these were called the Five Peaks.
Among these famous mountains, Hengshan alone lay farthest from the Central Plain. To the south of Hengshan was Jiuyi Mountain, and to the north flowed Dongting Lake; to the east the Xiaoxiang River wound its way, and to the west seventy-two peaks formed a magnificent sight, like descendants standing in attendance upon their ancestors.
All of them were so beautiful and majestic that anyone who beheld the scene even once would not wish to leave it for all time.
Among them, the five peaks of Zhurong, Zigai, Tianzhu, Shilin, and Lianhua were the highest, and their aspect was extremely lofty and precipitous beyond compare. The peaks were so high that their forms were hidden by clouds, and on the slopes of each peak mist always lay thick; unless the weather was clear, it was not easy for anyone to see their true appearance.
Long ago, after a man named Yu the Great brought the floods under control, he climbed this mountain and erected a stone stele recording his merits. It is said that even today, ten thousand years later, that stele still remains.
Long ago, when the Jin dynasty ruled all under heaven, the fairy Lady Wei (daughter of Wei Shu of Jin) diligently cultivated the Way and became a wondrously efficacious spirit.
When the Jade Emperor commanded Lady Wei to guard Hengshan, Lady Wei obeyed the Jade Emperor’s will and, leading immortal youths and fairy maidens, came to Hengshan and guarded the mountain. Her marvelous traces were so numerous that they could not all be recorded one by one.
During the Tang dynasty, an eminent monk who had visited Tianzhu in the Western Regions could not forget the beauty of Hengshan and the elegance of Lianhua Peak, and so he built a hermitage there and guided sentient beings with the Mahayana Dharma. The monk also excelled at preventing ghosts and spirits from running rampant, and people pointed to him and revered him without end, saying that the Buddha had been born again into the world.
Thus those with wealth donated copper, and the poor offered labor in its place; they cut back hillsides and built bridges across valleys, and urged on the carpenters to construct a great Dharma hall in the forest.
Thereupon Du Gongbu composed a poem, and a stele was erected.
The temple gate opens high toward the fields of Dongting,
The pillars of the halls are set by the waters of Chisha Lake.
The cold wind of May chilled the Buddha’s bones,
And at the six hours they enjoyed heavenly music, burning incense at dawn.
Reading this single poem, one may well imagine the grandeur of that Dharma hall.
Thus the splendor of Hengshan and the magnificence of its sacred precinct came to be known as foremost in the south.
That eminent monk possessed a volume of the Diamond Sutra. The monk called Reverend Liuru had five or six hundred disciples, but among them only some thirty were well versed in the Buddhist law.
Seongjin had mastered the texts of the Tripitaka by the tender age of twenty, and his intelligence and wisdom were the finest among all the disciples. Master Liuguan cherished Seongjin’s wisdom deeply, and in the end appointed him as his successor, to carry on his line.
One day, as the master was expounding the sutras before all his disciples, the Dragon King of Dongting Lake transformed himself into a white-haired old man, came to that place, listened to the lecture, and returned.
At this, the master gathered his disciples and said,
“I am so old and infirm that it has already been more than ten years since I last went beyond the mountain gate. Yet the Dragon King of Dongting Lake has come all the way here to listen to my sermon. Which of you will enter the Dragon Palace in my stead and offer my thanks?”
Thereupon Seongjin bowed and said,
“Master, though this disciple is unworthy, I shall go to the Dragon Palace and return.”
“Will you do so?”
The master was greatly pleased and ordered Seongjin to go.
Having received the master’s command, Seongjin put on his seven-panel kāṣāya, took up his six-ringed staff, and set out for Dongting Lake.
The Eight Immortal Maidens on the Stone Bridge
Master Liuguan was sitting at leisure with his disciples when the Daoist guarding the gate entered.
“Lady Wei of Nanyue has sent eight immortal maidens.”
“Bring them here at once.”
“Yes.”
The eight immortal maidens came before the master side by side, bowed, knelt, and conveyed Lady Wei’s words.
“Our Lady Wei has instructed us to deliver the following message to the master.
‘The master dwells on the western side of the mountain, and I dwell on its eastern side, so we are not in truth far apart. Yet, as affairs have naturally been many, I have never once come before your Buddhist seat to hear the scriptures. This is to lack the wisdom of treating others properly and to violate the way of associating with one’s neighbors.’ Now she has sent us, her maidservants, to inquire after the master’s well-being and to offer heavenly flowers, immortal fruit, and seven-jeweled patterned brocade as a small token of her sincerity.”
Thereupon the eight immortal maidens each raised above their brows the heavenly flowers and seven-jeweled brocade they had brought and presented them to the master.
The master personally received these treasures, handed them to his disciples, and instructed them to offer them to the Buddha. Then he joined his palms in thanks to the eight immortal maidens.
“This old monk has no merit at all, and yet I have received such treasures. What am I to do?”
So saying, he entertained the eight immortal maidens generously.
The eight immortal maidens took their leave of the master and came outside the gate, where one of them opened her mouth.
“This heavenly mountain of Nanyue—every handful of soil and every tree root—was once all the realm of our palace. Yet ever since Master Liuguan settled here, though the exquisite scenery of Lotus Peak lies within a stone’s throw, have we not been unable to see it? Now that we have received the Lady’s command and come all the way here, this seems a fine opportunity. Moreover, the season is just now spring, and all manner of flowers are in full bloom. How would it be if we climbed Lotus Peak, admired the scenery, then returned to the palace and boasted of it to our companions?”
The seven maidens clapped their hands and delighted in those words.
The eight immortal maidens took one another by the hand, leading each other as they walked slowly on, when a waterfall appeared before them. Above the stream was a stone bridge, and they all rested there for a while.
It was the third month of spring. Around the stone bridge, a hundred flowers were in full bloom, clouds and mist hung thick, and even the birdsong was clear and lovely. The spring’s crimson beauty had ripened all the more, and the scene was enough to halt the footsteps of the immortal maidens.
Intoxicated by nature, the eight immortal maidens sat on the stone bridge and were once more entranced by the portrait of their own beauty reflected on the water. Loving their own shadows, they soothed the sorrows of spring with soft, faintly ringing voices, and before long they did not even realize that the sun was setting.
The Meeting of Seongjin and the Eight Immortal Maidens
Meanwhile, Seongjin arrived at Dongting Lake, parted the waves, and entered the Crystal Palace. The Dragon King already knew that Master Liuguan’s disciple was coming, and together with all his civil and military officials, he had personally come outside the palace to welcome him.
Guided by the Dragon King, Seongjin entered the palace and took his seat. Then he prostrated himself and respectfully relayed Master Liuguan’s words. The Dragon King listened to those words with the utmost reverence, then held a banquet and entertained Seongjin with the greatest courtesy.
When Seongjin looked at the food upon the table, none of it belonged to the human world; it was only immortal fruit and rare delicacies.
The Dragon King personally lifted a cup and offered it to Seongjin, saying,
“How could I not know that abstaining from wine is among the five precepts—not killing, not stealing, not engaging in lust, not speaking falsehood, and not drinking wine or eating meat? Yet the wine I offer is quite different from the wine of the human world that drives men mad. How would it be if you took a cup?
This wine strengthens a person’s vital energy and refreshes the mind, so, Reverend, do not refuse it.”
Seongjin could not dare to refuse the Dragon King’s kindness, and after receiving and drinking three cups in succession, he took leave of the Dragon King and departed the Crystal Palace.
Seongjin rode the wind back toward Lotus Peak and reached the foot of the mountain. At that moment, because of the wine he had drunk in the Water Palace, his vision swam and he grew dizzy, so that he could not take another step.
‘How severely will my master scold me if he learns that I am drunk?’
Thinking this, Seongjin became deeply troubled.
Wishing to bathe in clear water, Seongjin went down to the streamside, took off his clothes and laid them on the sand, and was washing his face when suddenly a fragrant scent rode the wind and struck his nose.
Seongjin’s spirits were expansive, and he muttered to himself,
“What flowers bloom above that such a wondrous fragrance should drift down? I shall go upstream and seek out those flowers.”
Seongjin straightened his robes once more and went upstream. The eight immortal maidens sitting upon the stone bridge encountered Seongjin as he came following the fragrance.
Seongjin hastily set down his six-ringed staff, joined his palms, and spoke respectfully to the eight immortal maidens.
“Bodhisattvas, please hear the words of this humble monk. I am a disciple of Master Liuguan, the enlightened monk of Lotus Peak. Today, by the master’s command, I went to the Water Palace and am now on my way back, but as you, Bodhisattvas, are seated upon this narrow bridge, this humble monk has no clear path by which to pass.
I am sorry to trouble you, but if you would make way for a moment, I would be grateful.”
Thereupon the eight immortal maidens answered,
“We are the maidservants of Lady Wei of Nanyue. Having received our Lady’s command, we were on our way back after inquiring after Master Liuguan’s well-being, and are resting here for a short while. Since ancient times, propriety has taught that when traveling on a road, men take the left and women the right. Yet this bridge is narrow, and we were seated here first, so surely it is proper for the reverend monk to take another path.”
Seongjin pleaded again.
“This stream’s depth cannot be measured, and there is no other path. Where do you tell me to go? Please, then, open the way for just a moment.”
At this, the eight immortal maidens returned the courtesy and said,
“In ancient times, the Venerable Bodhidharma, the founder of the Chan school in the Eastern Land and the third son of King Xiangzhi of Tianzhu, is said to have crossed the water on a reed leaf. If the reverend monk is truly a disciple of Master Liuguan, then you must have awakened to the Way. What difficulty could there be in crossing a trifling stream like this, that you should contend for the road with women?”
Seongjin answered with a smile across his whole face.
“From what this humble monk can fathom of the Bodhisattvas’ intentions, you must surely wish to collect a toll. This humble monk has no other treasures, but I do have eight pearls, so I shall pay the toll with these.”
When Seongjin finished speaking, he broke off a branch of peach blossoms and threw it toward the eight immortal maidens; the flowers became eight pearls, shining brilliantly and giving off a subtle fragrance.
The eight immortal maidens each received one pearl in her hand and smiled at Seongjin. After that, they immediately rode the clouds up into the sky and vanished, becoming beautiful clouds. Seongjin went above the stone bridge and ascended into the sky, then vanished, becoming beautiful clouds. Seongjin stepped onto the stone bridge and looked all around, but the forms of the eight immortal maidens were nowhere to be found; the lovely clouds had dispersed, and the fragrant scent had vanished as well.
Seongjin Lost in Thoughts of the World
Seongjin could not calm his heart as he thought of the eight immortal maidens’ lovely forms. He reported to the master only that he had gone to the Dragon Palace and returned, whereupon the master rebuked him for coming back late.
“The Dragon King entertained me with the utmost courtesy, and I could not refuse him harshly, so naturally I returned late.”
When Seongjin earnestly explained himself, the master reproached him no further and told him to withdraw and rest.
Seongjin returned to his quarters and sat alone, but the beautiful voices of the eight immortal maidens were vivid in his ears, and their lovely forms shimmered before his eyes, so that he could not calm his heart for even a moment.
Passing that night in anguish and deluded thoughts, Seongjin soon sighed.
“To be born a man in this world, to read the teachings of Confucius and Mencius in youth, and, when grown, to serve a sage ruler, become a brave general of the three armies and a wise minister of state, wearing robes of gold upon one’s body and a golden seal at one’s waist—this is supreme. To see beautiful things with one’s eyes, to hear wondrous sounds with one’s ears, and to leave behind for later generations the traces of love and fame with beautiful women—is this not the rightful way of a great man? Ah, how sorrowful! The Way of our Buddhist house is nothing but a single bowl of rice and a cup of pure water. However lofty and profound that Way may be, it is lonely beyond measure. Even if one were to awaken to the highest doctrine and become a Buddha, once the three hun and seven po souls scatter within the flames, who would know that Seongjin had ever been born into this world?”
Seongjin was so troubled that he could not seek sleep and tossed and turned. When he closed his eyes, the eight immortal maidens came smiling and sat before him; when he opened his eyes, they disappeared without a trace.
Then Seongjin reproached himself and said,
"The foremost rule of the Buddhist law is to keep the mind clear, without so much as a speck of dust. What, then, is this behavior? It has already been ten years since I became a monk, and in all that time have I ever committed even the smallest fault? Yet now improper and misguided thoughts grow ever more intense, and this will be harmful to my future path."
Seongjin rose from his bed, lit incense, and knelt. After calming his mind for a while, he counted the prayer beads hanging from his neck and meditated upon the thousand Buddhas, when from outside the window came the voice of a young acolyte calling him.
"Senior Dharma Brother, Senior Dharma Brother, are you asleep?"
"I have not yet slept, so come in at once."
"No, I shall not. The Great Master is calling for you now, so please go to him quickly."
Seongjin could not help being startled.
'If he calls for me in the middle of the night, there must surely be some grave reason.'
Seongjin Reborn into the Yang Family
Seongjin went with the acolyte to the Dharma hall, then proceeded alone to Great Master Yukgwan’s chamber. The Great Master had summoned all his disciples and was seated upon the Dharma mat, his bearing solemn and stern.
"Seongjin, do you know your sin?"
The Great Master asked without relaxing his severe expression.
Deeply alarmed, Seongjin knelt where he stood and replied.
"This lowly disciple has served Master for more than ten years, and in all that time has never once been disrespectful or discourteous. Since you rebuke me so, I cannot understand the reason. What could I hide from Master? Truly, this disciple does not know his sin."
At this, the Great Master grew even angrier and scolded him.
"Since you will not speak the truth, I shall enlighten you as to your sins. First, though you are a monk cultivating conduct, you entered the Dragon Palace and drank wine; that sin is exceedingly grave. Second, on your way back here, upon the stone bridge, you engaged at length in frivolous talk with the Eight Fairy Maidens, broke off a flowering branch and threw it, and toyed with them using your beads. Third, even after returning, you did not think to repent of your wrongdoing, but dreamed of worldly wealth and honor, and with a reckless heart grew averse to the state of nirvana. This can never be forgiven. Now you may no longer remain here."
Seongjin struck his head against the floor and, weeping, appealed to the Great Master.
"Master, truly this disciple has committed a grave sin. Yet the wine I drank at the Dragon Palace was because I could not withstand the Dragon King’s earnest urging, and the words I exchanged with the fairy maidens on the stone bridge were only to ask them to let me pass. Though the sin this disciple has committed is indeed weighty, it would be proper for Master to chastise and teach me with punishment. How can you so heartlessly cast this lowly one aside and pretend not to see my repentant heart? At the age of twelve I took leave of my parents and came to Master to become a disciple of the Buddha, so it is as if I have received the grace of my own parents from you. Moreover, even in terms of duty, the bond between master and disciple is a weighty affinity. If I am to abandon this lotus sanctuary, where am I to go?"
But in response to Seongjin’s plea, the Great Master rebuked him sharply.
"I am sending you out to the place you desire, so why would you wish to remain any longer? And you ask where you are to go, but the place to which you long to return is precisely the place to which you shall return."
Then he raised his voice and summoned the Yellow-Turbaned Mighty Guardian.
"Take this sinner to Fengdu Prison and hand him over to King Yama."
Hearing these words, Seongjin felt his heart and liver turn cold. Tears streamed from him like rain as he begged his master.
"Master, please listen to this disciple’s words. Even though Venerable Ananda slept with a courtesan, Shakyamuni Tathagata merely imposed punishment upon him and did not condemn him as guilty. Though this disciple has indeed sinned, compared with Venerable Ananda, my fault is lighter. How can you make me abandon the lotus sanctuary and go to Fengdu Hell?"
At this, the Great Master, even more enraged, rebuked him with great severity.
"Though Venerable Ananda slept beside her, his heart did not change. But you saw women only once and lost your true mind, so you must undergo the suffering of one cycle of rebirth."
Feeling now that there was nothing to be done, Seongjin bid farewell to the Buddha and the Great Master, parted from his senior and junior Dharma brothers, and followed the Yellow-Turbaned Mighty Guardian out.
Then the Great Master called Seongjin back and consoled him, saying, "Even if one dwells in the mountains, if the mind is not clear, one cannot attain the Way. Even if one falls amid ten fathoms of dust, if one does not forget one’s origin, in the end there will be a day of return. If you seek to return here, I shall personally bring you back, so harbor no doubts and go."
Seongjin followed the Yellow-Turbaned Mighty Guardian into Hell. Passing the Terrace of Looking Homeward, he arrived outside the walls of Fengdu. The ghost soldier guarding the gate asked where they had come from.
"I have come in obedience to Great Master Yukgwan’s command to bring a sinner."
The guardian replied.
The ghost soldier opened the city gate and let the two of them enter. When they reached the presence of King Yama, the guardian explained why he had brought Seongjin. King Yama pointed at Seongjin and asked.
"Though your body was bound to Lotus Peak, your name was upon the incense altar of Ksitigarbha. I had believed that, through your miraculous arts, you would save the living beings of the world. For what reason have you come here?"
Ashamed, Seongjin lowered his head and with difficulty replied.
"This humble monk is dull-witted and has sinned against his master, and so has come here. Please dispose of me as you see fit."
While Seongjin was answering, the Eight Fairy Maidens were brought in, seized by Yellow-Turbaned Mighty Guardians.
"Why have the fairy maidens of Nanyue come to this land?"
When King Yama thundered at them, the fairy maidens blushed and replied.
"We received Lady Wei’s command and were returning after paying our respects to Great Master Yukgwan when, on the stone bridge, there was an occasion of fellowship with Seongjin. Because of that matter, the Great Master sent a letter to Lady Wei instructing that we be seized and sent to Your Majesty, and so we have come.
We beseech Your Majesty to show mercy and allow us to be born in a good land."
When the Eight Fairy Maidens had finished speaking, King Yama called nine messengers.
"Take these nine people and go out to the human realm."
As soon as King Yama finished speaking, a whirlwind suddenly swept past the front of the hall, whirling the nine people up into the air and scattering them in all directions.
Blown by the wind, Seongjin followed the messenger without knowing where he was headed, until he reached a certain place and only then did the sound of the wind subside. When Seongjin felt both feet touch the ground, he came to his senses and raised his eyes to look around.
On all sides, green mountains surrounded the place like folding screens, and clear streams flowed in many branches. Among the trees, he could see the thatched roofs of three or four houses.
Just then, he heard two or three people chatting idly outside the fence.
"Layman Yang’s wife is past fifty and yet has become pregnant—what an extraordinary thing. But it has been a long while since the signs of childbirth began, and still there is no sound of a baby. It is worrying indeed."
At this, Seongjin quietly thought to himself.
"It seems that I am now to be reborn into the world. But in my present state, I am only a soul. My flesh and bones must have been burned atop Lotus Peak—how sorrowful. I was still young and had no disciple, so who would have gathered and preserved my relics?"
As Seongjin was thus sunk in sorrowful thoughts, the messenger beckoned to him.
"This is Shuzhou County of Huainan Circuit in the Great Tang. The house in which you are to be born is Layman Yang’s house. The layman will be your father, and Lady Yu will be your mother; they shall soon become your parents. In your former life, you had a karmic bond with this couple, and so you will be born as their son. Hurry inside and do not miss the moment."
When Seongjin entered the house, he saw Layman Yang, wearing a hemp kerchief and plain rustic clothes, seated in the main hall brewing medicine. A fragrance clung to the layman’s garments, and from the inner room came the pitiful sound of his wife’s groans.
At the messenger’s urging, Seongjin tried to enter the inner room, but his heart was filled with grief and he hesitated. Then the messenger gave him a sharp push in the back. Seongjin pitched forward, his mind growing hazy, and when he cried out loudly for someone to save him, the sound emerged transformed into the cry of a newborn child.
Yang Soyu’s Father Becomes an Immortal
At that moment, Layman Yang had been brewing medicine for an easy delivery when he suddenly heard a baby’s cry. Startled and overjoyed, he hurried into the inner room. There, his wife had safely given birth to a son and welcomed Layman Yang with delight. Unable to contain his joy, Layman Yang smiled again and again, washed the baby in fragrant water, wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him down, then congratulated his wife.