Frederick Starr

“ You have noticed that all were built of wood; you have observed the curious mode of timbering; you have studied the tangle of projecting timber ends under the roof—the decorative features applied to them, the carving and painting; red, green, black, white and blue, the gaudiest of colors are used upon them in a fashion which we could not conceive, and from which we would expect disharmony, though the real effect is charming. ”

“ Buddha taught that we end in Nirvana; his doctrine was a revolt against the idea of an individual soul that lives forever; in his religion there were no figures, no idols, nothing for worship. Buddhism proper taught nothing about gods. It simply taught men to strive for enlightenment, to become Buddhas and to pass out into Nirvana.
But this is not the Buddhism of China, Korea or Japan. The Buddhism of these three countries recognizes an individual soul that continues. It has scores of gods and represents them by images or idols ”

“ Splendid temples were built, great monasteries constructed, magnificent bells cast, beautiful pagodas erected, figures carved by 14 thousands. Religions that prosper too greatly become corrupt. State religions tend to become curses. Religious endowments tie up money which the people need. The dead hand may hold under restraint property which should be at work, helping the world. All this happened with Buddhism in Korea. In the last days of the Three Kingdoms Korean Buddhism was refined and artistic, impressive and beautiful, but was corrupt and harmful rather than helpful. ”

“ One of the most interesting things in connection with this modern movement of Korean Buddhism, and one which seems to show that it has real vitality, is the fact that Buddhist books for common reading are being printed. Most Korean books are printed in Chinese characters and are thus sealed to the common people; they can be read only by scholars or people of considerable education. Yet Korea is said to have invented one of the most perfect systems of writing that the world has seen. It is known as the on-mun and is competent to write the language perfectly and easily. ”

“ All these signs of life seem to show that Korean Buddhism is far from dead. It is coming forth from its mountain exile and bids fair to make itself felt in the future.
Let us examine for a moment the organization of an ordinary monastery. The monasteries are scattered through the mountains. Many of them are in remote places and it is difficult to reach them. Some are 43 so far back that it would be impossible for them to go farther. I have no fears that ordinary tourists will spoil my delight in Pawpchu-sa, or Hain-sa, or Yu-chom-sa. If one desires to see them he must pay the price. ”

“ Probably every monastery of any consequence has its hall of Seven Stars. It is always a little building and on the outskirts of the group of temples. Korea must have worshipped the constellation of the Great Bear, the Big Dipper or the Seven 92 Stars, long before Buddhism came. Many Koreans still pay worship to the stars themselves. The father of a young man who was once my Korean interpreter, never fails to pray to the seven stars on any night when the sky is clear enough for them to be seen; the worship is interesting and deserves attention. ”

“ One other building is certain to be found at every monastery. It is a wee structure, sacred to the God of the Mountain. He is a mysterious being. He is usually represented with a beard and a beard quite different from those regularly seen in China, Korea or Japan. He is always accompanied by a tiger, particularly noticeable for head and tail; the god of the mountain varies more than any other representation in Korean art. The features mentioned, however, are always emphasized. All agree that the god of the mountain is individual ”

“ Other people drift in for many reasons. Men who have lost their friends and relatives by death often go to the monasteries. So do those who fail in business, or who have been disappointed in life enterprises. The head-priest of one small, but very famous, ancient monastery, only recently became religious; he had been employed as a janitor or helper in a Buddhist temple of Japanese in a Korean city and became interested and attracted. ”

“ In the same courtyard, you remember that we saw a little tower or pagoda of stone, thirteen stories high, but in reality no taller than a man. At Pawpchu-sa there is that splendid bowl of stone, more than twelve hundred years of age, which in its time, no doubt, was filled with pure water for the cleansing of the hands and mouth of worshippers. Sometimes we find stone lanterns and occasionally these are supported by animal figures in caryatid forms. Then there are the sari stones and altars and turtle-borne monuments. ”

“ The first religious service of the day comes at three o’clock A.M. At that hour the visitor hears the bells and gongs and the droning of songs and prayers. The people of the monastery all turn out to early service. There may be other services throughout the day; there are also times of meditation, and in special halls, where no disturbance is permitted, persons spend hours or entire days in silence and pious thought. ”

“ The balance of the population in a monastery is devoted to religious living. These include three different kinds of persons—priests, acolytes and orphans. The monasteries have always been orphan asylums. When a child in the country around is left without parents or other proper guardians he is usually sent to the mountain monastery; unless the unexpected happens he will grow up in the way of religion and become a priest or monk when the time arrives. ”

“ Eastern peoples have for hundreds of years been passionately fond of the beautiful in nature. Chinese, Koreans, Japanese will travel on foot or by any possible conveyance many miles to see a famous view. They locate their houses in pretty places; they build temples and shrines upon commanding points. When the Korean monks, in the fifteenth century, were compelled to take refuge in the mountains, they located their buildings in surroundings harmonious to the religion. ”

“ Do the Korean monks know the Sanskrit language? Far from it. I doubt whether there are a half-dozen priests in all Korea who know anything whatever of the language.
At every temple one may secure tarani. A tarani is a sheet of paper with something printed on it in red from a wood-block. The wood-blocks at the different temples vary and while most of the characters in the printing are Chinese, there is a sprinkling of Sanskrit. A tarani is a sort of passport to the Western Paradise and it is 55 supplied for burial with the dead. When a man is burned or buried a tarani is placed with his body. ”

“ Before we leave this period let me say something about miriok and printing-blocks. The word miriok has given me considerable trouble; I cannot learn whether it is a Korean or a Japanese word, or what was its first meaning, or whether it has anything to do with the word Miroku, the name of “the coming Buddha.” Anyway the name miriok is applied in Korea to a stone that is worshipped; it is sometimes a natural stone and sometimes artificially shaped to more or less of the form of a Buddha. There are thousands of them in Korea. There are big miriok and little. ”

“ There was no Western Paradise in 52 Buddha’s teaching; there was no continued existence of the human soul; there was no one through whom men might be saved; one must work out his own salvation. But in this second Buddhism, any person in a single moment may gain salvation. It makes no difference whether a man has led a good or evil life, death-bed repentance may save him. A man does nothing for himself ”

“ But scholars in Korea have never used the on-mun; it has been considered suitable only for the ignorant, for women and children. If a book is to reach the common people, however, and be widely read, it should be printed in on-mun. The books issued by the foreign missionaries in their propaganda have been printed in on-mun, or in a mixed script of Chinese character and on-mun. The fact that several Buddhist books have recently appeared printed in on-mun shows that Korean Buddhism is reaching out after the common people. ”

“ No land surpasses Korea in its abundance of local tales. Every hill, valley, conspicuous rock, stream and pool of water has its story. Every miriok of prominence in the country has traditions associated with it. The one most commonly told of this great miriok runs as follows: A country man who had been to the capital, returning to his home passed this great stone figure. ”

“ At several of the monasteries there is a school for outside children; some have undertaken a definite work of teaching and some others realize that they have a genuine opportunity to aid in the elevation of the country. More and more the monasteries seem to awake to the existence of these possibilities.
Korean Buddhism has, perhaps, a political part to play. When the Japanese took over Korea, Buddhists came into the country in great numbers. Japanese priests and temples came with these settlers. These priests and temples are in the cities and larger towns. ”

“ Every person belonging to a given sect holds those dogmas and practises those ceremonials characteristic of his sect. No man is at once Shingon and Zen. But in a Korean monastery we find Syen people meditating and Kyo people reading 54 and to-morrow the situation will be reversed, and it seems as if the terms apply merely to two modes of discipline, not to actually different sects. At all events in the same monastery we regularly find Syen and Kyo.
The texts of Mahayana Buddhism were originally in Sanskrit. ”

“ The artists are priests and it is common for the few who have famous skill to travel from temple to temple, touching up old pictures and painting new ones. They stay for weeks or months and then pass on to new fields. The designs are certainly traditional and very old, but the paintings themselves, as we see them in the temple, are many of them the work of very recent years. Most of the monks and acolytes know very little of the meaning of the pictures, but those who paint them, and those who are serious students can identify the actors in the scenes depicted. ”

“ There is always a steward whose business it is to attend to the food supply of the entire 47 monastery. In a monastery of a hundred and fifty or two hundred persons in a remote mountain district, the steward’s work is important and exacting. At every monastery there are, of course, one or two cooks, whose business it is to prepare the food. There is regularly also, a group of little fellows, boys from ten to fifteen years of age, whose business it is to help these others on every occasion when help is needed. ”

“ The monument to each of these 74 worthies consists of four stone objects—a lantern, an altar, a sari stone—which I suppose contains the jewel that was left after the burning of the man in whose honor it was reared—and a stone turtle figure from whose back rises a slab bearing a long inscription. These turtle-stones with inscribed slabs are found everywhere in Korea; the turtle is the symbol of longevity and its use in this connection breathes the wish that the memory of the thing recorded may endure ten thousand years. These monuments are typical and good examples of their class. ”

“ In those days there was an Empire of China, but there were also various small Chinese kingdoms along the northern border of the Korean peninsula. Buddhism came to Koguryu from one of these little Chinese kingdoms, the king of which sent its message by the hands of a priest named Sundo, who brought idols and sacred texts. He was well received on his appearance in P’yeng-Yang. The king of the country placed the crown prince in his care for education. In a few years the new religion had made great headway. ”

“ At one monastery we were even moved to give a lesson in behavior. Here we were accompanied by a Japanese policeman; he was with us to protect and give such aid as possible, but was absolutely of no use. The monks received us coldly, answered a few questions and then disappeared. Unaccustomed to such treatment, I complained to the policeman who replied, “This monastery has a very bad name in all this district; the monks are avaricious; they are thieves; they always treat visitors badly; they do nothing unless they are well paid. ”

“ When a religion had such a hold on the community—building splendid monasteries, erecting great temples, making idols into whose construction gilt of pure gold entered in quantity, making bells of metal that might have been better 22 used for practical ends, draining the people of wealth by giving enormous properties eternally into the possession of religious establishments—a crash was bound to come. ”