The Formation of Heaven and Earth
I
n the beginning when the heavens and the earth were formed, Maitreya (Miru(k)1 too came into being. Maitreya decided to separate the heavens and the earth because they were joined together. So Maitreya placed the heavens like the handle of the lid of a kettle and set pillars at the four corners of the earth.There were two suns and two moons in those times. Maitreya created the Big Dipper and the Archer from the torn pieces of one moon, and created the big stars and the little stars from the torn pieces of one sun.2 Maitreya ordered that the big stars take charge of the fate of the kings and their vassals, and the little stars3take charge of the destiny of the people.
There was no cloth when Maitreya wanted to make clothes. So Maitreya plucked the vines of arrowroot which stretched from mountain to mountain, peeled their bark, boiled them and twisted them into thread. Then Maitreya wove a Buddhist monk’s robe by moving the shuttle up and down after he had laid a loom beneath the sky, and tied his warp to the clouds. The body of the jacket took a whole roll of cloth, the sleeve was a half roll of cloth, the outer collar took five feet, and the collar neck took three feet. Next, Maitreya sheared one foot and three inches of hemp to make a hat, but the hat did not
Fig. 2 Stone-planks carved in the shape of the Great Bear on a dolmen being
22 MYTHS ABOUT COSMOLOGY AND FLOOD
fully cover his eyes. Maitreya again snipped two feet and three inches of hemp to manufacture the hat, as the hat also did not veil his ears. Last, Maitreya sheared three feet and three inches of hemp. Only when it fitted perfectly, did the hat cover his lower chin completely.
All of the gods were eating uncooked food in those times, when Maitreya had an idea. They were eating raw grains of rice because there was no fire. Whenever he ate one so(m4or one mal5of raw grains of rice, Maitreya thought
that it would be better to eat cooked rather than uncooked grains of rice. Fig. 3 The Great Bear that was found on stone-planks of a dolmen (Fig. 2).
Fig. 4 The Great Bear on mural paintings of Koguryo( (from
THE FORMATION OF HEAVEN AND EARTH 23
Maitreya thought, ‘I can’t possibly live like this. I will have to discover the origins of water and fire because only I can do it.’
Maitreya captured a grasshopper, and put him on a chair reserved for criminals, and hit his kneecap with a stick three times.
‘Talk, grasshopper! Do you know the origins of water and fire?’ asked Maitreya.
‘I’m just a trifle that drinks dewdrops at night and basks in the sun by day. How can I know about it? I think you had better ask the frog which came into being earlier than I’, answered the grasshopper.
Maitreya thought that the grasshopper’s idea was good, so he captured a frog and hit its kneecap with a stick three times.
‘Listen, frog! Do you know about the origins of water and fire?’ asked Maitreya.
‘I’m just a trifle that drinks dewdrops at night and basks in the sun by day. How can I know about it? If you want to know, why don’t you ask a mouse two or three years older than me? Maybe he will know’, replied the frog.
Maitreya thought the frog’s suggestion was a good one, so he caught a mouse and hit its kneecap with a stick three times.
‘Say, mouse! Do you know about the origins of water and fire?’ asked Maitreya.
‘If I tell you, what will you give me as a reward?’ replied the mouse.
‘I will permit you to be in charge of all rice chests in the world’, replied Maitreya.
Fig. 5 A woman weaving on mural paintings of Koguryo(
24 MYTHS ABOUT COSMOLOGY AND FLOOD
‘If that’s so, I will tell you.There are two stones, one is quartz, and the other is cast iron from Mount Ku(mjo(ng. If you strike the two stones together vigor- ously, you will get fire. And there is a spring on Mount Soha. If you see the murmuring spring, you will find the origin of water’, replied the mouse.
Finally, Maitreya thought about the birth of humans, once he knew the origins of water and fire.
Maitreya prayed to the heavens with one hand raised holding a silver tray and the other hand raised holding a gold tray. From the heavens, the heads of five bugs fell onto the silver tray and the heads of five bugs fell onto the gold tray. The five gold bugs grew into men and the five silver bugs grew into women. These men and women married, and mankind was started by these five couples.6
Mankind enjoyed peaceful times eating one-so(m or one-mal of rice. But
Sakyamuni (So(kga),7 who was descended from the sky, intended to steal Maitreya’s world.
‘This world is still mine, not yours’, said Maitreya.
‘Your world has already gone. Now I will have my world’, replied Sakyamuni.
‘If you want to deprive me of my world, we should see who will win in a contest, filthy, ignoble Sakyamuni!’ suggested Maitreya.
Sakyamuni agreed to the contest. So Maitreya suspended a gold-bottle with a gold-string and Sakyamuni hung a silver-bottle with a silver-string in the centre of the East Sea.8
Before the match started, Maitreya said, ‘If my bottle’s string breaks first, the world is yours. But if your bottle’s string breaks first, it is not your world yet.’
Sakyamuni’s string broke first. But Sakyamuni demanded another contest. ‘Let the winner be the one who freezes the water of So(ngch’o(n River in summer’, said Maitreya.
Sakyamuni said, ‘I accept.’ Whereupon Maitreya performed ‘the winter solstice-rite,’ and Sakyamuni carried out the ‘onset of spring-rite’. Maitreya froze the river first, and Sakyamuni lost the contest. But again Sakyamuni demanded another contest.
‘After we set a peony on our knees we will lay ourselves down. If the peony flowers on my knees, this world is mine. But if it blooms on your knees, this world is yours’, replied Maitreya.
Sakyamuni agreed to Maitreya’s proposal. But tricky Sakyamuni like a thief took a light sleep, whereas Maitreya took a deep sleep. When night fell, the peony bloomed on Maitreya’s knee. When Sakyamuni saw it, he quickly plucked the flower and put it on his own knee.
‘You are filthy and base, Sakyamuni! The peony bloomed on my knee.You stole my flower to put on your knee. Because of this the flower will wither within ten days and even if the flower is planted, it will not last for ten years’, cursed Maitreya.
THE FORMATION OF HEAVEN AND EARTH 25
wanted nothing more to do with him. So, Maitreya decided to pass his world to Sakyamuni.
‘Filthy and base Sakyamuni! If the world becomes yours, every village will have poles for shamanic rituals, every family will have shamans,9and every
Fig. 6 The origin of fire, the origin of water (Lee Chiyo(n.
26 MYTHS ABOUT COSMOLOGY AND FLOOD
clan will have professional female entertainers,10 widows, rebels, and butchers.11 And of three thousand monks a thousand will become house- holders. If this happens, your world will go to the dogs.’
Just three days after Maitreya predicted this, a thousand of the three thou- sand monks became householders.
Maitreya ran away as soon as he saw them.
Sakyamuni and the monks looked for Maitreya. When they advanced into the mountains, there was a roe deer. Sakyamuni caught the roe deer and gave the three thousand monks the roe deer meat on three thousand skewers.
‘To eat the meat on three thousands skewers cut down the old trees on this mountain to make a fire’, said Sakyamuni.
At this time two of the three thousands monks got up and threw the meat away.
They each shouted, ‘I want to become a shamanist god!’12
After they said this, they died at that place and later turned into rocks and pine trees on the mountain.
Because of this, people perform an annual sacrificial rite for the spirits of the mountains and streams on a mountain with raw rice and cooked rice, and people go to a mountain to enjoy a spring picnic.13
NOTES
1 Maitreya: He is the Buddha of the future, and called Miru(k in the Korean language.
Its original name and function may have been lost, adopting the form of Buddhism
2 The act of getting rid of the extra sun and moon was black magic. Controlling the
number of suns stands for preventing heat and drought, whereas controlling the number of moons stands for preventing flood.
3 Korean folks believe that these little stars called chikso(ng influence the destiny of a
person according to his/her age.
4 So(m: Equivalent to 5.12 US bushels, 47.6 US gallons. 5 Mal: Equivalent to 4.765 US gallons.
6 A female shaman Kang Ch’unok performed Ssaeng Kut in which Miru(k created
humans from clay.
7 He is the historic Buddha, and called So(kga in the Korean language. Its original
name and function may have been lost in the same way as for Miru(k.
8 The East Sea: It is called Tonghae in the Korean language.
9 Shamans: In this sentence, they are females called mudang in the Korean language. 10 In traditional Korea, these women called kisaeng were singing and dancing in a
drinking house.
11 In traditional Korea, butchers called paekjo(ng were considered a despised class of
people.
The Original Title: Ch’angsega (Song of Creation)
The Source: Son Chint’ae, Choso(n SingaYup’yo(n (Extant Shamanist Songs of Korea), Tokyo: Hyangt’omunhwasa, 1930.
THE FORMATION OF HEAVEN AND EARTH 27
12 This god called a so(ngin or a sein in Kwanbuk district’s kut (shamanist rite). All myths
about so(ngin are chanted in So(ngin Kut or Ssen Kut.These pray for an old man’s longevity, a family’s prosperity, the birth of a son, property’s increase, etc.
13 Folk would go to the hills for a picnic and some traditional dancing in traditional
Korea. And in some regions, pan-fried foods were made with flowers like azaleas and would be served.
CHAPTER 2
Shoot for a Sun, Shoot for a Moon
W
hen Taebyo(lwang1and Sobyo(lwang were born, Ch’o(nji was the King of Heaven.2At that time there were two suns and two moons in the sky. Because of the two suns and moons, people burned to death in the daytime and froze to death at night.One day, King Ch’o(nji dreamed he swallowed one sun and one moon. King Ch’o(nji was certain that the dream was a solution for human suffering. So he went to Chiguk Castle to be wed to Lady Ch’ongmaeng.
Although King Ch’o(nji visited her without warning, Lady Ch’ongmaeng wished to treat King Ch’o(nji well. However, she was so poor that she did not have even a single grain of rice to cook for him. ‘I should borrow some rice from Sumyo(ng Changja,’3thought Lady Ch’ongmaeng. However, Sumyong Changja was a wicked man. When he loaned her rice, he mixed sand with it.
Fig. 7 The Sky God who rode a phoenix, holding a flag in his right hand
(from mural paintings of Ch’o(nwangjisin-ch’ong of Koguryo(. Sunch’o(n, South Pyo(ngan Province). Fourth to fifth century.