II. The Etymology of Geumgangsan
If we examine the studies that survive to the present concerning the etymology of Geumgangsan, they are broadly divided into the theory that it derives from the Dhammugal Bodhisattva of the Avataṃsaka Sūtra and the theory that Geumgangsan derives from Mount Sumeru. The widely known one is the theory related to the Dhammugal Bodhisattva, but the theory related to Mount Sumeru explains the part that the theory related to the Dhammugal Bodhisattva fails to account for.
If we examine how the theory that it derives from the Dhammugal Bodhisattva of the Avataṃsaka Sūtra became a topic of discussion, this dates from the Joseon period. Dhammugal (曇無竭) is a transliteration of the Sanskrit "Dharmogata," meaning to give rise to the Dharma (法). It signifies beopseong (法性, dharma-nature), beopyong (法勇), or beopsang (法尙), and this is also called Beopgi (法起). Therefore the Dhammugal Bodhisattva is a transliteration of the Beopgi Bodhisattva (法起菩薩). According to the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty, when King Taejong asked his officials, "Whenever Chinese envoys come, they invariably wish to see Geumgangsan; what is the reason for this?" Ha Ryun (河崙) and others reported, "It is because the story of Geumgangsan is recorded in the Tripiṭaka and has thus become widely known throughout the world."[4]
The name Geumgangsan appears in the Eighty-fascicle Avataṃsaka Sūtra (八十華嚴經), a scripture slightly later than the Sixty-fascicle Avataṃsaka Sūtra, translated by Śikṣānanda between 695 and 704: "In the midst of the sea there is Geumgangsan, where bodhisattvas have dwelt since ancient times. Now the Beopgi Bodhisattva resides there, dwelling together with more than 12,000 attendants (眷屬) and constantly preaching the Dharma."[5] Since in this passage the Beopgi Bodhisattva is a transliteration of the Dhammugal Bodhisattva, the Dhammugal Bodhisattva is sometimes identified as a real person of the Eastern Jin period. That is, an Indian prince is said to have actually practiced asceticism at Geumgangsan in search of the Buddhist Dharma. Although the time of translation was 695–704, since the Sixty-fascicle Avataṃsaka Sūtra was translated in the Eastern Jin period, it is regarded as the Eastern Jin period (317–420).
On the other hand, there are also many interpretations holding that Beopgi, or the Dhammugal Bodhisattva, represents the exquisite, strangely shaped crags of Geumgangsan rather than being a real person. This is because there is no record that the Dhammugal Bodhisattva was actually at Geumgangsan, and because the meaning of Beopgi carries the sense of rising up like strangely shaped crags. If Beopgi is a term expressing the appearance of Geumgangsan, it may be more closely connected with the origin of the name Geumgangsan. As regards the origin of Geumgangsan, more meaning is contained in the term "Bodhisattva" than in the meaning of Dhammugal, and this the author seeks to clarify in the following Chapter III, "The Dhammugal Bodhisattva."
The book that clearly presents the location of Geumgangsan is the Commentary on the Avataṃsaka Sūtra (華嚴經疏) by Chengguan (澄觀), a monk of Tang China. According to him, "To the east of the Eastern Sea there is a mountain called Geumgang (金剛). It is not entirely gold, but from top to bottom and on all four sides, all the way up into the mountain valleys, there is gold within the flowing water and the sand. Viewed from afar, the whole may well be called gold. Moreover, the people of Haedong (海東) have transmitted from of old among themselves that on this mountain sages (聖人) frequently appear."[6]
Geumgangsan's coming to be venerated today as the Geumgangsan of Buddhism is said to be traced to the eighth-century Great Master Uisang. Min Ji (閔漬), a civil official of the late Goryeo period, wrote in his Records of the History of Yujeomsa on Geumgangsan: "According to old records of Silla, when the Dharma Master Uisang first entered Odaesan and then reached Geumgangsan, the Dhammugal Bodhisattva manifested himself and said to the master, ‘Odaesan is a land where only those who have cultivation can escape the dust of the mundane world.’"
In the Yujeomsa section (楡岾寺條) of the Dongguk yeoji seungnam, there is transmitted a legend that the place where fifty-three Buddhas from the country of Wolji (月支國, the Yuezhi) arrived at this shore riding an iron bell and first settled was the site of Yujeomsa. There is a record that in the time of Queen Jindeok of Silla there were four sacred sites (靈地), and that when the state decided great affairs, if they gathered at these sacred sites and deliberated, the matter would surely be accomplished. Geumgangsan is included among these four sacred sites, but it is said that it is not known what historical events were plotted there. It may also be seen as the background to the tale of Prince Maui (麻衣太子) transmitted at Geumgangsan.
The great popularity of the Geumgangsan faith is regarded as belonging to the period of Yuan interference in the Goryeo period. The Geumgangsan faith flourished greatly during the period of Yuan interference. The Geumgangsan faith influenced not only Goryeo but also the neighboring Yuan dynasty, and at that time Geumgangsan is said to have been recognized as a Buddhist holy site of East Asia.[7]
Yi Gok (李穀), a scholar and civil official of the period of Yuan interference in Goryeo, wrote in the "Jangansa Stele (長安寺碑)": "The Avataṃsaka Sūtra says that in the midst of the northeastern sea there is Geumgangsan, where the Dhammugal Bodhisattva, together with 12,000 bodhisattvas, is constantly expounding the Prajñā (般若)." Yi Gok also described the frequent Buddhist services in that region brought about by the popularity of the Geumgangsan faith: "The envoys of the Son of Heaven bringing incense and offerings lined the roads, and the gentlemen and ladies (士女) from all directions, not deeming a thousand-li journey too far, came loading offerings on oxen and horses, carrying them on their backs and bearing them on their heads, so that those who made offerings to the Buddha and the monks stood heel to heel."
One may also cite the almsgiving made to Jangansa (長安寺) on Geumgangsan by Empress Gi (奇皇后), famous as a figure who, having originated as a tribute-woman (貢女) of Goryeo, became the second empress of Emperor Shun (順帝) of the Yuan.[8] The story that, when Empress Gi at that time gave alms to Jangansa on Geumgangsan, she said, "If one wishes to pray for blessings and repay Heaven above, there is no place like Jangansa on Geumgangsan," shows exactly the popularity of the Geumgangsan faith of that time. Because Jangansa, which had maintained relations with the Yuan imperial house from before, was located on Geumgangsan where the Dhammugal Bodhisattva permanently resided, Empress Gi too chose Jangansa as the most suitable temple for conducting Buddhist services to pray for the blessing of the emperor and her son.
If we examine what is transmitted as records of visits by Yuan envoys, when Cheolsan Sogyeong (鐵山昭瓊), a disciple of the eminent Yuan monk Mongsan Deogi (夢山德異), came to Goryeo in 1304 (the 30th year of King Chungnyeol of Goryeo) at the invitation of the Goryeo Buddhist community, one of the places he visited was Geumgangsan. Min Ji, who guided Cheolsan Sogyeong to Geumgangsan at that time, recorded in his historical records that Geumgangsan was the abode of the Dhammugal Bodhisattva. Min Ji informs us that Cheolsan's pilgrimage to Geumgangsan was carried out out of faith in the Dhammugal Bodhisattva.
Jigong, who founded Hoeamsa, also designated the site of Hoeamsa as a place of ascetic practice of a Buddha of the past, and visited Geumgangsan before building Hoeamsa. When Jigong (指空), a Yuan monk and the master of Naong Hyegeun (懶翁惠勤)—royal preceptor of the late Goryeo period—visited Goryeo in 1326 (the 13th year of King Chungsuk of Goryeo), Jigong passed through Gaegyeong and went straight into Geumgangsan, traveling about there for a month. The place Jigong sought at that time is said to have been the Beopgi ritual site (法起道場) of Geumgangsan—that is, Yujeomsa. The very naming of the ritual site as the Beopgi ritual site informs us that Jigong paid his respects at Geumgangsan out of an expression of faith in the Beopgi Bodhisattva (the Dhammugal Bodhisattva).
The theory that the origin of the name Geumgangsan derives from the Avataṃsaka Sūtra shows well the documentary records and the historical flow. However, this theory regards the name "geumgang" as having begun from the "lightning" and "diamond" of the god Vajra. "Geumgang" is an interpretation of the Sanskrit Vajracchedikā rendered by meaning, and its meaning is said to be "cutting with a strong force like the vajra (Vajra)." The vajra is said to be like the thunderbolt of the god Indra. The meaning of the title "Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra" comes to mean the scripture of powerful wisdom that shatters discrimination, attachment, and defilements within the mind and leads to enlightenment.
The Sanskrit word "vajra" is said originally to have been a word meaning both a thunderbolt and geumgangseok (the diamond/adamant) at the same time.[9] Since geumgangseok has a more symbolic meaning than a thunderbolt, there is a possibility that it is a later-derived meaning. If geumgangseok means diamond, then verification of whether it was known as a diamond in India at that time ought to come first. That the original meaning of "geumgang" is closer to "lightning" than to geumgangseok is also shown by the fact that the "vajra (金剛杵)," said to wield the power of "geumgang," has a form like that of thunder.
The theory that the name Geumgangsan is connected with the Dhammugal Bodhisattva is rich in documentary records and historical verification, but it is lacking in its explanation of the origin of "lightning" and "diamond" and of the background of the combination of "geumgang" and "san" (mountain). It requires a more fundamental explanation. The theory that supplements this fundamental explanation is the theory that connects Geumgangsan with Mount Sumeru.
Meanwhile, if we examine the theory that the origin of the name Geumgangsan is related to Mount Sumeru, this theory is in turn divided into the theory that Geumgangsan corresponds to the Iron-Ring Mountain (Cakravāḍa) in the Buddhist cosmology represented by the Nine Mountains and Eight Seas, and the theory that Geumgangsan is itself Mount Sumeru.
First, if we examine the theory that Geumgangsan corresponds to the Iron-Ring Mountain in the Buddhist Nine Mountains and Eight Seas cosmology, this is connected with the Dhammugal Bodhisattva theory examined above. Chengguan (澄觀, 738–839), the State Preceptor Qingliang (淸凉國師) of the Tang dynasty, who—on the basis of the discovered records—argued that Geumgangsan was a mountain of the Eastern Sea, while annotating the Avataṃsaka Sūtra stated that Geumgangsan could not be a mountain in the middle of the sea and was clearly a mountain in the Eastern Sea region. Here, the notion that Geumgangsan is a mountain in the middle of the sea points to the Buddhist cosmology whereby Geumgangsan corresponds to the Iron-Ring Mountain of the Nine Mountains and Eight Seas cosmology.
There is a theory that regards the Iron-Ring Mountain's having become today's Geumgangsan as due to topographical factors and to the factor of the faith in Buddhas of the past. As for the topographical factor first, it is said to be because Geumgangsan, on the east coast of the Korean Peninsula, having much cliff topography and rock, was a beautiful mountain that, viewed from afar, looked like shining, hard stone—that is, like "geumgang." In the old days people called this mountain "Gaegolsan," but when Chengguan's account was transmitted and spread in our country, people gradually came to believe that the mountain of which Chengguan spoke pointed to precisely this mountain, and in the end began to call this mountain "Geumgangsan (金剛山)."
If we examine records related to the faith in Buddhas of the past, the faith in Buddhas of the past connected with Geumgangsan is also rich in traditions other than that of the Dhammugal Bodhisattva of the Avataṃsaka Sūtra. The tradition other than that of the Dhammugal Bodhisattva is the tradition related to the Seven Buddhas of the Past. Dhammugal is a bodhisattva, but the Buddhas of the past are Buddhas on the same level as Śākyamuni. In the "Ado gira (阿道基羅)" section of the Samguk yusa, there is recorded the content in which Godoryeong (高道寧), mother of the Goguryeo monk Ado hwasang (阿道和尚), when sending her son Ado to Silla, said: "This Goguryeo does not yet know the Buddhist Dharma, but within the capital (京都) of that country (Silla) there are seven temple sites, all of which are temple sites of the age of former Buddhas (前佛)."
In fact, there is a theory that the tribes, including the Śākya clan, who lived mainly north of the Ganges River were not Aryan whites but a yellow race and, in a broad sense, Mongols. The theory that the Śākya clan would have been a yellow race was also asserted by nineteenth-century scholars.[10] Jigong, who founded Hoeamsa, also left records related to the Seven Buddhas of the Past besides the Dhammugal Bodhisattva. In the 15th year of King Chungsuk of Goryeo, the Seon Master Jigong (指空禪師), the 108th patriarch (祖師) of India, came to Hoeamsa (檜巖寺) on Cheonbosan (天寶山) in Yangju, surveyed the temple site, and said, "This is the site of a great monastery (大伽藍之址也) from the time of the Seven Buddhas of the ancient world (上世七佛)."[11]
The content that Geumgangsan is related to the Iron-Ring Mountain of the Buddhist Nine Mountains and Eight Seas cosmology also connects with the "trichiliocosm" that appears in the legend of the fairy and the woodcutter associated with Geumgangsan. The Nine Mountains and Eight Seas (九山八海) is said to refer, in Buddhist cosmology, to the nine great mountains (大山) including Mount Sumeru (須彌山) that exist upon the golden wheel (金輪)—that is, the great earth (大地)—within one Sumeru-world (一須彌世界), the basic unit constituting one cosmos, that is, one trichiliocosm (三千大千世界), together with the eight great seas (大海) surrounding those mountains.[12] In the Dīrgha Āgama, the Iron-Ring Mountain, the ninth of the Buddhist Nine Mountains and Eight Seas, appears as the Vajra-ring Mountain (Geumgang-wi-san).
The Buddhist Nine Mountains and Eight Seas cosmology is said to appear in scriptures such as the Dīrgha Āgama (長阿含經), fascicle 18, "30. Sūtra of the Ages (世紀經)," the Sūtra on the Arising of Worlds (起世經), fascicle 1, and the Sūtra on the Causes and Origins of the Arising of Worlds (起世因本經), fascicle 1; in sectarian-Buddhist treatises such as the Abhidharmakośa (俱舍論), fascicle 11; and in Mahāyāna treatises such as the Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra (瑜伽師地論), fascicle 2. It is said that although the order differs somewhat according to each scripture, the point that the Iron-Ring Mountain is the ninth mountain does not differ. Among the Nine Mountains, excepting the first mountain, Mount Sumeru, which is made of the four treasures (四寶) and seven treasures (七寶), and the ninth mountain, the Iron-Ring Mountain, which is made of iron (鐵), the remaining seven mountains are all made of gold (金), a jewel, and are therefore called the Seven Golden Mountains (七金山). Among the Nine Mountains, Mount Sumeru is a single enormous mountain, but the remaining eight mountains are mountains only in name and are in reality mountain ranges.
When the term trichiliocosm is taken as the basic unit constituting the cosmos in Buddhist cosmology, Geumgangsan's corresponding to the Iron-Ring Mountain, the ninth mountain, forms a structure of correspondence with Mount Sumeru. In fact, the theory that Geumgangsan is itself Mount Sumeru appeared in later ages.
The theory that Geumgangsan is not the Iron-Ring Mountain but that Geumgangsan itself is Mount Sumeru was advocated by the late Professor Byeon Gwang-hyeon. In fact, although no document can be found that directly connects Geumgangsan's designation in the Avataṃsaka Sūtra with cosmology, one may say that the mention of geumgang is associated with Mount Sumeru. Even in Buddhist cosmology, though the Iron-Ring Mountain is called the ninth of the Nine Mountains, mountains two through eight are all mountains of gold, and only the first, Mount Sumeru, and the ninth, the Iron-Ring Mountain, appear as actual mountains; and since in the Yin-Yang and Yijing studies (yeokhak) as well the numbers 1 and 9 correspond to each other, there is a theoretical background for Geumgangsan possibly being Mount Sumeru.
Although the theory that Geumgangsan itself is Mount Sumeru may also be inferred from Buddhist cosmology, Professor Byeon Gwang-hyeon's theory is explained mainly from the historical aspect. The theory of Geumgangsan as the center of ancient civilization is the theory of Byeon Gwang-hyeon, a former professor at Andong University who is said to have met a mysterious death after presenting this theory in 2005.[13] Byeon Gwang-hyeon presents the grounds for his theory of Geumgangsan as the center of ancient civilization through a triple method of evidence: documents, remains, and theory. Byeon Gwang-hyeon graduated from the graduate school of the Department of Fine Arts at Seoul National University and earned a doctorate in Britain for research on dolmens, and was a world-class dolmen expert.
Byeon Gwang-hyeon says that around 2300 BC, when Dangun and Emperor Yao are said to have founded their states, the existing ancient civilization collapsed through a natural disaster caused by a satellite collision. As appears in the Shanhaijing, the Book of Documents, and the Buddhist scriptures, ten suns are said to have appeared at that time, but the sun shone only over Geumgangsan while the remaining regions were covered in darkness. As the sunlight gradually spread out with Geumgangsan at its center, a new Bronze Age civilization is said to have propagated outward together with comb-pattern pottery. The Mount Sumeru of Buddhism and the tales of the Shanhaijing are said to recount events of Geumgangsan at that time.[14]
The three grounds Byeon Gwang-hyeon presents are: first, dolmens as artifacts; second, the Shanhaijing and the Buddhist scriptures as documents; and third, the theory of the fabrication of pyramid dating as theory. Looking first at dolmens, Professor Byeon Gwang-hyeon says that, since more than one-half of the world's dolmens are concentrated in Korea, it is a fact beyond doubt that Korea is the origin of ancient civilization. However, he says that the reason Korea is not recognized as the origin of ancient civilization in the history of ancient civilization is that Britain, taking the excavation of the pyramids as an occasion, raised the chronology of the pyramids by more than 2,000 years, whereby the eras were reversed. The West, he says, thereafter expanded discourse about extraterrestrials. Professor Byeon argued that if the age of the pyramids is restored to what it was before the alteration, one can confirm that all ancient relics spread out with Korea's Geumgangsan at the center. Here, the author will first present the factual matters concerning Geumgangsan, and then discuss the details in the following chapter on the Dhammugal Bodhisattva.