III. The Origin of the Dhammugal Bodhisattva
The existing view of Geumgangsan regards the origin of Geumgangsan as a kind of faith and sees it as an extension of the idea of the Buddha-land that originated in the Silla period. However, the recent re-illumination of Gaya research shows, contrary to the existing view, that Geumgangsan may actually be the Geumgangsan of the Avataṃsaka Sūtra. Until now, the theory that Geumgangsan is actually the Geumgangsan of the Avataṃsaka Sūtra has been steadily raised. Even if one regards only the records mentioned already from the Three Kingdoms period as factual, there are many records.
The existing theories that support Byeon Gwang-hyeon's theory that Geumgangsan is actually the Geumgangsan of the Avataṃsaka Sūtra are broadly the "sea" theory of the Mahāyāna figure Nāgārjuna Bodhisattva and the "theory of the maritime propagation of Buddhism" of Professor Lewis Lancaster of Harvard University, a renowned authority in world Buddhist studies today. Kang Sang-won argues that in the Oxford dictionary written by the Sanskrit master William James, Śākyamuni is said to have been of the Dangun people.[15]
First, if we examine the "sea" theory of the Mahāyāna figure Nāgārjuna Bodhisattva, it provides an important clue connected with the "Bodhisattva" rank of the Dhammugal Bodhisattva. As is well known, "Bodhisattva" is a representative term of Mahāyāna Buddhism, and Nāgārjuna Bodhisattva is the representative of Mahāyāna Buddhism. To begin, Mahāyāna Buddhism presents diverse views on the identity of Buddhism. First of all, in Mahāyāna Buddhism the scriptures themselves are regarded, so to speak, less as the direct preaching of the Tathāgata Śākyamuni spoken of in Hīnayāna Buddhism than as a Buddhist way of thinking. The scriptures of Mahāyāna Buddhism represented by the Heart Sutra, the Avataṃsaka Sūtra, the Lotus Sutra, the Diamond Sutra, the Cheonsu-gyeong, and the like never appeared at all in Hīnayāna Buddhism; therefore Amitābha Buddha, Avalokiteśvara, and the Buddhas of the past, which newly appeared in Mahāyāna Buddhism, are of unclear substance in Hīnayāna Buddhism. It is said that the gods of Hinduism were accepted in Mahāyāna Buddhism. Nāgārjuna Bodhisattva, the source of the Heart Sutra, the Avataṃsaka Sūtra, the Lotus Sutra, the Diamond Sutra, and the Cheonsu-gyeong, even said that he had gone to the Dragon Palace of the sea and brought back these Mahāyāna scriptures, and the Mahāyāna Buddhist community all officially acknowledged this. As is well known, Southern Buddhism, which is Hīnayāna, and Northern Buddhism, which is Mahāyāna, even differ in their very Buddhist eras (Buddhist calendars).
That Nāgārjuna Bodhisattva's "sea" and "Dragon Palace" were officially acknowledged by the Mahāyāna Buddhist community shows that at that time "sea" and "Dragon Palace" were used in a sense different from today's.[16] As a term like "cheondok (天毒)" shows, "sea" and "Dragon Palace" are said to have been used at that time to refer to the Land of the Gentlemen east of China, where Geumgangsan is located today. The "sea theorists" such as Park Yong-suk say that Chengguan, in the end, rendered the sea of the Avataṃsaka Sūtra in the terminology of that time and interpreted it—unlike today's sea—as the eastern country, thereby interpreting Geumgangsan as a mountain of the eastern country.
In the end, this shows that already in the time of Mahāyāna Buddhism, Buddhism saw Mount Sumeru not in India but in the east, where Geumgangsan is located, and officially acknowledged that Buddhism came from the east. The points that the Dhammugal Bodhisattva is a bodhisattva and that Geumgangsan too belongs to the Avataṃsaka Sūtra, a Mahāyāna scripture, become evidence that the Avataṃsaka Sūtra itself was already written regarding Geumgangsan as the actual Geumgangsan of Korea. Therefore the sea theorists argue that the Yuan aristocrats too recognized Geumgangsan as the Geumgangsan of the Avataṃsaka Sūtra.
Next, if we examine the "theory of the maritime propagation of Buddhism" of Professor Lewis Lancaster of Harvard University, a renowned authority in world Buddhist studies today, the "theory of the maritime propagation of Buddhism" also demonstrates actual cases for the theory of the "sea theorists." Lewis Lancaster, director of the project to digitize the world's Buddhist materials, regards the feminization of Buddhist bodhisattvas such as Avalokiteśvara as evidence of maritime propagation.[17] Since religion has an affinity with commerce, just as Buddhism was propagated by way of the Silk Road, Buddhism is said to have been propagated by way of maritime trade routes; and because this was more powerful than overland routes, the Buddhist images came to display the femininity that is characteristic of maritime culture. Heo Hwang-ok too is connected with the twin-fish motif related to maritime culture, and in fact India and Geumgangsan were, like Empress Heo, highly likely to have been connected by sea routes.
On the other hand, traditionally "sea" was, unlike with Lewis Lancaster, also regarded as a desert.[18] India and Geumgangsan are separated by desert, and the world beyond the desert became, in effect, the Dragon Palace of the Land of the Gentlemen.
There are two difficulties in accepting the existing theory, and recent theories are resolving these difficulties, thereby lending strength to the theory that the Geumgangsan of the Avataṃsaka Sūtra is actually today's Geumgangsan. Of the two difficulties, the first is whether, if Buddhism arose at Geumgangsan, there are other similar cases and by what principle; and the second is whether there is historical evidence by which Geumgangsan can be interpreted as a center called the Land of the Gentlemen. As for the first, the discussion of the principle by which Buddhism could arise at Geumgangsan has appeared in recent discussions related to Gaya, and the second, the documentary evidence, has recently emerged from China's Northwest Project.
First, if we examine the first, principial aspect: the tidal flats and rivers of Gaya, and the sun, are said to be the principle of the origin of Buddhism. Among the artifacts recently discovered in Gaya, the ones that draw the most attention are the cauldron (sot) and the steamer (siru). The cauldron and steamer also appear at temples related to Maitreya Buddha represented by Jinpyo—namely Geumsansa, Beopjusa, and Baryeonsa—and the reason the cauldron and steamer draw attention is that the principle of the circulation of water and sun that appears in the cauldron and steamer can become a basis for Buddhism.[19] Whereas the Buddhist principle of transmigration was skewed toward the single lifetime of a human being, ancient, former Buddhism applied transmigration not only to human beings but to all things. The particular attention paid to Gaya in connection with Buddhism on the Korean Peninsula is because Gaya was not only the most advanced civilized state of that time but is also connected with the Gaya of India. The very character bul (佛, Buddha) is said to signify measuring and awakening oneself with bow and arrow toward the sun.[20] In the representative dragon-and-phoenix culture of Northeast Asia, if the sun and moon as the sun-deity symbolize the phoenix, then Venus, which conveys the power of the sun, becomes the principle of the Five Phases. In antiquity the serpent signifies the changes of the sun, and fire signifies the circulation of the sun's energy. The light, heat, and humidity that the sun possesses are, respectively,
Next, if we examine the documentary aspect: it is that in China's Northwest Project cases in which Dangun is identified with the Yellow Emperor occur frequently.[21] The Yellow Emperor's being identified with Dangun is that, like Dangun, the Yellow Emperor remained as an immortal. The Yellow Emperor lived more than 400 years, and this is also said to mean that some 400 years later, in the time of Emperor Yao—who was close to being his own great-great-grandson—the Yellow Emperor founded the Land of the Gentlemen in the east as Dangun. Although the debate over the origins of Korean Seon-do and Taoism had found no clue toward resolution, an unexpected clue comes to be unraveled through China's Northwest Project.
If the Yellow Emperor and Dangun are connected with each other, then the origin of Buddhism is connected with the sun-deity, providing a great clue toward resolving the difficult problems of understanding and propagating Buddhism. In the end, the Dhammugal Bodhisattva, as a discussion of the Buddhism before Buddhism, becomes an occasion to examine Hoeamsa.