Kwanŭm (Avalokiteśvara) Divination: Buddhist Reconciliation with Confucianism in the Late Chosŏn
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Socio-Cultural and Religious Background of Kwanŭm (Avalokiteśvara) Divination
2.1. The Marginalization of Non-Confucian Religions
2.2. The Cult of Avalokiteśvara
2.3. Divination
3. Avalokiteśvara Divination
3.1. Avalokiteśvara Divination before the Chosŏn Era
3.2. Avalokiteśvara Divination in the Late Chosŏn Era
I take refuge in the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara who saves [sentient beings] out of suffering with great compassion and numen as large as heaven. The golden boy and the jade girl who are giving divination signs and all the gods and deities that come and go in the empty space! Now, on a certain day of a certain month in a certain year, a certain disciple has not been able to determine on a certain issue and therefore respectfully bow and ask the bodhisattva for help! Please show one of the thirty-two divination signs! Please clearly show the sign of fortune or misfortune, success or failure, and rise or fall without following human feelings or ghostly desires! There will be no one who cannot receive a wondrous sign if he or she exerts utter sincerity.南無大慈大悲 救苦救難 廣天靈感 觀世音菩薩 翻卦金童 掇卦玉女 虛空過往 一切神祇 今某年某月某日 有弟子 某姓某名 ?某省某府某縣某鄉某社人 ?因為某事 憂疑未決 虔誠拜請 在三十二課內占一課 莫順人情 莫順鬼意 吉凶禍福 成敗興亡 報應分明 凡誠心誠意者 無不靈驗也.
“When you try to get a governmental position, you will get one; if you already have a position in the government, you will get promoted to a higher position; if you take an exam, you will pass; if you go out, you will obtain property; if you are involved in a lawsuit, you will win; if you are ill, you will get better; if you seek wealth, you will get it; if you are going somewhere, you will get there; if you look for someone, you will find him/her; if you have lost a thing, you will soon recover it; even though you are sixty, you will get a son; your family will have occasions to celebrate; if you want to be married, you will get married; if you are in trade, you will have a deal; if you move to somewhere else, you will become greatly lucky; if you wish it to rain, there will be rain; if you wish it to stop, there will be no rain”.求官得位 朝觀高遷 考試得意 出路得財 訟事有理 病者安寧 求財十分 行人即至 尋人得見 失物東見 六甲生男 家宅吉慶 婚姻得成 見貴遂心 買賣十分 移徙大吉 祈雨即有 占晴即霽.
3.3. The Cases for the Performance of Avalokiteśvara Divination in the Late Chosŏn Era
4. Conclusions
Funding
Conflicts of Interest
References
Primary Materials
Chosŏn wangjo sillok 朝鮮王朝實錄.Hyŏnhaeng sŏbanggyŏng 現行西方經.Koryŏsa chŏryo 高麗史節要.Kukcho oryeŭi 國朝五禮儀.Kwanŭm Yŏnggwa 觀音靈課.Samguk sagi 三國史記.Samguk yusa 三國遺事.Sanguo zhi 三國志.T’aektangjip 澤堂集.Taejŏn hoet’ong 大典會通.Taejŏn t’ongp’yŏn 大典通編.Tongguk isang kukchip 東國李相國集.Tongguk sesigi 東國歲時記.Ŭibang yuch’wi 醫方類聚.Ŭngun Kongyŏ taesa yumang rok 應雲空如大師遺忘錄.Wandangchŏnjip 阮堂全集.Wŏlsajip 月沙集.Zhuzi jiali 朱子家禮.Secondary Materials
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1 | (http://krpia.co.kr: “Hyŏngjŏn”, Kyŏngguk taejŏn; http://krpia.co.kr: “Hyŏngjŏn”, Taejŏn hoet’ong; Pŏpchech’ŏ 1963, pp. 614–15). For anti-Buddhist policy in the Chosŏn era, see (Kim 2010; Son 2013, pp. 27–29; Sim 2003). For anti-folk religion policy in the Chosŏn era, see (Yi 2008, pp. 183–217). |
2 | |
3 | For early Chosŏn state efforts to systematize its rituals, see (Kim 2003; Kim 2010; Kang 2015). For details on the features of the Kukcho oryeŭi, see (Yi 2009, pp. 83–86). |
4 | For details on the spread of the Zhuzi jiali, see (Chang 2010). |
5 | For Confucians’ anti-Buddhist actions, see (Kim 2017). |
6 | |
7 | |
8 | (http://db.history.go.kr: “T’apsang” 4, Samguk yusa); for details on the Avalokiteśvara cult in the Samguk yusa, see (Ra 2009, pp. 153–84). |
9 | (Chŏng 1982). |
10 | (http://db.itkc.or.kr: “Ch’oe sangguk yangdanbyŏng Kwanŭm chŏmanso”, Tongguk isang kukchip 41). |
11 | For Avalokiteśvara cult, statues, and paintings in Koryŏ, see (Chŏng 2009, pp. 113–27). |
12 | For the publication of Avalokiteśvara texts during the Chosŏn era, see (Kim 2005, pp. 137–58; Pak 1987) and (http://kabc.dongguk.edu). |
13 | (Kim 2005). |
14 | For pokchang records of Avalokiteśvara statues in the Chosŏn era, see (Yu 2017, pp. 375–575). |
15 | (http://sillok.history.go.kr: November 23rd of the second year of King Kyŏngjong). |
16 | (http://db.itkc.or.kr: “Sŏdok” 27, Wandang chŏnjip 5). |
17 | For the Avalokiteśvara statue in the temple Tosŏnsa, see (Cho 2016, pp. 253–77). |
18 | For the Avalokiteśvara statue in the temple Kaehŭngsa, see (Ch’oe 2016). |
19 | It is not certain how this was actually performed. However, according to “Dongyi chuan”, this divination method was used to predict the auspice and omen of a war by examining the shape of the hoofs of a killed cow (https://ctext.org: ‘Puyŏ’, “Wei shu”, Sanguo zhi). |
20 | |
21 | (http://db.history.go.kr: “Wŏlmyŏng”, Samguk yusa); for divination practice in ancient Korea, see (Na 2017). |
22 | (Chosŏn ch’ongdokpu 1923 ha); for divination practice in Koryŏ, see (Kim 1973, pp. 192–93.) |
23 | (http://db.history.go.kr: December, the first year of King Hyŏnjong, Koryŏsa chŏryo); for discussion on the divination practices of the Koryŏ state, see (Kim 2013). |
24 | For the Kwansanggam office in the Chosŏn era, see (Yi 2008). |
25 | (http://db.itkc.or.kr; ‘Yujukto’, “Si”, T’aektangjip 5). |
26 | For divination practice in the Miam ilgi, see (Song 2007). |
27 | For divination practice in the Nanjung ilgi, see (Im 2012). |
28 | |
29 | (http://www.davincimap.co.kr: Tongguk sesigi). |
30 | (http://db.itkc.or.kr: “Nondaeŭi sŭbŏp”, Ŭibang yuch’i 1). |
31 | (http://db.itkc.or.kr: “Yŏngŭijŏng chŭngsi Munjŏng Sin kong sindo pimyŏng”, Wŏlsajip 44. |
32 | (Sŏ 2017). |
33 | It is not certain exactly how Avalokiteśvara divination was performed in Tianzhu, China. However, it was probably based on the manual, Tianzhu lingqian, which provides a similar divination method as the later Chinese and Koran Avalokiteśvara divination texts. The Guanshiyin pusa ganying lingguo has 32 divination verses, while the Tianzhu lingqian and the Tianzhu baiqian have 100 verses. For details on Chinese Avalokiteśvara divinations, see (Lin 2014). |
34 | (http://kabc.dongguk.edu: Hyŏnhaeng sŏbanggyŏng, Han’guk Pulgyo chŏnsŏ 6.861b05). |
35 | It is not clear who wrote this Ch’ŏn’gang sigwa and when it was written. It is not found in any of the Chinese and Korean text collections. It is also not a Buddhist divination text. It is also not known how it was used. |
36 | In two of the divination cases in the Yŏnggwa, a reign name or year is wrong. Lot 19 gives the thirteenth year of Tianfu 天福, the era name for Emperor Gaozu 高祖 (r. 936–942) of Later Jin (936–947), which was used during the first to ninth year (936–942) and 12th year (947). However, there was no 13th year in the Tianfu era. Lot 29 offers a case in the second year of Zhengshun 正順 during the Yuan dynasty. It seems Zhengshun is a typo of Zhishun 至順 (1331) because there was no such Yuan era of the former. |
37 | For the development of publications in the late Chosŏn era, see (Chŏng 2010, pp. 23–90). |
38 | In these two prayers, the title, “Kwanŭm yŏnggwa”, was never mentioned. Nonetheless, these prayers wished for the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara to respond to ohaeng. Because the Yŏnggwa was the only text that was related to ohaeng in the late Chosŏn, the Kwanŭm divination of the two cases was most likely performed based on the Yŏnggwa. |
39 | (http://kabc.dongguk.edu: “Miryang chol Yigong Kwanŭm chŏm ch’uksa”, 應雲空如大師遺忘錄 HPC 10, 733c03-c21) and “Yŏngan puwŏn’gun Kwanŭm chŏm ch’uksa”, op.cit., 733c23–p.734a13). |
40 | Beverley F. McGuire provides Ouyi Zhixu 蕅益智旭 (1599–1655) as such an example. According to her, Ouyi used divination “as a diagnostic tool for determining karma, so that one might then repent for one’s previous misconduct and commit oneself anew to the Buddhist path.” For more details on divination and karma, see (McGuire 2019, pp. 37–52 ) |
41 | For example, people performed divination on a regular basis in Chosŏn Korea, as already seen in the cases of Yi Sunsin and Yu Hŭich’un in the Section 2.3. |
42 | |
43 | |
44 | (http://db.itkc.or.kr: “Pukchŏng ilgi, Tŏkpong sŏnsaeng munjip 德峯先生文集 4). |
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Kim, S.U.K. Kwanŭm (Avalokiteśvara) Divination: Buddhist Reconciliation with Confucianism in the Late Chosŏn. Religions 2020, 11, 209. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel11040209
Kim SUK. Kwanŭm (Avalokiteśvara) Divination: Buddhist Reconciliation with Confucianism in the Late Chosŏn. Religions. 2020; 11(4):209. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel11040209
Chicago/Turabian StyleKim, Seong U. K. 2020. "Kwanŭm (Avalokiteśvara) Divination: Buddhist Reconciliation with Confucianism in the Late Chosŏn" Religions 11, no. 4: 209. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel11040209
APA StyleKim, S. U. K. (2020). Kwanŭm (Avalokiteśvara) Divination: Buddhist Reconciliation with Confucianism in the Late Chosŏn. Religions, 11(4), 209. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel11040209