- Great Monk Jin-mook’s Death
and the Development of Western Civilization
- 1 While staying at Bohng-suh Temple on Suh-bahng Mountain, Sahng-jeh-nim said to His disciples,
- 2 “The Confucian Gim Bohng-gohk was a jealous person. One day, Great Monk Jin-mook borrowed from him a set of volumes entitled, The Great Collection of Neo-Confucianism. Knowing Bohng-gohk would regret lending his books and would come after them, Jin-mook read and then threw away each of them on his way back to the temple.
- 3 As Jin-mook had predicted, Bohng-gohk soon regretted lending the books. He thought to himself, ‘Jin-mook has perfected his understanding of Buddhism. Now if he masters Confucianism, there will be no one to surpass him. Buddhism will prosper and Confucianism will lose much of its influence.’
- 4 He immediately sent someone to get the volumes back. Running after Jin-mook, the messenger picked up all the books scattered along the road.
- 5 “Later, when Jin-mook visited, Bohng-gohk pretended not to have the books and insisted Jin-mook return them.
- 6 Jin-mook said, ‘The books were useless, so I threw them all away.’ This infuriated Bohng-gohk.
- 7 Then, Jin-mook said, ‘I will recite the books for you. Why don’t you write down what I recite?’ He started reciting the books without missing a single word, making Bohng-gohk even more jealous.
- 8 “Some time after this, Jin-mook traveled as a spirit to the western region to study Buddhist writings and other works written in Sanskrit, leaving his body behind. Beforehand, he had ordered his attendant to lock the door from the outside and not to open it for eight days.
- 9 Hearing of this, Bohng-gohk went to the temple and demanded the door be opened. ‘Why do you deceive the world by hiding a corpse in this room?’ he harshly demanded of the attendant. Bohng-gohk had the body cremated.
- 10 “After eight days, Jin-mook came back and realized his body had disappeared.
- 11 In the sky, he cried loudly, ‘This is Bohng-gohk’s doing. I intended to advance the world after having gathered the essence of each culture. Due to Bohng-gohk’s jealousy, the work has been in vain. How wretched!
- 12 I will leave this country, and Bohng-gohk’s descendants will never do more than dig the ground with a hoe.’
- 13 Afterward, Jin-mook went to the West, taking with him the spirits who head the branches of each teaching of the East.”
- (JSD Dojeon 4,92)
