- Chey Chahng-jo’s Son Is Restored to Life
- 1 Chey Chahng-jo of Sae-ool Village had an only son who had suffered an illness from the age of nine.
- 2 Chahng-jo tried every means to cure him, but eventually his son died.
- 3 At first, Chahng-jo and his wife were hysterical and without hope, but suddenly he thought, “Teacher Jeung-san, the Heavenly Doctor, can revive even the dead.”
- 4 They looked for Sahng-jeh-nim for six days, but returned without having found Him.
- 5 That night, Sahng-jeh-nim appeared at Chahng-jo’s house.
- 6 Bowing deeply, the couple frantically begged in tears, “Please bring our son back to life.”
- 7 Sahng-jeh-nim said, “What could I possibly do for a dead person? But let Me see him anyway.” He examined the corpse and saw that the eyes had already started to decompose.
- 8 Meanwhile, Hwahng Eung-johng, who came to see Sahng-jeh-nim, heard crying as he approached the house. Instead of entering, he called Chahng-jo out and asked him to tell Sahng-jeh-nim of his arrival.
- 9 After going in and informing Sahng-jeh-nim, Chahng-jo came back out and said, “The Teacher is here, but is attending to an urgent matter. Please wait a while.”
- 10 Eung-johng was about to go over to the nearby inn to wait, when Sahng-jeh-nim called out for him.
- 11 Sahng-jeh-nim said, “Go cut stalks of unripe barley and bring them to Me.” Sahng-jeh-nim extracted juice from the barley and put a few drops into the dead child’s mouth.
- 12 He led everyone out of the room and said, “Look in on him after a couple of hours.”
- 13 After a couple of hours, Chahng-jo’s wife went into the room, and a moment later, the child took a deep breath and began to move.
- 14 Sahng-jeh-nim stroked the child’s stomach and then scolded, “How dare you lie down when an elder is present!” The child suddenly woke up.
- 15 Sahng-jeh-nim forbade anyone to talk and said, “This child has traveled more than a thousand lee. He needs to stay in a quiet place. Take him to the inner room and prepare rice soup for him.”
- 16 After the child was fed the soup, some fluid came out of his anus, and he completely regained consciousness.
- (JSD Dojeon 2,106)
