Sŏk Pŏbun’s 釋法雲 secular name was Kongnŭngjong 公夌宗, his posthumous epithet Chinhŭng 眞興 (534-540-576).[391] He was the brother of King Pŏphŭng and the son of King Kalmun 葛文王 (500-514).[392] His mother’s maiden name was Kim. He ascended the throne at the age of seven years. Rightly indulgent and rightly benevolent,[393] he attended strictly to business and punctually observed his promises.[394] He rejoiced at hearing the good and strove to uproot the evil.
In the seventh year (544)[395] of his reign the Hŭngnyun monastery was completed, and the common people were permitted to enter the clergy. In the eighth year (545) he ordered the Tae ach‘an 大阿飡 Kŏch‘ilpu 居柒夫[396] and others to gather learned men to compile a national history. In the tenth year (549) [the state of] Liang dispatched an envoy, together with the student monk Kaktŏk 覺德 [who had studied abroad], and some relics.[397] The king sent officials to welcome them in front of the Hŭngnyun monastery. In the fourteenth year (553) he ordered construction of a new palace, east of Wŏlsŏng 月城,[398] and a yellow dragon [1019c] was seen on the spot. The king, moved by the sight, changed it into a monastery and named it the Hwangnyong (“Yellow Dragon”) monastery 黃龍寺.[399] In the twenty-sixth year (565) the Ch‘en (557-589) sent an envoy, Liu Ssu 劉思, and the monk Myŏnggwan 明觀 with more than 700 rolls of scriptures and treatises. In the twenty-seventh year (566) the two monasteries Chiwŏn 祗園 and Silche 實際[400] were completed, as was the Hwangnyong monastery too. In the tenth month of the thirty-third year (572) the king held a P‘algwanhoe 八關會 (“Assembly of the Eight Commandments”)[401] for the repose of officers and soldiers killed in action. The ceremony was held in the outer monastery and lasted for seven days. In the thirty-fifth year (574) a Buddha image sixteen feet high[402] was cast at the Hwangnyong monastery. Tradition says that it was cast with the gold which King Asŏka shipped to Sap‘o 絲浦.[403] The story is recorded in the biography of Chajang. In the thirty-sixth year (575) tears from the image flowed down to its heels.[404] In the thirty-seventh year (576) the wŏnhwa 原花[405] was first chosen as sŏllang 仙郞.
At first the king and his officials were perplexed by the problem of finding a way to discover the talented. They wished to have people disport themselves in groups so that they could observe their behavior and thus elevate [the talented among] them to positions of service. Therefore two beautiful girls, Nammu 南無[406] and Chunjŏng 俊貞,[407] were selected, and a group of about three hundred people gathered around them. But the two girls competed with each other, and Chunjŏng, after making friendly overtures to Nammu and plying her with wine till she was drunk, drowned her in the river. The group became discordant and abandoned the activity. Afterwards, handsome youths were chosen instead. They powdered their faces,[408] wore ornamented dresses, and were respected as hwarang 花郞,[409] and men of various sorts gathered around them. They instructed one another in the Way and in righteousness, entertained each other with songs and music, or went sightseeing to famous mountains and rivers, no matter how far away. From all this a man’s moral character can be discerned, and the good were recommended to the court.
Kim Tae-mun 金大問[410] in his [hwarang] segi 花郞世記 (Annals of the hwarang), remarks: “Henceforth, able ministers and loyal Subjects are chosen from them, and good generals and brave soldiers are born therefrom.” Ch‘oe Ch‘i-wŏn 崔致遠 (857ㅡㅡ?)[411] in his preface to the Nallang pi 鸞郞碑序 (Inscription on the tomb of Knight Nan) says: “There is a wonderful and mysterious way in the country, called p‘ungnyu 風流,[412] which in fact embraces the Three Teachings and transforms myriad men. It is a tenet of the Minister of Crime of Lu 魯司寇[413] that one should be filial to one’s parents and loyal to one’s sovereign; it is the belief of the Keeper of Archives of Chou 周柱史[414] that one should be at home in the action of inaction and practice the wordless doctrine; and it is the teaching of the Indian prince that one should avoid evil and do many good deeds.” Also, Ling-hu Ch‘eng 令狐澄[415] of T‘ang, in the Hsin-lo kuo-chi (Record of Silla) 新羅國記,[416] states that “the hwarang were chosen from the handsome sons of the nobles and their faces were made up. They were called hwarang, and were respected and served by their countrymen.[417] This was a way to facilitate the king’s government.” According to the [hwarang] segi, from wŏnhwa to the end of Silla there were more than 200 knights, of whom the “Four Knights”[418] were the wisest.
The king ascended the throne as a child and worshiped Buddha ardently. In his late years he shaved his head and became a monk. After he had donned a Buddhist robe he styled himself Pŏbun (“Clouds of the Law”). He received and retained the commandments and purified the three kinds of acts (trini-karmāni)[419] until his death. Upon his death the people buried him with ceremony on the peak north of the Aegong monastery 哀公寺.[420] In that year the master of the Law Anham 安含 arrived from Sui, the account of which will be related in his biography.
[1020a] The eulogy says: Great is the power of custom over man. Therefore, if the king wants to change the fashion of an age, no one can prevent his success, which follows like the downflow of water. After [King] Chinhŭng first worshiped Buddhism and initiated the way of the hwarang, people gladly followed him and imitated his example.[421] Their excitement was as great as when visiting a treasure house or when going to the spring terrace.[422] The [king’s] aim was to make the people progress toward goodness[423] and justice and to lead them to the Great Way.[424] Emperor Ai 哀帝 (26-7-1 B.C.)[425] of the [Former] Han loved only lust. Pan Ku 班固 (32-92)[426] therefore remarked, “The tenderness[427] which seduces man belongs not only to woman, but to man as well.” This indeed cannot be compared with our story [of the hwarang].