The Stone Mind 공안

Musings on subjectivity and objectivity in Buddhism.

From: Dong-seung 동승 (A Little Monk), 2003 by director Joo Kyung-jung.

The Dangun myth

Cheonje-dan altar on Taebaeksan in South-Korea, which became a substitute for North-Korean Baekdu Mountain.

The Korean sky god Haneullim (하늘님 "Heavenly King") had a son called Hwanung ("Heavenly Prince") who became interested in the earth with its mountains and valleys. He was allowed to descend to Baekdu Mountain in current North-Korea, then called Taebaeksan (great white mountain). A bear and a tiger came to visit Hwanung every day to pray. Hwanung promised to make them human if they ate only garlic and mugwort and stayed in the cave out of the sunlight for one hundred days. Only the bear succeeded in this task and Hwanung made the bear into a beautiful woman. But she grew lonely, so Hwanung gave her a male child: Dangun (“Sandalwood King").

According to myth Dangun founded the first Korean kingdom Gojosean (2333BC?–108 BC). The earliest record of the Dangun legend is found in Samguk yusa with the earliest extant publication of the text from 1512.

Inaccessible to South-Koreans: The summit caldera of Paektu Mountain, with Heaven Lake.

Dangun is often depicted with a robe made of leaves.

Dangun is worshipped with mountain spirit sanshin in the Samshingak of Manggyeong-sa 'All-encompassing-View Temple'.

Cheonje-dan altar on Taebaeksan in rainy clouds.

Taebaeksan and the Dangun myth

Taebaeksan and Munsubong are two striking peaks of Taebaek Mountains. On Taebaeksan a stone altar, most likely from the Silla period, is still being used for prayer and ceremonies. Taebaeksan is linked to the Dangun myth. Hwan-in 桓因,  the King of Heaven, sent down his son Hwan-ung to earth on Mount Taebaek-san 太白山 to benefit humanity. The myth does not describe modern Taebaek-san. Hwan-ung mated with a bear transformed into a woman and their son was named Dangun. 

Although according to modern scholars Hwan-ung descended onto Baekdu Mountain on the border of current China en North Korea, Dangun is revered on Taebaeksan in South Korea by groups of local nationalists and shamans. David Mason describes the story in more detail: The Myth of Gojoseon's Founding-King Dan-gun. 

Cheonjedan 천제단  - Altar for Offering to Heaven.

Cheonjedan 천제단 on Taebaeksan.

Dang-gol - Munsubong - Taebaeksan

I walked up to Munsubong an hour before sunrise. Along the way just after leaving Dang-gol (Shrine Valley) you will find a stone altar in the forest with offerings - a dried fish and alcoholic beverages; soju and makgeolli.

View of Munsubong just after sunrise with Manggyeongsa  - All-encompassing-View
Temple - in the far distance.

The path between Munsubong and Taebaeksan.

Dangun painting inside Manggyeong-sa's San-shin-gak.

After my hike up to Taebaeksan in the morning I returned to the altar the same day. The weather had changed dramatically. The alter was almost hidden in the clouds. A strong wind was blowing. 

Dangun painting in Dangun Seongjeon - Altar-King Sage-Hall - at the start of the trail just above Dang-gol

Golden Dangun statue at the Buddhist Buljeong-Am temple in Dang-gol. 

Wholesale fish market in Gunsan

Gunsan (population 280.000) is a seaport on the midwest coast of the Korean Peninsula. Once a small fishing village, Gunsan now boasts an Industrial Zone and high-tech manufacturing industries. Gunsan still has a thriving fishing fleet and is an excellent place for fresh seafood. The old fish market can be found in town, the wholesale fish market has moved to Saemangeum, about 20 kilometres from the city center. Gunsan is known for saengseon hoe (생선회), raw sliced fish. The first evening I was walking along the waterfront of the old fish market when I met two men eating saengseon hoe and drinking soju. They invited me to join them and managed to feed me about half their saengseon hoe dipped in spicy chogochujang (초고추장) sauce made from gochujang by adding vinegar. 

The next day I took a taxi to Saemangeum to try some Korean seafood, like meongge (멍게), gaebul (개불) and San-nakji (산낙지). In English: sea pineapple, a species of marine spoonworm commonly known as penis fish and raw octopus tentacles, still moving on the plate. 

I arrived two hours early,  the market only opens at 10:00 am, which gave me the chance to roam about in a deserted, eerie fish market.

The meongge (멍게), gaebul (개불) and nakji (낙지) were taken from the fishtanks and were killed right before being served.  Meongge is a sea squirt and lives attached to rocks. Mine was served as meongge-hoe: raw. The taste is hard to describe. It is definitely salty but the description "rubber dipped in ammonia" in the Lonely Planet is way off the mark. Gaebul is chewy but doesn't have that much taste. You definitely need chogochujang (초고추장, vinegared gochujang) as a dipping sauce. Although I read that gaebul straight  from the sea has a sweet taste, which is lost when kept in a fishtank. The san-nakji was interesting. Raw octopus tentacles also do not have that much taste, chogochujang to the rescue! I can use metal chopsticks fairly well, but with this these wriggling  food items using chopsticks was a challenge.

Jirisan Ridge Hike - walking with bears

Jirisan is the start point of the Baekdu Daegan, which is a 1700km more or less continuous ridge that forms the backbone of the entire Korean peninsula. The Jirisan section of Baekdu Daegan is about 40 kilometers. I started on the west side of Jirisan National Park in Gurye, sleeping in a small guest house. I had planned to sleep rough but I soon learned Jirisan is also home to about 60 Asiatic black bears. 

I had to sleep in a mountain shelter. It is not allowed to just turn up at a shelter, so you need to make a reservation - even weeks in advance in peak season. I wanted to start my hike the next day, so I was lucky I could make a reservation for Yeonhacheon Shelter at the Jirisan National Park Southern Office (511-1, Hwangjeon-ri, Masan-myeon, Gurye-gun, Jeollanam-Do). Apparently June is considered off-peak season. 

Day 1: Gurye - Nogodan shelter - Yeonhacheon shelter

The hike from Gurye starts with a 7 kilometer and 3 hour steep walk up to Nogodan, the first shelter along the ridge hike. I left at sunrise and soon walked past Hwaeom-sa, the head temple of the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism, one of the Seon (Zen in Western thought) sects dating back to the Goryeo Dynasty (918–1392).

Hwaeomsa 華嚴寺

The distance between Nogodan and Yeonhacheon takes about 5 hours. The path is walkable but there is a hardly an horizontal stretch. The path is mostly hidden under the canopy of the trees. Clear views are not common and my views are often blocked as clouds drift in. The temperatures are very nice though and I can hike the whole ridge just dressed in a T-shirt.

The park authorities warn for bears by big warning signs every kilometer or so. In the unlikely event of encountering a bear you have to curl up and lie still on the ground. That is:  if you haven't been able to scare the bear off, which is your first line of defence. 

I arrive at Yeonhacheon Shelter in the late afternoon without seeing any bears. There is no food at the shelters. You have to bring your own supplies for the duration of the hike. Instant noodles are cheap, weigh next to nothing and provide plenty of energy. I also brought some precooked Ottogi rice and canned spicy tuna.

Day 2: Yeonhacheon shelter -  Seseok shelter - Uisin village

This trip I was not able to climb the highest peak Cheonwangbong (1915 meters). I wake up in Yeonhacheon with the sunrise. I have no more reservations for a shelter so I need to make it back to my guesthouse in Gurye in the evening. I decided to continue along the Baekdu Daegan and walk far as possible.

The first stop is Byeoksoryeong Shelter. The hike between Byeoksoryeon and the next shelter, Seseok, is simply beautiful. This part of the hike is black labeled as "expert level" and at times you are really hiking on the ridge. When I arrive at Seseok Shelter I have run out of time. I am still on the Jirisan ridge and have to make it down to a village. I opted for Cheonghakdong but somewhere along the scramble down, the signs for this village disappeared and after many hours and many rocks I ended up in Uisin.

Uisin is a tiny village and there were no buses so I ended up taking the longest taxi ride in my life - 50 kilometers back to my starting point.

While I didn't hike the full Jirisan ridge, I still had a feeling of personal accomplishment. In the early springtime of 2018 I discovered why I had been feeling so tired after working days. A blood test unveiled a dust mite allergy and since I work in a very dusty environment my physical condition had been severely compromised. This was my first longish mountain hike in quite a while (18 hours in two days) and there was no trace of tiredness, just very sore muscles due to lack of training.