ship. To us this sounds strange. It is not easy for us to realize that a city was really regarded as a great ship and that a mast was erected in its midst, apparently in order that the sails of prosperity might waft the ship to good fortune and success. Outside the city were stone posts to which the ship was to be tied up, and for many years it was forbidden to dig wells in the city because it was feared that if a well were dug, the boat would spring a leak and the whole place would be foundered. Such was science in the fourth century. It seems strange to us now, but ideas of that kind were rife in those days; in fact they have not yet disappeared from popular thought in Korea. I am not sure whether such ideas are connected with Buddhism, or whether they only form a part of that old geomantic philosophy which has so greatly influenced China, Korea and Japan through centuries. We find geomantic survivals of many kinds in many places. Old masts are scattered all over Korea, here and there, sometimes in quite inaccessible places; built of wood, they rise to a great height, and are sheathed with metal, which may bear an inscription and date. Many other places than P’yeng-Yang were thought of as great ships—temples, cities, entire valleys. (Plate VII.)

PLATE IV
Sari monuments: Yuchom-sa [Page 55]

At Tongdo-sa, a great monastery in the south of Korea, my attention was called to an iron ring fastened to a rock near the trail. They told me that it was for the tethering of a great ox, that all the mound of earth and rock near there is considered to be a great ox lying down; a hole about a foot in diameter in the rock, close by the trail, is said to be the nostril of the creature, and a knoll of earth near by formed its head, while the great body stretched out far beyond.

At Riri my attention was called to a mountain ridge and I was told that it was a running horse; two stone pillars stood on the level ground near by—they were intended to prevent the horse from damaging the fields. It seems that many years ago it was realized that a running horse was likely to do damage to growing crops; the wise men of the district were called together and consulted; they determined that they would destroy the danger by erecting these pillars of stone, beyond which the horse cannot go.

Perhaps ideas like these were taught in those old universities in 375 A.D. Perhaps they were then, as now, individual and professional knowledge, not to be learned in schools.

The new religion next entered the little kingdom of Pakche. This was in the year 384. This time it was not sent unsolicited by some little Chinese kingdom, but came by request from China proper. The people of Pakche knew what Buddhism had done for Koguryu and they asked the Emperor of China to send them a famous priest named Marananda. It seems that he was a Hindu, who had a great reputation for learning. He brought with him images and texts and all the paraphernalia necessary for the gorgeous ceremonials of his religion. He was received with great respect by the king and was lodged in the palace. Soon after ten other priests came from China and the religion made rapid headway through Pakche. It was from Pakche in the year 552 that Buddhism was sent for the first time into Japan. The king of Pakche sent images and texts and a letter to the Emperor, Kimmei, saying that it was a good religion, and that he hoped the Japanese would accept it.

Last of the three kingdoms to receive Buddhism was Silla, to which it came about 424. It is reported to have come from the capital city of Koguryu, P’yeng-Yang, and the priest who brought it was named Mukocha. He appears to have gone down the Taidong River to the sea and then around the peninsula and up the east coast in order to reach Silla. He is always spoken of as a black man, or negro; perhaps he was actually an African. There seems to have been some mystery about his arrival; it may be that the people did not like his color, or were afraid of his strange appearance. He hired himself out as a plowman to a farmer named Morei. His employer concealed him in a cave. It is said that when he was hidden in this cave it frequently shone with glory. Outside the cave there was a peach tree, which burst into bloom with flowers of five different colors, and in the winter, when there was snow on the mountains outside, irises and other flowers of wondrous fragrance are said to have broken their way up through the snow. The black monk is said to have worn a red cap and a crimson kesa. It would seem that the whole neighborhood must have known about these wonders.

About this time it is said that an ambassador from China came to the king of Silla at his capital city of Kyong Ju. The messenger brought various gifts, among them a substance which no one knew; it had never been seen before in Silla. It seems strange that the ambassador should not have known what he brought, but it is asserted that he was ignorant in the matter, and so the king sent to the cave—only ten miles away—and ordered the black monk to come to Kyong Ju to identify the gift. He had no trouble in recognizing it, because it was incense, common enough in Chinese Buddhism, but before unseen in Silla. He told them that when burned before an idol with prayers of faith, the god was sure to answer petitions. It happened at the moment that the king’s daughter was ill, and he begged the black monk to try the efficacy of incense and prayer. Seven days he spent in prayer before the idol and a cure was wrought. Soon afterwards Mukocha begged the king to send to China and the West for artists to come and cut figures in the rock walls of his cave, as he desired to make a chapel to the gods. The request was sent, the artists came, and it is said that they spent forty years in carving the wonderful figures which to this day adorn the walls of the little circular chapel in the mountain cave. It would require a separate lecture for me to tell you of my visit to that remarkable shrine, with its genuine treasures of art. (Plates VIII, IX.)

PLATE V
Main Temple: Kumsan-sa [Page 72]

I must, however, say something about the old capital city of Kyong Ju. It had its period of glory, and its ruins are still impressive. Almost fifteen hundred years have passed since the black monk brought in the new religion. To-day there remains only a little town, but all the country around is sprinkled with the relics of the past. Here is the splendid grave of General Kim, twelve hundred years old. It is faced around with stone slabs, set firmly in place, twelve of them being carved with the animals of the Eastern Zodiac. Here are the ruins of an ice-house, perhaps nine hundred years old; cunningly