[Author’s Note: This essay was first included in Goddesses in Myth, History and Culture, published in 2018 by Mago Books].
Hanung (Her Title) and Sindansu (Divine Goma Tree)
We will peel off the layers of patriarchal and Sinocentric devices that conceal her unparalleled supreme manifestations. In a conventional interpretation, we are told that Goma and Hanung are two different persons as the mother and the father of Dangun. This proves to be an androcentric invention to divest Goma of supremacy. Goma is not the consort of Hanung. Nor Hanung the male counterpart of Goma. Goma and Hanung refer to the same figure, not a heterosexual couple. It is her title (Hanung 桓雄) that is split from her (Goma) and made into a male ruler. Androcentric interpreters have noted the two homonyms “Ung (熊 bear)” and “Ung (雄 hero)” but made them two different figures. Thus, they deem that the former “Ung” refers to Ungnyeo, the bear-woman, whereas the latter “Ung” to Hanung, the male ruler. However, the latter “Ung” does not mean a male. It is true that logographic characters are characteristically polysemic. And Ung is no exception as it means “a hero,” “a great person,” or “a male bird.” When it is used to mean a male, it refers to a male bird or animal. The literal meaning of Hanung should be the heroic ruler (Sovereign) of Han (the People of the Creatrix). In short, the character “Ung (Hero),” as is in Cheonung (天雄 Heavenly Hero) and Sinung (神雄 Divine Hero), refers to Goma, the heroic founding ruler (Sovereign) of Danguk.
The idea that Hanung is the male ruler remains unsupported. First of all, the present myth is rife with female symbols and images including the cave initiation, the divine tree, conception, and procreation. Indeed, the Goma myth is a completely pacific or rather pacifying story, void of conquering, killing or raping. Secondly, the idea of Hanung as a male founder is left without a direct connection with the bear clan (Ungjok) and the Goma words, a topic to be explicated in detail at a later section. Most critically, if Hanung were the male ruler, his association with Sindansu would be too superficial to give due meaning to the Korean foundation myth. The present myth ascertains that the protagonist of the Sindansu (Divine Goma Tree) motif is a female. Sindansu, the tree of life or the world tree, to be explicated at a later section, is credited with one of the most pivotal mythemes, if not the most, of the Korean foundation myth. It is the cosmic tree, which Goma envisioned for the common origin of all beings from the Triad Creatrix and prayed for conception without a male partner.
The syllable, “dan (檀)” in “Sindansu,” refers to the divine tree in Mount Taebaek. It is the eponymous root of the terms that indicate the Goma people. It is used in such words as Danguk (Goma State), Dangun (Head of the Goma State), and Danmok (Goma Tree), to name a few. Note that “Danguk was the strongest among the states of the bear clan,” headed by queens,[1] indicating that Danguk was the the confederal mother state that led the nine daughter states. Put differently, Danguk represents the matriarchal (magocratic, referring to a society ruled by a Magoist shaman queen) confederacy of the bear clan states.[2] Goma’s alternative epithets including “Ungssi-ja (Decendant of the Goma Clan), “Ungssi-wang” (Ruler of the Goma Clan), and “Ungssi-gun” (Head of the Goma Clan) substantiate that she is the ruler and head of the bear clan.[3] Also note that Dangun, Goma’s dynastic successor, “was enthroned as the Descendant of Heavenly Sovereign, as she established the capital in Danmok, Asadal, succeeding Danguk.”[4] Danmok is another word for Sindansu. Its alternative meaning “the birch” comes from the sound of “bakdal (박달).” Prominent Koreanists tend to agree that the character “dan” is related to “barkdal (밝달),” “baekdal (백달),” and “baedal (배달),” all of which indicate the Korean people.[5] However, they do not seem to see the multi-connection among Sindansu, Danmok, Baedal and Goma (Ungnyeo). Thus, they fail to see the Magoist context of the Goma myth. The Goma myth is about Danmok and Sindansu, Goma’s tree in Mount Taeback (Great Resplendence). The Divine Tree of Mount Taebaek is wherein Hanung Goma descended to rule the world. Goma has been commemorated as Ungsang (熊常Eternal Tree) and Dangmok (堂木 Shrine Tree) throughout history. The Goma tree sheds light on the origin of the tree worship in Korea and beyond. According to the Handan Gogi, the veneration of Ungsang originated from the time of Danguk and revived throughout the period of Dangun Joseon.[6] In traditional Korea, it is enshrined as Dangmok (Shrine Tree) in village shrines, Seonhwang-dang. It is not haphazard that Korean women are noted for their prayers of conception under the shrine tree.
Splitting Goma into Ungnyeo and Hanung has resulted in awkward phraseology especially concerning her procreation in the story. Ultimately, it proves to be an androcentric device to dismiss the mytheme of her parthenogenetic birth to a child, the virgin birth, a contradictory concept to the patriarchal mindset. She, the shaman queen of the bear clan, was enthroned as Hanung, the dynastic founder Hanung of Danguk. Also, her offspring, Dangun, is the new queen-founder of Joseon who succeeded Danguk, rather than her biological son. The Goma myth is the story of a polity not a family. I maintain that the shaman rulers in Old Magoism (Hanguk, Danguk, and Joseon) are predominantly women.[7] In addition to “Hanung,” other titles of Goma include “Cheongwang (天王 Heavenly Ruler),” “Cheonung (天雄Heavenly Sovereign),” “Sinung (神雄 Divine Sovereign),” “Cheonhwang (天皇 Heavenly Empress),” “Seonhwang (仙皇Immortal Empress), and “Daeung (大雄Great Hero).” The Goma worship in Korean culture remains too pervasive to be recognized. As suggested in these alternative epithets, it has shaped the landscape of Korean popular religions, in particular Shamanism and Buddhism. Most prominently, the Goma worship manifests in the form of revering the Shrine Tree (Dangmok) in Seonhwang-dang (Seonghwang-dang or Seonang-dang, Shrine of “Immortal Emperor”), the indigenous village shrine of traditional Korea. The Seonhwang-dang village faith, deemed as superstitious, has suffered a massive governmental suppression undertaken in the 1970s. Sin Gyeong-deuk, Koreanist, sees Ungnyo as a shaman who later became the mountain Goddess. Establishing the link between Ungnyeo and Mu (Korean Shaman), Sin sees the motif of Ungnyeo recurring in the female divine of ancient Korean myths such as Yuhwa Seongmo (Holy Mother) for Buyeo and Goguryeo, Seosul Sinmo (Divine Mother) of Silla, Ajin Uiseon (Righteous Teacher) of Silla, Alyeong Songmo (Holy Mother) of Silla, and Cheonggyeon Moju (Primal Mother) of Gaya.[8] Korean Buddhism is characterized by its idiosyncratic feature of Daeung-jeon (Hall of the Great Hero), its main building, in most Buddhist temples. That Goma is enshrined in Daeung-jeon accounts for the Magoist root of Korean Buddhism.
(End of the Excerpts. Full article is available in Goddesses in Myth, History and Culture.)
(Meet Mago Contributor) Helen Hye-Sook Hwang.
Notes
[1] Handan Gogi, Taebaek Ilsa (Alternative History of the Great Resplendence), Samsin Oje Bongi (Main Chronicle of the Triad Divine and Five Sovereigns), 157.
[2] I have used “clan” interchangeably with “tribe” in that the Korean word “jok (族)” means both.
[3] Handan Gogi.
[4] Handan Gogi, Dangun Segi (Chronicle of the Dangun).
[5] It is known that Kim Gyoheon, Chae Namseon and An Hosang support the idea based on the historical texts including the Guwonsahwa (Historical Anecdotes of Gyuwon) written by Bukaeja in 1675. Pyojun Gukeo Daesajeon (Standard Dictionary of the Korean Language) (Seoul: Gukrip Gukeowon, 1999).
[6] Handan Gogi, Taebaek Ilsa, Samsin Oje Bongi and the Handan Gogi, Dangun Segi (Chronicle of the Dangun).
[7] Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, “Seeking Mago, the Great Goddess: A Mytho-Historic-Thealogical Reconstruction of Magoism, An Anciently Originated Gynocentric Tradition of East Asia” (Ph.D. Dissertation, Claremont Graduate University, 2005), 226-8. This chapter provides self-explanatory supporting data.
[8] Gyeong-deuk Sin, “Ungnyeo-ui sansin-gyeok yeongu (Study of Ungnyeo as Mountain Deity)” in Baedalmal-hakhoe (Jounal of the Baedal Language) 42 (2008): 257. See also Eunyong Bak, “Gyerim yusa-ui ‘howalgam’-e daehayeo (Investigating ‘tiger refers to Gam’ in the Gyerim Yusa) in Jayu (Freedom) 7 (1980): 63.