Manpasikjeok (the pacifying flute that defeats all) is a legendary flute, purportedly made from a narwhal’s tusk, originating in the 7th century Silla (57 BCE-935 CE). King Sinmun (r. 681-692) had a revelation concerning “a bamboo tree” growing on a mysterious mountain floating in the Sea of Whales, today’s East Sea of Korea. From this tree, a flute was made with which he was able to protect the whole world. As a national treasure of Silla, this instrument was famed to defeat all enemies at the time of troubles. What we have is the accounts of the pacifying flute recounted in Korea’s official historical texts. Two sources from the Samguk Sagi (Historical Records of the Three States) and the Samguk Yusa (Memorabilia of the Three States) shall be examined. Not surprisingly, whales are made unrecognizable not only within the story but also in the official history books of Korea. Magoist Cetaceanism was subjected to erasure in the course of Korean official history, but apparently not in the time of King Sinmun of Silla. The myth of Manpasikjeok testifies to Sillan Magoist Cetaceanism upheld by 7th century Sillan rulers. We are reading a Magoist Cetacean myth, however, told by people of a later time when Magoist Cetaceanism was no longer recognized. The fact that these two official historical texts of Korea recount the narrative of Manpasikjeok speaks to its significance: The story is told with a sense of mystery or suspicion. While the Samguk Sagi overtly treats the author’s sense of disbelief, the Samguk Yusa provides a full narrative in tantalizing but mystified details.
How was Manpasikjeok 萬波息笛 created in the first place? Below is the Samguk Sagi version of the story:
According to Gogi (Ancient Records), “During the reign of King Sinmun, a little mountain emerged in the East Sea out of nowhere. It looked like a head of a turtle. Atop the mountain there was a bamboo tree growing, which became two during the day and became one at night. The king had his subject cut the bamboo tree and had it made a flute. He named it Manpasik (Pacifying and Defeating All).” Although it is written so, its account is weird and unreliable.[1]
Written by Gim Busik (1075–1151), a Neo-Confucian historiographer, the above account betrays an unengaged author’s mind in the story. For Gim, Korean indigenous narratives like Manpasikjeok are anomalous, if not unreliable, by the norms of Chinese history.
In contrast to the former, the Samguk Yusa details the Manpasikjeok story in a tantalizing sense of mystery. Its author Ilyeon (1206-1289) was a Buddhist monk, a religious historian who saw the history of Korea as fundamentally Buddhist from the beginning. He elaborates the story with factual data but fails to bring to surface the cetacean underpinning of the myth. It is possible that Magoist Cetaceanism had already submerged much earlier than his time.
King Sinmun (r. 681-692) had built the temple, Gameun-sa (Graced Temple), to commemorate his late father King Munmu (r. 661-681) who willed to become a sea dragon upon death. The relic of King Munmu had been spread in Whale Ferry (Gyeongjin 鯨津), also known as the Rock of Ruler the Great (Daewang-am) located in the waterfront of the East Sea also known as the Sea of Whales. Evidence substantiates that King Munmu was a Magoist Cetacean devotee clad in a Buddhist attire. Or today’s Buddhologiests call it Esoteric Buddhism. The Manpasikjeok myth may be called the story of King Sinmun’s initiation to Magoist Cetaceanism.
Before explicating the Samguk Yusa account, which is prolix and complex, I have summarized the Samguk Yusa’s account as follows:
(Summary of the Manpasikjeok Myth) King Sinmun ordered the completion of Gameunsa (Graced Temple) to commemorate his deceased father, King Munmu. The main hall of Gameunsa was designed at the sea level to allow the dragon to enter and stroll through the ebb and flow of the sea waves. In the second year of his reign (682 CE), Marine Officer reported that a little mountain in the East Sea was approaching Gameunsa. The king had Solar Officer perform a divination. The divination foretold that he would be given a treasure with which he could protect Wolseong (Moon Stronghold), Silla’s capital. This would be a gift from King Munmu who became a sea dragon and Gim Yusin who became a heavenly being again. In seven days, the king went out to Yigyeondae (Platform of Gaining Vision) and saw the mountain floating like a turtle’s head in the sea. There was a bamboo tree growing on its top, which became two during the day and one at night. The king stayed overnight in Gameumsa to listen to the dragon who entered the yard and the substructure of the main hall. Then, there was darkness for seven days due to a storm in the sea. After the sea calmed, the king went into the mountain to meet the dragon. The dragon told him that, if he made a flute out of the bamboo tree, the whole world would be pacified. The king had the bamboo tree brought out of the sea and made it into a flute, which became a treasure of Silla. The mountain and the dragon disappeared. The flute, when played during times of the nation’s trouble, brought peace. Thus comes its name, Manpasikjeok (the pacifying flute that defeats all). During the reign of King Hyoso (r. 692-702), his son, the flute continued to make miracles. Thus it was renamed Manmanpapasikjeok (the pacifying flute that surely defeats all of all).
One day, it was reported to King Sinmun that a little mountain was approaching Gameunsa. That mountain had a mysterious bamboo tree atop. On the seventh day from then, he went out to Yigyeondae (Platform of Gaining Vision), the whale watch place near Gameumsa. Then, he stayed overnight in Gameunsa to hear the dragon who entered the temple yard through the ebb and flow of the sea waves. For the following seven days, there was darkness in nature due to the storm in the sea. After the sea calmed, King Sinmun himself went to the mountain and met the dragon. The dragon told him to have the bamboo tree cut and made into a flute, which would make a national treasure. And he did. The flute was named Manpasikjeok (the pacifying flute that defeats all).
The pivotal significance of the whale remains an undercurrent, made invisible to moderns in two ways. Firstly, the word, “whale,” is covered up with the expression “a mountain in the East Sea was approaching Gameunsa.” Secondly, that the dragon is a Magoist Cetacean mythic symbol goes unrecognized. In the story, the dragon indicates the divine presence and gift of whales. Gameumsa was designed at the sea level for a dragon to enter the yard and the basement of the main hall through the ebb and flow of the sea waves. King Munmu had become a dragon of the East Sea. King Sinmun met with the dragon and had a conversation with the dragon about the gift that he would receive, the pacifying flute made with a narwhal’s tusk. Foremost, King Sinmun’s initiation to Magoist Cetaceanism is highlighted by his meeting and conversation with the dragon.
Ancient Magoists deemed whales as “the ruler of the sea.” The epithet, Whale Ruler the Great (대왕고래), refers to whales in general, while it simultaneously indicates the blue whale, the biggest whale species in size. Whales are divine in the sense that they display the power of cosmogonic metamorphosis via sonic numerology. The phrase, “cosmogonic metamorphosis via sonic numerology,” is a key concept of the Magoist Cosmogony, which attributes the cosmic music and nine-numerology to the cause of self-birth and self-growth of all beings. I have explained in part the cosmogonic nature of whale songs earlier concerning the whale code of the Korean temple bell. The numerological implication of Magoist Cetaceanism will be discussed later with regards to dragons. In short, a whale is revered as a pre-human paragon of ruler in her capacities to equilibrate sonic harmonies, to protect marine environments, to control the weather in the sea and coastal regions and the like. Like nature, whales give. The very flute, Manpasikjeok, is the gift of whales, which reenacts the Magoist Cosmogony HERE and NOW when played.
(To be continued)
(Meet Mago Contributor) Helen Hye-Sook Hwang.
[1] Samguk Sagi, Book of Music in The Miscellaneous 1.
Beautiful….!!! <3