The Five Commandments
Wind, campfire and river sounds change with every scene, and the music follows the story.
Last time we met King Jinheung of Silla, who became king at the age of seven. Joining hands with Baekje, he advanced to the Han River, then in 553 seized even Baekje’s lower Han; the next year, at the Battle of Gwansan Fortress, Baekje’s King Seong lost his life. The king raised steles at every edge of his widened realm, and in the spring of 576 he had outstanding young men chosen and honored as hwarang.
Characters
Seventh-generation descendant of King Naemul
They vowed to share even death
studying the Dharma in Sui
Son of Mueun
A Silla general
On the 16th day of the 6th month of an imsin year, no one knows which, two young men of Silla carved an oath into a stone.
This is what was carved on the stone.
We swear before Heaven.
We swear to hold fast to the way of loyalty and to commit no fault.
天前誓 … 忠道執持 過失无誓 — Imsin Year Oath Stone
This is the story of young men of Silla who carried such oaths in their hearts.
In the autumn of 562, in the ninth month, Gaya rose up against Silla. King Jinheung ordered the Ichan Isabu to attack Gara (Daegaya).
and subdue it!
In Seorabeol at that time there was a hwarang of fifteen or sixteen: Sadaham.
Then I’m going too!
A seventh-generation descendant of King Naemul. He had reluctantly become a hwarang when people begged him to, yet his followers came to number a thousand, and all of them followed him with their whole hearts.
to the battlefield too!
But the king refused, saying Sadaham was still too young.
Sadaham would not back down, and asked again and again, firmly.
of the Gwidang!
At last the king made him a bijang (a commander who assists the general) in a unit called the Gwidang. Many of Sadaham’s followers set out with him.
Sadaham had a friend, Mugwallang, with whom he had long ago promised to be “friends who share death.”
We’re friends who share even death.
When they reached the border of Gara, Sadaham asked the commander-in-chief, Isabu, to let him lead his own troops in first.
in first!
Sadaham rode ahead with 5,000 cavalry and charged through the gate of Gara’s fortress.
The people of Gara called a gate a “ryang.” This gate was named Jeondallyang, that is, Jeondan Gate.
Sadaham raised a white banner. Faced with troops who had burst in without warning, the people inside the fortress were terrified and did not know what to do.
When Isabu arrived with his army close behind, the people inside the fortress surrendered all at once.
The king weighed everyone’s merit. Sadaham’s was the greatest.
and 300 people of Gara!
Sadaham declined three times, but the king insisted that he accept.
Sadaham set free all 300 people of Gara he had been given, making them free commoners (yangin). He did not keep a single one.
you are free people.
The fields he received he shared out among the soldiers who had fought beside him. All the people of the kingdom praised him.
Afterward, Mugwallang fell ill and took to his bed.
for going first.
When Mugwallang died, Sadaham wept bitterly.
Seven days later, Sadaham died too. He was seventeen.
The boy who let go of everything he was given could never let go of the grief of losing his friend.
Nearly forty years went by.
King Jinheung had died, and his grandson King Jinpyeong now ruled Silla.
In 600, a monk came home
from Sui, across the sea.
Wongwang was a monk who had spent many years studying the Dharma across the sea in China, in Chen and in Sui.
In 600, Wongwang returned home together with Silla envoys who had gone to Sui.
shouldn’t we first cultivate our hearts?
bring disgrace on ourselves.
at the side of a wise man!
Gwisan of Saryang-bu in Seorabeol had been friends since childhood with Chuhang of the same district.
At that time Wongwang was staying at Gaseulgapsa Temple on Mount Unmun, revered by the people. The two went to see him, gathered up the hems of their robes, stepped forward and spoke.
and know nothing.
Please grant us one word
to keep all our lives.
which are divided into ten.
I fear you could not bear them.
for secular life.
with loyalty;
with filial piety;
with trust;
never retreat;
use discrimination.
Practice these,
and do not neglect them!
若等 行之無忽 — Samguk Sagi, Biographies, Gwisan
but not yet “discrimination in killing.”
or on the six fast days of the month.
That is choosing the time.
not worth a single mouthful of meat.
That, Wongwang said, was choosing among creatures, and a good precept for secular life.
and never dare forsake them!
In the autumn of 602, in the eighth month, King Mu of Baekje raised a great army and surrounded Silla’s Amaksan Fortress.
Driven back by several thousand swift horsemen that King Jinpyeong sent, Baekje withdrew, but when Silla built four new fortresses near the border, it attacked again.
Leading them was Jwapyeong Hae Su,
with 40,000 infantry and cavalry.
Amak Fortress stood on the mountain ridge where Baekje and Silla met, east of today’s Namwon in North Jeolla.
Silla sent generals such as Geonpum and Mueun with troops to stop them. Gwisan and Chuhang went too, as sogam (a low military rank).
Beaten back in the fighting, the Baekje army withdrew to a great pond west of Mount Cheonsan, hid its soldiers and lay in wait.
Just as the Silla army, worn out from pursuing and fighting, began to pull back, the ambush burst out at Mueun, who was guarding the rear, and dragged him from his horse with hooks.
never retreat.
When you go to battle, never retreat!
How could I run?
go, quickly!
Gwisan gave his own horse to his father so that he could escape the battlefield.
without my friend?
Seeing the two of them fight on, swinging dagger-axes (ge, 戈), a kind of spear, the Silla troops rallied and routed the Baekje army.
Silla’s record says that “not a single horse or cart made it back.”
Covered in wounds, Gwisan and Chuhang died on the way home.
King Jinpyeong came out with his ministers as far as the plain of Ana and wept bitterly before the bodies of the two young men.
They were buried with full rites, and the king posthumously granted Gwisan the rank of Nama and Chuhang the rank of Daesa.
and never dare forsake them!
you are free people.
without my friend?
On the 16th day of the 6th month of an imsin year, two young men of Silla carved an oath into a stone.
No one knows exactly when that imsin year was. It may have been 552, before Sadaham, or 612, after Gwisan and Chuhang.
We swear before Heaven.
