- The Disciples Go to Geum-sahn Temple
- 1 Following the funeral, the disciples dispersed with no sense of what to do. Around the end of July, Cha Gyung-suk and Gim Gwahng-chahn visited Hyung-yul to discuss the future.
- 2 Gyung-suk said, “Sahng-jeh-nim told us He was Maitreya Buddha, and not long before He passed away, He said He would go to Geum-sahn Temple.
- 3 If we bow and pray before the Maitreya statue as though before Sahng-jeh-nim, earnestly contemplating what is to be done, then we will surely receive an answer from Him.”
- 4 All of them agreed and went to the temple with food offerings. An old Buddhist nun standing by the stone gate greeted them and said,
- 5 “Last night in my dream, the buddhas enshrined at Geum-sahn Temple, the five hundred arhats, and the escorting spirits all stood outside this stone gate to welcome a glorious procession, and you were at the end of that procession.
- 6 Because of the dream, I have been waiting here. How extraordinary to receive your visit.”
- 7 The disciples went to bow and pray before the Maitreya statue. On a sheet of paper, they wrote, “Ohk-hwahng Sahng-jeh (玉皇上帝之位),” and pasted it onto the statue. They then offered a chee-sung.
- 8 Afterward, they removed the paper and put it on the wall in a room. There, they set their minds right and prayed to Sahng-jeh-nim.
- 9 Hyung-yul’s spiritual eye suddenly opened. He went to the Shakyamuni Buddha shrine to ask about the future.
- 10 Shakyamuni picked up a book and opened his mouth to tell Hyung-yul something; but Maitreya Buddha entered, took away the book, and covered Shakyamuni’s mouth.
- 11 Feeling that he had no reason to stay in that shrine, Hyung-yul went back to his companions and told them what had occurred. After they finished and headed for home, Hyung-yul realized the date was August 1. Sahng-jeh-nim had said that on the first of August He would return to His palace in heaven.
- (JSD Dojeon 10,66)
