page_title: Semin-hwangje bon-puri
section_title: Bak Bong-chun's version
hierarchical_section_title: Semin-hwangje bon-puri / Narrative / Bak Bong-chun's version
caption_attribution_description: This depicts Emperor Taizong of Tang (唐太宗).
context_page_description: The Semin-hwangje bon-puri is a Korean shamanic narrative formerly recited in southern Jeju Island during the funeral ceremonies. As it is no longer transmitted by the oral tradition, it is classified as one of the special bon-puri.
  Two versions of the myth are known. In the older version recited in 1931, the tyrannical Chinese emperor Taizong of Tang dies and is obliged to compensate those he had taken unjustly from while alive. However, his afterlife vaults are virtually empty, as he has given so little to charity while alive. The emperor pays off his victims by borrowing from the rich afterlife vaults of a couple named Maeil and Jangsang, and is then allowed to return to the living world. The resurrected emperor disguises himself as a beggar and observes Maeil and Jangsang's good works firsthand. He resolves to live a moral life, sends a monk to retrieve the Buddhist canon from the divine realm of Sukhavati, and takes Maeil and Jangsang as his mentors. The much shorter and rather disorganized 1961 version begins with a discussion of Maeil and Jangsang's charity and ends with the two building a bridge to the afterlife, with Taizong only appearing in the middle of the story.
context_section_description: Bak Bong-chun (1901―1957)'s version was recited in 1931 and published in 1937 by the Japanese ethnographers Chijō Akamatsu and Takashi Akiba. 
  The seventh-century Chinese emperor Taizong of Tang, referred to throughout the narrative as Semin-hwangje "Emperor Semin" after his given name Shimin (Sino-Korean Semin), is a cruel tyrant who persecutes Buddhism and torments his subjects. When he dies and is taken to the world of the dead, the dead who suffered under the emperor's rule appeal to the King of the Dead to avenge their torment at his hands. The King orders Taizong brought forth and tells him to make compensations.
  In order to repay the people he took unjustly from, Taizong checks his vault in the afterlife. There is nothing but a bundle of straw inside: the same bundle that he gave to an old man in his youth. That bundle was the only thing that the emperor has willingly given to others while alive. Taizong is forced to borrow money from the vaults of a couple named Maeil and Jangsang, whose afterlife vaults are full of riches. Once he has compensated his victims, the King of the Dead orders him to do good works while alive, and tells the emperor to follow a straight road while ignoring the advice of a spotted calf and a white puppy. Having done so, he falls into a pond by which he returns to the world of the living.
  Having been resurrected, Taizong orders his ministers to find Maeil and Jangsang, who make shoes and run a tavern for a living. The emperor disguises as a beggar to visit them. First, he buys three cups of liquor. He realizes that the prices they offer are half those of other taverns. Second, he goes to their shoe shop to buy a pair, and they give him another pair for free. Finally, he asks them to lend him ten cash coins, but they give him the money for free. The emperor realizes that their vaults in the afterlife are so rich because they give to others so willingly in life.
  The repentant emperor assembles his court and asks them how one can do good works. The chancellor suggests that he go find the Tripiṭaka or Buddhist canon. The emperor orders a monk named Hoin to go to Sukhavati to retrieve the Tripiṭaka. On the way, Hoin saves a man named Bbareun-gaebi, who has been trapped under a cliff for a thousand years. Bbareun-gaebi carries the monk on his back and jumps into the underwater realm of the Dragon King. The two board a ship from there to Sukhavati. Hoin receives the Tripiṭaka from the Jade Emperor and gives the scriptures to Taizong.
  Taizong calls forth Maeil and Jangsang and praises them, speaking of his experiences in the afterlife. He offers them great fortunes to pay back the money he borrowed from their afterlife vaults, but they refuse, instead regretting that they have not helped as many people as they could. The emperor insists, saying that it is the order of the King of the Dead that they accept payment. Afterwards, the emperor consults with Maeil and Jangsang on every affair and does good works for humanity.
caption: Emperor Taizong of Tang
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