This article explores a mythological understanding of based on the understanding that the story of the chapter is led by
the two characters - the Buddhist Goddess of Mercy and the Bodhisattva of
wisdom- conflicting with each other.
Firstly, I briefly describe each characteristic of the gods and goddesses
considering the father stands for the heaven, while the mother stands for the
earth. The image of gods symbolizes a head, superiority and wisdom while
the image of goddesses symbolizes a body, equality and love ('mercy' of
Buddhism).
Secondly, I examine on whether the Buddhist Goddess of Mercy and the
Bodhisattva of wisdom are involved in the epic of the chapter. Based on my
examination on its composition, the paragraphs about those two characters
are contrast to each other as pairs in confrontation with each other: the
episodes about the Buddhist Goddess of Mercy start with his academic
achievement, while those about the Bodhisattva of wisdom begin with his
worldly success.
Nextly, I examine how those two conflicting episodes are connected with
each other. In the Avaloketesvara illustrations, episodes about the Buddhist
Goddess of Mercy, emotional factors are added to resolve the problems caused
by Kyungheong's insisting wisdom first. In contrast, in the Manjušri
illustrations, episodes about the Bodhisattva of Wisdom, the characters get
severely reprimanded when the problems are brought by their arrogance. The
former is concentrated on the assimilation through a humor, while the latter
is much focusing on the dissimilation of those two factors through a satire.
The Buddhist Goddess of Mercy treats people with compassion, while the
Bodhisattva of Wisdom more concentrates on distinguishing between right and
wrong. Finally, the epic of the chapter is integrated in a way that the two
episodes firstly make us to gain wisdom and then make us maintain the
balance of our minds by reprimanding us for our arrogance of losing our
innocent mind.
Thirdly, I identifies the realities shown by the story. the chapter of
Kyungheong is about the story where the person agonizing between Shilla
and Baekje passes through the problems in the realities - how to behave
himself in every situation and how to get along in the world. In the last part,
Ilyeon, a famous monk, adds his comments and poem praising those
characters, which achieves mythological unification and realistic compromise.