There Is No Sejong In My Joseon [EN]: Chapter 83

Yi Bang-won closed his eyes quietly.

It wasn’t that he couldn’t bear the impatience, but he couldn’t just keep waiting for the royal decree, so Ha Ryun spoke first.

“In the previous dynasty, Buddhism flourished, so there were many evils.”

That’s something everyone knows.

Yi Bang-won slightly opened his eyes.

“There will be a lot of opposition. Moreover, His Majesty has not been on the throne for many years, so many people will doubt the true intention of whether His Majesty is worshiping Buddhism.”

“I’m trying to follow Sambong’s [Jeong Do-jeon’s pen name] path, but why doesn’t everyone understand my heart?”

Although he killed him himself, Yi Bang-won inherited many of Jeong Do-jeon’s policies.

Suppressing Buddhism was also one of them.

“This is a tax imposed on temples. Let those who are dissatisfied come forward and help with the land survey.”

Of course, the court would not tolerate local magnates conspiring and reporting as they pleased.

Yi Bang-won knew that too.

However, he was also drawn to his son’s words that monks were a literate class that could be mobilized as much as possible.

“The question is whether the monks will accept this.”

The Buddhist community would not want to take on such troublesome work without any compensation.

He could force them, but Yi Bang-won knew why the side effects would be so severe.

“What did the Crown Prince say?”

Ha Ryun asked.

“He didn’t discuss the method separately.”

“I heard that the Crown Prince inherited his connection with Buddhism through the Grand King [Taejo, Yi Bang-won’s father]. Issue the order through His Highness. Then, even if His Majesty does not bestow anything immediately, they will cooperate by looking at the Crown Prince.”

“That won’t do.”

Yi Bang-won frowned.

Wouldn’t that be like passing on a political debt to the Crown Prince?

It’s not like the father is getting his hands dirty and passing on a clean country to the Crown Prince, but rather becoming a burden.

Yi Bang-won said.

“I’m worried that this might revive the spirit of Buddhism.”

By the end of the Goryeo Dynasty, more than 10,000 temples had 200,000 *gyeol* [unit of land measurement] of land and 150,000 slaves.

Although many were reduced by Jeong Do-jeon’s reforms, there were still 3,000 temples operated by private donations without royal protection.

After his enthronement, Yi Bang-won tried to abolish all temples except for the 70 temples founded by Wang Geon and the large temples with more than 100 resident monks.

‘But it was all in vain because the Grand King risked his life and fasted.’

Yi Bang-won clicked his tongue.

‘I thought Buddhism was a group that held back the development of the country.’

They shut themselves up in temples, chanting Buddhist scriptures, not having children, and not participating in productive activities.

Reducing the power of Buddhism as much as possible, mobilizing monks for public works, or imposing various taxes were all intended to bring them out into the world.

Yi Bang-won stroked his chin.

“Bring the Crown Prince.”

===

“Good, good. Well done! Just one more lap!”

“Huff, huff… You clearly said it was the last lap a while ago…”

“Did I? Anyway, if you don’t do this lap, there’s no late-night snack tonight!”

I was working Do hard.

At first, he was drooping like a rice cake in midsummer, but now he was jumping around with quite a bit of strength.

“You need to be tired to go to bed early. Otherwise, you’ll be reading books until late.”

“Ah, I won’t do that… !”

“Your Highness.”

Someone called me, so I turned my head and saw an eunuch attending to Yi Bang-won.

After giving advice on the land survey project a while ago, Yi Bang-won had been pondering for a while, and now he was finally calling me.

“Ugh, then that’s it for today.”

I scratched my cheek and declared.

“Wow, I’m alive!”

Do shouted and collapsed on the spot.

His face was dazed and dizzy.

But my work was just beginning.

Following the eunuch, I found that Ha Ryun, Yi Bang-won’s close aide, was also present.

Ha Ryun asked me with shining eyes.

“I heard that Your Highness suggested using monks. Why did you insist on that?”

“Even though this Joseon is a country of Confucian scholars?”

Of course, to my modern eyes, monks and scholars didn’t look much different, but in this era, Neo-Confucianism is the latest meta [dominant ideology].

Buddhism must be a symbol of old evils.

‘This is the perfect time for a bombardment of famous sayings!’

I put on a serious face and said.

“Doesn’t it matter whether it’s a black cat or a white cat, as long as it catches mice well?”

Ha Ryun was speechless when I brought up the black cat, white cat theory.

Then Yi Bang-won burst into laughter.

“Haha, that’s right! What does the color of the cat matter as long as it catches mice well!”

Seeing him pondering like that, it seemed like it was a remark that he really liked.

Ha Ryun stepped back with a bitter smile, and Yi Bang-won stepped forward.

“But it is also true that we cannot leave Buddhism as it is now, as the Left State Councilor said. The more monks there are, the more burdensome it will be for the country.”

“We shouldn’t leave it as it is now.”

“Then, are you thinking of using them for the land survey project and then discarding them like hunting dogs? That won’t be easy.”

I felt a surge of confidence when the expert in purging, Yi Bang-won, said that.

But I shook my head.

“The court doesn’t need to take the lead in suppressing Buddhism while taking the blame.”

“Then? If it’s not a policy of the court, how can we break the wings of Buddhism?”

“It’s not about breaking the wings. It’s about changing it in the right direction.”

I heard that in the West, monks made various scientific discoveries and that churches played the role of education and welfare institutions.

Rather than completely destroying temples and chasing them into the mountains, wouldn’t it be better to guide monks and temples in that direction?

“I have a relationship with Master Muhak. Support him in launching a Buddhist purification movement by mobilizing famous high priests like the Grand Master.”

Instead of shutting themselves up in temples and chanting Buddhist scriptures like in the Goryeo Dynasty, they should focus on saving sentient beings by giving up all privileges and wealth.

How can it make sense to have slaves in temples when the nature of all things is equally indiscriminate?

“And only target and destroy the temples that resist or do not cooperate with this.”

I said.

“Then the Buddhist monks will be divided into two.”

“That’s right. Those who help the country and those who don’t will be clearly revealed above the surface.”

“The evils of the latter are widely known, so the Grand King will not say anything.”

It hasn’t been long since Goryeo fell.

Buddhism was deeply rooted in Goryeo’s culture, and most of the people in this country had a subtle faith, whether big or small.

Excessive suppression of Buddhism was not only a problem for Buddhism but also a problem that could shake public sentiment.

But they also had a strong antipathy towards corrupt monks.

So, my argument was to divide the Buddhist community into ‘good’ monks and ‘bad’ monks, and then deal with the latter and parade them around for public ridicule.

“Hahaha!”

Yi Bang-won even clapped his hands and liked it.

‘No, was that such a satisfactory answer?’

I stared at Yi Bang-won, bewildered.

“I was happy that you were favored by the Grand King, but I was worried that you might be too influenced by him. There were also rumors about you being a monarch of Dharma protection or something.”

Ah, my father heard those rumors too.

“But seeing you come up with such a wonderful plan, you are indeed my son. You clever rascal!”

Yi Bang-won hugged me.

He seemed to be in a very good mood.

Hmm, at this timing, it seems easy to get permission to establish the academy.

“Father.”

“What’s wrong?”

“I have something to tell you…”

I told Yi Bang-won what I had been planning in my mind.

===

I returned to the Office of Construction and gathered the officials.

“Let’s take a year to select a site, build a building, and secure faculty and students.”

“A year?”

“Since Yeouido is an empty land anyway, we don’t have to worry about clearing people and buildings, and as you can see when building the market, it’s not that difficult to build with bricks and limestone.”

The problem is the teachers and students.

From what I have seen and experienced, the educational curriculum of this era was naturally focused on learning scriptures.

However, as can be seen from the fact that scholars’ six arts are counted as etiquette, music, archery, horsemanship, calligraphy, and mathematics, they also required culture in a fairly wide range of fields.

In other words, it is good to hire physical education and music teachers as well.

‘Thinking about my school days, I wonder if it would be okay to just throw a ball and have them play soccer…’

“Absolutely not.”

I said that.

It is impossible to supply it to schools where growing children have been swept away by the madness of the times and have become corrupt.

“In particular, mathematics is important. Including *Gu Zhang Suan Shu* [The Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art], we should also obtain *San Gyeong Sipseo* [Ten Classics of Mathematics] and have students diligently learn it…”

“Mathematics is one of the six subjects along with military science, law, miscellaneous studies, astronomy, medicine, etc., but isn’t that too much? It’s not like we’re selecting mathematicians, and there will be a lot of opposition if we teach something that doesn’t come out in the civil service exam.”

Lee Sook-beon said with a look on his face that he was doing something useless, so I slammed the table and said.

“Are you making them study to take the civil service exam? Do you even know how useful mathematics is in the Office of Construction before you say that!”

“I, I am considering the feelings of the noblemen…”

Lee Sook-beon made an excuse.

I barely calmed myself down.

Well, Lee Sook-beon’s words made sense.

Even in modern times, there are so many people who give up on math, but would anyone want to take a painful path even though it is an important subject?

Then should I compromise a little?

No way.

‘I’m going to put all my siblings in here, so would the noblemen give up the opportunity to make valuable connections?’

I don’t care if those people’s inner thoughts become complicated.

“But anyway, isn’t it inconvenient to get to Inghwado… since Yeouido is an island?”

‘Because that’s my land.’

Isn’t Gangnam expensive because of the school district?

My heart was already pounding at how much profit I could make if I built a prestigious school there.

Hwang Hee, who was watching the scene, exclaimed, “Heo, heo.”

“There are times when I am truly impressed by Your Highness.”

“What do you mean?”

“I only receive small change as a favor, but Your Highness moves with a very large profit in mind, so wouldn’t it be admirable?”

I wondered if he was feeding me, but Hwang Hee seemed sincere.

“I would like to kneel down and learn a trick from Your Highness’s plan.”

There were many people who were trying to get on the bandwagon even though it was just a plan.

For example, my uncle, who was jumping for joy at the fact that a book containing his war stories was coming out.

“The Grand King said, ‘How about teaching the new textbook created at the school?'”

“What kind of military textbook are you teaching the kids?”

It’s not like it’s ROTC days.

I clicked my tongue.

However, it seemed that I was not the only one who thought this way.

“Master Muhak has arrived.”

“Welcome, Grand Master.”

I welcomed Muhak.

Even if it wasn’t, Muhak’s cooperation was essential in taming, or rather, reforming Buddhism.

I was planning to invite him to Gaeseong soon.

“I am truly grateful that you welcome this old man. Are my disciples doing well?”

“Oh my, old man? The Grand Master, whose name is famous throughout Joseon. The Grand Master’s disciples are doing a great job.”

That’s why I like monks.

They have a lot of useful skills.

It would be such a waste to have all these monks return to secular life and farm or drive them into the mountains.

‘I’m also 1/3 Buddhist.’

While I was inwardly determined to protect Buddhism, Muhak opened his mouth.

“The reason I came here today is to ask Your Highness for a favor.”

“A favor?”

My face hardened.

End

ⓒ Pitkong