Chapter 177
Chapter 177
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 177
Chapter Title: Commercial City Hanyang (11)
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Now, Ryu Jeong-hyeon had become synonymous with evil, branded as a lingering ghost of Goryeo.
But in the original history, that man was one of the leading figures in persecuting Buddhism more than anyone else.
A corrupt official who had lent money at exorbitant interest rates to poor commoners out of greed, exploiting them no less than in Goryeo.
Yet when his time to die came, perhaps fearing his judgment before King Yama, he claimed he would accumulate merit and held a water-and-land ritual with 5,000 seom of white rice.
The Annals of the Joseon Dynasty recorded this fact, and later generations mocked Ryu Jeong-hyeon endlessly for it.
But viewing it from a slightly different angle, it meant that even a man with a shattered personality couldn't escape fear of the afterlife...
'The afterlife can be useful depending on how you play it.'
"In my humble opinion, King Beopheung of Silla accepted Buddhism not because he was a king mad with superstition who wanted to worship strange powers and gods, but because he recognized that Buddhism had a positive function in benefiting the nation widely."
According to historians' research, Christianity took shape as a religion around AD 33.
Over the next 300 years, it suffered tremendous persecution within the Roman Empire.
In Joseon, believing in Buddhism didn't lead to arrest or direct harm...
But in Rome, simply professing faith in Christianity got you thrown into the Colosseum and killed in all sorts of creative ways.
Fed to lions, burned at the stake in the Colosseum, and so on.
Yet they eventually became the state religion through the Edict of Milan.
Why could Christianity, the religion of the persecuted, become a nation's state faith?
Because it gained recognition as a religion that benefited society.
"Buddhism benefiting the nation..."
"The reason Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Bang, made Confucianism the national ideology was because the Confucian emphasis on rulers ruling rulers, ministers serving ministers, fathers fathering fathers, sons sonning sons—each fulfilling their proper roles—helped bring peace to the realm."
Before Liu Bang, Confucianism was just one of the Hundred Schools of Thought that held some sway in China.
But Liu Bang realized that teachings urging everyone to fulfill their duties in their proper places helped maintain national order, so he adopted Confucianism as the guideline for governing the state...
And from then on, Confucius's teachings dominated Northeast Asia.
"No one in this world is without fear of death. And every human instinctively worries about what comes after. Yet Confucius said that the afterlife is something humans cannot dare know, and speculation about it leads nowhere. Just as he did not discuss strange powers and gods in life, he said nothing about the afterlife."
"Well said."
Even Yi Bang-won held a ritual at a temple in the capital when his son died.
King Sejong did the same when his wife, Queen Soheon, passed away—he built the Inner Buddhist Hall in the palace and prayed for her blessings in the afterlife.
What reason would those two paragons of reason have for such actions?
Confucianism teaches that the afterlife isn't worth discussing, but it still nagged at them anyway.
"The unlearned commoners don't know Confucian propriety, so they fear the afterlife even more. That's why Buddhism teaches them that if they cherish sibling harmony, respect their parents, and serve the king loyally, they can reach paradise. Then the people will strive to live rightly, if only to enter paradise after death."
Buddhist scholars say the hells of the Six Realms of Rebirth were created to educate people through Buddhism.
This holds persuasive power because the sins that send people to the Ten Kings' Hells closely match what people of the time considered grave offenses.
The Tongue-Plucking Hell under King Yama is for liars, and the Great Mountain King's Vast Sea Hell is for fraudulent merchants.
'Don't want to go to hell after death? Then live virtuously.'
"Buddhism is useful depending on how you use it... I see."
"And Your Highness, not long ago, I requested that Jang Yeong-sil of the Bureau of Military Supplies build public bathhouses."
"Aren't bathhouses a lascivious custom from the previous Goryeo dynasty?"
"Aren't street performers useful in their own way too? I've found them quite handy for enlightening the people this time, which only reinforces that view. Public bathhouses are similar in that regard. Keeping the body clean is truly vital for the people's health. For example, once the palace guards started bathing frequently, outbreaks of epidemics among them vanished entirely."
Thanks to that, the Joseon army became as disciplined as a 21st-century military—living and dying by the rules.
I'd even heard that some military officer, riding this momentum, suggested introducing the Goryeo relic of square-meal eating.
Of course, that proposal never reached Sejong; it got thoroughly chewed out by his direct superior and rejected.
With the military emphasizing discipline and hygiene, weekly sun-drying of bedding and uniforms became routine.
I'd heard some junior officers or NCOs even say things like, 'I get it—they only enforce the essentials, and after that, they leave you alone.'
"It's already proven effective in the military. So to protect the people from epidemics and all sorts of contagious diseases, we must above all spread bathing widely. For that, public bathhouses are essential."
Hanyang's population is surging right now.
But people in this era typically bathe only once every three months or half a year—if that.
Bathing only twice a year? That's basically a walking germ factory.
At my words, Choi Man-ri, participating in this audience, raised an objection.
"Your Highness, Magistrate Kim Dae-bung of Hanseong Prefecture is mostly right, but... in the previous Goryeo, men and women bathed together in city bathhouses, which took root as lascivious customs. Moreover, prostitutes lined up there, leading to grave immorality. Taking this precedent as a mirror, we must forbid spreading bathhouses indiscriminately."
Bathing involves stripping naked and washing the bare body clean...
So prostitution happening in the process wasn't uncommon.
Rome, where public bathhouses proliferated, was like that, and Edo too—prostitution was frequent in bathhouses.
Of course, early medieval Europe also inherited Roman public bathhouses...
And prostitution was rife there too.
So naturally, such bad practices must be banned.
"We must strictly separate spaces for men and women, punish severely anyone corrupting public morals with such debauchery, and bar anyone with illness from entering the bathhouses."
Early medieval Europe bathed quite frequently.
In fact, not bathing at all was seen as a form of asceticism.
Contrary to our prejudices, early medieval folk kept very clean, but after the Black Death, that custom changed completely.
Bathhouses were seen as breeding grounds for the plague, birthing a culture that tabooed bathing itself.
By the same logic, we can't allow bathhouses in Joseon to become hotbeds of disease.
"But heating the bathwater would require a lot of fuel."
"Coal is being mined in decent quantities across Joseon now. While it's not suited for places needing extremely hot fires like furnaces... coal is still coal, and it's quite apt for boiling water."
For immediate efficiency, gathering firewood from mountains around Hanyang, like Bukaksan, would be best.
But looking long-term...
With Hanyang's population endlessly growing and logging continuing nonstop, all the trees in the surrounding mountains would vanish.
That would impair groundwater storage in the mountains, worsening droughts, and without tree roots to hold the soil, landslides would increase.
Using coal as fuel, however, would let us open new mining villages nationwide, creating new cities where people gather...
Plus, coal transporters would emerge, creating jobs—worth trying as policy.
Sejong listened, then smacked his lips.
"Nothing Magistrate Kim Dae-bung of Hanseong Prefecture said goes against reason. However, using Buddhism as a tool for enlightenment still needs more review. I'll gather more opinions from the court later."
"Your benevolence overwhelms us."
King Sejong even enlisted 'monks' for creating Hunminjeongeum.
And he highly valued Monk Sinmi, whom he conscripted, intending to bestow honors fit for a general or prime minister.
If I just pave the way a bit, Sejong would probably use Grand Prince Hyoryeong on his own to unify Buddhism.
"As for building bathhouses, I'm wary they might breed lascivious acts, but that's like fearing maggots and not making soy sauce. So, Magistrate Kim Dae-bung of Hanseong Prefecture, devise the necessary systems for installing bathhouses, have the State Council review them, and submit a formal report."
"Your benevolence overwhelms us."
Sejong spoke last.
"Enlightenment isn't limited to the proprieties in the classics. Using street performers to teach and instill simple virtues is also enlightenment. Do not forget this."