The Tale of Master Namgung
This is the complete English version of MeKorean’s modern Korean retelling of the main scenes. It is not an official ITKC translation or a line-by-line scholarly translation. Consult the Classical Chinese original for its precise wording.
Namgung Du grew up in a wealthy family in Impi. His ancestors had been reluctant to enter office, but he sought a name through study and the examinations. At thirty he passed the sama examination and became known in the examination halls for his writing. He was proud of his talent, but harsh and stubborn in character. He treated villagers high-handedly and failed to show officials proper courtesy, steadily making enemies.
Even after moving his household to Seoul, Namgung Du returned to oversee the farms and property in his hometown. A concubine whom he favored and had taught to read, write, and calculate remained at the country house. One day he returned unexpectedly and found her with a male relative. Suppressing his anger, he hid and watched before taking a bow and arrows hanging on the wall. He shot and killed them both, buried their bodies in a ditch in the rice fields, and hurried back to Seoul.
What he concealed came to light. Someone discovered the bodies and informed the bereaved families, and the case reached the authorities. Officials who had long resented Namgung Du also seized the chance to settle personal grudges. He was arrested, brutally tortured, and taken away under guard. His wife followed with their young daughter, got the guards drunk, and freed him during the night. But after he escaped, his wife and daughter were imprisoned and died there. The family's property was dispersed as well.
Namgung Du entered the mountains, shaved his head, and became a Buddhist monk. Taking the religious name Chongji, he observed a strict way of life, but again had to leave to evade his pursuers. Moving among temples, he encountered a young monk. The monk correctly identified his aristocratic background and even knew that he had killed two people and was on the run. Astonished, Namgung Du asked for instruction. The young monk told him that his own teacher, who possessed far greater abilities, lived on Chisang Mountain in Muju.
Namgung Du followed that advice into the mountains, but the teacher did not appear easily. He searched temples and valleys scarcely accessible to people for a year. Just as he was about to turn back, he saw a large peach stone floating down a stream through the woods. Following the water upstream, he found a house built against a cliff. A young attendant greeted him, and an old monk as gaunt as withered wood came out of a room. Namgung Du prostrated himself and begged to be taught.
At first the old monk pretended not to know what he meant and shut the door. After Namgung Du refused to leave for several days, he finally called him inside. The room held only a wooden pillow, a few books, and locked cupboards. Recognizing Namgung Du's strong endurance, the monk said he was better suited to learning how not to die than to other arts. He first made him resist sleep and repeatedly read Daoist scriptures. In the story, Namgung Du follows these instructions, enduring extreme fatigue and hunger.
The teacher gradually reduced his food and made him stop eating grain. He then used other foods in a regimen intended to transform the body. Namgung Du persevered through blurred vision and painful sores all over his body. After several years he learned to recite scriptures, count his breaths, and circulate his vital energy. The account presents this as an unusual discipline for becoming an immortal. As time passed, Namgung Du moved further from worldly thoughts and nearer to the expectation of attaining the Way.
But his mind faltered at the final stage. Sitting in training as his teacher directed, Namgung Du felt a mysterious change within his body. Believing success was close, he suddenly wanted to achieve it faster. At that moment he lost control of his energy and ran out screaming. The teacher calmed him and cared for him for a long time. He lamented that, despite years of teaching and endurance, a single impatient thought had ruined what was almost complete.
The teacher said that although Namgung Du had not reached the state of ascending to heaven, he could still become an immortal who lived long on earth. Asked about his own past, the old monk said that he had been born centuries earlier, encountered miraculous medicinal plants and scriptures, and trained himself. He remained in the mountains because he was charged with governing various deities of the East. Namgung Du also reported seeing dazzling light radiate from his teacher's body and, on the fifteenth day of the first month, witnessing a whole valley illuminated by lanterns as countless deities and strange beasts assembled.
At that gathering, the deities spoke of a great war that would strike this land. Namgung Du's account joined the order of the gods to disasters in the human world. His teacher later sent him down the mountain. He urged him to refrain from killing, sexual misconduct, and theft, and never secretly harm others. Above all, he said, cultivating the mind required honesty. Namgung Du wept as he said farewell. Looking back on his way down, he could no longer see the house where he had stayed.
He returned to the world, but his old life was gone. His country house had disappeared, and the fields had changed hands several times. At his Seoul home, only the foundation stones lay scattered in the weeds. He went to find a former household servant in Haenam. At first the man did not recognize him; when he finally realized who he was, they wept together. With that household's help Namgung Du established a new family and had a son and a daughter. He continued to remember his teacher's words, living in a deep valley and hoping to meet him again.
Later, when Heo Gyun had left his post in Gongju and was staying in Buan, Namgung Du came to visit him on foot. He said he was eighty-three, but looked about forty-six or forty-seven. Heo records that his sight, hearing, and strength had not declined. Namgung Du passed on scriptures and described his mountain experiences in detail. He said that steady cultivation could still bring a long life. Seeing that Namgung Du ate and lived like an ordinary person, Heo asked why.
Namgung Du answered that he had originally wanted to ascend to heaven, but had failed through impatience. Then he spoke of another side of longevity. In the mountains, solitude was painful; when he came down among people, he knew no one. The young dismissed him as an old man, leaving little pleasure in worldly life. People wanted to live long to enjoy happy things, he said, but what was the point of longevity without happiness? He also expressed a wish to spend his remaining years with his grandson and complete the life allotted to him.
He repeatedly told Heo Gyun that endurance was what must be maintained to the end. His teacher had recognized him as someone who could endure, yet his failure to do so at the last had brought him to this point. After staying for several dozen days, he brushed off his robes and left. Closing the account, Heo Gyun writes that it is unclear whether the history of the teacher Namgung Du related can be fully believed. Yet the age and health he himself observed are not easily explained either. Leaving both wonder and doubt in place, he regrets a life that lost an almost completed achievement through haste.
南宮先生傳
The Classical Chinese original comes from ITKC’s publicly released Collected Korean Literary Works XML. Paragraphs are divided for readability. Consult the official source below for variant characters, collation notes and page images.
先生名斗。世居臨陂。家故饒。財雄於鄕。自其祖父二世皆不肯推擇爲吏斗。
獨以博士弟子業起家。年三十。始中乙卯司馬。有聲場屋間。嘗以大信不絇賦。
魁泮解。人皆傳誦之。斗伉倔自矜懻。剛忍敢爲。恃才豪橫於閭里。
倨不爲禮於長吏。縣上下俱側目於斗。而積不敢發。始先生移家輦下。爲進取計。
而留一妾於鄕墅。每年秋。輒歸。經紀其務。妾卽兵家女而艶慧甚。
敎以書計。該捷絶倫。斗絶嬖之。其在洛也。則曠居累月。
故潛與斗之堂姪異姓者私。戊午秋。斗以事急還鄕。未及一舍所日曛。留傔從。
獨一騎馳至墅。則已燃燈矣。僕隷咸休。中門洞啓。見妾艶粧麗服佇於階。
而堂姪者踰東短垣。足未及地者半咫。妾遽前摟抱。斗忍怒而姑徐俟其終。繫馬於外門柱。
潛身蔽於隙中以窺之。二人者諧謔極褻。將解衣竝枕。斗方窮其實。就暗裏摸壁。
則掛箙有二矢一弧。遂關而注射。先貫女胸腹立潰。其男驚起。跳北囱出。
又射之中脅斃。斗欲告官。以點汚門戶。且難保長吏心。卽牽二屍。
埋於稻田瀆內。卽疾驅回洛。遲明。家僕覺之。意其與堂姪逃。
問姪家則亦莫知所之。有莊奴竊斗穀百許石。常恐斗來則必死。疑斗之殺二人。尋其跡。
田瀆有膏沸於水上。鍤發之。二屍俯仰焉。卽奔告妾家。老革告于令。
引男家證有宿怨。令與諸吏固嘗不快於斗。俱喜而欲甘心以私嫌。謀殺堂姪爲案。械斗於都下。
五毒備漆。攬至尼山。斗之妻負幼女追至。醉守者。夜脫械逸去。
天亮。守者覺之。跡不獲。以其妻致縣。竝女庾死獄中。
陂池園田臧獲。狼籍分析於二仇家。斗卽入金臺山。落髮爲僧。法名摠持。
戒行甚嚴。過一臘。仇家跡知之。率吏士掩之。其曉夢有山神告曰。
冤債至。可亟去。旣覺。急下山。捕者至。
不獲而返。斗向頭流山。居雙溪月餘。厭名刹緇俗所湊集棄。向太白山至宜寧野庵憩焉。
續有一僧至。丰秀年少。解襆距堂廉睨曰。君。士族也。
何脫削乎。俄曰。性忍者。少頃曰。業侕而得一名也。
良久笑曰。傷二人。命負罪逃者。發四言皆合。斗大駴錯愕失措。
夜就其寢。扣頭服賓。且請敎甚懇。少年僧曰。我只解相人耳。
吾師多藝。相某人當傳某藝。或符呪或象緯或堪輿或推占。隨其器誘掖之。我受相法。
尙未造極。安敢爲人師。斗問師今焉在。僧曰。住茂朱雉裳山。
你往則可見。斗拜而退。迨曙往候。則已去矣。卽回錫到雉裳山。
環山伽藍殆數十區。俱無異僧。留一歲苦心。參訪層硿絶頂鳥迹所不到處。搜覓三四周而不能得。
以爲少年僧相誑。悵然欲返。忽到一洞。有川注於林薄間。流出大桃核。
斗心欣然曰。是中莫是仙師所否。促步沿流可數里許。仰觀一峯陡起。松杉翳日。
有素屋三楹倚崖而構。砌石爲臺。位置淸塏。攬衣經登其上。則有一小童迎曰。
問何方來。斗揖曰。摠持來參仙師。童闢東偏左閤子。有老僧形如槁木。
披破衲出曰。和尙風神聳溢。非恒人也。曷爲至。斗跽曰。
愚魯無他技。聞老師多藝。欲行一方技以行世。千里求師而來。週一歲方得樞衣。
幸進而敎之。長老曰。山野濱死之夫耳。安有藝耶。斗百拜懇乞。
固拒之。閤戶不出。斗伏於廡下。達曉哀訴。至朝不休。
長老視若無人。趺坐入定。不顧者三日。斗僉不懈。長老方鑑其誠。
闢戶令入室。室大方丈。只安一木枕。鑑北龕爲六谷。鑰閉而掛一匕於龕柱。
南囱上懸板。兒有五六卷書而已。長老熟視之。笑曰。君忍人也。
推朴不可訓他技。唯可以不死敎之。斗起拜曰。是足矣。奚用他爲。
長老曰。凡諸方先聚精神。而後乃可成。矧煉魄飛神。欲求仙蛻者乎。
聚精神自不睡始。你先不睡。斗到此四日。而長老不食飮。猶童日一食黑豆米一合。
了無飢疲色。心已異之。及承此誨。至誠發大願。初夜坐到四更眼自合。
忍而至曙。第二夜昏倦不省事。刻意堅忍。三夜四夜倦困不能植坐。頭或撞於壁楣。
猶忍過。第七夜。脫然朗悟。精神自覺醒爽。長老喜曰。
君有許大忍力。何事不可做乎。因出二經授之曰。伯陽參同契。乃修煉至訣。
仙家最上乘。黃庭內外玉景經。乃導氣煉臟至要。亦道家妙諦。讀之萬遍。
自可悟解。令日各誦十遍。又曰。大凡學飛昇者。斷除念頭。
安坐煉精氣神三寶。令坎离龍虎交濟成丹。是大捷徑。而自非上智與宿稟。不可晬爲。
君性朴固剛忍。難以上乘訓之。姑先絶粒。爲下學上達計也。凡人之生。
稟精於五行。故五臟各主五行。脾受土氣。人之飮啖。皆歸於脾胃。
雖以穀精強健無疾。而氣引於土。終至於魄歸乎地。古之碎穀者。皆爲此也。
君試先碎穀。卽令斗曰再食。七日又一飯一粥。七日減一粥。更七日以粥替飯。
過四七日撤飯粥。以匕開上龕鑰。取漆盒二個。一黑豆末。一黃精屑。
桃各一匙。和水餌之。曰再焉。斗食腸素寬。飢之殆不可忍。
身瘐體倦。眼昏花不辨物。猶忍之。服黑豆三七日。忽若充然不思食。
卽令餌柏葉胡麻數。遍身生瘡。疼不能忍。又百日痂脫肉生方如常。長老喜曰。
君眞利器也。但息慾念。留三年讀二訣凡萬遍。胸次洒然。若有神會。
長老敎以數息。旣又敎之運氣。氣已運矣。遂以子午卯酉行六子祕訣。呼吸道成。
顏漸腴氣益爽。萬念俱灰。居六年。長老曰。君有道骨。
法當上昇。下此則不失爲喬鏗矣。慾念雖動。地忍之。凡念雖非食色。
一切妄想。俱害於眞。須空諸有。靜以煉之。因空第二屋。
坐斗其其中。敎以昇降顚倒之法。口訣諄至。斗依所訓。兀然堅坐不動。
閉眼內視。長老時寒燠飢飽以保持之。一日。覺自上齶如小李狀甘涎注舌上。告長老。
長老令徐嚥歸腹中。喜曰。黍珠基立。可運火侯。卽掛三才鏡于壁。
植七星劍二口於左右。禹步呪祝。冀以却魔成道。煉幾六朔。丹田充盈。
若有金彩發於臍下。斗喜其將成。欲速之心遽萌芽。不能制姹女。离火上燒泥丸。
絶叫趨出。長老以杖擊其頭曰。噫其不成也。亟令斗安坐降氣。氣雖制伏。
而心沖沖終日不定。長老歎曰。曠世逢人。敎非不盡。而業障未除。
遂致顚敗。君之命也。吾何力焉。因以蘇茶飮之。至七日心方恬而氣不上炎。
長老曰。君雖不成神胎。亦可爲地上仙。少加樽養。則八百年之壽可享矣。
君命當有子。洩精之竅已塞。可服藥以通之。出二粒赤桐子丸嚥之。斗請曰。
庸戆不任敎。自我命薄。何恨。弟子侍師七歲于玆。尙不知師之出處。
幸賜其詳。慰異日嚮往之誠若何。長老笑曰。他人問之。固不敢言。
君能忍者。故告之詳。我卽上洛大姓子大師幸之曾孫子也。生於宋煕寧二年。十四有風癩。
父母不收。棄之林中。夜有虎攬而置諸石室。耽耽乳其二子其旁。終不害意。
痛方極。恨不速斃於其牙齒。有草羅生於崖窽。葉敷根大。試洗而食之。
腹稍果。食數月瘡漸損。稍自起立。遂多掘而頓食之。殆盡半山。
幾百日瘡悉脫。遍生綠毛。喜而強食之。又百日。身自擧倏昇於峯巓。
旣已愈其疾。不辨古邑來路。方棲邊靡所之。忽有一僧過于峯下。頫身就其途遮問曰。
此何山也。僧曰。此乃太白山。而地係眞珠府也。近有寺否。
曰。西峯有蘭若。路絶不易攀陟。吾卽飛至其庵。禪寮晝閉。
闃爾無人。手闢廊戶。行到中寮。有一老病僧擁布褐。隱几而喘。
幾死。擡眼見之曰。夜夢老相言傳我師祕書者今當至。相君面。眞其人也。
起解裳出一函書。授之曰。讀此萬周。其義自見。努力勿怠。
吾問其熟傳。曰。新羅義相大師入中原。逢正陽眞人。授此書。
臨化囑我。二百年後。當有傳者。君應其讖。可受持勉力。
吾得所傳。從此逝矣。趺坐寂然化。吾卽茶毗之。得紺舍利百粒。
藏之塔中。解函視之。乃黃帝陰符及金碧龍虎經，參同契，黃庭內外經，崔公入藥鏡，胎息心印，洞古定觀，大通淸靜等經。就其庵獨居修煉。魔鬼萬方來撓。
以不聞不見消之。凡苦志十一年。乃成神胎。法當解去。上帝命留此統東國三道諸神。
故留此五百餘年。限滿則當上昇矣。吾經歷數十人。或氣過銳。或太鈍。
或少忍力。或緣淺。或多慾念。俱不能成。若有成道者。
吾當擧授吾任。上歸玉京。而曠百年不得一人。此我塵緣未盡而然也。斗興長老久同寢。
常怪其祕臍下寸地。不許人見。問其故欲覩之。長老笑曰。何容易耶。
見則恐驚君耳。斗曰。奚驚爲。願一見。長老解下包。
金光百道。射於屋梁。不能定視。蒲伏於榻。長老還包之如故。
斗又曰。師旣治諸神。何無一個來修覲者。長老曰。吾飛神而受其朝矣。
又請觀諸神。曰。可待明年上元也。至期。長老出龕中衣箱。
戴八霞方山巾。服七星日月繡袍。係圓靑玉。束獅帶。穿五花文履。
手持八角玉如意。趺坐砌臺上。斗西向侍。童子偶立。忽於臺上雙檜。
各掛彩花燈。俄而滿洞千萬樹。俱各掛花燈。紅焰漲空如白晝。有奇形怪狀之獸。
或熊虎或獅象。或豹而雙脚。或虯形而翼。或龍而無角。或龍身馬頭。
或三角而人立決驟。或人面三眸者以百數。又有象獐鹿彘形者。金目雪牙。赭毳霜蹄。
夭矯拏攫以千計。俱羅侍於左右。又有金童玉女捧幢節數百人。介戟具三伏者千餘人。環立臺上。
衆香馥郁。璜佩丁東。續有靑衫象簡佩水蒼戴弁者二人。鞠躬階下。唱曰。
東方極好林，廣霞，紅映山三大神君見。有三神俱頂紫金梁冠。紫袍玉帶。端笏雲履。佩劍珩者。
頎而晢長。眉目皆朗秀。長老起立拱手。三神皆再揖而退。又唱曰。
蓬壺，方丈，圖嶠，祖洲，瀛海等五洲眞官見。有五神各披方色袍冠佩如前。而俱頎秀。長老起立。五神皆再拜而退。
又唱曰。東南西海，長離，廣野，沃焦，玄隴，地昁，摠眞，女几，東華，仙源，琳宵等十島女官見。有仙女十人。俱戴花絨金襪巾。揷赤珠步搖。
珠翠玲瓏映其面。不可定視。服素練金鳳紋衫。施翠羅襕膝長裙。佩太乙靈符赩。
奕有電光。穿綠花方底履。頎長而男子拜。長老不起。坐受之。
女官退。又唱曰。天印，紫蓋，金馬，丹陵，天梁，南壘，穆洲等七道司命神將見。有紅抹額揷羽。戎袴褶，繡花掩心，金搭。
肘佩矢房弧箙。手朱殳而俱獅形虎姿。植赤髮金目虯髥者揖不拜退。又唱曰。丹山，玄林，蒼兵，素泉，赭野等五神所繞山林藪澤嶺瀆城隍諸鬼伯鬼母俱見。
五大神將如七道神形者各領一隊百餘靈官。或短醜。或長大。或潔脩而雅。或六臂四目者。
女或老醜或姸少者。被服俱隨方色。列立四拜。退爲五隊。長老命小童持小綘幡。
從北方指東環南抵西。立于中隊之前。告曰。諸靈俱會。而魏州趙夫人未至矣。
素泉神出跪曰。他以謫。今降爲人。其代不來矣。長老招廣霞三眞人至前。
謂曰。卿輩分理三方。體上帝好生之德。黎庶受卿澤久矣。今者厄會將至。
萬姓當罹其殃。思所以捄之榮耶。三人者俱唏咨。誠如所諭。昨者蓬萊治水大監自紫霞元君所來過紅映山。
言衆眞在九光殿上侍上帝。有三島帝君道。閻浮提三韓之民。機巧姦騙。誑惑暴殄。
不惜福不畏天。不孝不忠。嫚神瀆鬼。故借句林洞貍面大魔。拳赤土之兵往勦之。
連兵七年。國幸不亡。三方之民。十集其五六以警之。臣等聞之。
亦皆心怵。而大運所關。何敢容力乎。長老亦嗟吁不已。俄自中隊發炮一響。
四隊皆應。擂鼓伐金以助之。樹上燈一一落地。窅然幽谷。太雲平鋪。
長老入房。襆其冠服。明燈坐室中。斗愕眙自失者久之。翌日。
招斗謂曰。你旣緣薄。不合久于此。其下山長髮餌黃精。拜北斗。
不殺婬盜。不茹葷狗牛肉。不陰害人。則此地上仙。行脩之不息。
亦可上昇矣。黃庭，參同。道家上乘。誦持不懈。而度人經。
乃老君傳道之書。玉樞經。乃雷府諸神所尊。佩之則鬼畏神欽。此外修心之要。
唯不欺爲上。凡人一念之善惡。鬼神布列於左右。皆先知之。上帝降臨孔邇。
作一事輒錄之於斗宮。報應之效。捷於影響。昧者褻之。以爲茫昧不足畏。
彼焉知蒼蒼上之有眞宰者操其柄耶。你忍心雖剛。而慾念不除。倘或不愼。則一墜異趣。
曠劫受苦。可無懼哉。斗涕泣而受其誨。卽告辭下山回視。則無復人居焉。
展轉至臨陂。則舊盧無遺址。田畝皆再四易主。又屆洛下。則故宅只有基。
柱礎縱橫於宿莽中。忍淚而歸。常念有老實奴在海南。富有田宅。往投之而初不識焉。
久乃認爲其主。相持號慟。空其居而處之。爲娶民家女。生子女各一。
先生雖更立家業。佩服師訓。終始不少懈。去隱于龍潭地。擇深谷以居。
爲近雉裳。冀再遏仙師計。而數十年採黃精松葉食之。身日益強。鬚髮不白。
步履如飛。萬曆戊申秋。筠罷公州。家扶安。先生自古阜步訪於旅邸。
因以四經奧旨授之。且以遇師顚末詳言之如右。先生今年八十三。而容若四十六七歲人。視聽精力不少衰。
鸞瞳綠髮。脩然如廋鶴。或數日絶食不寐。誦參同，黃庭不綴。輒曰。
毋陰行險。毋曰無鬼神。行善積德。絶慾煉念。則上仙可立致。
鸞鶴不日下迎矣。不佞見先生飮啖食息如平人。怪之。先生曰。吾初擬飛昇。
而欲速不果成。吾師旣許以地上仙。勤脩則八百歲可期矣。近日山中頗苦閑寂。下就人寰。
則無一個親知。到處年少輩輕其老醜。了無人間興味。人之欲久視者。原爲樂事。
而悄然無樂。吾何用久爲。以是不▣▣▣▣
弄孫以度餘年。乘化歸盡。以順天所賦也。君有仙才道骨。力行不替。
眞仙去君何遠哉。吾師嘗許我以忍。不能忍而至是。忍之一字。仙家妙訣。
君亦愼持勿墜也。留數旬。拂衣辭去。人言其還向龍潭云。
許子曰。傳言東人尙佛不尙道。自羅逮鮮數千載。未聞有一人得道仙去者。其果徵哉。
然以余所覩南宮先生言之。可異焉。先生所師者果何人。而得於相師者。未必的然可信。
所悅亦未必盡然。要之影響之間也。但以先生年貌看之。非眞能得道者耶。那能八十而若是康健耶。
此又不可決以爲實無是事也。噫。其奇哉。我國僻在海外之遐。氣之士如羨門，安期。
而巖石間乃有此異人。累千百年。俾先生一得遇之。孰謂偏壤而無其人耶。達道則仙。
昧道則凡。傳所言者與耳食奚殊。使先生毋望其速成。卒收爐鼎之效。則彼羨門安期。
亦何難拍肩而等夷之。唯其不忍。以敗垂成之功。嗚呼惜哉。
Living Long and Living Well
The stories in this account reach us from different distances: the elderly Namgung Du whom Heo Gyun met himself, the youth Namgung Du remembers, and events centuries earlier that he says his teacher described. Mark who saw each scene and from whom it was heard. These distinctions help explain why Heo's final commentary expresses both doubt and astonishment.
Namgung Du's force of mind does not have a single meaning throughout the story. At first it is linked to anger that intimidates others and kills two people; in the mountains it becomes the endurance of pain. But when achievement is near, he again falls to impatience. Set his teacher's assessments beside his actual behavior to see the gap between strength and mastery of the mind.
The conversation in old age changes how we see the long training that precedes it. A man who wanted longevity now describes a life without familiar people or pleasures. Consider whether becoming an immortal remains his unchanged goal to the end. The disciplines and divine prophecies in the work belong to a narrative of the period's imagination and beliefs; they should not be treated as present-day health practices or proof of historical events.
Namgung Du's flight begins with his killings and the deaths of his wife and daughter. Following only the spectacular mountain scenes can make these losses recede. Connect the moment when he returns to find only his house site with the beginning of the account. Consider what remains of those earlier events even after he establishes a new family and lives a long life.