Page:The passing of Korea.djvu/485

 struggles took place in which Buddhism was uniformly successful; but there was always left the nucleus of an opposition, and in the end, when Buddhism had dragged the nation in the mire and made her contemptible, the Confucian element came to the surface again, and by one bold stroke effected, at least on the surface of things, one of the most sweeping changes that any people has ever experienced, comparable to the French Revolution. This struggle between the two systems could not but leave an indelible mark upon the folk-lore of the country. A volume could be filled with stories illustrating in detail the successes now of one side and now of the other. Once when the Confucian element prevailed and the Buddhist pontifex was condemned to death, he foretold that when his head fell his blood would flow white like milk to vindicate his cause. It turned out even so, and his executioners bowed to the logic of the occasion and reinstated the formerly despised cult. Again a raven was the bearer of a missive to the King bidding him to hasten to the Queen's quarters and shoot an arrow through the zither-case. He obeyed, and found that the arrow had taken effect in the body of the high priest, who had taken advantage of the King's absence to attack the honour of the Queen. In one instance a test was made to see whether Confucian or Buddhistic principles were better able to control the passions. A leading representative of each of the cults were subjected to the blandishments of a courtesan, with the result that Confucianism scored a notable triumph.

So far as we have found, Korean folk-lore accords the palm of victory in a majority of cases to the Buddhist side. This is doubtless because Buddhism made far greater use of folk-tales to impress itself upon the people than did Confucianism. The latter is the more reasonable cult, but Buddhism chose the better, or at least the surer, part by capturing the imagination and monopolising the mystical element which is so prominent in Oriental character. After Confucianism had secured a firm hold upon the government, it cared little what Buddhism did in the moral sphere. All physical contest between them came to an