[KS] Re: KSR 2000-10: _Spirit of the Mountains: Korea's SAN-SHIN and

Fri Sep 22 02:39:33 EDT 2000

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I would like to offer another view of David Mason's long anticipated book 
"Spirit of the Mountains: Korea's SAN-SHIN and Traditions of Mountain
Worship." I am intrigued as to why Korea, as a small country with so many
mountains, has found it compelling to paint so many pictures of a spirit
when one could just turn in almost any direction and find a "real" one. But
I know that it's a lot more convenient to offer prayers and other
nourishment to the image in the next room than to everyday hike up to the
top of the peak.

To hold "Spirit of the Mountains" is to have in hand  a well-researched,
luxuriously illustrated book on Korea's traditional life -- one which will
be put in broad circulation. It joins the research of Dr. Zo Zayong who said
that by studying the traditional art of Korea one can gain insight into its
sophisticated spiritual foundation. I concur with Mason's sense that Sanshin
will figure prominently in Korea's environmental, social and political
future, much as he/she has in its past. So, it's time we get to know just
how that can be.

I wish to applaud Mason's efforts to walk his talk, literally, by actually
go up the mountains and into the rural villages, crossing cold streams and
heated religious biases, to find the deity's many diverse faces. The
narrative's anecdotal tales of mountain dwelling monks as well as
information gleaned from collectors and scholars, as well as literary and
historical sources, are equally welcome.

Of great use to me has been the book's running definitions of many Korean
terms (nouns both proper and not) which are spread throughout the text and
compiled into a glossary with romanized transliteration, Chinese and Hangol
references. I was thrilled to find his translation of prayer to Sanshin and
a lengthy discussion of comparative religious cults with Sanshin as its
object of worship.

Surely one can critique the book's production which, by Hollym's standards
for its other shamanism books, is exceptional, particularly in its
well-printed slip jacket and binding. And the book deserved a good index.

i couldn't read "Sanshin" before I had devoured it, so now I'm going back
leisurely again, again.

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>From: Stephen Epstein <Stephen.Epstein at vuw.ac.nz>
>To: korean-studies at iic.edu
>Subject: KSR 2000-10: _Spirit of the Mountains: Korea's SAN-SHIN and
Traditions of Mountain Worship_, by David A. Mason
>Date: Fri, 22 Sep 2000 15:41:53 +1200
>

> REPLY sends your message to the whole list
> __________________________________________
>
> _Spirit of the Mountains: Korea's SAN-SHIN and Traditions of Mountain
> Worship_, by David A. Mason. Seoul, Hollym Co. 1999. 224 pages. ISBN:
> 1-56591-107-5.
>
> Reviewed by Henny Savenije
> Seoul, Korea
>
>  David Mason has been collecting pictures and information and taking
> photos since he became interested in Buddhist temples more than sixteen
> years ago. San-shin (Mountain Spirit, Mountain God or Spirit of the
> Mountains) is not very well known in the wider world, despite being one of
> the most important figures in traditional Korean culture. Its various
> cultural roles and manifestations are described, accompanied by photos of
> San-shin icons and shrines taken all over South Korea. Other deities and
> symbols which share paintings and shrines with San-shin are briefly
> introduced in order to shed further light on the identity of this spirit.
> One point of criticism which Mason acknowledges is that the photos are not
> high quality and sometimes even rather amateurish, but they do give a good
> idea of the extent of temples and paintings related to this figure in the
> country.
>
>  Chapter One starts with a general introduction as Mason introduces
> his own ideas of San-shin and why this figure remains important in Korea,
> followed by an explanation for his own interest in San-shin. This
> subjective technique pervades the whole book as Mason uses the first person
> to underscore his viewpoint, and the text is laden with personal comments,
> experiences and anecdotes. In this sense it is not a "scholarly" book,
> although it gives tables to show the frequency with which certain
> iconographical elements related to San-shin appear in temples and
> paintings. In this chapter Mason introduces the concept of six levels of
> progression by which an ordinary person is transformed into to a Mountain
> God.
>
>  Chapter Two is titled "Iconography of San-shin."  Section One A
> discusses the identity and personality traits that lead a person to become
> considered a San-shin. A San-shin is always originally a good person and
> each one of them comes to be considered the lord of a certain mountain.
> Section One B discusses the gender of the San-shin. Though Mason gives some
> examples of female San-shin, the majority are male.  Section Two is titled
> "Portraits and Symbols of the Mountain Spirit" and is further divided into
> eight subsections: A. discusses the most primitive extant stones, cairns
> called SÃ´-nang-dang, and paintings dedicated to the Mountain Spirit;  B.
> describes the "Origin of the Paintings." The title is somewhat misleading
> since Mason cannot provide a satisfying explanation for their origin,
> although he ascribes their provenance to the Middle Kingdom, China; C
> discusses Pass-spirits (Rang-shin), a variation of San-shin, who are rarely
> personified except as tigers; D. treats the production of paintings and
> discusses them in their various forms.  The rest of this section is filled
> out with a discussion of Basic Iconography, the Shin-sÃ´n-dae (the abode of
> San-shin), Hand Held Symbols associated with San-shin, and finally the
> San-shin's "Headgear, Halos, Hair and Clothing."
>
>  At this point Mason goes on to discuss the iconic companions of
> San-shin (e.g. tigers; servants and the objects they hold or activities
> they engage in; the rare appearance of other persons; background animals
> and birds; vegetation such as pine and bamboo; and other elements such as
> longevity symbols).  Mason follows with an account of San-shin shrines,
> describing the locations where the shrines are found and overall shrine
> appearance.  He then proceeds to discuss various other spirits enshrined
> together with the San-shin such as Dok-sÃ´ng, Chil-sÃ´ng, Je-sÃ´k, Yong-wang,
> a shamanic lord of the waters, and miscellaneous figures who share his
> shrine such as Tangun and other local spirits.  He concludes with
> consideration of another San-shin who appears in altar paintings in The
> Spirit Assembly (Shinjungdan) where candles and incense is burned.
>
>  Chapter Three is called "San-shin in Korea's Religious Traditions"
> and begins with a discussion of the figure's Korean roots and its
> relationship to the Tangun myth and the meaning this myth holds for Korean
> nationalism.  Next comes a brief consideration of San-shin in relationship
> to shamanism (without references) that focuses on rituals and pilgrimages,
> and then we find an account of Korean Taoism together with a brief history
> of geomancy and its role in Korean history.   Mason then, with descriptive
> subheadings, discusses San-shin in its relation to Confucianism
> ("Respectful Acknowledgment"), Christianity ("Opposition and Attack) and
> Buddhism ("Enfeoffed Landlord").  This latter section provides the most
> detail and treats the following topics: Buddhist tolerance for indigenous
> shamanism, the mutual absorption of Buddhism and San-shin figures,
> ceremonial Buddhist worship of San-shin, and the integration of the
> traditional San-shin into modern Buddhism. Mason also describes, however,
> Buddhist sects which have opposed the incorporation of the San-shin
> tradition.  Finally, Mason deliberates about the possibility of the
> San-shin being regarded as a Bodhisattva in the future.
>
>  Chapter Four, entitled "Future Prospect for the Mountain Spirit,"
> is divided into three short sections that consider first San-shin's place
> in 21st century Korean culture; then "ecopiety" and modern society; and
> finally the use of San-shin as a symbol of both ecology and national
> re-unification.  The book ends with a glossary of key terms and a
> bibliography.
>
>  In the end, however, one is left with the general impression that
> the book tries to cover too many subjects in too brief a span. As suggested
> above, the book is mainly descriptive in character, and some subsections
> are not longer than 120 words. It is also a pity that Mason never sets his
> book on a firm scholarly basis, although statistical accounts of San-shin
> pictures ("55% of the images have ...") attempt to convey this sense.  And
> yet since Mason offers no references, it is hard to say whether his ideas
> derive from elsewhere or if they are exclusively his.  The bibliography
> suggests that Mason has debts, but he does not footnote his sources through
> the text proper. What the book lacks in scholarly terms is in part
> compensated for by its numerous pictures, which give a good idea of extant
> San-shin relics. Ultimately, though, this book may prove helpful to someone
> interested in a statistical account of the remains of the Korean San-shin
> along with relevant images, but not to one who is seeking a truly in-depth
> understanding of this figure.
>
>
> Citation:
> Savenije, Henny 2000
> Review of David A. Mason, _The Spirit of the Mountains: Korea's San-shin
> and Traditions of Mountain Worship (2000)
> Korean Studies Review 2000, no. 10
> Electronic file: http://www.iic.edu/thelist/review/ksr00-10.htm
> 