구운몽: 꿈에서 깨다

The years went by and Soyu grew old. He retired from office and lived quietly in a country palace with his eight wives. One autumn day, Soyu climbed a high terrace with his wives and looked out over the plains stretching far away. Here and there across the plains, the tombs of ancient emperors stood lonely and forgotten.

Soyu was playing his flute when all at once he gave a deep sigh. "Even the heroes who once ruled the world have become a handful of dust. Are wealth and glory not just a passing dream in the end?" Soyu said that he now wished to leave the affairs of the world behind and follow the teachings of the Buddha. His eight wives quietly nodded and said they would walk that path with him.

Just then, an old monk with long white eyebrows came up onto the terrace, leaning on a staff. "Prime Minister, do you not recognize an old friend?" The monk tapped the railing two or three times with his staff, and white clouds rose up on every side and covered everything.

When the clouds cleared, Soyu was sitting in a small room on Lotus Peak. He touched his head and found it shaven, and prayer beads hung around his neck. Soyu was once again Seongjin, the young monk of twenty, and everything had been a single night's dream.

Seongjin ran at once to Master Yukgwan, knelt, and begged forgiveness for his wrongs. The master smiled gently and spoke. "Do you think the human world was the dream and this is what is real? Who can say which is the dream and which is real?"

Then the eight fairies came, bowed to the master, and asked to become his disciples. The fairies shaved their heads and became nuns, and they practised the Way diligently alongside Seongjin. In time Seongjin inherited the master's teachings, and he and the eight fairies all reached enlightenment and went to paradise.