Queen Seondeok of Silla

Portrait of Gim Yu-sin in the "famous portrait photo book of Joseon" published in 1926

On February 8, 647 (January 8, lunar calendar), Queen Seondeok faced her biggest challenge when several of her highest officials started a rebellion against her. They were led by Bidam, who asserted that: "The female king failed to rule the country, therefore women should stop ruling". Bidam had strong political influence in the court, and thus created the biggest rebellion in Silla's history. It was a big problem for Queen Seondeok at that time, since most of her soldiers had been sent to different parts of the Silla kingdom to defend it from potential foreign invasions.

According to a famous anecdote about Bidam's rebellion, on the night of Bidam's rebellion, Queen Seondeok's health had deteriorated sharply due to illness, and a star fell near the Queen's residence. Bidam, who saw the star, claimed it was a sign of the queen's impending downfall, to encourage his superstitious followers. The queen, who heard of the event, became fearful and anxious, but Kim Yushin calmed her by telling her not to worry, for he had a plan to suppress the rebellion. He then flew a huge kite with a burning scarecrow attached to it, to make it appear that the star was back in its place. Bidam's followers saw this, and became greatly discouraged.

The rebellion was eventually suppressed by Kim Yushin and Kim Alcheon. According to Samguk Sagi, Bidam and his thirty followers were executed on February 17, 647 (lunar calendar).

The rebellion therefore lasted for fewer than 10 days, and failed in its goal to replace Queen Seondeok with a male ruler.

Queen Seondeok died on February 17, 647 (January 8, 647 in the lunar calendar) shortly before Bidam's rebellion was completely suppressed. There is no known record identifying the exact cause of her death, but Queen Seondeok was known to have had an unspecified illness shortly prior to her death, and this illness is most commonly theorized as the cause of her death. Some historians state it is also possible she died partly out of shock that Bidam had instigated a rebellion against her. Queen Seondeok was buried in a tomb on Nangsan, one of the sacred mountains in Gyeongju.[7] After Queen Seondeok's death, her cousin was then named as the next female ruler of Silla, and became Queen Jindeok.

Like her father, Queen Seondeok was also drawn to Buddhism. Silla built many temples, pagodas, and Buddha statues during her reign. One of the famous temples that was built during her time was the temple of Hwangnyongsa. According to ancient architectural records, the pagoda was 68 or 80 meters in height, making it one of the tallest structures in East Asia at the time. The pagoda represented the earnest wish of Queen Seondeok and the Silla people, to protect the country and bring the three kingdoms of Korea under one ruler. It was an offering to the Buddha, in hope that these wishes would be fulfilled. The queen often visited the Hwangnyongsa temple to pray for the wisdom and strength to save Silla from danger.

Bunhwangsa, Oseam, Sangwonsa, Yeongmyosa, Tongdosa, Woljeongsa, Baekdamsa, and Magoksa were also built during her reign.

She built the "Star-Gazing Tower," or Cheomseongdae, considered the first dedicated observatory in the Far East, which helped farmers at that time. The tower still stands in the old Silla capital of Gyeongju, South Korea and is the oldest surviving observatory in East Asia.

Bunhwangsa

Emperor Taizong of China once sent the queen a painting of three peony flowers in red, purple and white, along with its actual seeds. When the queen had the seeds planted in her garden, she made a remark that "even though the flower was pretty, it probably does not have much fragrance". Her words were then proven to be correct when the flowers bloomed, wilted and died, without giving off any scent. People were surprised that she had known of it, and asked her about it. She explained it thus: "The painting showed no butterfly or bees beside the flowers. When he sent me this gift, Emperor Taizong was mocking me for not having a husband." The peony flower does not have any scent, which is why butterflies were not interested on it — implying the reason why she did not have a husband was probably because no man was interested on her (not being married was seen as something negative for one's character and status during those days). It is said that, the temple Bunhwangsa (Fragrance of the Royal Temple) was built as a response to the mockery.

Another version of that story tells that when Queen Seondeok was seven years old, her father King Jinpyeong received a box of peony seeds and a peony painting sent by Emperor Taizong of Tang. When she saw the painting, she commented that even though the flowers are pretty, it must not have much fragrance because no butterflies or bees were around them. Peonies, therefore, are equated with her wisdom and insight.

There was a man named, Jigwi, who lived near the border of Goguryeo. One day, he went to Seorabeol and saw the queen who was passing by while on a visit to the capital city. He was mesmerized by her beauty and fell deeply in love with her — completely disregarding the difference between their age and social status. He stopped eating and sleeping and did nothing but call out the queen's name all day, he eventually lost his mind. The people who saw him could not help but sympathize over the young man's passionate and unrequited love. One day, Queen Seondeok went to visit a Buddhist temple to pray. As she was passing by, Jigwi appeared while calling out the queen's name as usual. The queen's guard thrust him aside which greatly stirred the onlookers who lined up on the street to see the queen. When the queen asked one of her attendants about the commotion, her attendant told her that there was a man who tried to approach her and was apprehended by the royal guards. The queen wondered on why did they stopped the man from seeing her, the attendant told her about Jigwi, who admired her greatly. The queen's heart was touched upon hearing what happened to Jigwi, and the queen asked her attendant to let Jigwi follow her retinue to the temple, much to the surprise of the crowd and delight of Jigwi, who danced for joy. While the queen was praying inside the temple, Jigwi had to wait outside while sitting underneath a pagoda. However, the queen took a long time to come out of the temple and so, Jigwi got bored and fell asleep. When the queen finally emerged, she noticed Jigwi who was sleeping behind the pagoda. She asked her attendants to be quiet so as not to disturb the sleeping young man. While on her way, she stopped by and stared at Jigwi for a while, then removed her bracelet and placed it gently on Jigwi's chest to let him know of her presence. After she gone back to the palace, Jigwi woke up and saw the bracelet that she left for him. He was overwhelmed with joy and love for the queen, that his whole body turned into a fire. The fierce flames of his love burned down the pagoda and Jigwi himself. Although in some versions state that Jigwi burned down himself and the temple to express his burning passion for the queen.

In another version of the story, Jigwi was chased out by the palace guards for calling out the queen's name every day. However, Jigwi did not stop and still kept on calling out the queen's name. The guards finally got tired of chasing Jigwi day by day and ended up beating him until he could no longer move. Jigwi spent his last breath by calling out the queen's name for the last time. Soon, his soul became a fire spirit and burned down the pagoda and people's houses. The people who were scared of Jigwi's wrath asked the Queen for help; in order to calm them, she made a talisman and ordered them to put it in front of their house to block away Jigwi's fire spirit.

In a modern version of the story. Jigwi fell in love with Queen Seondeok, whom he met every night through her dream. In her dream, he appears as a handsome Hwarang, who gave her predictions and solutions for the crises she faced as a ruler. Through Jigwi's assistance, Queen Seondeok overcame many problems. They meet each other in a bridge in her dream, but suddenly Jigwi stopped appearing in her dreams. The queen started to wonder what happened to the man in her dreams and started to miss him and so she went to the bridge where they used to meet in her dreams. But Jigwi was nowhere to be found, and instead, the one she saw was a sleeping beggar. The queen did not recognize him as the same man who appeared in her dream but still, she decided to leave her bracelet on the chest of the sleeping man. When Jigwi woke up, he was overwhelmed with love and longing for the queen, that his heart turned into a fire that spread through his whole body. The fire flew to heaven and then rain started to fall, which ended the drought in Silla.

The story of this ordinary man who dared to love someone so high above himself, and the queen, who choose to understand the devotion of her lowly subject, soon became a legend and became popular, even to their neighboring country.

Five years after her enthronement, the queen caused wonder among her people by defeating an invading enemy force with the help of frogs. Near the banks of Seongjin river in the capital city, there was a temple called Yeongmyosa. In the temple grounds was a pond named Okmun (Jade Gate). On a certain day in winter, a number of frogs gathered together at the pond and began to croak loudly for several days. When this strange phenomenon was reported to the queen, she immediately ordered two of her generals to lead 2,000 of her best soldiers to the western suburb of the city, and to look for a valley named Yeogeungok (Cradle of Life). She added that an enemy force would be found there lying in wait, which they would be sure to take by surprised. The two generals led their armies at the western suburb, found the valley the queen had mentioned, which lay near Mt. Bu, and destroyed not only the detachment of 500 Baekje soldiers they found there, but also a force of 1,200 reinforcements which came later to aid them.

Her bewildered subjects asked the queen how she had foreseen the Baekje invasion simply because of the croaking of frogs. The queen explained, "A group of angry frogs signifies an army. Jade Gate is an expression for a woman's chastity. Woman is one of the meanings of Yin, which also has the meaning of white, and the white color stands for the West. So I knew that an army was lying in the West. As we say, a man is supposed in some sense to die during the act of creating new life. Since the Baekje army was hiding in the valley known as the Cradle of Life, I knew that it would be easy to defeat them." Everyone who heard of the queen's reasoning was amazed at her insight. This shows that the queen was well-versed in the philosophy of Yin and Yang, and interpreted all the icons correctly. It is also remarkable to see the queen's reference to the symbolic "death" of the male during the act of love. The queen openly dealt with the topic in front of her male courtiers, which also showed the queen's boldness.

The second is an account of her death. Some days before she died, Seondeok gathered her officials and gave the order "When I die, bury me near the Doricheon (忉利天, "Heaven of Grieved Merits")" which in Buddhism refers to a certain level of Heaven. When asked where the Doricheon was, she replied that it was on the southern side of Mt. Namsan. Decades after her death, the thirtieth king Munmu of Silla constructed Sacheonwang-sa (四天王寺 "Temple of the Four Heavenly Kings") in her tomb. Then the nobles realized that one of the Buddha's sayings, "Dori-cheon is above the Sacheonwang-cheon", was accomplished by the queen. However, rather than prediction, some historians think of it as her last wish; which implicate her hardship as a queen. Queen Seondeok received so much jealousy and prejudiced for being a woman during her lifetime as a queen. So this may have been her way to show her desire to be reincarnated as a man in Doricheon in her next life.