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    STUDIA PHILOLOGIA - Issue no. 3 / 2010  
         
  Article:   DAOIST ELEMENTS IN KOGURYŎ CULTURE.

Authors:  .
 
       
         
  Abstract:  Before the official introduction of Daoism in the state of Koguryŏ in the 7th century, a series of Daoist elements have pervaded Koguryŏ culture and were integrated in the native system of beliefs. Tomb murals from the time indicate that afterlife was regarded as a second, eternal life, and therefore the world represented in the paintings had to be complete and self-sufficient. A special emphasis was placed on the spiritual realm, and the sky was made present inside the tomb through vivid representations of the Sun, the Moon, Five Directional Deities, flying Immortals, and asterisms. These reflect that the yin-yang theory and the Five Elements Theory, so influential in Chinese Daoism, were familiar to the Koguryŏ people. Also, tomb murals point to the fact that certain forms of star worship were practiced and the Daoist view of the main constellations was circulating in the Korean kingdom. Additional arguments in favor of solar and lunar worship being popular in Koguryŏ are drawn from different versions of the foundational myth of the state, the myth of Chumong.

Keywords: Korean Daoism, Koguryŏ tomb murals, Koguryŏ foundation myth, Chumong, Korean mythology, star worship.
 
         
     
         
         
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