Cheonbuin- Korean ArtifactArtifact"Heavenly Seal"
Also known as: 천부인, 天符印, and Ch'ŏnbuin
Titles & Epithets
Domains
Symbols
Description
Three divine insignia bestowed by Hwanin upon his son Hwanung before his descent to Mount Taebaek, as recorded in the Samguk Yusa. The text names them but never describes them. Whatever their form, they carried the celestial mandate to govern the mortal world.
Mythology & Lore
The Gift
Hwanin, Lord of Heaven, had a son who looked down at the mortal world and wished to live among human beings. The Samguk Yusa records that Hwanin examined three mountain peaks and chose Mount Taebaek as a place where his son could benefit the human race. He gave Hwanung three heavenly seals and sent him down with three thousand followers.
The text does not say what the seals were. It names them and moves on. Later scholars have proposed a bronze mirror, a bronze bell, and a bronze sword, matching ritual objects found at Korean Bronze Age sites. But Iryeon, writing in the thirteenth century, either did not know or did not say.
The Authority They Carried
Whatever their form, the Cheonbuin authorized everything Hwanung did on earth. He established the Sinsi, the Sacred City, below Mount Taebaek. He appointed three ministers to govern wind, rain, and clouds, and he oversaw the three hundred and sixty aspects of human life. When he married Ungnyeo and fathered Dangun, the mandate passed through the lineage. Dangun's right to found Gojoseon descended from three objects his grandfather had carried down from heaven.