Iseung- Korean LocationLocation · Realm

The Divided Cosmos

In Korean shamanic cosmology, the universe is divided between Iseung (이승), the world of the living, and Jeoseung (저승), the realm of the dead. The Cheonji-wang Bonpuri (천지왕본풀이), a creation myth preserved in the shamanic traditions of Jeju Island, explains how this division came to be and why the human world is flawed. In the age of creation, the deity Mireuk (미륙, identified with Maitreya) shaped the cosmos and created the first humans. His world was ordered and just. But Seokga (석가, identified with Śākyamuni in a distinctly Korean folk reinterpretation), arriving later, coveted dominion over the human realm. The two deities agreed to a contest: whoever could make a flower bloom on their knee would rule Iseung, while the other would govern Jeoseung. Mireuk's flower bloomed genuinely, but while he slept, Seokga stole the blooming flower and placed his own wilted flower in its place. By this deception, Seokga claimed rulership over the world of the living.

A World Ruled by Trickery

Because Iseung was won through deception rather than legitimate right, the human world inherited the character of its ruler. In Korean shamanic understanding, this is why the world of the living is marked by dishonesty, suffering, and injustice, where the cunning flourish over the virtuous. If Mireuk had retained his rightful place, the human world would have remained the perfect creation he had shaped. Instead, Seokga's rule introduced moral disorder: weeds choke the rice paddies, good people suffer while deceivers prosper, and harmful creatures thrive without reason. This etiological explanation gives Iseung a moral dimension beyond mere cosmological geography. It is not simply the world of the living but a fallen world, governed badly because its ruler won it unfairly. The contrast with Jeoseung, where the honest Mireuk administers justice among the dead, creates an ironic reversal: the dead are judged more fairly than the living are governed.