Behind the Myth: Korean Dragons
Dragons (용) are important in Korean mythology. How did they come to Korea?
The simplest answer is China. Archaeologists have discovered dragon statues in Henan that date back to the Stone Age. The culture that made those statues probably shared the dragon concept with the ancestors of ethnic Koreans.
But China is only the birthplace of the dragon’s appearance and basic associations (power, rain and luck). To truly understand Korean dragons, look to the birthplace of its stories: India.
India is the home of Buddhism, one of Korea’s major religions. India is also the home of the nāga, a spirit which usually takes the form of a King cobra and sometimes that of a human. The nāga can fly but does not make a habit of it, for the understandable fear that a bird might attack it. As one of India’s old gods, nāgas have a place in most Indian religion, and Indian Buddhism is no exception.
One famous nāga in Indian Buddhism is Mucalinda, king of snakes. Legends say that when a storm rained upon the Buddha during his meditation, Mucalinda covered the Buddha with his hood. Afterward, Mucalinda invited the Buddha to his underwater palace and became the Buddha’s first follower.
If you are acquainted with East Asian dragon stories, this story sounds familiar. Chinese, Korean and Japanese mythologies all have dragon kings who live in underwater palaces. In all three countries, dragons are also the Buddha’s first believers.
Yes, many Buddhist stories about dragons in East Asia are actually nāga stories. Moreover, every dragon story in Asia is influenced by them. Like the teachings of the Buddha, the stories of nāgas told by Indian missionaries became very popular with Chinese people, and it is not hard to understand how they heard the Indians talk about large, flying snakes and thought they must be talking about dragons.
The misunderstanding greatly changed East Asian concepts of dragons. Before Buddhism, Chinese people understood dragons controlled rain, but they did not believe a dragon might live in any river, lake or ocean. Nobody believed in dragon kings. Dragons certainly did not have the wish-fulfilling orbs which in Korean are called yeouiju (여의주). The orbs are from an Indian legend about a jewel called the Cirimani.
Most importantly, the job of dragons changed; they became protectors more than rainmakers. Indeed, dragons even became the guardians of Buddhism’s Three Gems: the Buddha, the Buddha’s teachings and the sangha (monks). As Korea became a Buddhist land, dragons logically became guardians of Korea itself – and though Buddhism later declined, Korean interest in dragons never has.