Life replacement narratives or life extension narratives refer to three Korean shamanic narratives chanted during religious rituals, all from different regional traditions of mythology but with a similar core story: the Menggam bon-puri of the Jeju tradition, the Jangja-puri of the Jeolla tradition, and the Honswi-gut narrative of the South Hamgyong tradition. As oral literature, all three narratives exist in multiple versions.
In all three narratives, a man (or men) is forewarned of his impending death and makes offerings to the chasa, the gods of death who kill those whose time is due and take away their souls to the afterlife. The chasa unwittingly accept the offerings before realizing that they have accepted gifts from the man that they were supposed to kill. As they cannot ignore his gifts, they decide to spare his life and take the soul of another human or animal in his place. Other parts of the story differ significantly between the three narratives. In the Menggam bon-puri, the man is a hunter who is warned by a benevolent skull, which also makes him rich. In the Jangja-puri, the man is an unpleasant miser whose warning comes in the form of a dream interpreted by his daughter-in-law. In the Honswi-gut, which is the least studied, the human figures are three brothers who are also warned by a skull.
The myths are important in their religious context because they demonstrate the susceptibility of the gods to both gifts and human empathy, and therefore establish the principles and efficacy of shamanic ritual. The importance of the skull in two of the three narratives may reflect an ancient practice of skull worship. The narratives' relationships to folktales, to other shamanic myths, and to a medieval Buddhist tale with a similar story have also been examined.
Nomenclature
There is no agreement on what term to use to refer to the three narratives as a category. In all three, the central human figure avoids his imminent death by making offerings to the chasa, the gods of death, who spare him and—in most versions—take another soul in his place. Some scholars emphasize the prolongation of life and refer to "life extension" () myths or narratives, while others stress the fact that a life is taken in place of another and speak of "life replacement" () narratives.
Choi Won-oh uses the term "chasa veneration" (, ) narratives. This category includes not only the three life replacement narratives but also the Jimgaje-gut narrative of South Hamgyong Province, a myth in which the chasa only serve to explain the circumstances of three mysterious deaths without extending anyone's life.
Narratives
Korean shamanic narratives are mythological stories chanted by shamans as part of rituals called gut, in which various deities are invoked. They constitute the mythology of the religion of Korean shamanism. In Jeju Island, works of the genre are called bon-puri, literally "origin recitation." In mainland Korea, the term puri "recitation" is common but not universal; they may also simply be named after the gut ritual in which they are performed.
In all three life replacement narratives of Korea, the main figure cheats death by sacrificing to the chasa (): a group of gods who are commissioned by the god Yama, king of death, to kill those who are due to die and take their souls to the afterlife. Yama and his messengers are both Buddhist divinities, who were adopted by Korean shamanism and eventually became associated with Korean beliefs not found in Buddhism.
Menggam bon-puri
The Jeju Island narrative is titled Menggam bon-puri after Menggam, a deity invoked in one of the rituals in which the narrative is recited. It is one of twelve "general bon-puri", which are narratives featuring deities worshipped throughout Jeju Island, and which are recited by all Jeju shamans. Some shamans also title it the Samani bon-puri, after the primary human figure of the myth. As of 2010, at least ten different versions of the Menggam bon-puri were known to researchers, transcribed between 1962 and 2008.
In most versions, a man named Saman loses his parents at an early age and is reduced to beggary. He marries a fellow beggar. One day, his wife cuts off her hair and tells Saman to go sell it to buy food, but he purchases a gun instead to make a living as a hunter. Unfortunately, he is inexperienced at hunting and struggles.
While in the mountains, Saman encounters an ancient skull. In most versions, this is the skull of the gun's original owner, who was the son of a state councilor. How the owner died varies depending on the version. According to one shaman, he shot himself accidentally with the gun; in other versions, he died of a gust or of cold and hunger, or was killed by a robber who stole the gun. How Saman encounters the skull also varies. In some versions, the skull reveals his identity in a dream while Saman is sleeping in the mountains, then comes rolling to him the next day. Another version states that the skull speaks to Saman during the night and tells him to dig him out of the earth. In all versions, Saman takes the skull with him. He first keeps it outside the house, worrying about what his wife would think, but ultimately brings it home. Saman makes offerings to the skull every festival day, and soon, he has great success in hunting and becomes rich.
One day, the chasa descend to kill Saman and bring his soul to the afterlife, either because his ancestors were angry at Saman worshipping the skull instead, or because Saman was always fated to die at the age of thirty or thirty-three. Forewarning the man of his impending death, the skull tells him to hold a gut ritual and to set out offerings for the chasa. The chasa unwittingly partake of the offerings and decide to spare him, taking the soul of other people or creatures instead: sometimes three horses, sometimes another person who shares the name "Saman", and sometimes another person with the similar name "Oman". Ultimately, the chasa forge Saman's allotted lifespan given in the records of the afterlife, often by adding a line to the number "thirty" (三十) to make it "three thousand" (三千) so that he lives for three thousand years. In some versions, either the chasas replacement of Saman's soul with another or their extension of Saman's lifespan is omitted.
In several versions, the chasa (either the chasa who spared him or Gangnim, a different chasa) eventually capture Saman by washing soot in a river. When Saman asks them what they are doing, they respond that they are cleaning the soot to make it white. When Saman says that he has not heard anything as ridiculous in his three thousand years of life, the chasa apprehend him and take him to the afterlife.
The Menggam bon-puri is recited during two rituals for different gods: the aek-magi rite, which is dedicated to the chasa and is a component of various larger ceremonies, and the menggam-je ritual, dedicated specifically to the god Menggam and to the agricultural goddess Segyeong. The purpose of the aek-magi (from Korean aek "misfortune" and magi "preventing") is to ask the chasa to forestall misfortune, including the death they bring. Over the course of the ritual, the shaman specifies the household that is to be saved from misfortune through this particular aek-magi, invites the gods to partake in the sacrifice, and finally delivers the message of the chasa to the worshippers. The menggam-je is a small-scale ritual traditionally held on the first month of the year to ensure success in agriculture, husbandry, and hunting. The deity Menggam appears to have been a hunting god of the mountains, whose divine functions expanded to animal husbandry and other livelihoods as hunting declined in Jeju Island. In the narrative, Menggam—the god who brings success to hunters—is represented by the skull.
Jangja-puri
The Jangja-puri is the life replacement narrative of the Jeolla shamanic tradition. As of 2017, thirty-eight versions were known, transcribed between 1966 and 2006.
The early parts of the myth are the same in most versions. Sama-jangja, the namesake of the narrative, is an unpleasant and miserly rich man (Korean jangja "very rich person"). One version describes his behavior in the following terms:
When loaning grain to others, he loaned with a small measure and received with a large measure;
He would loan money in the morning and demand repayment in the evening;
He sold rice mixed with sand, and water in place of soy sauce;
He gave only the outer leaves of kimchi to others;
He kicked pregnant dogs in their sides and threw the dredges of sesame seeds in drainage ditches;
He put gourds on the kitchen table and sharpened knives on the kitchen hearth;
He gave false information, causing local officials to chase after empty errands;
He would have a large ox brought to his field and then drive it off like a dog without even using it;
He had so many sins that one cannot speak of them all.
Because of his sins—either a failure to worship his ancestors, his abuse of fellow humans, or both—Sama-jangja is doomed to die. One night, he has a dream foreshadowing his impending death, but only his daughter-in-law correctly predicts its meaning. Eventually, Sama-jangja understands that he is about to die. He begins to do charity and prepares a large gut ritual for the chasa. As in the other narratives, the chasa unwittingly accept the sacrifice. But the ending differs greatly. In some versions, the chasa simply decide not to take anybody, and Sama-jangja lives a long life. In most others, the chasa spare Sama-jangja and take either his neighbor Uma-jangja or a horse instead. In many versions, the chasa take the horse after their deceit involving Uma-jangja is discovered (or vice versa). In one account, they resort to the horse after being defeated by the household gods of Uma-jangja. Finally, some versions have Sama-jangja dying and being punished after all, either because the gods discover the chasa'''s schemes or because the horse in the afterlife eventually turns into Sama-jangja and the living Sama-jangja turns into the horse.
The Jangja-puri is sung during the ssitgim-gut, the funeral ritual of Jeolla shamanism in which the soul of the deceased is purified and dispatched to the afterlife.
Honswi-gut
The Honswi-gut narrative was chanted by shamans of South Hamgyong Province (now in North Korea) in the Honswi-gut, a ritual intended to cure severe illnesses. Whether the ritual was believed to cure the illnesses of adults or of children is unclear. Two versions are known: one transcribed in 1926 and titled Hwangcheon-honsi, and the other transcribed in 1965 from shamans who had fled to South Korea and titled Honswi-gut. The 1926 version is summarized below.
Three impoverished brothers—Songnim-dong, I-dong, and Sama-dong—start farming. One day, they discover an abandoned skull. They bring it home and make offerings to it three times a day, and they soon become rich. After five or six years, the skull begins to shed tears. When the brothers ask why, the skull reveals that the chasa are coming within three days and tells them to prepare a great feast with the fortune that they have been given. They do so, and the chasa arrive and eat the food. The brothers then reveal themselves, and the chasa spare them. Songnim-dong's soul is replaced by a yellow cow; I-dong's, by a raincoat; Sama-dong's, by a bronze bowl. The brothers live long lives and die at the age of eighty-one. After their death, they become gods who are prayed to in the Honswi-gut.
The 1965 version is largely similar, except that the brothers bury the skull instead of worshipping it, that there is no mention of the brothers becoming rich, and that the chasa take the souls of other people who share their names and dates of birth, not cows and objects.