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Sun-Yen, a MythSource painting
Korean

Sun-Yen

01Identity

Sun-Yen in Korean tradition

Sun-Yen, called the Benevolent in the legend, uses his standing at court to help people in need. When he sees people dead of hunger during a royal feast, he confronts the King rather than joining the celebration. The candour brings retaliation from Ja-Jo-Mi, a minister plotting to seize the throne, who forges a letter that makes Sun appear disloyal. The King believes the deception and sends Sun and his wife into exile.

The loss does not end there. Sun's wife dies soon after their daughter is born, and years of grief leave him blind. Cheng-Si grows up supporting him; when she learns that a prediction promises her father will recover his sight and become prime minister, she accepts a perilous bargain to meet the rice debt attached to it. She survives the sea sacrifice and eventually becomes Queen. Sun does not know this when she leaves. Their reunion later restores his sight, but his final test is political: when the King considers a revenge war, Sun persuades him to seek the people's counsel and choose peace.

SourceWinning Buddha's Smile: A Korean Legend (Charles M. Taylor, 1924): Stages I–X, pp. 13–153

Top questions

The quick answers

02The myths

The myths of Sun-Yen

1 myth, with sources recorded for each.

Sun-Yen Endures Exile and Chooses Peace

On a road near the capital, Sun-Yen finds people dead from hunger, then tells the King his subjects are suffering while officials indulge themselves. The King changes his conduct, but Ja-Jo-Mi, the minister, fears that Sun's honesty will expose him. He forges a letter in Sun's name, persuades the King it proves treason, and sends Sun and his friend San-Houni into exile.

Sun and his wife settle on an island. Their daughter Cheng-Si is born, but her mother dies three days later. Sun's grief becomes so severe that he loses his sight. Years later, when Cheng-Si is thirteen, she supports them by begging. After Sun falls into a pond while searching for her, an anchorite's disciple rescues him and predicts that within three years he will see again and become prime minister. The disciple asks for three hundred sacks of rice for his prayers. Cheng-Si obtains the rice by agreeing to be sold to merchants who plan to sacrifice a girl at sea; she arranges for a magistrate to care for Sun before she leaves.

Cheng-Si jumps from the ship but survives on the back of a giant sea turtle, which carries her to the island where the exiled Prince Ki-Si is held. They fall in love and marry. San-Syeng, the son of Sun's exiled friend, reaches the island by boat and helps the young couple escape. Their return helps restore Ki-Si to the throne and ends Ja-Jo-Mi's rule.

At a feast arranged for blind people, Cheng-Si recognizes Sun among the guests. Her father names the losses that have marked his life, and at the recognition his sight returns. Ki-Si appoints Sun prime minister. When the King considers war against Jin-Han to avenge his father's defeat, Sun asks for a public meeting instead. He argues against war and asks the people to pardon their enemies; the assembly supports peace. The legend closes by saying that Sun-Yen later disappeared, perhaps carried to Heaven.

Sun-Yen Endures Exile and Chooses Peace, a MythSource painting of the scene

88 sources· checked 2026-10-03

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