One motif from Korea's religious traditions that is still most commonly employed and considered meaningful is the Ship-jangsaeng 十長生 십장생 [Ten Symbols of Longevity]. This set forms a very important part of the Korean decorative arts tradition, and was used on everything from folk paintings and folding screens to embroidered decorations on fabrics for all kinds of uses in daily aristocratic life. These days it is still frequently used, including on modern metal gateways, doors and the fences around residential or institutional lots.
To enjoy a robustly healthy life in wise harmony with nature, in the beautiful actual places of this planet for as long as possible, even for hundreds of years if one attains the highest forms of enlightenment according to legends, is a key ideal throughout Korean culture. This is one of the supreme values of Chinese and Korean Daoism, standing in contrast to the otherworldly or afterlife obsessions of the religions that originated in the Middle East and South Asia. It is the main goal of Korea's indigenous Shinseon-sasang [Spirit-Immortal Ideology] that permeates and colors its Buddhism, Shamanism, Confucianism, folk-culture and other traditions.
The funny thing about the “10 symbols of longevity” is that there are now actually 12 of them, used in a variety of combinations on various artworks that can be found. The classical list of them, usually named in Chinese-character vocabulary, is:
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The sun is a constant source of light, in contrast to
the ever-changing moon. It is the warming energy
of Heaven that gives and nourishes life.
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Supreme manifestations of Earth;
mountains seem to keep their shape forever.
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Water, usually depicted in its moving forms such as
rivers, waves and waterfalls, is the Daoist symbol of
infinite flexibility of flowing form that avoids harm and
destruction, and can even overcome earth & stone.
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Clouds are the heavenly form of water, ever
changing their forms and drifting without care.
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Rocks, stone, minerals and jewels are the
hardest and most enduring things in nature.
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Many pine species live for centuries, and
they remain evergreen even in the winter,
indicating vitality and aristocratic dignity.
Red Pines are viewed as the King of all Plants.
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This mythical kind of mushroom is famous in
Daoism as “growing in the land of the immortals”
and brings eternal life to those who eat it. It is
depicted as quite similar to the actual fungus that
grows on rotting logs known as Yeongji-beoseot, a
valued and common ingredient in Oriental medicine.
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Tortoises and sea-turtles are famous throughout
the Orient for living for centuries; their shells were
famous for decorations and ancient divinations.
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Most auspicious of Birds;
they are shown as companions of the Daoist
Immortals, messengers that can communicate to
and from Heaven, and also Confucian symbols of
marital fidelity and the dignified grace of scholars.
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Also frequently companions of the Daoist immortals
in classical artworks. Thought of as especially
spiritual and gentle animals, and medicine made
from their horns increases human health and vitality.
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Another very popular such symbol which is sometimes included in listings of these Ship-jangsaeng (usually replacing either mountains or rocks) is bamboo (juk or daenamu in Korean), already otherwise a favorite motif of Oriental painting and other arts. Bamboo grows extraordinarily quickly, and remains green in the winter snows, being then a symbol of fecund vitality and endurance, and some species of it are seen to live for very long stretches of time. The way that it will bend very far under pressure, especially that of the wind, yet does not break, made it also a Neo-Confucian symbol of the virtue of scholar-officials who are flexible in the conduct of their duties under the pressures from powerful people and the common masses, yet will not break
from their core principles of right and wrong. Chinese Daoism prominently features “the Peaches of Immortality”, supposedly grown in a mystical orchard hidden in the mountains to the west of historical China by a powerful goddess,
as a symbol of long life and the attainment of spiritual immortality. The story goes that eating just one of these will transform a person into a Daoist Sage with everlasting life or at least centuries of healthy longevity, like one of the popular “Eight Immortals”. One of its most commonly seen folk-deities, the “God of Longevity” (often depicted in a triad with companion gods of Prosperity and Happiness), is always shown holding a large such peach.
These themes became popular in Korea during the past two thousand years, with the seondo [immortality-peach] becoming a popular religious and artistic motif outside of but parallel to the Ship-jangsaeng. The western sacred mountain of the Shilla Kingdom’s capital city Gyeongju was and is named Seondo-san, with its female spirit considered a powerful protector of the nation and benefactor of Buddhism. One of the greatest surviving early landscape paintings of Korea, created by An Gyeon in 1447, is the Mongyu-dowon-do [Painting of a Journey in a Dream to the Peach Orchard], beautifully depicting the western-paradise theme. Peaches appear in many kinds of Korean folk-art from the past 300 years, from embroidered folding-screens dedicated to longevity to paintings of Daoist/Shamanic deities such as San-shin.
So therefore there are really 12 of these symbols frequently used in interchangeable groups, but still collectively thought of as Ship-jangsaeng.
