Birth
The exact date of Gung Ye's birth is unknown, but records assume that he was a son of King Heonan or of King Gyeongmun; his mother is said to be a beloved lady of the court.
According to legend, Gung Ye was born on the traditional holiday of Dano; the royal seer prophesied that a baby born on Dano would bring disaster to the nation, and the court officials and royal family members urged to the king to get rid of the evil infant. So the king ordered his servants to kill him. However, when the troops rushed to the residence of Gung Ye's mother, she threw her baby from the second floor, with her maid hiding in nearby bushes to catch the baby. Although her plot tricked the soldiers, the maid had accidentally poked the left eye of the baby, causing Gung Ye to lose one eye. She hid Gung Ye and raised him secretly; when she died, Gung Ye became a Buddhist monk at Sedalsa (세달사), a Buddhist temple.
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