Kim Gyo-gak

Born in 696 as a prince of Silla, Kim Gyo-gak became interested in Buddhism after visiting Tang China at age 24. Upon return to Silla he ordained as a monk. In 719 he returned to China to cultivate at Mount Jiuhua, where he lived until his death in 794 at age 99. Monks at Mount Jiuhua believed Ksitigarbha (Chinese: Jijang, 地藏) was reincarnated in him; this identification established Mount Jiuhua as one of the four sacred mountains of Chinese Buddhism.

The provided sources give no detailed physical or iconographic description of Kim Gyo-gak beyond his biographical trajectory from Silla prince to Buddhist monk. The extant account treats him as a historical person whose sanctity derives from his life and posthumous identification with the bodhisattva Ksitigarbha rather than describing distinct physical features.

Sources do not attribute specific miraculous acts or supernatural powers to Kim Gyo-gak in the supplied excerpts. The principal ‘‘ability’’ recorded in these materials is the local belief that he was the manifestation/reincarnation of Ksitigarbha; through that association his presence and life at Mount Jiuhua sanctified the mountain and anchored Ksitigarbha devotion there. No individual miracles, salvific acts, or supernatural interventions are listed in the provided notes.