This book presents the first comprehensive introduction to Korean Buddhism through twenty-five key primary texts spanning the seventh to twenty-first centuries. All have been expertly translated by leading scholars in the field. The volume introduction provides an overview of major themes that illuminates the diverse sources that follow. The texts, each prefaced by a brief … [Read More]
Booklist: Buddhism
The Invention of a Language of Emptiness: The “Chojang chungga-ŭi,” the Earliest Korean Exposition of Buddhism [forthcoming]
This volume is the first annotated translation in any language of the “Chojang chungga-ŭi” (The Meaning of the “Middle” and the “Provisional” in the “First Stanza”), a little-known text that yielded considerable influence on early East Asian Buddhism. It corresponds to the first chapter of the Taesŭng saron hyŏnŭi ki (Notes on the Four Treatises[, belonging to … [Read More]
Readings of the Gateless Barrier
The Gateless Barrier is one of the most cherished yet also one of the most enigmatic Chan or Zen texts of East Asian Buddhism. Compiled by the Chinese Chan master Wumen Huikai in 1228, it contains forty-eight Zen stories of spiritual awakening called “public cases” or gong’ans (known as kōans in Japanese and kongans in Korean). This book presents a new English translation … [Read More]
From Eternity to Eternity: Memoirs of a Korean Buddhist Nun
From Eternity to Eternity is the story of Bulpil Sunim, arguably the most respected female Seon (Zen) master in Korea. Written with candor and an unpretentious sense of humor, her memoir provides both a fascinating record of her life and a deeply accessible window into Buddhist thought and spirituality. Describing and reflecting on her own experience … [Read More]
Monks and Literati: The Transformation of Buddhism in Late Chosŏn Korea
Scholars have long debated the relationship between Buddhist monks and Confucian literati during the late Chosŏn (1700–1850), when the Korean state adopted anti-Buddhist policies. On the one hand, it is understood that literati openly displayed hostility toward monks and engineered their persecution; on the other, they were known to have privately supported Buddhism, helping the … [Read More]
Buddhism, Digital Technology and New Media in Korea: Ŭisang’s Ocean Seal Diagram
Buddhism, Digital Technology and New Media in Korea introduces Ŭisang (625-702), a seminal figure in East Asian religion who founded the Korean Hwaŏm school of Buddhism from various angles and placing his thought in the interdisciplinary and transcultural context of the twenty-first century. The book presents and analyses the scope of Ŭisang’s teachings in Korean … [Read More]
The Whisper of the Breeze from Pine Trees and Flowing Streams
On the day of her orientation ceremony to start university, Jaun runs into the young Monk Hyegang, an old friend, who has a gift for her, a rosary, from his guardian, Monk Dasol. Upon thanking him for the gift, Jaun is surprised and curious to learn this great monk has been watching her from afar … [Read More]
Aspiring to Enlightenment: Pure Land Buddhism in Silla Korea
From the publisher’s website: Centered on the practice of seeking rebirth in the Pure Land paradise Sukhāvatī, the Amitābha cult has been the dominant form of Buddhism in Korea since the middle of the Silla period (ca. 300–935). In Aspiring to Enlightenment, Richard McBride combines analyses of scriptural, exegetical, hagiographical, epigraphical, art historical, and literary materials to … [Read More]
Korean Temples: The Weird and Wonderful
There are over 12,000 temples that dot the Korean peninsula. Having traveled extensively throughout South Korea, Dale Quarrington selects thirty of the most unique Korean Buddhist temples. Whether it’s the artwork, architecture, or geography that makes the temple either weird or wonderful, Dale Quarrington helps to shed some light on these amazingly eccentric locations. Source: … [Read More]
Monastic Education in Korea: Teaching Monks about Buddhism in the Modern Age
From the publisher’s website: What do Buddhist monks learn about Buddhism? Which part of their enormous canonical and non-canonical literature do they choose to focus on as the required curriculum in their training, and what do they elect to leave out? The cultural depository of Buddhism includes some four thousand canonical texts, hundreds of other … [Read More]
Shinra Myōjin and Buddhist Networks of the East Asian “Mediterranean”
This ambitious work offers a transnational account of the deity Shinra Myōjin, the “god of Silla” worshipped in medieval Japanese Buddhism from the eleventh to sixteenth centuries. Sujung Kim challenges the long-held understanding of Shinra Myōjin as a protective deity of the Tendai Jimon school, showing how its worship emerged and developed in the complex … [Read More]
Religions of Old Korea
From the publisher’s website: This book, first published in 1932, was written by a Western expert on Korea, and was the first to thoroughly investigate and document the old religious practices of Korea. No book like this could be written again from original sources, for all of the data has passed away, and archival records … [Read More]
A Bird in Flight Leaves No Trace: The Zen Teaching of Huangbo with a Modern Commentary
From the publisher’s website: The message of the Tang-dynasty Zen text in this volume seems simple: to gain enlightenment, stop thinking there is something you need to practice. For the Chinese master Huangbo Xiyun (d. 850), the mind is enlightenment itself if we can only let go of our normal way of thinking. The celebrated … [Read More]
Efficacious Underworld: The Evolution of Ten Kings Paintings in Medieval China and Korea
From the publisher’s website: The Ten Kings hanging scrolls at Tokyo’s Seikadō Bunko Art Museum are among the most resplendent renderings of the Buddhist purgatory extant, but their origin and significance have yet to be fully explored. Cheeyun Kwon unfurls this exquisite set of scrolls within the existing Ten Kings painting tradition while investigating textual, … [Read More]
Love for Imperfect Things: How to Accept Yourself in a World Striving for Perfection
From the publisher’s website: From the author of the phenomenal multi-million copy bestseller The Things You Can See Only When You Slow Down “Hearing the words ‘be good to yourself first, then to others’ was like being struck by lightning.” Many of us respond to the pressures of life by turning inwards and ignoring problems, sometimes … [Read More]
The Scriptures of Won Buddhism: A Translation of Wonbulgyo kyojon with Introduction
From the publisher’s website: “Professor Chung has drawn on all the tools in his scholarly arsenal to convey the flavor and meaning of the original Korean texts. Written vernacular Korean was still very much a work in progress during the early twentieth century and the meaning of the Korean texts is not always clear-cut, even … [Read More]