Comments on: RAS Lecture on the Lives of Prominent Goryeo-Dynasty Buddhist Monks http://www.rjkoehler.com/2007/05/06/ras-lecture-on-the-lives-of-prominent-goryeo-dynasty-buddhist-monks/ Korea... in Blog Format Tue, 2 Dec 2008 23:36:29 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.3 By: lirelou http://www.rjkoehler.com/2007/05/06/ras-lecture-on-the-lives-of-prominent-goryeo-dynasty-buddhist-monks/#comment-81367 lirelou Wed, 09 May 2007 00:27:18 +0000 http://www.rjkoehler.com/2007/05/06/ras-lecture-on-the-lives-of-prominent-goryeo-dynasty-buddhist-monks/#comment-81367 Well worth the time. Both the lecture (with illustrations) and the questions raised some interesting points for further investigation. My favourite, asked by one of the facilitators, was: Why the architectural change in the transition from Goryo to Choseon? He was referring to the detailed bas relief common to Goryo columns that promptly disappeared under Choseon. Kudos to Professor Vermeersch and the RAS! Well worth the time. Both the lecture (with illustrations) and the questions raised some interesting points for further investigation. My favourite, asked by one of the facilitators, was: Why the architectural change in the transition from Goryo to Choseon? He was referring to the detailed bas relief common to Goryo columns that promptly disappeared under Choseon. Kudos to Professor Vermeersch and the RAS!

]]> By: sanshinseon http://www.rjkoehler.com/2007/05/06/ras-lecture-on-the-lives-of-prominent-goryeo-dynasty-buddhist-monks/#comment-81337 sanshinseon Tue, 08 May 2007 13:35:32 +0000 http://www.rjkoehler.com/2007/05/06/ras-lecture-on-the-lives-of-prominent-goryeo-dynasty-buddhist-monks/#comment-81337 It was quite good, informative -- plenty of points that i'd not previously known / noticed / considered. Crowd a bit sparse -- maybe because of the competition, Yonsei GSIS Forum on a Shamanism subject on the same evening, too bad. But i was glad i went, and so were my friends & students... Pretty bad Yellow Dust today! :-( It was quite good, informative — plenty of points that i’d not previously known / noticed / considered. Crowd a bit sparse — maybe because of the competition, Yonsei GSIS Forum on a Shamanism subject on the same evening, too bad. But i was glad i went, and so were my friends & students…

Pretty bad Yellow Dust today! :-(

]]> By: sanshinseon http://www.rjkoehler.com/2007/05/06/ras-lecture-on-the-lives-of-prominent-goryeo-dynasty-buddhist-monks/#comment-81315 sanshinseon Tue, 08 May 2007 07:42:19 +0000 http://www.rjkoehler.com/2007/05/06/ras-lecture-on-the-lives-of-prominent-goryeo-dynasty-buddhist-monks/#comment-81315 TONIGHT ! i'm bringing a few students from my Korean Buddhism History/Tourism course, to flesh out the crowd... TONIGHT !

i’m bringing a few students from my Korean Buddhism History/Tourism course, to flesh out the crowd…

]]> By: sanshinseon http://www.rjkoehler.com/2007/05/06/ras-lecture-on-the-lives-of-prominent-goryeo-dynasty-buddhist-monks/#comment-81197 sanshinseon Sun, 06 May 2007 04:52:11 +0000 http://www.rjkoehler.com/2007/05/06/ras-lecture-on-the-lives-of-prominent-goryeo-dynasty-buddhist-monks/#comment-81197 By the way, the RAS Lecture now up on www.korea.com is Samuel Hawley's "America’s Man in Korea in the 1880s: The Travels and Tribulations of George C. Foulk" from January 23, 2007. Late-19th-Cen Korean history-buffs, Enjoy... By the way, the RAS Lecture now up on http://www.korea.com is Samuel Hawley’s “America’s Man in Korea in the 1880s: The Travels and Tribulations of George C. Foulk” from January 23, 2007. Late-19th-Cen Korean history-buffs, Enjoy…

]]> By: sanshinseon http://www.rjkoehler.com/2007/05/06/ras-lecture-on-the-lives-of-prominent-goryeo-dynasty-buddhist-monks/#comment-81196 sanshinseon Sun, 06 May 2007 04:45:32 +0000 http://www.rjkoehler.com/2007/05/06/ras-lecture-on-the-lives-of-prominent-goryeo-dynasty-buddhist-monks/#comment-81196 "Some years ago, John Kieschnick wrote a book called The Eminent Monk, in which he discussed the representation of Chinese monks in biographic and hagiographic literature, and what such images tell us about religious ideals and reality. China of course has a much more extensive literature on this subject than Korea, at least in terms of written or published documents; however, Korea has a virtually unexplored wealth of unique source materials, namely inscriptions on stone. Especially in the Koryŏ period, dozens of huge stone monuments were erected to commemorate the deeds of eminent monks. In this lecture, I will look at the life of an eminent Koryŏ monk as it appears in such stele inscriptions. On the basis of one representative example, I will sketch what the typical life of a monk looked like, from his birth to his final nirvana and beyond. Besides factual information about his monastic career, the inscriptions also contain stories about miracles, beliefs and practices that add some color to the life and times of medieval Korean monks. Buddhism was one of the main religions of Koryŏ, but a look at the ideal (and some not so ideal) monks can tell a lot of what kind society Koryŏ actually was. “Some years ago, John Kieschnick wrote a book called The Eminent Monk, in which he discussed the representation of Chinese monks in biographic and hagiographic literature, and what such images tell us about religious ideals and reality.

China of course has a much more extensive literature on this subject than Korea, at least in terms of written or published documents; however, Korea has a virtually unexplored wealth of unique source materials, namely inscriptions on stone. Especially in the Koryŏ period, dozens of huge stone monuments were erected to commemorate the deeds of eminent monks.

In this lecture, I will look at the life of an eminent Koryŏ monk as it appears in such stele inscriptions. On the basis of one representative example, I will sketch what the typical life of a monk looked like, from his birth to his final nirvana and beyond.

Besides factual information about his monastic career, the inscriptions also contain stories about miracles, beliefs and practices that add some color to the life and times of medieval Korean monks. Buddhism was one of the main religions of Koryŏ, but a look at the ideal (and some not so ideal) monks can tell a lot of what kind society Koryŏ actually was.

]]>