Lives of Eminent Korean Monks: The Haedong Kosung Chon (Harvard-Yenching Institute Studies)

Lives of Eminent Korean Monks is an important source for literary and religious history and the general political and cultural development of Korea. Lost for almost seven centuries after it was completed in 1215 by the abbot Kakhun and rediscovered only in 1910, it is one of the earliest extant texts of Korean authorship. This volume is the first study of the Lives in any language, including Korean. The translation is based on a collation of four versions of the text and is extensively annotated.