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Untitled [Richard Mcbride on a Handbook of Korean Zen Practice: a Mirror on the Sŏn School of Buddhism (Sŏn'ga Kwigam)] John Jorgensen. A Handbook of Korean Zen Practice: A Mirror on the Sŏn School of Buddhism (Sŏn'ga kwigam). Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2015. 328 pp. $49.00, cloth, ISBN 978-0-8248-4097-6. Reviewed by Richard McBride Published on H-Buddhism (September, 2015) Commissioned by Gregory A. Scott (University of Edinburgh) A Handbook of Korean Zen Practice is the the late sixteenth century due to the Japanese in‐ third installment in the new Korean Classics Li‐ vasion of Korea (1592–1598); the translation of the brary: Philosophy and Religion Series published Sŏn’ga kwigam; an appendix of published edi‐ by the University of Hawai‘i Press. At its core, the tions of the Sŏn’ga kwigam, notes; a bibliography book is an annotated translation of the oldest ex‐ and an index. tant edition of Sŏn’ga kwigam (Models for Sŏn Jorgensen’s translation of the Sŏn’ga kwigam Practitioners), which was frst written in the Kore‐ is accessible to both scholarly and general audi‐ an vernacular script as a handbook for Sŏn ences. It is the frst Anglophone translation of the monks by Sŏsan Hyujŏng (1520–1604) and pub‐ Korean vernacular (ŏnhae) edition of Hyujŏng’s lished in 1569. John Jorgensen, however, has pro‐ work, which was initially written as an introduc‐ vided much more than merely a scholarly transla‐ tory guide for students and lay believers interest‐ tion and annotation of this influential work, ed in Sŏn Buddhism. This version of the Sŏn’ga which, in a variety of forms and recensions, is still kwigam comprises 153 sections dealing with nu‐ widely read by monks and lay practitioners in merous topics seminal to the growth and develop‐ contemporary South Korea. The basic structure ment of Sŏn practitioners, and it is nearly twice as and contents of the book are as follows: A scholar‐ long as the literary Chinese edition of the text that ly introduction to Hyujŏng, his life, his doctrinal has only 81 sections.[1] Although the guidebook is, positions, and the composition of the Sŏn’ga at heart, a derivative work that abstracts passages kwigam placed within the historical context of the from more than ffty Buddhist sūtras and Chinese vicissitudes of royal patronage under the Confu‐ Chan and Korean Sŏn texts (see pp. 22–30), be‐ cian-oriented Chosŏn dynasty (1392–1910) and his cause Hyujŏng either quotes or alludes to many of role is organizing monastic militias in devastating the most famous stories and anecdotes of the Zen war that engulfed the greater East Asian region in tradition and typically provides lucid commen‐ H-Net Reviews tary for the sake of his reader, it is an outstanding apocryphal text The Awakening of Mahāyāna source for understanding the weltanschauung of Faith, which presents for practice a theory of the mature Korean Sŏn tradition in the mid- mind and its ineffability in its true state. Although Chosŏn period. General readers and students will Hyujŏng’s text denigrates those who are attached appreciate the copious explanatory notes on the to words, he provides brief Sŏn insights on the use terms, concepts, slogans, and anecdotes supplied of mantras and appropriate worship of Amitābha. by Jorgensen to help readers unfamiliar with the Nine Buddhist sūtras and one treatise (the specialized jargon of the Zen tradition understand Dazhidu lun) are mentioned by name in the body this text. Academics will appreciate the layered, of the Sŏn’ga kwigam, along with a requisite Zen comprehensive, and minutely documented nature texts such as the Jingde chuandeng lu, the Xu‐ of Jorgensen’s presentation of commentarial ma‐ anzhongming, and a Rite of Confession. Several of terial supplied by Hyujŏng in both literary Chi‐ the nine sūtras mentioned by name continue to be nese and Korean. In other words, Jorgensen al‐ relevant in the living Sŏn tradition in contempo‐ lows readers to compare and contrast the similar‐ rary Korea: Nirvāṇa Sūtra, Lengyan jing, Fan‐ ities and differences between the commentary wang jing, Prajñā (Wisdom) Sūtra, and Yuanjue found in the Chinese version and the commentary jing. Furthermore the Laozi and Zhuangzi are composed in the Korean vernacular script. Fur‐ quoted by name just as often as the Zen texts. As thermore, Jorgensen explains the close relation‐ expected, material from such seminal Zen works ship between the Sŏn’ga kwigam in the Korean as the Platform Sūtra of the Sixth Patriarch and vernacular and the Samga kwigam (Models for the Recorded Sayings of Zhaozhou are para‐ Practitioners of the Confucianism, Daoism, and phrased and alluded to throughout, but they are Buddhism), another important work of Hyujŏng. not mentioned by name by Hyujŏng. The structure and content of the Sŏn’ga Although Jorgensen’s A Handbook of Korean kwigam plainly illustrate the ambivalent ac‐ Zen Practice can certainly be seen as a stand- knowledgement and inconsistent perception of alone work, it can also be viewed as a companion doctrinal Buddhism averred by proponents of Sŏn to his previously published annotated translation Buddhism in Korea. As Jorgensen explains suc‐ of the literary Chinese recension of the Sŏn’ga cinctly in his comprehensive introduction, the Ko‐ kwigam executed for the Collected Works of Kore‐ rean Sŏn tradition of Hyujŏng’s day inherited two an Buddhism series.[2] In evaluating the book as a somewhat conflicting approaches to Buddhist model of translation, if there is a shortcoming or, practice due to the mediation of Pojo Chinul perhaps more positively stated, an inconvenience (1158–1210): (1) a healthy dose of Song-dynasty in Jorgensen’s methodology for clarifying the text, Linji Chan with its emphasis on the approach of it would be that he somewhat sporadically pro‐ "investigating the topic of inquiry" (kanhwa; vides the original language and/or Sinographs of hwadu) and its rhetoric that the words of sūtras specialized terms and phrases that require anno‐ do not lead to true enlightenment, and (2) recog‐ tation, so the interested reader or researcher will nition of the usefulness of sūtras, such as the Dia‐ need to consult the original text. For example, the mond Sūtra and the Avataṃsaka Sūtra, as cata‐ term "percepts" (the mental result or product of lysts or expedients (upāya) in helping aspirants perceiving; an object or perception) appears sev‐ achieve breakthroughs in their practice. Despite eral times in the book (pp. 47, 90, 101, 103, 111, the rhetoric inherent to the Zen tradition regard‐ 119, 121, 142, 146–147, 152) but the technical or ing the inferiority of doctrinal Buddhism, Jor‐ non-technical Korean or Chinese term Jorgensen gensen points out that the structure of the Sŏn’ga translates as "percepts" is never provided. In one kwigam is modeled after the composition of the place, the Korean commentary says that the San‐ 2 H-Net Reviews skrit name for Siddhārtha in Sino-Korean is Ton’gil, but the note does not provide the lo‐ gographs (pp. 89, 191n114). In another place, Hyu‐ jŏng uses the Huayan technical term "nature-oc‐ currence," but does not provide the Sinographs in the explanatory note (pp. 104, 210–211n228). Ad‐ mittedly, this is a minor inconvenience, and may have been due to constraints on the length of the book. Nevertheless, because scholars of East Asian Buddhism writing in English must always mediate the meaning of the text by translating, Jorgensen’s translation choices are important to a select group of readers. This is a minor shortcoming when compared to the wealth of information provided in the notes. Notes [1]. Sŏsan Taesa, Pŏpchŏng, and Hyŏn’gak, The Mirror of Zen: The Classic Guide to Buddhist Practice by Zen Master So Sahn (Boston: Shamb‐ hala, 2006). [2]. Seonga Gwigam, in Collected Works of Ko‐ rean Buddhism, vol. 3, Hyujeong: Selected Works, ed. and trans. John Jorgensen (Seoul: Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism, 2012), 47–193. If there is additional discussion of this review, you may access it through the network, at https://networks.h-net.org/h-buddhism Citation: Richard McBride. Review of Jorgensen, John. A Handbook of Korean Zen Practice: A Mirror on the Sŏn School of Buddhism (Sŏn'ga kwigam). H-Buddhism, H-Net Reviews. September, 2015. URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=44986 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. 3.
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