The English translations of 10 books about Korea's modern Buddhism are displayed. / Courtesy of the Jogye Order



By Chyung Eun-ju, Park Si-soo

Ten Korean-written masterpieces about modern Buddhism are now available in English.

Korea's biggest Buddhism order Jogye initiated the project and several Buddhism experts and language specialists joined it. Among them are David McCann, a Korean literature professor at Harvard University, and John Jorgenson, a professor in La Trobe University's college of arts, social sciences and commerce.

"This project will help spread the Korean Buddhist culture to people all over the world," Yonhap News Agency quoted the chief of the Modern Korea Buddhist Literature Compilation Committee as saying.

McCann translated "Temple of Word: An Anthology of Modern Korean Buddhist Poetry." Jorgenson translated "The Gyeongheo Collection."

The other eight books are: "Harmonizing the Hundred Teachings," "Tracts on the Modern Reformation of Korean Buddhism," "A Collection of Modern Korean Buddhist Discourses," "Sheaves of Korean Buddhist History," "A Study of Korean Pagodas," "Sun over the Sea of Enlightenment," "Essential Compendium for Buddhists: A Modern Buddhist Liturgy" and "An Anthology of East Asian Commentaries on the Nyayapravesa."

PDF files of the translations will soon be available on the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism's English homepage (www.buddhism.or.kr).