Dōngguó sēngní lù 東國僧尼錄
Record of the Monks and Nuns of the Eastern Country [Korea]
anonymous Korean compilation, Joseon period
About the work
A short anonymous Korean Buddhist hagiographical compendium in one juan, listing eminent monks and nuns of the Korean tradition (Dōngguó 東國, “Eastern Country”, being the conventional self-designation of Korea in classical Chinese). Preserved in the Manji Xuzangjing (X88 no. 1671). The compiler is unnamed; the work appears to be a Joseon 朝鮮 dynasty (1392–1897) compilation drawing on earlier sources, especially 一然’s Samguk yusa (KR6r0016), the Haedong goseung jeon (海東高僧傳, eminent monks of Korea), and various monastery records.
Abstract
The text supplies brief biographical entries on Korean Buddhist masters from the introduction of Buddhism to the Three Kingdoms in the fourth century down to the late Goryeo / early Joseon. Entries are organised loosely by chronology and include both well-known Silla-Goryeo masters (Wŏnhyo 元曉, Ŭisang 義湘, Chinul 知訥, etc.) and less prominent figures. Substantial portions appear to be condensed from the Samguk yusa and the Haedong goseung jeon; nun biographies are an unusual inclusion and may be the work’s most distinctive contribution.
The compilation is undated. On general stylistic and prosopographic grounds the surviving form belongs somewhere in the Joseon period, with a wide bracket from the early sixteenth to the late nineteenth century. The work was preserved in the late-Qing / early-Republican Buddhist canon-reprint that produced the Manji Xuzangjing.
Translations and research
- No substantial secondary literature located. Korean-Buddhist scholarship makes occasional use of the work as a source for the late-Joseon literary representation of Korean Buddhist hagiography.
Links
- CBETA: X88n1671