Gourt Home::Gourt :: Jikji
Jikji is the abbreviated title of a Buddhist document, whose full title can be translated "Baegun Hwasang's Anthology of the Great Priests' Teachings on Identification of the Buddha’s Spirit by the Practice of Seon." Printed in Korea in 1377, it is the world's oldest extant movable metal print book.
Book's content
The Buddhist priest Baegun Hwasang compiled and annotated the book, a collection of excerpts from analects by the most revered Buddhist monks throughout successive generations. It was created as a guide for students of Buddhism, then Korea's national religion under the Goryeo Dynasty (918-1392).
The Jikji propounds on the essentials of Seon, the predecessor to Japan's Zen Buddhism.
Printing
On the last page of "Jikji" is its record of publication, indicating that it was published in the 7th Year of King U (July 1377) by using the metal type at Heungdeoksa in Cheongju. The Jikji originally consisted of two volumes totalling 307 chapters.
It was printed using metal movable type by Baegun's disciples Seokchan and Daldam (Daljam?) under the auspices of a Buddhist nun Myodeok. * This predates Gutenberg's printing of the Gutenberg Bible by 78 years.
Preservation
Toward the end of the Joseon Dynasty, a French diplomat took the second volume of "Jikji" from Korea to France, which has since been preserved at the National Library of France in Paris.
According to UNESCO records, the Jikji “had been in the collection of Collin de Plancy, a chargé d’affaires with the French Embassy in Seoul in 1887 during the reign of King Gojong. The book then went into the hands of Henri Véver an auction at Hotel Drouot in 1911, a collector of classics, and when he died in 1950, it was donated to the Biliothèque nationale de France, where it has been ever since.” *
Today only 38 sheets of the second volume exist, although a full version printed earlier from wood type is preserved in the National Library of Korea.
Commemoration
Jikji was displayed at the exhibition of 'BOOK', organized by the National Library of France in commemoration of the "Year of the Books" in Paris in 1972, gaining worldwide attention for the first time.
It is Korea's national cultural treasure No. 1132.
It was added to the UNESCO World Heritage list on September 4, 2001. The Jikji Memory of the World Prize was created in 2004 to commemorate the inscription of the Jikji.
See also
References
- UNESCO Jikji Prize
- Exhibit flyer (PDF)
- Carnegie Council article on Jikji ownership controversy
- Korean National Commission for UNESCO
- Korea Times article on Chongju's promotion of Jikji
External links
Goryeo | Korean Buddhism | 14th century books | Korean literature | Buddhist texts | Science and technology in Korea
"Jikji"