The Kyunyŏ-jŏn has long been regarded as one of the most significant documents of the Koryŏ Period (918-1392), but its proper translation requires expertise in a number of fields, including classical Chinese language and literature, Hua Yen Buddhism, Koryŏ history, and Old Korean language and literature. During a series of informal sessions at the University of Sydney during the early 1980s, Dr Prince and I became increasingly impressed with the fact that together we were fortunate enough to possess sufficient expertise in these fields for a long-overdue attempt to bring it before a wider audience. This translation is the result.
For my part, I would like to express particular thanks to Professor Nam P’ung-hyŏn of Dankook University, Seoul, who first guided me through the work and then later offered many helpful comments, and to others at Dankook who assisted in so many ways, especially University President Chang Ch’ung-sik.
At the University of Sydney, thanks are also due to a number of people within the School of Asian Studies who have guided this work through to publication, notably Dr Mabel Lee, Dr A. D. Syrokomla-Stefanowska and Dr Duk-Soo Park.
Finally, it remains for us to accept corporate responsibility for the final translation, opinions and interpretations contained herein. If pressed, responsibility may be attributed as follows: Dr Prince is primarily responsible in the Buddhist studies and Chinese literary domains, while the actual translation was a joint effort. I am primarily responsible in the domains of Korean history, language and literature. Praise, blame and correspondence should be directed accordingly.
Adrian Buzo
Sydney
June 1993