SAMGUK YUSA (MEMORABILIA OF THE THREE KINGDOMS)

The Samguk yusa (Memorabilia of the Three Kingdoms) is a collection of myths, anecdotes, and short stories from ancient Korea, mostly from the kingdom of Silla. The text was compiled around 1285, after the Mongol subjugation of Korea, by the Buddhist monk Iryŏ (Kim Kyŏnmyŏng, 1206–1289) and contains at least one later insertion by his disciple Mugŭk (d.u.). Little is known about the text prior to 1512. The title word yusa (Chinese, yishi) suggests that the text was meant to serve as an unofficial supplement to an official work, perhaps the Samguk sagi (Historical Records of the Three Kingdoms), compiled by Kim Pusik between 1136 and 1145. Samguk yusa is roughly modeled after the Lidai fabao ji (Record of the Dharma-Jewel over Successive Generations, ca. 780) and the Taiping guangji (Expanded Tales of the Taiping Era, compiled 977–978) in form and content.

The Samguk yusa is comprised of five chapters. The first chapter begins with a dynastic chronology and follows with the foundation myths of the native Korean kingdoms and other traditional narratives dating from before Silla's conquest of the other kingdoms. The second chapter contains tales from the peninsular wars for unification, as well as postunification dynastic and other tales. The third chapter is comprised of two sections subtitled "The Flourishing of the Dharma" and "Stūpas and Images," which present the Buddhist perspective of the transmission of the religion to the peninsula and tales about the miraculous founding and history of particular sacred or cultic sites. The fourth chapter, "Exegetes," contains hagiographies of eminent Silla scholastic monks. The fifth chapter is divided into four subsections titled (1) "Divine Spells," hagiographies of Buddhist monks who specialize in working miracles through chanting dhĀraṆĪ and sūtras; (2) "Thaumaturges," stories of individuals, particularly Buddhist monks, who possess magic powers; (3) "Escape and Seclusion," stories of people who escaped this mortal realm; and (4) "Filial Piety and Virtue," traditional narratives of filial sons and virtuous daughters.

See also:Korea; Korean, Buddhist Influences on Vernacular Literature in

Bibliography

Ha, Tae-Hung, and Mintz, Grafton K., trans. Samguk Yusa: Legends and History of the Three Kingdoms of Ancient Korea. Seoul: Yonsei University Press, 1972.

Richard D. McBride II