Samguk Yusa
What forgotten truths do the strange and mystical tales, unrecorded by official history, reveal to us?
📝ONGO's Reflection
To regard this book, written by the monk Iryeon, as a mere collection of preposterous myths and legends would be a grave mistake. In it I discovered the vivid breath of people long ago and the yearnings of the common folk, things I could never feel in the official history of the Samguk Sagi. This world of magical realism, where a bear becomes a woman, a dragon dances, and the Buddha takes living form, reveals the manifold patterns of human life that reason alone can never capture. It is the oldest storehouse of tales for stirring our imagination.
"When a king arises, there are always extraordinary signs. How can it be strange to begin with the marvelous?"Iryeon, Samguk Yusa
"제왕이 일어날 때는 반드시 보통 사람과는 다른 기이한 일이 있었다. 그러므로 신이한 일로 첫머리를 삼는 것이 어찌 괴이하겠는가."
🌱Apply It Today
Set aside, for a while, the cold habit of weighing everything by reason and logic alone. Instead, find and read a strange myth or legend you loved as a child, and refill the dry well of your imagination.
