Beyond Self: 108 Korean Zen Poems [Paperback]

Alan Ginsberg (Author), Un Ko (Author), Young-Moo Kim (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1997

Poetry. Asian Studies. "Ko Un is a magnificent poet, combination of Buddhist cognoscente, passionate politcal libertarian, and naturalist historian. This little book of Son (Zen) poems gives a glimpse of the severe humorous discipline beneath the prolific variety of his forms & subjects. These excellent translations are models useful to inspire American Contemplative poets" -- Allen Ginsberg. "A big mistake! // Much better / to have turned back at the front gate." ("A Temple's Main Hall") "Ko Un's poems live amid the democracy of all being, looking directly and with great pleasure at this very moment's bright-leaping essence" -- Jane Hirshfield."Not an ounce of Zen posturing here!" -- Norman Fischer. Translated from the Korean by Young-Moo Kim and Brother Anthony.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Korean

Product Details

• Paperback: 44 pages
• Publisher: Parallax Press; 1st Ed. edition (November 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0938077996
• ISBN-13: 978-0938077992
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,796,715 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Ko Un Delivers Excellent and Intriguing Poetry, January 10, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Boxford, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beyond Self: 108 Korean Zen Poems (Paperback)

Anyone interested in zen poetry ought to own this book. Ko Un writes about many different topics in clever, interesting, and intriguing poems.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Riddle me this, Batman..., November 15, 2005

By 

Robert P. Beveridge "xterminal" (Lakewood, OH) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Beyond Self: 108 Korean Zen Poems (Paperback)

Ko Un, Beyond Self: 108 Korean Zen Poems (Parallax, 1997)

The Nobel Committee keeps telling us they don't actually have a shortlist before they tell us who's won the Nobel Prize for Literature every year. But a few names crop up like clockwork when it's Nobel time. Joyce Carol Oates is the one most recognized in America; in Asia, the most likely candidate for that dubious honor is Korean poet Ko Un. The number of books of Ko Un's work one can get in English are relatively few, given that he's published over one hundred works of fiction and poetry in his native country (making him, according to most bios one can find on the web, Korea's most prolific living writer); this is one of them.

Those writing the prefaces and afterword to the book make a big deal over the fact that Son and Zen are the same in two different languages, and that "Zen," being of the language of the Japanese occupiers, was a word to be avoided in the translation. (One wonders, idly, why it shows up in the title.) Either way, the 108 poems (the number chosen because there are 108 prayer beads on what, to a Son Buddhist, would be equivalent to a Catholic rosary) in this collection are meant to be small pieces aimed at having the reader reflect on Son questions. You know the drill (probably, if you're reading this review)-- the one-with-nothingness thing. But in Ko Un's case, it's not the void bit that he's on about. Somewhere along the way, in the past couple of decades, it seems Ko Un found himself beyond the one-with-nothingness phase. Thus, Ko Un's particular brand of Son poetry is far more accessible than one normally sees, and far earthier. (Prepare, if you're used to the almost pathologically sterile "what is the sound of one hand clapping?" stuff, to be pleasantly shocked by Ko Un's mundanity, and the profanity that comes with it.)

A fun little book, one you're far more likely to read small pieces of at various times rather than just sit down and read through. Good mental exercise, this. *** ½

2 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Well worth not bothering with, September 23, 1999

By 

M. J. Smith (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Beyond Self: 108 Korean Zen Poems (Paperback)

Sorry but this is one of two far east (China/Japan/Korea) religious poetry books that left me completely cold. I can't tell you if the fault lies with the author or the translator but either way I had no sense of spiritual depth behind the poems. Oh well, from the other review I see someone enjoyed them. But I'd suggest you pick up A Drifting Boat or Cold Mountain or The Gift if you want some poetry with religious depth.