For Nirvana: 108 Zen Sijo Poems

by Oh-Hyun Cho, Kwon Youngmin (Introduction), Heinz Insu Fenkl (Translator)

For Nirvana features exceptional examples of the poet Cho Oh-Hyun's award-winning work. Cho Oh-Hyun was born in Miryang, South Gyeongsang Province, Korea, and has lived in retreat in the mountains since becoming a novice monk at the age of seven. Writing under the Buddhist name Musan, he has composed hundreds of poems in seclusion, many in the sijo style, a relatively fixed syllabic poetic form similar to Japanese haiku and tanka. For Nirvana contains 108 Zen sijo poems (108 representing the number of klesas, or "defilements," that one must overcome to attain enlightenment). These transfixing works play with traditional religious and metaphysical themes and include a number of "story" sijo, a longer, more personal style that is one of Cho Oh-Hyun's major innovations. Kwon Youngmin, a leading scholar of sijo, provides a contextualizing introduction, and in his afterword, Heinz Insu Fenkl reflects on the unique challenges of translating the collection.

Genres: Poetry

144 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 6, 2016

Reviews

[Esteban Alonso Ramírez · Rating 2 out of 5]

The title of this book is deeply misleading. Sijo is a very specific poetry form, and just a portion of the texts in the book are actually like it. There are longer poems and even prose narrations.
Besides, for a book that claims to be about Korean Buddhism reflected in certain poems, there are no cultural notes whatsoever to understand the poems' references, values or intertexts, making most of the reading a rather frustrating experience.
It is a real pity. It is clear that the original poems should be excellent, but the translator made no effort to make this a comfortable reading for non-Korean or non-Buddhist readers.

[Colleen Murphy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I will admit that this is not my genre of poetry that I have previously explored. I felt that many of these poems went over my head. The sijo style wasn't what threw me, I felt there was something lost in translation. I enjoyed the story sijo poems the most, especially the 'Speaking Without Speaking' poems. I wanted to connect more to the writing but I struggled.

[Joseph · Rating 4 out of 5]

speaking without speaking 5

On the second of last month
a head monk came

and asked me the meaning
of Bodhidharma's coming from the West

I told him that in Inner Seorak's Baekdam Valley
there are lots of flat rocks.

Cho Oh-Hyun's poems are like a good stew
they taste better after being allowed
to sit overnight.

I wonder how they will taste on the third or fifth reading.

hahahahaha ... by the act of rating this book i am certain
that i am the antidharma