Everything Yearned For: Manhae's Poems of Love and Longing

By David R. McCann

Manhae (1879-1944), or Han Yongun, was a Korean Buddhist (Son) monk during the era of Japanese colonial occupation (1910-1945). Manhae is a political and cultural hero in Korea, and his works are studied by college students and school children alike.

Everything Yearned For is a collection of 88 love poems, evocative of the mystical love poetry of Rumi, and even reminiscent of the work of Pablo Neruda.Though Manahe's poetry can be read allegorically on many levels - political and religious - it is completely unlike any other poetry in Buddhist or secular realm.

The first poem, "My Lover's Silence," narrates the lover's departure and establishes the enduring themes of the work: the happiness of meeting, the sadness of separation, the agony of longing and waiting, and, most of all, the perfection of love in absence that demands the cost of one's ongoing life, as opposed to the relief of death. The Korean word translated in these poems as "love" and "lover" is nim, though nim has many and broad interpretations. Understandably, the identity of Manhae's lover, or "nim" has been the subject of much speculation.

Manhae writes in his own preface:

"Nim" is not only a human lover but everything yearned for. All beings are nim for the Buddha, and philosophy is the nim of Kant. The spring rain is nim for the rose, and Italy is the nim of Mazzini. Nim is what I love, but it also loves me. If romantic love is freedom, then so is my nim. But aren't you attached to the lofty name of freedom? Don't you also have a nim? If so, it's only your shadow. I write these poems for the young lambs wandering lost on the road home from the darkening plains.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wisdom Publications
• Release date: Feb 8, 2013
• ISBN: 9780861718481

Book preview

everything yearned for

Wisdom Publications

199 Elm Street

Somerville, MA 02144 USA

www.wisdompubs.org

© 2005 Francisca Cho

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any other information storage and retrieval system or technologies now known or later developed, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Cho, Francisca.

   Everything yearned for : Manhae’s poems of love and longing / a translation of Manhae’s the silence of everything yearned for, translated and introduced by Francisca Cho.

        p. cm.

   Includes bibliographical references and index.

   ISBN 0-86171-489-X (hardcover : alk. paper)

  ISBN 978-0-86171-848-1 (ebook)

  1. Han, Yong-un, 1879–1944—Criticism and interpretation. 2. Han, Yong-un, 1879–1944—Translations into English. I. Han, Yong-un, 1879–1944. II. Title.

  PL991.26.Y6A23 2004

  895.7'13—dc22

2004020460

First Edition

09 08 07 06 05

5    4    3    2    1

Poems from Columbia Anthology of Traditional Korean Poetry, edited by David R. McCann, © 2004, Columbia University Press. Reprinted with the permission of the publisher.

Radbindranath Tagore poems reprinted by permission of The Sahitya Akademi.

 Cover design and imagery by Elizabeth Lawrence. A special thank you to Kim Lawrence for posing for the photograph.

Interior design by Gopa&Ted2, Inc. Set in Dante MT 11/16.

Wisdom Publications’ books are printed on acid-free paper and meet the guidelines for permanence and durability set by the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources.

Printed in Canada.

Table of Contents

Index of Poem Titles

Foreword

Translator’s Preface

Acknowledgments

The Silence of Everything Yearned For

Manhae and the Art of Poetry

The Politics of Poetry

Buddhism and Poetry

Manhae’s Socially Engaged Buddhism

From History to Poetry

Manhae in Translation

Notes on the Poems

Notes on the Essay

Select Bibliography

About the Translator

Index of Poem Titles

Preface: Idle Words

1.   My Lover’s Silence

2.   Parting Creates Beauty

3.   I Don’t Know

4.   I Want to Forget

5.   Don’t Go

6.   Lonely Night

7.   My Path

8.   Waking from a Dream

9.   The Artist

10.   Parting

11.   Blocked Path

12.   Natural Virtue

13.   Let Us Be One

14.   Ferryboat and Traveler

15.   Rather

16.   My Song

17.   But for You

18.   Sleepless Dream

19.   Life

20.   Measure of Love

21.   Pearl

22.   Samadhi of Sorrow

23.   Don’t Doubt

24.   You

25.   Happiness

26.   Misrecognition

27.   Quiet Night

28.   Secrets

29.   Love’s Existence

30.   Dreams and Cares

31.   Wine

32.   Slander

33.   ?

34.   Your Touch

35.   Sweetbriers

36.   I Saw You

37.   Rain

38.   Submission

39.   Bear with Me

40.   Which Is Real?

41.   Passion’s Sky, Sorrow’s Sea

42.   First Kiss

43.   Master’s Sermon

44.   Seeing Her Off

45.   Diamond Mountains

46.   Your Face

47.   Planting a Willow

48.   Paradise in the Thornbush

49.   Is It True?

50.   The Flowers Knew First

51.   Hymn of Praise

52.   Pledging Love at the Shrine of Non’gae

53.   Remorse

54.   Love’s Reasons

55.   Your Letter

56.   False Separation

57.   If It’s a Dream

58.   Looking at the Moon

59.   Law of Causality

60.   Sleep Talk

61.   To Kyewŏrhyang

62.   Satisfaction

63.   Inverse Proportion

64.   Tears

65.   Everywhere

66.   His Parting Face

67.   First Love

68.   Cuckoo

69.   My Dream

70.   When Crying

71.   Reading Tagore’s Poem Gardenisto

72.   The Secret of Embroidery

73.   Love’s Fire

74.   I Love Love

75.   If Not Forsaken

76.   When You Left

77.   Magic

78.   Your Heart

79.   Summer Nights Are Long

80.   Meditation

81.   Double Seventh

82.   Art of Life

83.   Flower Fight

84.   Playing the Kŏmun’go

85.   Come

86.   Pleasure

87.   Waiting

88.   The End of Love

Postscript: To the Reader

Foreword

The challenges confronting anyone wishing to translate Manhae’s poetry are daunting. He is very highly regarded in Korea, both as a poet and Buddhist leader, as well as for his active involvement in the Korean national independence movement during the Japanese colonial occupation. Each year, an annual symposium on his life’s work, his poetry, and his Buddhist thought and writing is held in Korea, formerly at Paekdam Temple, and more recently at a new study center, the Manhae Village, constructed in his honor and memory. A major Korean and international award ceremony is held annually in his honor, with awards for Buddhist practice, arts and sciences, literature, and world peace. He is truly an iconic figure.

Manhae left only one published collection of poems, the book we have now in Francisca Cho’s remarkable translation. Beyond the imposing figure of Manhae himself, the poems present their own formidable challenges. First, the title of the book and the title poem: Nim ŭi ch’immuk. Ch’immuk is not the difficulty: silence. But the word nim is itself a formidable challenge, a microcosm of Manhae himself. It has been translated here as love, or the lover, or the beloved—and even once, in a sort of formal gesture, left untranslated. Francisca Cho explores the various options, including the range of meanings associated with the word: "nim can signify not only a ‘lover’ in the romantic and erotic sense but also anyone or anything that is held in loving esteem—one’s political sovereign, parent, teacher; one’s country, humanity, God." How to decide? She chooses to take the definition from Manhae’s own preface to the poems, in which he defines nim as not only a human lover but everything yearned for. That’s it exactly! one wants to shout. The Gordian knot is cut with that one brilliant stroke.

The second and even more daunting question is what to make of Manhae’s poems, and in particular, the long rhythmical lines that seem to sweep forward with an almost Biblical cadence in some places, while in others breaking apart into brief, almost conversational phrases. Manhae was not writing poetry like anyone else in Korea at the time. There had been some translations of poets such as Mallarmé, Verlaine, Yeats and poets like Sowŏl, Kim Chôngsik, who adapted traditional Korean folksong forms and figures; but the long, extending line of Manhae’s poems, and their mix of the philosophical, mystical, religious, and sensual were uniquely distinctive.

Cho pays high accord to three previous translations, then observes of her own only that she has aimed for a translation that is faithful both in content and style. She has indeed accomplished both. Manhae did not falter over his lines, and neither does this translator. As I first read through the poems, watching out for infelicities (as one does), I found only a steady, sure control of line and line break, the truest and deepest form of fidelity to Manhae’s confident original.

Finally, a word of appreciation for the detailed notes on the poems, and the excellent account of Manhae, his life and his religious thought. One or the other of these can be found in a variety of Korean materials, but nowhere exists a more balanced and clear account. So in this book we find Manhae, his life, work, and thought, in addition to the splendid translations of his poems, for all of which I for one wish simply to thank Francisca Cho. She has provided the definitive English language translation of Manhae’s remarkable poems. For readers who will come to this book by a variety of pathways, let me add only: a wonderful voyage awaits you.

David R. McCann

DAVID R. MCCANN, recipient of the the Manhae Prize for Arts and Sciences in 2004, is the Korea Foundation Professor of Korean Literature and Director of the Korea Institute at Harvard University.

Translator’s Preface

MANHAE (1879–1944) was a Korean Buddhist monk and a cultural hero who fought for the survival of Korean Buddhism in an age of abrupt modernization and colonial domination. He worked for the educational and institutional reform of Buddhist monasticism and translated Buddhist teachings in a way that was accessible and relevant to ordinary people. His dominant role in the creation of the March 1, 1919, Declaration of Independence from Japanese colonial rule, which earned him a significant place in modern Korean history, indicates the degree to which Manhae’s Buddhism was socially engaged. The underlying purpose of his political as well as his religious activities was to aid in the liberation of all beings.

The same can be said of Manhae in his capacity as a poet, which is emerging as his most enduring persona. Presently, Manhae is best remembered for the collection of poetry presented here, Nim ŭi ch’immuk, or The Silence of Everything Yearned For. This volume of poetry presents itself as love poems, but its multilayered senses have spurred readers to a number of allegorical insights as well. While some poems are exquisitely pure in sentiment, others are quite complex, suggesting an array of poetic voices and referents. Some poems are written in a man’s voice, others in a woman’s, for example. In using the female voice, Manhae employs a traditional poetic practice that abstracts from his personal experiences, but which nevertheless allows for a most direct and ardent form of expression—that of a woman longing for her lover.

The question of how to read and interpret Silence has been the subject of scholarly and cultural debate ever since its publication in 1926. Some of the poems exhibit a clear historical and national consciousness,