Il-yeon (; 1206–1289), also spelled Iryeon, was a Korean Buddhist monk and All-Enlightened National Preceptor () during the

Goryeo Goryeo (; ) was a Korean state founded in 918, during a time of national division called the Later Three Kingdoms period, that unified and ruled the Korea, Korean Peninsula until the establishment of Joseon in 1392. Goryeo achieved what has b ...

Dynasty of Korea. His birth name was either Kim Gyeong-myeong () or Jeon Gyeon-myeong (), and his

courtesy name A courtesy name ( zh, s=字, p=zì, l=character), also known as a style name, is an additional name bestowed upon individuals at adulthood, complementing their given name. This tradition is prevalent in the East Asian cultural sphere, particula ...

was Hoe-yeon (). He became a monk at the temple Muryangsa at the age of nine and passed the Seon national examination at 22. At 54, he was given the rank of Great Teacher. When he was 78, King Chungnyeol offered him a position of rank and tried to make him National Preceptor, but Il-yeon declined. The king again appointed him National Preceptor, and Il-yeon came down to the capital

Kaesong Kaesong (, ; ) is a special city in the southern part of North Korea (formerly in North Hwanghae Province), and the capital of Korea during the Taebong kingdom and subsequent Goryeo dynasty. The city is near the Kaesong Industrial Region cl ...

(then Gaegyeong) but soon returned to the mountains on the pretext that his aged mother was sick. On the eighth day of the seventh month in 1289, he held a conference with various monks and then died. Il-yeon is known as a prolific writer, and according to the inscription on his tombstone, he wrote around 80 volumes on Buddhist topics. Today only one book of his survives: the ''

Samguk Yusa ''Samguk yusa'' (; ) or ''Memorabilia of the Three Kingdoms'' is a collection of legends, folktales, and historical accounts relating to the Three Kingdoms of Korea (Goguryeo, Baekje, and Silla), as well as to other periods and states before, d ...

'', which is not mentioned in the inscription formally.

References

{{Authority control 1206 births 1289 deaths Goryeo Buddhist monks Historians of Korea 13th-century historians 13th-century Korean artists 13th-century calligraphers Korean calligraphers

See also

References