Kim Daljin (1907 -1989) was a Korean poet and scholar of the Chinese classics. Since he converted to Buddhism in the early 1930s, he translated dozens of Oriental classics as well as the Tripitaka. When he wrote poetry, he captured the true nature in an intuitive language based on the Buddhist idea.
1. Life
He was born in 1907 in Changwon in Gyeongsangnam-do Province. When he attended Gyeongsin Middle School in Seoul, he led a movement to deport a Japanese English teacher and he was expelled. When he came back to his hometown, he taught at his old school, Gyegkwang Primary School, for seven years until the school was closed by the Japanese Government-General of Korea. His older brother who was studying in Japan recommended that he also came to Japan to study but he rejected, and instead, he started writing poetry in his spare time while reading literature.1) He published for the first time “Japyeongsugok (잡영수곡 Miscellaneous Poems)” in Munyegongron, a literary magazine, as Yang Judong recommended.
Conversion to Buddhism
Converting to Buddhism in Fall, 1933, he became a pupil of Kim Unak, the chief priest of the Yujeomsa Temple in the Geumgangsan Mountain in Spring, 1934. It was coincident that he became a monk. He explained, “When I found the word Buddha on a newspaper through a crack in ripped wall paper, I was inspired by something inside of me like a flash.”2) In 1935, he came to Hwagwawon3) in Hamyang, Kyeongnam to polish Hwaeomgyeong (화엄경 Avatamska Sutra) that had been translated by Priest Baek Yongseong while doing farm work and cultivating himself spiritually.
Coterie Activity
He was admitted to Buddhist College, the origin of Dongguk University, in 1936, and graduated in 1939. During this time, he became a member of a poetry group, ‘Siiin Burak,’ with Seo Jeongju, Kim Dongri and Oh Janghwan and also focused on writing. In 1940, he published his first poetry collection, Cheongsi (청시 Blue Persimmons).4)
Travel to Manchuria
After graduating, he returned to the Yujeomsa Temple and he traveled 70 temples across the nation to give a lecture. But the Japanese police’s surveillance was severe. In 1941, when he knocked down a Japanese policeman who was watching him, he headed to a farm in Manchuria where he published a poem in Ssak, a literary magazine issued by novelist Ahn Sukil.5)
Return to Korea
After one year in North Gando, he came back to Korea and stayed in the Yujeomsa Temple when Korea was independent. He went to Seoul, and thanks to novelist Yi Kwangsu, he entered Dong-A Ilbo to work as a reporter of the cultural department while serving as the vice president of the Youth Writers’ Association. But he could not find what he valued there, so he resigned from all of the positions and returned to a rural area to teach from 1946 to 1962. In 1947, he became a member of a literary coterie ‘Juksun,’ and published several poems. 6)
Translation of Confucian Classics
While he was teaching, he occasionally translated and published Oriental classics. Thanks to a poetry collection, Hansansi (한산시 Poetry of Hansan) (1964), published after he retired, he met Priest Unheo, the chief priest of the Bongseonsa Temple and director of the Buddhist translation center of Dongguk University. As Priest Unheo suggested, he joined the translation project of the Goryeo Tripitaka into Korean7) and he was hard at work on translating until he died in 1989. For almost 20 years, he translated 20-30 pages every day, which adds up to 150,000 pages of squared manuscript paper. In addition, he published as many as 30 volumes of translation of Oriental classis.
Memorial Projects
Since he died at his age of 82 in 1989, there have been many efforts to commemorate him. In 1990, the Kim Daljin Literary Award was founded, and since 1999, the Kim Daljin Literary Festival has been held. In 2004, a project to restore his birthplace was launched, and in 2005, it was completely rebuilt in Jinhae along with the Kim Daljin Literary House.8)
2. Writing
Main Themes
The characteristics of Kim’s poetry are revealed through his contemplation of the nature and spiritual transcendence. His poetry depicts an orientation toward an absolute world beyond secular glory and shame or agony based on Buddhism. The poems in his first poetry collection, Blue Persimmons (1940), describe daily landscape or self-examination, rather than the reality of the Japanese colonial era. The narrator delivers his inner conflict to achieve the perfection of self in an even tone. Over the course of his journey, materials such as snow, spring water, well, mirror and sky are used frequently as a vehicle of self-examintion.9) For example, “Sammul (샘물 Spring Water)” expands the imagination where the nature and oneself are one into the universal level. “Geurineun segye itgie (그리는 세계 있기에 Because There is a World I Dream of)” shows an attitude of leaving nature as it is in order to avoid the temptation of secular life that is considered hallucination.10)
Appraisal
Kim refused to join the institutionalized literary community since Korea was under the Japanese colonial rule and lived in seclusion. When it comes to writing poetry, he tried to represent the nature as it is without being inclined to any ideology. In addition, he expressed concepts and sensibility harmoniously through combining a sensitive poetic language with sensuous images. Thanks to these features, Kim’s poetry has been considered to arouse purity as people’s true character in the modern society that is heavily influenced by materialism.11) From a perspective of literary history, Kim was considered to inherit the Oriental spirit passed down from Han Yongun to Cho Jihun, and the Buddhist world of Shin Seokjeong in his own way.12)
However, because he more focused on translating Oriental classics including Buddhist Sutras than writing poetry, he did not receive much attention in terms of the Korean literary history.13) Poet Oh Seyeong said, “Most of his works have not been discovered because of his life in seclusion, so it requires much more research to properly evaluate his influence on the literary history.”14)
Reference
1) Eo, Hyeonkyeong. “Kim Daljin (Wolhageosa (1907 – 1989),” Bulgyo Shinmun. July 16, 2005.
http://www.ibulgyo.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=67222
2) Kim, Daljin. “My life, My Buddhism,” Bulgyo Sasang. June, 1984.
3) Hwagwawon is not just a farm but is also known as the historical and cultural base for Korea’s independence movements and reforming of Buddhism.
Ji, Seongho. “Hamyang Hwagwawon, the Historical and Cultural Base for Korea’s Independence Movements and Reformation of Buddhism,” Yonhap News, November, 14, 2016.
https://www.yna.co.kr/view/AKR20161114149000052
4) Kim Daljin Literary House Website
http://www.daljin.or.kr/
5) Kim, Gyuhwan. “Kim Daljin’s Life and Writing,” Seoul Shimun. April 19, 2008.
http://www.seoul.co.kr/news/newsView.php?id=20080419023006#csidx159a02286928b01a2ac60c2bf969ccd
6) Eo, Hyeonkyeong. “Kim Daljin (Wolhageosa (1907 – 1989),” Bulgyo Shinmun. July 16, 2005.
http://www.ibulgyo.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=67222
7) Tripitaka is a kind of complete collection of records related with Buddhist research. Currently the existing Tripitaka is divided into three categories: Pali Stura, Tibetan Tripitaka and Translated Tripitaka. Among these, the translated Tripitaka refers to Buddhist Sutras as a whole that are translated into Chinese classics. The most outstanding one is the Goryeo Tripiṭaka, also known as Palman Daejanggyeong (Eighty-Thousand Tripiṭaka). The Hangul Tripitaka is the translation of the Goryeo Tripiṭaka into Korean. The Dongguk Buddhist Translation Center, founded in 1964, led the Hangul Tripitaka project, and in 2001, the total of 318 books were completed. Kim Daljin participated in this project as the initial translation committee along with Zen Master Unheo, Zen Master Tanheo, Zen Master Bopjong, Cho Jihun, Seo Jeongju, Wu Jeongsang, Hong Jeongsik and Lee Jongik. For more information, please visit the website of Dongguk University Hangul Tripitaka: https://abc.dongguk.edu/ebti/c1/sub1.jsp
8) Shin, Yongwon. “Cultural Tourism Developed for the Birthplace of Poet Kim Daljin,” Bisabeol News. November 4, 2015.
http://www.gnnl.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=2070
9) Encyclopedia of Korean Culture [Blue Persimmons]
http://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Contents/Item/E0066827
10) Encyclopedia of Korean Culture [Kim Daljin]
http://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Contents/Item/E0008894
11) Kim, Gyuhwan. “Kim Daljin’s Life and Writing,” Seoul Shimun. April 19, 2008.
http://www.seoul.co.kr/news/newsView.php?id=20080419023006#csidx159a02286928b01a2ac60c2bf969ccd
12) Encyclopedia of Korean Culture [Kim Daljin]
http://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Contents/Item/E0008894
13) Eo, Hyeonkyeong. “Kim Daljin (Wolhageosa (1907 – 1989),” Bulgyo Shinmun. July 16, 2005.
http://www.ibulgyo.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=67222
14) Kim, Gyuhwan. “Kim Daljin’s Life and Writing,” Seoul Shimun. April 19, 2008.
http://www.seoul.co.kr/news/newsView.php?id=20080419023006#csidx159a02286928b01a2ac60c2bf969ccd
