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- This is a Korean name; the family name is Yu.
Yu Jeong (1544 - 1610), also often known by his pen names Songun and Samyeongdang, was a Korean Buddhist monk during the Joseon Dynasty. He was born to a family of the Im clan in Miryang, Gyeongsang province. After the deaths of his mother in 1558 and his father in 1559, he became a monk at Jikjisa on Hwangaksan in Gimcheon.
In 1561, he passed the seon-gwa, the specialized civil service examinations for Buddhist monks. He corresponded with various scholars of the time including Pak Sa-am, Heo Ha-gok, and Im Baek-ho. In 1575, he was recommended for the headship of the Seon order, but refused and instead traveled to Myohyangsan. There he was instructed by preceptor Hyu Jeong. He went on to pass three years at Podŏksa on Kŭmgangsan, and later traveled through Palgongsan, Cheongnyangsan, and Taebaeksan.
With the outbreak of war in 1592, Yu Jeong joined his teacher Hyu Jeong's righteous army of monks. After Hyu Jeong retired due to his age, Yu Jeong took over the leadership of the monks' army. He led the army into battles at Pyongyang and Uiryeong in 1592, set up mountain fortresses through Gyeongsang in 1594, and joined in battle again at Ulsan and Suncheon. After the end of the war, in 1604 he traveled to Japan on King Seonjo's orders to forge a peace accord with Tokugawa, and returned with 3500 Koreans who had been taken prisoner.
After his death in 1610 on Chiaksan, Yu Jeong was enshrined in the Pyochung Seowon in Miryang and at Suchungsa in Nyŏngbyŏn. He continues to be remembered in modern times, with numerous statues and other memorials around Korea. He has been cited together with Seosan as an example of a "patriotic-minded" Buddhist by the North Korean Korean Buddhist Federation.[1] Yu Jeong's writings are preserved in the Samyeongjip and Bunchungseo Nallok (분충서난록).
[edit] References
- Yi Hong-jik (이홍직) ed. (1983). "유정", 새國史事典. Seoul: Kyohaksa, 914-915.
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