Samguk Yusa

The book (三国遗事, or Memorabilia of the Three Kingdoms), is a collection of legends, folktales, and historical accounts relating to the Three Kingdoms of Korea.

There are lots of fascinating stories, such as turtles which cough up sparkling jewels, dragons that need to be placated, and kings who had ears shaped like a donkey's. Also included are countless stories of monks with magical powers, rivalries between monarchs, as well as rebellions, loyalties and deceptions - in other words, all the necessary ingredients for a successful television drama epic.

But can't say I truly enjoyed the book coz there are too many dates, periods, events, characters and their relations to one another. Or perhaps I am not a great fan of books that are fancifully fictitious. Or perhaps it's due to my "contemporaneous" strain - I like to understand factors that make the world, or in this case, Korea, the way it is today.

So I guess in that sense, the Chosun period fascinates me a lot more than the Silla/Three Kingdoms period, coz the "linkage" between the Chosun period and contemporary Korea is a lot stronger and perceivable. But having said that, it was interesting to read about how Buddhism came to Korea, as well as its historical background.

It was also interesting to stumble upon tales of Queens having countless lovers, as well as the non-censorial tone about carefree love-making, and children borne out of love, often referred to in the book as "love child". The non-judgmental tone in these tales is quite different from the later Chosun period. But I guess that cannot serve as a gauge for comparison, given that tales from the Samguk Yusa are partly rooted in legend, and hence not entirely factual. And besides, like the Chosun period, the Three Kingdoms era also appeared to be fairly hierarchical, and values such as filial piety were heavily stressed.

Stylistically speaking, the book contains lots of lyrical passages, such as the following:

"Youth and beauty may meet in love for a moment's joy,
But rosy cheeks soon pale in sadness, like autumn leaves,
Wealth and nobility are like floating clouds,
And this temporal life of desire is only an empty dream."

Another thing that occurred to me after reading Samguk Yusa is how the nature of power politics and warfare hadn't changed that fundamentally over the years. The endless tales of conquests for power threw up various questions relating to power and state/national identity, and reminded me yet again of a contemporary debate in China about whether legendary Chinese hero Yue Fei could really be considered a "national" hero.

The book also reminded me of John Mearsheimer's "Politics of Great Power Politics". Mearsheimer had suggested that despite modern day developments and the facade of greater international cooperation, it is highly unlikely that the question of power and might, as well as the prospect of war, will ever fully disappear in the real sense of the word.