Jikji

Jikji
Hangul	백운화상초록불조직지심체요절
Hanja	白雲和尙抄錄佛祖直指心體要節
Revised Romanization	Baegun hwasang chorok buljo jikji simche yojeol
McCune–Reischauer	Paegun hwasang ch'orok pulcho chikchi simch'e yojŏl

Jikji is the abbreviated title of a Korean Buddhist document, whose full title can be translated "The Monk Baegun's Anthology of the Great Priests' Teachings on Identification of the Buddha’s Spirit by the Practice of Seon." Printed during the Goryeo Dynasty in 1377, it is the world's oldest extant movable metal print book. UNESCO confirmed “Jikji” as the world oldest metalloid type in September 2001 and includes it in the Memory of the World program. [1]

Jikji was published in Heungdeok Temple in 1377, 78 years prior to Johannes Gutenberg's "42-Line Bible" printed during the years 1452-1455. The greater part of the Jikji is now lost, and today only the last volume survives, kept at the Manuscrits Orientaux division of National Library of France.

Authorship

The Jikji was written by the Buddhist monk Baegun (1298-1374, Buddhist name Gyeonghan), who served as the chief priest of Anguk and Shingwang temples in Haeju, and was published in two volumes in Seongbulsan in 1372. Baegun died in Chwiam Temple in Yeoju in 1374.

Jikji consists of two volumes. The metal-print Jikji that was published in Heungdeok Temple is kept in the Manuscrits Orientaux division of the National Library of France, with the first page of the last volume (Book 1 in Chapter 38) torn off. A wood carving print of Jikji published in Chwiamsa Temple contains the complete two volumes. This is kept in the National Library of Korea and Jangsagak and Bulgap temples as well as in the Academy of Korea Studies.

Printing

On the last page of "Jikji" is recorded details of its publication, indicating that it was published in the 3rd Year of King U (July 1377) by metal type at Heungdeok temple in Cheongju. The Jikji originally consisted of two volumes totaling 307 chapters, but the first volume of the metal printed version is no longer extant.

There is a record indicating that in 1377 Baegun's students, priests Seoksan and Daldam, helped in the publication of Jikji by using moveable metal type and the female priest Myodeok contributed her efforts as well.

The surviving metal type's dimensions are 24.6 x 17.0 cm. Its paper is very slight and white. The whole text is doubly folded very slightly. The cover looks re-made. The title of Jikji also seems to be written with an Indian ink after the original. The cover on the surviving volume of the metal type edition records in French "This is the oldest Printed Book with molded type", with the chronicle of 1377, written by Maurice Courant.

The lines are not straight, but askew. The difference of the thickness of ink color shown on drawn letter paper is large, and spots often occur. Even some characters, such as 'day' (日) or 'one' (一), are written reversely, while other letters are not printed out completely. The same typed letters are not shown on the same paper, but the same typed letters appear on other leaves. There are also blurs and spots around the characters.

National Library of France

Toward the end of the Joseon Dynasty, a French diplomat took the second volume of the Jikji from Korea to France, which has since preserved it at the National Library of France in Paris.

According to UNESCO records, the Jikji “had been in the collection of [Victor Emile Marie Joseph] Collin de Plancy, a chargé d’affaires with the French Embassy in Seoul in 1887 during the reign of King Gojong. The book then passed into the hands of Henri Véver [in an auction at Hotel Drouot in 1911], a collector of classics, and when he died in 1950, it was donated to the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, where it has been ever since.” [2] Today only 38 sheets of the second volume of the metal print edition are extant.

In May 1886, Korea and France concluded a treaty defense and commerce, and as a result in 1887 official diplomatic relations were entered into by the treaty's official ratification by Kim Yunsik (1835-1922) and Victor Emile Marie Joseph Collin de Plancy (1853-1924). Plancy, who majored in law in France and went on to study Chinese, had previously served as translator at the France Legation in China for six years from 1877. In 1888 he came to Seoul as the first French consul to Korea, staying until 1891. During his extended residence in Korea, first as consul and then again as full diplomatic minister from 1896-1906, Victor Collin de Plancy collected Korean ceramics and old books. He let Kulang, who had moved to Seoul as his official secretary, classify them.

Although the channels through which Plancy collected his works are not clearly known, he seems to have had collected them mostly beginning from the early 1900s. Most of old books Plancy collected in Korea went to the National Library of France at an auction in 1911, while the metal printed Jikji was purchased in that same year for 180 francs by Henri Véver (1854-1943), a well-known jewel merchant and old book collector, who in turn donated it to the French National Library in his will.

Rediscovery

The metal Printed Jikji became known to the world in 1901 through its inclusion in the appendix of the Hanguk Seoji, compiled by the French Sinologist and scholar of Korea, Maurice Courant(1865-1935). In 1972 the Jikji was displayed in Paris during the "International Book Year" hosted by the National Library of France, gaining it worldwide attention for the first time.

The Jikji was printed using metal print in Hungdeok Temple outside Cheongjumok in July 1377, a fact recorded in its postscript. The fact that it was printed in Hungdeok Temple in Uncheondong Cheongju was confirmed when Cheongju University excavated the Hungdeok Temple site in 1985.

Hungdeok Temple was rebuilt in March 1992. In 1992, the Early Printing Museum of Cheongju was opened, and it took the Jikji as its central theme from 2000. Only the final volume of the Jikji is preserved by the Manuscrits Orienteux department of the France National Library.

On September 4, 2001 the Jikji was formally added to the UNESCO's Memory of the World. The Jikji Memory of the World Prize was created in 2004 to commemorate the creation of the Jikji.

Controversy

The right of ownership remains disputed, with the France National Library maintaining that the Jikji should remain in France, while Korea is saying that the Jikji should belong to Korea. The France National Library says that as an important historical artifact of all of humankind, the Jikji should remain in France as it represents a common, worldwide heritage, and does not belong to any one country. In addition, they claim the Jikji would be better preserved and displayed in France because of the prestige and resources the Library has. On the other hand, Korea claims that it should belong to the country it originated from, Korea, and that it has historical significance for its people, therefore give them the stronger claim. Currently the Jikji remains in France, although numerous Korean organizations are trying to change this status.

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