Excerpt from 'Beauty of Korea' that BYJ wrote himself

Here's another great translation from suehan. It's an excerpt from Bae Yong Joon's book 'Beauty of Korea'.

Yong Joon's writing is so profound. Reading the excerpt makes me so proud of him. I like what he wrote about drinking tea and the mystery of the dining table.

Oh, i'm so excited about this book and the presscon. Which will happen I think on September 23.

Btw, according to Gaulsan and suehan, bookstores in Korea started to take reservations for YJ’s book. And this translation by sueahn, is an extraction of the text, which is posted on the bookstores' websites, that BYJ wrote himself.

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[Trans]The content written by BYJ from "Traveling to discover the beauty of Korea"
The content written by BYJ from "Traveling to discover the beauty of Korea"

Original in Korean: Bae Yong Joon
Translated into Korean: suehan


Even though I believe in a different religion, I’ve always been wondering about how the temples of Korea could have produced so many cultural properties and maintained the communities for such a long period of time. Actually, I’ve been thinking to exclude the Buddhistic color from the Korean culture and to discuss the remainder except the core are same.

There is a word called humanity. Even though there is someone who is very smart and reasonable, but doesn’t have enough humanism to care for others, our society judges him as being short of humanism. Sometimes, there are cases that this humanism ruins the Korean society, but I think that is misunderstanding from the wrong use of that humanism. Everyone has their own wishes. I think the humanists are such as, if you and I, both want to have it, then admit it equally like “let’s give it to others.”, and give it with open-mind, but without hesitation. That humanism penetrates our basics what we need to survive, and I think that is the one of characteristics of our culture.

In my case, I would like to have a tea with friends, even one. I 'd rather drink tea alone without lots of efforts and devotion, but if there is even one person next to me, then I would like to deliver the taste and scent of tea with more devotion to that person. I think that “we can contemplate when we drink alone, we can communicate each other when two people drink together, we can develop the sympathy when three people drink together, and we can work toward harmony when four people drink together.”

The culture isn’t difficult and boring. If so, it couldn’t appear as the materials in the countless dramas and movies. I might chat for hours with someone who is interested in the culture of The Silk Road that has lots of hidden stories which connect Asia and Europe, or Gahya which had an Iron Age differentiating itself from the culture of the era of the Three States.

No matter how difficult and troublesome they are, the usual worries and concerns have disappeared like smoke when we sit and face each other at the dining table with fresh foods. It gave us the power to overcome. When someone expressed his anger with his body covering with blanket, we said, “Eat first and go back to sleep.” It is the inner loves of mother saying not skip a meal. I remember that this is the mysterious power of a dining table.

I would like to build a traditional Korean house on a high-rise building in New York. Someone questioned saying, “Is it possible?”, but I think that it isn’t impossible.
How nice to have our house, a breathing traditional ‘Korean House’ nicely in New York where it is packed with a skyscraper that has r isen only upward, which is against the providence of nature! Recently, the rooftops of the high-rise buildings have changed to the gardens in the air are increased. Just like those, if one traditional Korean house is built on the rooftop of the building, then an accent will be showing in the desolated skyline of city.

- Extracted from the text


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For those interested to have a copy of this book Korean bookstores are already starting to get reservation. You may click HERE to know more about it.

I wonder if i can buy the book when I go to Seoul even without making reservation. I'm worried that the book might not be available when I go to SK on the 15th of October.

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Here's a video that style shared on BYJ's Quilt of Yong Joon doing researches for his book.

[Vod]OMOIKKIRI DON 2009.9.11-'The Beauty of Korea' BYJ
posted by yasul BYJ Gallery board