Ko Un’s Followers (71)

Ko Un

Born

in Gunsan, Korea, Republic of

August 01, 1933

Genre

Poetry

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In korean: 고 은

Ko was born Ko Untae in Gunsan, North Jeolla Province in 1933. He was at Gunsan Middle School when war broke out.
The Korean War emotionally and physically traumatized Ko and caused the death of many of his relatives and friends. Ko's hearing suffered from acid that he poured into his ears during an acute crisis in this time and it was further harmed by a police beating in 1979. In 1952, before the war had ended, Ko became a Buddhist monk. After a decade of monastic life, he chose to return to the active, secular world in 1962 to become a devoted poet. From 1963 to 1966 he lived on Jejudo, where he set up a charity school, and then moved back to Seoul. His life was not calm in the outer world, and he wound up attempting suicide ...more

Combine Editions
Ko Un’s books

Average rating: 3.76 · 898 ratings · 148 reviews · 53 distinct works • Similar authors

	Ten Thousand Lives by Ko Un, Anthony of Taizé (Translator), Young-Moo Kim (Translator) 3.55 avg rating — 157 ratings — published 2004 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Flowers of a Moment (Lannan Translations Selection Series) by Ko Un, Anthony of Taizé (Translation), Young-Moo Kim (Translation) 3.78 avg rating — 120 ratings — published 2005 — 11 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	What? 108 Zen Poems by Ko Un, Allen Ginsberg, Thich Nhat Hanh 3.74 avg rating — 99 ratings — published 1991 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Three Way Tavern: Selected Poems by Ko Un, Clare You (Translator), Richard Silberg (Translator) 3.91 avg rating — 74 ratings — published 2006 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	First Person Sorrowful by Ko Un, Br. Anthony of Taize (Translator), Sang-Wha, Lee (Translator) 3.93 avg rating — 56 ratings — published 2012 — 8 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Vit fjäril by Ko Un, Sun-Kyoung Choi (Editor & Translator) 3.60 avg rating — 58 ratings — published 2017	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Little Pilgrim by Ko Un, Anthony of Taizé (Translator), Young-Moo Kim (Translator) 3.40 avg rating — 50 ratings — published 2005 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Songs for Tomorrow: Poems 1960-2002 3.86 avg rating — 44 ratings — published 2007	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	This Side of Time: Poems by Ko Un by Ko Un, Richard Silberg (Translation) 4.30 avg rating — 30 ratings — published 2012	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Maninbo: Peace & War by Ko Un, Lee Sang-Wha (Translator), Ko Un 3.72 avg rating — 25 ratings — published 2015 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Ko Un…

Quotes by Ko Un (?)

“Body and soul, let's all go / transformed into arrows! / Piercing the air / body and soul, let's go / with no turning back.”
― Ko Un

676 likes

“In the old days a poet once said"

In the old days a poet once said
our nation is destroyed
yet the mountains and rivers survive

Today's poet says
the mountains and rivers are destroyed
yet our nation survives

Tomorrow's poet will say
the mountains and rivers are destroyed
our nation is destroyed and Alas!
you and I are completely destroyed”
― Ko Un

27 likes

“HOUSE

Grow high. The devil can't find you.
Grow deep. Buddha can't find you.
Build a house and live there.
Gourd creepers will climb over it,
their flowers dazzling at midnight.
”
― Ko Un, What? 108 Zen Poems

tags: poetry

17 likes

See all Ko Un's quotes »

Polls

2019 Nobel Edebiyat Ödülleri
Sizce 2019 yılında kimler Nobel Edebiyat Ödülü alır?

Margaret Atwood

32 votes, 31.1%

Haruki Murakami

24 votes, 23.3%

Milan Kundera

12 votes, 11.7%

Neil Gaiman (write-in)

7 votes, 6.8%

Salman Rushdie

6 votes, 5.8%

Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o

4 votes, 3.9%

Julian Barnes

4 votes, 3.9%

Yan Lianke

2 votes, 1.9%

Don DeLillo

2 votes, 1.9%

Cormac McCarthy

2 votes, 1.9%

Peter Nadas (write-in)

2 votes, 1.9%

Ko Un

1 vote, 1.0%

Joyce Carol Oates

1 vote, 1.0%

Joan Didion

1 vote, 1.0%

Thomas Pynchon

1 vote, 1.0%

Hilary Mantel

1 vote, 1.0%

Valeria Luiselli

1 vote, 1.0%

103 total votes

27 comments

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Around the World ...: Korea, North and South	38	2731	Jan 08, 2025 05:13PM

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Ko Un’s Followers (71)

Ko Un

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Combine Editions
Ko Un’s books