The Collected Works of Korean Buddhism is the first comprehensive collection of Korean Buddhist materials ever to appear in a European language. It is sponsored and published by the Jogye Order. The English editorial board consisted of Robert Buswell (chair; UCLA), Charles Muller (University of Tokyo), John Jorgensen (Australia National University), and Roderick Whitfield (SOAS, University of London). Participating translators were Juhn Ahn, Robert Buswell, Michael Finch, Jung-geun Kim, Charles Muller, John Jorgensen, Richard McBride, Jin Y. Park, Young-eui Park, Patrick Uhlmann, Sem Vermeersch, Matthew Wegehaupt, and Roderick Whitfield.

As Robert Buswell’s Preface to the English translation notes, the thirteen volumes of this anthology are drawn from the Han’guk Pulgyo chŏnsŏ 韓國佛教全書and collect the whole panoply of Korean Buddhist writing from the Three Kingdoms period (ca. 57 C.E.‒668) through the Chosŏn dynasty (1392‒1910). These writings include commentaries on scriptures as well as philosophical and disciplinary texts by the most influential scholiasts of the tradition; the writings of its most esteemed Seon (Zen) adepts; indigenous collections of Seon kongan (koan)  cases, discourses, and verse; travelogues and historical materials; and important epigraphical compositions. It is our hope that The Collected Works of Korean Buddhism will ensure that the writings of Korean Buddhist masters will assume their rightful place in the developing English canon of Buddhist materials and will enter the mainstream of academic discourse in Buddhist Studies in the West.