Beopjeong

Beopjeong (法頂, 1932–2010) is one of the most widely-read modern Korean Sŏn writers, a Jogye Order monk whose essays on simplicity, attentiveness, and the inseparability of practice from daily life shaped the religious imagination of two generations of Korean lay readers^[1]. Ordained in 1956 under Hyobong, he spent decades in mountain hermitages — most famously Bulil Hermitage at Songgwangsa and Suryeon Hermitage on Mount Bongseon — and refused all institutional titles^[1]. His best-known book, *Musoyu* ('Non-Possession', 1976), articulates a quiet ethic of voluntary simplicity that influenced Korean environmentalism and the country's late-twentieth-century critique of consumerism^[2]. In his final years he stipulated that none of his books be reprinted after his death — a last lesson, his disciples said, in non-attachment^[1].