A Buddhist journey reminscent of Dante's Inferno exploring the illusions of human life, published here in the first new translation in forty years Often considered the greatest work of classic Korean fiction, The Nine Cloud Dream poses the question: will the life we dream of truly make us happy? A historical novel set in 9th-century Tang China, its wondrous story begins when a young monk living on a sacred Lotus Peak succumbs to the temptation of eight fairy maidens. As punishment for disobeying his master and doubting his Buddhist teachings, the monk is reincarnated as the most ideal of men. On his journey he encounters the eight fairies in human form, each one furthering his journey towards understanding the fleeting value of his good fortune. As his successes build, he comes closer and closer to finally comprehending a fundamental truth of the Buddha's wisdom: that reality and dreams are ultimately indistinguishable.

The reader must lay aside all Western notions of morality if he would thoroughly enjoy this book. The scene of the amazing "Cloud Dream of the Nine," the most moving romance of polygamy ever written, is laid about 849 A.D. in the period of the great Chinese dynasty of the Tangs. By its simple directness this hitherto unknown Korean classic makes an ineffaceable impression. But the story of the devotion of Master Yang to eight women and of their devotion to him and to each other is more than a naive tale of the relations of men and women under a social code so far removed from our own as to be almost incredible. It is a record of emotions, aspirations and ideas which enables us to look into the innermost chambers of the Chinese soul. "The Cloud Dream of the Nine" is a revelation of what the Oriental thinks and feels not only about things of the earth but about the hidden things of the Universe. It helps us towards a comprehensible knowledge of the Far East.

Kuunmong: The Cloud Dream of the Nine A Korean novel: a story of true faith tested by worldly ambition, set in Tang Dynasty China; a love story, and a classic expression of Confucian values in conflict with Buddhist beliefs. By Kim Manjung (1617-1682), a public servant and courtier at the highest level, later a political exile, in seventeenth century Korea. Translated by James S. Gale (1863-1937), one of the most important early figures in the encounter between modern Korea and the English-speaking world. This edition features a 1922 introduction to the work by Elspet Keith Robertson Scott, and new introductory and interpretative essays by Susanna Fessler, State University of New York at Albany, and by Francisca Cho, Georgetown University