# Il-yeon

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Korean Buddhist monk (1206–1289)

Il-yeon Hangul 일연 Hanja 一然 RR Ilyeon MR Iryŏn

**Il-yeon** ([Korean](/source/Korean_language): 일연; 1206–1289), also spelled **Iryeon**, was a [Korean Buddhist](/source/Korean_Buddhism) monk and All-Enlightened National Preceptor (보각국사; 普覺國師) during the [Goryeo](/source/Goryeo) Dynasty of Korea. His birth name was either **Kim Gyeong-myeong** (金景明) or **Jeon Gyeon-myeong** (全見明), and his [courtesy name](/source/Courtesy_name) was Hoe-yeon (晦然).[1]

He became a monk at the temple Muryangsa at the age of nine and passed the [Seon](/source/Korean_Buddhism#Seon) [national examination](/source/Gwageo) at 22. At 54, he was given the rank of Great Teacher. When he was 78, King [Chungnyeol](/source/Chungnyeol_of_Goryeo) offered him a position of rank and tried to make him National Preceptor, but Il-yeon declined. The king again appointed him National Preceptor, and Il-yeon came down to the capital [Kaesong](/source/Kaesong) (then Gaegyeong) but soon returned to the mountains on the pretext that his aged mother was sick. On the eighth day of the seventh month in 1289, he held a conference with various monks and then died.

Il-yeon is known as a prolific writer, and according to the inscription on his tombstone, he wrote around 80 volumes on Buddhist topics. Today only one book of his survives: *[Samguk yusa](/source/Samguk_Yusa)*, which is not mentioned in the inscription formally.[2]

## See also

- [List of Goryeo people](/source/List_of_Goryeo_people)

- [History of Korea](/source/History_of_Korea)

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** ["Il Yeon, the Author of \[Memorabilia of the Three Kingdoms\]"](http://world.kbs.co.kr/service/contents_view.htm?lang=e&menu_cate=history&id=&board_seq=60610&page=22&board_code=). *world.kbs.co.kr*. Retrieved 2023-09-04.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** Cartwright, Mark (26 October 2016). ["Samguk Yusa"](https://www.worldhistory.org/Samguk_Yusa/). *World History*. Retrieved 4 September 2023.

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