Ryu Shiva


Ryu Shiva is a South Korean poet and literary critic.

Biography

Ryu Shiva was born in 1959 in Okcheon, Chungcheongbuk-do. His birth name is An Jaechan. He attended Kyung Hee University for Korean literature on a creative writing scholarship. When he was in his second year of university, he won the Korea Times's "New Writer's Contest" with a poem called "Achim". From 1980 to 1982, he was a member of 'Siundong' with Park Deokgyu, Lee Moon-jae, Ha Jaebong, and Nam Jinwoo. In 1983 he left the group and concentrated on translating various meditation books.
Since 1988, Ryu Shiva has lived in meditation centers throughout the United States and India, and translated major works of Rajneesh. He has published poetry collections such as Even Though You Are Next To Me I Miss You and The Love of the One-eyed Fish.
Every winter he travels to India and records his experiences. Two works that derive from his travels in India include A Trip To the Sky Lake, and Jigubyeol Yeohaengja.
Ryu Shiva transitioned into the translation of meditation books, and then moved to publishing collections of proverbs. His major collections of proverbs include Flowers Blossom in the Mountains which is a compilation of Beopjeong Sunim's Buddhist verses and proverbs; May All Beings Be Happy ; as well as proverb poetry collections If I Had Known Then What I Know Now and Love, As If You've Never Been Hurt Before''.

Writing

Through the critical essay collection Babeltapui eoneo poet and literary critic Nam Jinwoo has commented on Ryu Shiva's poetic style
"The movement of imagination, which is the most important element in An Jaechan's poetry, is the tension between two forces. One that wants to expand externally, and one that attempts to pull in internally. The latter is always at an advantage over the former. There is a possibility for his work to be criticized as escapism by populists who argue for active participation in reality. Today, when everyone is busy looking forward and moving ahead, in his low voice that sings 'return to where you came from' there is a lot of meaning to take that we can listen to."
Ryu Shiva's book Geudaega gyeot-e itseodo naneun geudaega geuripda was on the bestseller list 21 times between 1989 and 1998, and in a survey on 530 university students done by Opening The World With Poetry for their 2002 Summer issue, he was selected as the most liked poet along with Yun Dong-Ju, Kim Sowol, and Han Yong-un.

Works

Poetry collections

  • Geudaega gyeot-e itseodo naneun geudaega geuripda Pureunsup, 1991.
  • Oenunbak-i mulgogi-ui sarang, Yeollimwon, 1996.
  • Saranghara hanbeondo sangcheobatji aneun geotcheoreom, Oraedoen mirae, 2008.
  • Na-ui sangcheoneun dol neo-ui sangcheoneun kkot, Forest of Literature, 2012.

    Meditation Books

  • Jigeum algo itneungeol geuttaedo alatdeoramyeon Yoellimwon, 1998.
  • Mindeullereul saranghaneun beob, Namusimneunsaram, 1999.

    Essay Collections

  • Sarmi na-ege gareucheojun geotdeul, Pureunsup, 2000.
  • Ttakjeongbeolle – salaitneun modeun geotdeule daehan byeolnan saenggak
  • Dalsaeneun dalman saenggakhanda
  • Haneulhosuro tteonan yeohaeng, Yeollimwon, 1997.
  • Jigubyeol Yeohaengja, Gimmyoung, 2002.
  • Naneun woe neoga amigo nainga, Gimmyoung, 2003.
  • Baekman gwangnyeonui godok sokeseo hanjului sireul ilda, Alchemist, 2014.
  • Saeneun nalagamyeonseo dwidolaboji anneunda, The Sup, 2017.

    Works in Translation

  • May All Beings Be Happy: The Selected Dharma Sayings of Beop Jeong, ed. Shiva Ryu, trans. Matty Wegehaupt,

  • Awards

  • 2012 Kyunghee Literature Prize