The author does not over-estimate the importance of this little book: it is nothing more than its title claims. It consists of three lectures given to popular audiences, with the accompanioment of many illustrations. It represents, however, a considerable amount of qork in an almost virgin field. It has involved hard journeys to remote mountain monasterires, and days and nights of cinversation and inquiry with many monks and priests. It is not, however, a profound study nor an exhaustive presentation. It barely touches many a subject, which would alone furnish more material than could be treated in three such lectures. It but scratches the surface. The material which it presents is however new. Outside of Mrs. Bishop's account of her visit to the Diamond Mountain monastreries and scattered references in her book to a few local temples, there is almost nothing on the subject of Korean Buddhism accessible to English readers. A glance at our bibliography will show that not one of the books or articles there listed appeared in the West. All were printed at Seoul, Shanghai and Tokyo and publications appearing at thise centers are little known outside. To aid serious readers, who may care to secure them, the publishers' names are given in our list. The authours and acknowledges indebtedness to all the authors. The actual amount of material for the full study of Korean Buddhism is enormous. There are many voluminous works in Chinese and Korean dealing with Korean history; when carefully sifted, these will yield many important facts. Many, perhaps all, of the monasteries have records of their history somewhat after the nature of annals; most of these are in manuscript, but a few have been printed, presumably from wood-blocks cut at the establishment by the monks.
