An Investigation of Two Buddhist Tomb-Inscriptions from 12th Century Koryŏ

This paper is an investigation into the epitaphs for the tombs of two Korean Buddhist monk-officials from 12th century Koryŏ. Both epitaphs are written in the format of tomb-contracts according to which the dead person “owns ” the plot of land on which the tomb is located so as not to have one’s final resting place disturbed after burial. These after-life contracts reflect an ancient Chinese practice that can be traced back to the Han dynasty. The Koryŏ examples follow the traditional Chinese format for such contracts