Songun Yu Jeong

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Songun Yu Jeong
Hangul:	유정
Hanja:	惟政
Revised Romanization:	Yu Jeong
McCune-Reischauer:	Yu Chŏng
Pen name
Hangul:	송운 also 사명당 also 종봉
Hanja:	松雲 also 泗溟堂 or 四溟堂,also 鍾峯
Revised Romanization:	Songun also Samyeongdang also Jongbong
McCune-Reischauer:	Songun also Samŏngdang also Chongbong
Birth name
Hangul:	임응규
Revised Romanization:	Im Eung-gyu
McCune-Reischauer:	Im Ŭnggyu
Courtesy name
Hangul:	이환
Hanja:	離幻
Revised Romanization:	Ihwan
McCune-Reischauer:	Ihwan
Posthumous name
Hangul:	자통홍제존자
Hanja:	慈通弘濟尊者
Revised Romanization:	Jatong hongjejonsa
McCune-Reischauer:	Chat'ong hongjejonsa

Yu Jeong (1544-1610), also often known by his pen names Songun and Samyeongdang, was a Korean Buddhist monk during the Joseon Dynasty. He was born to a family of the Im clan in Miryang, Gyeongsang province. After the deaths of his mother in 1558 and his father in 1559, he became a monk at Jikjisa on Hwangaksan in Gimcheon.

In 1561, he passed the seon-gwa, the specialized civil service examinations for Buddhist monks. He corresponded with various scholars of the time including Pak Sa-am, Heo Ha-gok, and Im Baek-ho. In 1575, he was recommended for the headship of the Seon order, but refused and instead traveled to Myohyangsan. There he was instructed by preceptor Hyu Jeong. He went on to pass three years at Podŏksa on Kŭmgangsan, and later traveled through Palgongsan, Cheongnyangsan, and Taebaeksan.

With the outbreak of war in 1592, Yu Jeong joined his teacher Hyu Jeong's righteous army of monks. After Hyu Jeong retired due to his age, Yu Jeong took over the leadership of the monks' army. He led the army into battles at Pyongyang and Uiryeong in 1592, set up mountain fortresses through Gyeongsang in 1594, and joined in battle again at Ulsan and Suncheon. After the end of the war, in 1604 he traveled to Japan on King Seonjo's orders to forge a peace accord with Tokugawa, and returned with 3500 Koreans who had been taken prisoner.

After his death in 1610 on Chiaksan, Yu Jeong was enshrined in the Pyochung Seowon in Miryang and at Suchungsa in Nyŏngbyŏn. He continues to be remembered in modern times, with numerous statues and other memorials around Korea. He has been cited together with Seosan as an example of a "patriotic-minded" Buddhist by the North Korean Korean Buddhist Federation.^[1] Yu Jeong's writings are preserved in the Samyeongjip and Bunchungseo Nallok (분충서난록).