The novel's title in Korean is Hwaom-kyong which is the huge Buddhist scripture called in Sanskrit Avatamsaka Sutra. It may hardly be familiar to western people who are not well versed in Buddhism. Its final, thirty-ninth section, which is really an independent Scripture called the Gandavyuha or Entry into the Realm of Reality, tells the story of a child's pilgrimage in search of the Wisdom that brings enlightenment. Young Sudhana encounters fifty-three teachers from whom he receives instruction. These teachers are not all conventional holy men and monks, they include several women of various social levels and people involved in worldly activities.

In contrast to other scriptures or other parts of the Avatamsaka, something human happens in these pages, a child meets individual people with specified names and occupations. Above all, it is striking that the enlightened wisdom that Sudhana finds in them is not the monopoly of monks and recognized teachers. However, the immense philosophical discourses which Sudhana's initial question provokes each time are not very exciting or accessible and there is no development of the potential for dialogue inherent in the structure. Sudhana listens, says thank you, and is directed to his next teacher.

The story is set in India at the time of the historical Buddha, divided into many warring states. The work evokes the Buddhist reaction to the caste-system and at times suggests a Buddhist Utopian society. As in the original Sutra, the text frequently passes into poetry in order to transcend the limits of mere factuality. The presence of so many poems gives the story much greater intensity.

One of its central concerns dealt with in Avatamsaka is the universal potential that, according to its form of Buddhist vision, exists everywhere for what is usually known as enlightening or awakening. This opens the way to an immense vision of unity and equality. Every being and every atom of every being is full of potential buddhahood.

One of the main features characterizing the bodhisattva, the person in whom the wisdom and will leading to awakening exist is a concern for the good of all other beings. That in turn leads us to consider the Buddhist response to pain and suffering. For Ko Un, this aspect of the work must have been of great importance since his life's vision is deeply marked by social commitment and concrete concern for the common good. If he returned to work on the novel, it was in part because he found that the central vision of the Avatamsaka Sutra includes a strong call to altruism, life-for-others.

Because the novel was written over nearly twenty years, at different stages of the author's career, its style and its main concerns vary greatly. The early sections are lyrical, set in a delightful fantasy world. The central chapters develop more directly social themes, such as the need for the rich to free themselves of their accumulated wealth, the democratic nature of good government, the need to abolish dictatorships. However, to towards the end, the contents of Hwaom-kyong show him telling tales far removed from ideology and often very close to the idealism of St Luke's Gospel.

It is important to notice what happens at the end of Ko Un's work. When we reach the last page of Ko Un's tale of Sudhana's pilgrimage, we are not surprised to find there is no end but instead a new beginning. If Sudhana has indeed attained bodhisattva enlightening, and there is no way anyone can be quite sure about that, it does not give him any kind of privilege. Sudhana is now free, since the essence of awakening is that it is a liberation from all determinisms, and he can go where he will. The bodhisattva's place is not on a podium in a temple or a university, though it may sometimes be there too, but buried deep in the living fabric of suffering humanity. The bodhisattva needs no teachers, needs indeed nobody, but has chosen to be there, embodying the great Compassion wherever life leads, for anyone that life sets on the path. For Sudhana, the story is over; life can begin.