Clay Seated Buddha of Buseoksa Temple, Yeongju

A clay image 2.78 m high in Muryangsujeon at Buseoksa. A clay image is built on a wooden armature with clay worked onto it; this is the largest and oldest in Korea, which is much of its value. The face is full, and the thick lips and sharp nose give it gravity. The robe leaves the right shoulder bare and is worn over the left, the folds rendered as close parallel lines. Folds of that kind, running down past the knees, also appear on the iron Vairocana at Dopiansa, which places this image with the Buddhas of early Goryeo. The hands make the earth-touching gesture usual for Shakyamuni, the right resting on the knee with the fingers turned to the ground. But the hall it sits in is Geungnakjeon, the hall of Amitabha, who governs the western paradise, and the stele of the state preceptor Wonyung at this temple records that an Amitabha was made and enshrined — so an Amitabha it is. The mandorla, standing for the light from the Buddha's body, is made separately in wood behind the image, its edge carved as rising flame. The halo and the body aureole are circular and filled with ornate flowers, with marks in several places where small Buddhas were once attached. The grave expression, with the gentleness gone, and the parallel folds show a form becoming formalised, but for a Goryeo image the workmanship is remarkably fine — and it is a clay image, which matters. Because it does not depart far from the Unified Silla manner it is thought to date from early Goryeo.

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Visiting

Opening hours

Open 24 hr

Closed

N/A (Open all year round)

Admission

Free

Parking

Available

Information

+82-54-633-3464

Visitor information: Korea Tourism Organization · KOGL Type 1

Where it is

Region

Yeongju, Gyeongbuk

Designation

National Treasure · 국보