Maharatnakuta Sutra (Sutra of the Great Accumulation of Treasures), the First Tripitaka Koreana Edition, Volume 59

The Maharatnakuta Sutra gathers many Mahayana scriptures into one, and stresses that a bodhisattva should master the Dharma through many practices, attain awakening and finally become a Buddha. It is part of the first Tripitaka Koreana, carved under King Hyeonjong of Goryeo (r. 1011–1031) in the hope that the power of the Buddha would repel the Khitan invasions. This is volume 59 of the 120 volumes translated by Bodhiruci of Tang and sixteen others. It is a woodblock print on mulberry paper, the sheets joined to be kept rolled as a scroll: 23 sheets 30 cm high and 47 cm wide. The first Tripitaka differs in several ways from the later Haeinsa Tripitaka (the second carving, or Tripitaka Koreana). Its cutting is precise, but its characters per line differ from Haeinsa's, it has no printing records, and taboo avoidances (omitting a stroke of, or replacing, characters in the names of past kings, out of reverence) and abbreviated characters appear here and there. It usually numbers its sheets with the character jang (丈) or pok (幅), where the Haeinsa edition uses jang (張) throughout. This volume also numbers its sheets with 丈 and omits the last stroke of 竟, features of the first Tripitaka, and its paper and printing suggest it was printed around the eleventh century.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Yongsan-gu, Seoul

Designation

National Treasure · 국보