Hanging Painting of Sinwonsa Temple (Rocana Buddha)

A gwaebul of the Vulture Peak Assembly with Rocana, in place of Vairocana, the principal Buddha of the Hwaeom school, preaching on Vulture Peak. A gwaebul is a huge Buddhist painting hung in the courtyard before the main hall for worship when a temple holds a great Dharma assembly or ritual. It is 1,082.6 by 650.6 cm overall, the painted area 951 by 611.3 cm, and shows Rocana preaching alone to beings, flanked by the ten great bodhisattvas, the ten great disciples and the Four Heavenly Kings. Rocana, painted alone, fills the picture; the hands are large for the body, palms raised in the preaching gesture. The robe is in green, red and pink, and the surroundings are rendered as light in five colours. The ten bodhisattvas either side are distinguished by the objects they hold and by the colours of their halos and robes. The ten disciples above them are finely rendered, each with a different turn of the face and expression, different robes and objects, and natural gestures. Made in 1664, the fifth year of King Hyeonjong, with a well-knit composition, fine rendering and bright colour handled with refinement, it is a representative seventeenth-century work showing the style of late Joseon Buddhist painting.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Gongju, Chungnam

Designation

National Treasure · 국보