Stone Standing Buddha Triad in Bae-dong, Gyeongju

These images, once scattered at the foot of Namsan Mountain in Gyeongju, were gathered and re-erected at their present site in 1923. As the stone Buddhas share an identical basic style, they appear to have been enshrined together as a triad from the start. The principal Buddha at the centre has a topknot-shaped cranial protuberance (yukgye) that is unusually doubled, its surface rendered smoothly. The square face, with a childlike expression, is full, and through its rounded eyebrows, downcast eyes, closed mouth, deep dimples and plump cheeks it expresses a gentle, compassionate Buddha-nature. The cylindrical body, with no neck indicated, has large hands carved on it, the left lowered and the right raised. The heavy-looking robe makes the Buddha appear rigid overall, but the childlike expression and physique instead vividly convey a warm sense of life. The bodhisattva on the left wears a crown and smiles broadly, its slender waist twisted to give a sense of three-dimensionality; the right hand is held to the chest and the left is lowered, holding a precious vase, and, together with the small Buddha figure carved on the crown, these attributes identify it as Gwaneum Bosal (Avalokiteshvara). The bodhisattva on the right likewise wears a calm, inward smile, its heavily rendered body adorned from a thick necklace down to bead ornaments at the ankles. With finely carved, warm faces and bodies overflowing with human feeling yet also exuding an inviolable religious mystery, this work is regarded as a masterpiece of 7th-century Silla Buddhist sculpture.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Gyeongju, Gyeongbuk

Designation

Treasure · 보물