Transcription of Saddharmapundarika Sutra (The Lotus Sutra) in Silver on Indigo Paper, Volume 7 (2007)

Transcription of the Lotus Sutra in Silver on Indigo Paper, Volume 7 corresponds to two of the seven fascicles — 'Volume 3' and 'Volume 7' — of a set copied in silver ink on indigo paper in 1422, the fourth year of King Sejong, based on the Lotus Sutra as translated into Chinese by Kumarajiva. The set was commissioned by the monk Deokmyeong to pray for his mother's rebirth in the Pure Land. The cover is decorated with four sprays of a paradise-flower (bosanghwa) design, the flowers rendered in gold and the stems mainly in silver. At the start of the fascicle is a frontispiece illustration (byeonsangdo), a scene depicting the sutra's teachings drawn in gold, followed by the fascicle's opening title and a note naming Kumarajiva as translator. The calligraphy follows the style of Zhao Mengfu, characteristic of sutra-transcription script. On the reverse of the sutra, the name 'Gwangdeoksa' is written in both black and red ink, suggesting that this sutra was either copied at, or later enshrined within a Buddha statue at, Gwangdeoksa Temple in Cheonan. Other sutras bearing the same 'Gwangdeoksa' temple name in red ink, and matching this one in size, format and the calligraphy of the text, include the Treasure 'Transcription of the Lotus Sutra in Silver on Indigo Paper, Volume 1' and, among the Treasure 'Goryeo-period Transcribed Sutras of Gwangdeoksa Temple', 'Transcription of the Lotus Sutra in Silver on Indigo Paper, Volumes 2, 4, 5 and 6'. Combining the previously designated Volume 3, held by Dong-A University, with this Volume 7, held by the National Museum of Korea, completes a full set of seven fascicles — a rare case among surviving transcribed sutras in which an entire set has been identified, giving it still greater significance.

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Where it is

Region

Yongsan-gu, Seoul

Designation

Treasure · 보물