Printing Woodblocks of Miscellaneous Buddhist Scriptures in Haeinsa Temple, Hapcheon

The Printing Woodblocks of Miscellaneous Buddhist Scriptures in Haeinsa Temple, Hapcheon are woodblocks kept at Haeinsa Temple in Hapcheon-gun, Gyeongsangnam-do, carved with Goryeo-period Buddhist scriptures and the writings, poetry and prose of eminent monks. The woodblocks held at Haeinsa total 54 titles and 2,835 blocks, of which 28 titles comprising 2,725 blocks are designated National Treasures and 26 titles comprising 110 blocks are designated Treasures. Unlike the Tripitaka Koreana woodblocks at Haeinsa, which were carved by the state agency Daejangdogam, these Goryeo-period woodblocks were carved by temples or local government offices, and are currently kept in the East and West Sagan-panjeon depositories, located between the Janggyeongpanjeon Depositories that house the Tripitaka Koreana. The woodblocks comprise Mahayana Buddhist scriptures such as the Diamond Sutra and the Avatamsaka Sutra, together with the poetry, prose collections and writings of eminent monks and individuals from Silla, Goryeo and China. Most of the Buddhist scriptures among them retain records of the date and purpose of publication, making them important material for examining trends in Buddhist faith, such as the publication and circulation of Buddhist scriptures during the Goryeo period. Many of the collections and writings by eminent monks and individuals retain no publication record and are partly damaged, but since their content is otherwise unrecorded or historically rare, they remain valuable for understanding the Buddhist thought and culture of the time. The Goryeo-period woodblocks of Haeinsa are noted both as empirical evidence of Korean woodblock-printing technology and as works of art symbolising the culture of their era.

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Where it is

Region

Hapcheon, Gyeongnam

Designation

Treasure · 보물