Transcription of Avatamsaka Sutra (The Flower Garland Sutra), Zhou Version, in Silver on Indigo Paper, Volumes 5-6

The Avatamsaka Sutra (the Flower Garland Sutra) is often called for short simply the "Hwaeomgyeong", and its central teaching holds that the Buddha and sentient beings are not two but one. As the fundamental scripture of the Hwaeom school, together with the Lotus Sutra it exerted a major influence on the establishment of Buddhist thought in Korea. This transcription in silver on indigo paper reproduces Volumes 5 and 6 of the 80-volume Zhou Version translated by Śikṣānanda of Tang China, with the text written in silver powder on deep blue-black paper. It takes the form of an accordion-folded book that opens like a screen, measuring 31.1 cm in height and 10.5 cm in width when folded. The cover bears an ornate floral pattern and the title rendered in gold, and at the opening of Volume 5 a byeonsangdo, a frontispiece illustration summarising the content of the sutra, is finely drawn in delicate gold lines. The main text is carefully written in silver characters within a gold border. There is no colophon recording the circumstances of its production, but the resemblance of its cover, frontispiece and calligraphy to those of Volume 37 of the same transcription, a treasure in its own right, suggests that this copy was made around the 14th century.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Gwanak-gu, Seoul

Designation

Treasure · 보물