Vajracchedika prajnaparamita Sutra (The Diamond Sutra) (1986)

The Vajracchedika-prajnaparamita Sutra (金剛般若波羅密經), often shortened to the 'Diamond Sutra', is the root scripture of the Jogye Order in Korea and is the most widely read sutra after the Heart Sutra. This copy was published in 1357, the sixth year of King Gongmin, when Kim Jeo (金貯), a resident of Jeonju, commissioned the monks Jiseon (志禪) and Johwan (祖桓) of Deogunsa Temple to produce it. It is a woodblock print on mulberry paper measuring 32 cm in height and 2,440 cm in length. Originally made as a scroll, it was folded to a fixed size to form a book, but the individual sheets were later rejoined so that it could be placed inside a Buddhist statue as a consecration deposit, and it is now kept rolled up again as a scroll. At the beginning of the text is a frontispiece illustration summarising the content of the sutra, depicting the Buddha preaching. The text following the frontispiece is divided into the main body of sutra passages to be recited and a vow text, which records the purpose and process behind the sutra's production. A distinctive feature is that the size of the characters varies according to the type of passage. Among the Buddhist scriptures of the Goryeo period known to date, it displays an unusual printed format, and is a valuable resource that made the content easier to understand by distinguishing the main text from commentary through differing character sizes.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Jongno-gu, Seoul

Designation

Treasure · 보물