Saddharmapundarika Sutra (The Lotus Sutra) (1991)

The Lotus Sutra, often abbreviated to Beophwagyeong, is the fundamental scripture of the Cheontae school and holds as its central teaching that the path to Buddhahood is open to everyone. Together with the Avatamsaka Sutra, it greatly influenced the establishment of Buddhist thought in Korea, and it has been the most widely circulated scripture since the Three Kingdoms period. This edition, translated into Chinese by Kumārajīva with commentary added by Jiehuan, was carved onto woodblocks and printed on mulberry paper in the first year of King Jeongjong (1399). Chapters 1–3 and chapters 4–7 each form a separate volume, and the pages measure 27.2cm by 15.9cm. According to a colophon by Nam Jae, a Meritorious Subject of the dynasty's founding, at the end of Volume 7, the monk Haerin published the work with donations from Jeong Cheon-ik, Yi Yang and others. A seal reading "Hakjo" at the beginning of Volume 4 suggests the book was once owned by the monk Hakjo. It is a woodblock print of very fine, small characters, identical to the edition recovered from the votive objects enshrined inside the statue of the Bodhisattva Manjusri (a treasure) at Sangwonsa Temple in Pyeongchang County, Gangwon State. It is valued as important material not only for the history of Buddhism but also for bibliographical research.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Yongsan-gu, Seoul

Designation

Treasure · 보물