Excavated Documents from the Wooden Seated Amitabha Buddha of Bongnimsa Temple, Hwaseong

The Excavated Documents from the Wooden Seated Amitabha Buddha of Bongnimsa Temple, Hwaseong include a remnant volume of what was originally a vast transcription of the Avatamsaka Sutra in silver ink, and are important material for examining the character of sutra-transcription devotion at the end of the Goryeo period. The detailed contents are as follows. The pocket-sized Vajracchedika prajnaparamita Sutra is the Diamond Sutra as translated by Kumarajiva, commonly abbreviated as the "Diamond Sutra". At the head of the volume, before the main text, are images of guardian deities and of the Buddha preaching, the Invocation of the Diamond Sutra, the Mantra for Purifying Speech, images of the Eight Vajra Guardians and Four Bodhisattvas, a vow text, and the verse "Unhabeom". At the end is a colophon, followed by six short dharanis in Sanskrit script including the Buljeongsim Dharani, ten talismans including the Yeoui Seal, and finally a printing colophon by Gang Geumgang. The Diamond Sutra has occupied a position at the very centre of Korean Buddhism. It expounds the doctrine of emptiness, teaching that seekers of the way can awaken to the true nature of reality only by transcending attachment to phenomena and dissolving the opposition between self and other. This copy is a pocket edition carved for protective wear or for recitation. According to the colophon, the monk Gagwon, together with the monks Dalhyeon and Yeongheung and the lay believers Yi Gi and Jeon Daedong, made a vow and by chance obtained, in Old Yan (the region of present-day Beijing), a small-character edition of the Diamond Sutra written by the Korean monk Honghoe; this was carved onto woodblocks in 1311, the third year of King Chungseon of Goryeo. The printing colophon at the end further records that it was printed with a donation from Gang Geumgang, Lord of Jinseong, in 1339, the eighth year of the restored reign of King Chungsuk of Goryeo. This pocket edition shows some worn patches, suggesting it was kept and recited for a time before being placed inside a Buddha statue as a votive deposit. Yet as the printing colophon indicates, it was printed eighteen years after the blocks were carved, so the characters show little wear and the print quality remains good. According to the regilding record of the wooden seated Buddha of Bongnimsa Temple from which it came, it is presumed to have been placed inside the statue during its regilding in 1362, the eleventh year of King Gongmin of Goryeo. This edition is valuable both as evidence of the form that devotion to the Diamond Sutra took in Goryeo, through a pocket text made for its recitation, and as material illustrating, through its printing by Gang Geumgang while active in the Yuan dynasty, the clear relationship between the carving and later printing of copies of the same edition. Volume 48 of the Avatamsaka Sutra, written in silver ink on indigo paper, is the forty-eighth of the eighty-volume Zhou-recension text. It contains the thirty-fourth and thirty-fifth of the sutra's thirty-nine chapters: "The Ocean of Marks of the Tathagata's Ten Bodies" and "The Merit and Radiance of the Tathagata's Excellent Marks". Although it lacks a frontispiece illustration, a vow text and a colophon recording its transcription, and neither the cover decoration nor the main-text calligraphy is outstanding, it shows the script typical of Goryeo sutra transcriptions, and on the whole is presumed, from its overall quality, to date from the late Goryeo period. As a remnant volume of what was at the time a vast transcription of the Avatamsaka Sutra in silver ink, it is material for examining the nature of sutra-transcription devotion at the end of Goryeo. Volume 2 of the Lotus Sutra, written in ink on white paper, contains the third chapter, "Parable", and the fourth chapter, "Faith and Understanding", of the sutra's twenty-eight chapters. As a remnant volume from an original set of seven, it lacks a colophon recording its transcription, so its exact date cannot be determined; but its format resembles that of the ink-on-white-paper Lotus Sutra held at Gwangheungsa Temple (a Treasure), and its cover resembles that of the ink-on-white-paper Lotus Sutra of Naesosa Temple. Judging by its overall quality, it is presumed to have been transcribed between the end of Goryeo and the early Joseon dynasty. The Brahmajala Sutra, written in ink on thick, high-quality white paper, has no colophon recording its transcription; it records only the names of those who sponsored and financed the work — the patron-monks Hyesang and Myowon, and the donors Choi Sinseong and Lady Yi, wife of Gyeonghwa-taekju. As the lifetimes of these people are unknown, this does not help in dating the transcription. However, judging from the decoration of the back cover and the calligraphy of the main text, it is presumed to be a transcription of the early Joseon period, and is one of the more carefully and skilfully executed of its kind. The Gwaju (annotated) Lotus Sutra, Combined Edition, prints all seven volumes on thin paper, both sides of each sheet, bound as a single book, with section headings and annotations added above the main text to make the content easier to follow. As it was not published in Korea, its exact date is unknown, but it is presumed to be an early Ming-dynasty edition influenced by the Buddhist canon published at Dabaoensi Temple by order of the founding emperor of Ming. The small-character Diamond Sutra originally held its text across five leaves, of which the second is now missing. According to a colophon by the monk Museuija Hyesim (1178–1234) at the end, the monk Bogwan made a vow and had it published. That the colophon is by Hyesim — second National Preceptor of Suseonsa Temple on Jogyesan Mountain, the monastery of the National Preceptor Bojo Jinul, who advocated the joint cultivation of meditation and wisdom — makes this loose-leaf text especially valuable. The colophon explains that Bogwan, considering that ordinary people could not awaken directly to their original mind, had the monk Yeolga transcribe the texts most essential for gradual cultivation through Buddhist teaching — the Diamond Sutra, the "Universal Gate" chapter of the Lotus Sutra, and the "Vows of Samantabhadra" chapter of the Avatamsaka Sutra — while the Sanskrit dharani at the end was transcribed by Hyegwi, and the vice-minister Yi Goeng and the monk Mungwang, holder of the monastic rank Samjung-daesa, jointly financed its publication. The small-character Beomchongjijip (Compendium of Sanskrit Dharanis), Part One, appears to have been produced alongside the loose-leaf Diamond Sutra described above. The small-character Great Dharani Sutra of Avalokitesvara, in three volumes (upper, middle and lower), has a two-line colophon at the end of which the second line is illegible, and its date of publication is unknown. It can nonetheless be established that it was published to pray for the longevity and good fortune of the "Prime Minister of Cheongha", presumed to be Choe U, the powerful minister of King Gojong of Goryeo; and since its printing conditions resemble those of the loose-leaf texts described above, it too is thought to have been published during the reign of King Gojong of Goryeo. The collection comprises: the Diamond Sutra; the Avatamsaka Sutra in Silver Ink on Indigo Paper, Volume 48; the Lotus Sutra in Ink on White Paper, Volume 2; the Brahmajala Sutra in Ink on White Paper; the Gwaju Lotus Sutra, Combined Edition; four leaves of the small-character Diamond Sutra (leaves 1, 3, 4 and 5); five leaf-groups of the small-character Beomchongjijip, Part One (leaves 1–2, 5–6, 7–8, 9–10 and 11–12); and the small-character Great Dharani Sutra of Avalokitesvara in three volumes, upper, middle and lower.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Hwaseong, Gyeonggi

Designation

Treasure · 보물