Avatamsaka Sutra (The Flower Garland Sutra), Zhou Version, the First Tripitaka Koreana Edition, Volumes 67 and 77

The Avatamsaka Sutra, often abbreviated as the Hwaeomgyeong (the Flower Garland Sutra), is founded on the basic idea that the Buddha and all sentient beings are not two but one. As the fundamental scripture of the Hwaeom school, it exerted, together with the Lotus Sutra, a profound influence on the establishment of Buddhist thought in Korea. This is the Zhou version, the eighty-volume Avatamsaka Sutra translated by Śikṣānanda of the Tang dynasty, carved onto woodblocks under King Hyeonjong of Goryeo as part of the First Tripitaka Koreana. Volumes 67 and 77 survive as woodblock prints on mulberry paper (dak paper), mounted as scrolls made from sheets of paper joined together; both volumes are missing parts of their covers, first pages, and some of the main text. Beneath the title is the notation "newly translated," confirming that this is the Zhou version. The text describes the pilgrimage of the youth Sudhana, who calls upon fifty-three eminent monks in search of the way. The First Tripitaka Koreana was Korea's earliest complete Buddhist canon, carved in the hope of warding off the Khitan invasions. Its calligraphy is more vigorous and its carving more refined than that of the later Haeinsa Tripitaka, and it is clearly distinguished from the Haeinsa edition by having fourteen characters per line rather than seventeen. There is no record of when it was printed, but the quality of the paper and the condition of the printing suggest that it dates from the eleventh century.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Yeonsu-gu, Incheon

Designation

Treasure · 보물