Seated Bomunsan Mountain Rock-carved Buddha

This is a seated rock-carved Buddha, cut into the south face of a rock about 6 m high, located roughly 1 km up the trail that climbs from Bokjeonam Hermitage to Bomunsan Mountain Fortress. It is also popularly known as the 'Buddha of Longevity'. The Buddha is shown seated on a lotus pedestal, with a halo behind the head and a halo around the body, rendered in low relief combined with incised line work: the face and shoulders are worked in shallow relief to give a sense of volume, while the lower part is treated almost purely in incised lines, so that it looks almost as if the figure had been drawn directly onto the rock. Apart from the loss of part of the tightly curled hair on the proper right side of the head, where the rock above has cracked, the carving survives in fairly good condition. The facial features are rather large: the line running from the deeply cut eyebrows down to the nose is sharp and clear, the eyes are narrow and elongated with their outer corners turned upward for a sharp impression, the bridge of the nose is flat, and the full lips droop slightly at the corners, giving a somewhat gloomy expression. The ears are large, with earlobes long enough to reach the shoulders, and on the neck only two of the usual three thick folds are shown, drooping down as if a necklace had been draped there. The manner of dress is unclear at the right shoulder owing to wear, but the figure wears an inner undergarment slung diagonally from the left shoulder to the right armpit, with an outer robe covering both shoulders; traces of red pigment remain along the fine folds of the drapery. The Buddha sits with the right foot placed over the left in the auspicious posture, and the hand gestures show the right hand raised before the chest and the left resting on the abdomen, though heavy wear leaves them indistinct. Given its simplified, concise modelling and its rustic facial expression, the work is thought to date from the late Goryeo period.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Jung-gu, Daejeon

Designation

Provincial Tangible Heritage · 시도유형문화유산