Seated Buyeo Seongmok-ri Stone Vairocana Buddha

This was the principal Buddha image enshrined at an old Goryeo-period temple site in Seongmok-ri, Buyeo-eup, Buyeo-gun, South Chungcheong Province; only the temple site now remains. A tradition that the Buddha's face was efficacious for curing eye disease led to heavy damage to the face. On the head is a broad topknot-shaped hair bun, but the round, full face is too worn for its detailed carving to be made out. Both hands are held before the chest, the right hand wrapping around the index finger of the left, though the detailed treatment of the hands and feet has become formulaic. The robe clings closely to the body and is rendered with simplified folds that cover the knees, but the folds are not finely carved. The pedestal on which the Buddha sits is not the original: the roof stone of a pagoda has been reused as the lower base stone, together with a middle stone carved with blind-baluster niches and an upper stone carved with a double-petalled lotus pattern. Although heavily worn, the statue still conveys the solemn dignity of its period; the stone pagoda once kept together with it has since been moved to the Buyeo National Museum.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Buyeo, Chungnam

Designation

Provincial Tangible Heritage · 시도유형문화유산