Gosansa Temple Amitabha Bulhwa

This Amitabha Buddhist painting (bulhwa) was kept at Gosansa Temple, an old temple on Sikjangsan Mountain in Dong-gu, and was made in 1815, the 19th year of the Jiaqing era and the 15th year of King Sunjo. An inscription recording its production survives faintly and only in part on the left side of the composition. The entry for Gosansa Temple in the Buddhist-temple section of the Daejeon Siji (Gazetteer of Daejeon City, compiled by the Daejeon Siji Compilation Committee, 1978) records that the painting was made at Unmunsa Temple in the eighth month of the eulhae year, the 19th year of Jiaqing (1815), and was then moved to Gosansa Temple on Sikjangsan Mountain in Hoedeok; the witness monk (jeungsa) was Hanwoldang Seongyu, and the painter-monk (hwasa) was Wanjindang Jeongan — giving the date of production, the monks responsible, and the place where the painting was made. The Unmunsa Temple named here is presumed to be the Unmunsa Temple in Cheongdo, Gyeongsangbuk-do, since the style of this painting resembles that of the Yeongsanhoesang Hongtaeng (Red-ground Painting of the Vulture Peak Assembly, 1786) at Geojoam Hermitage of Eunhaesa Temple in Yeongcheon, Gyeongsangbuk-do. The painting depicts Amitabha Buddha preaching to his assembled retinue in the Western Pure Land. It is a large work, close to 3m in both width and height, painted on silk coloured red overall, with the figures outlined only in white lines. At the centre, the principal Buddha, Amitabha, sits cross-legged on a lotus pedestal atop a dais; before him, to his left, stands the bodhisattva Avalokitesvara holding a water vase, and to his right stands the bodhisattva Mahasthamaprapta holding a sutra scroll. Around the Amitabha trinity stand six further bodhisattvas, the ten great disciples, Indra and Brahma, the Four Heavenly Kings, and the eight kinds of dharma-guardian deities, all attending as the Buddha's retinue. Throughout, the attendant figures surrounding Amitabha are painted progressively smaller toward the back, which visually emphasises the principal Buddha while also marking the hierarchy of rank among the figures. Around the Buddha, shown making the mudra for the lowest of the middle grade of rebirth, the bodhisattvas surround him with calm, still expressions, while the ten great disciples are rendered in free poses and expressions, and the dharma-guardian deities are shown in dynamic postures that convey well their character as protective spirits.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Yuseong-gu, Daejeon

Designation

Provincial Tangible Heritage · 시도유형문화유산