Standing Nonsan Deokpyeong-ri Stone Buddha

This Buddha statue's ankles are buried in soil, so its exact overall height is unknown, but the exposed height of the body alone reaches 1.95 m, making it a large-scale statue. The stone is heavily worn overall, but because the carved lines are deep, its general form can still be made out. The head bears a large ushnisha (a topknot-shaped protuberance, one of the Buddha's physical marks), and the face is full and rounded overall. The robe is in the tongyeon style, draped over both shoulders, with broad U-shaped folds flowing down from below the chest before splitting into two strands at the legs. The hand gestures appear to have been abhaya mudra, the gesture of reassurance (left hand), and varada mudra, the gesture of granting wishes (right hand), but severe damage below the elbows makes the exact forms difficult to confirm. On the back is an incised inscription reading '釋迦佛惠○造' (Sakyamuni Buddha, made by Hye-[illegible]). In front of the statue stand two large flat stone slabs believed to be of the same period, one rectangular baeryeseok (a stone platform for placing the palms together and bowing in worship before the Buddha), and an octagonal stone pillar presumed to date from the Joseon dynasty. The carving technique is similar in style to that of the Standing Stone Buddha at Manboksa Temple Site in Namwon (a treasure), suggesting that this statue too was made during the Goryeo dynasty. According to tradition, it originally stood at the site of Unjesa Temple; because it faces the Standing Stone Bodhisattva at Gwanchoksa Temple, known as the Eunjin Mireuk, it was also called 'the little mother of the Eunjin Mireuk.' The statue was well known enough in its own time to be mentioned in a poem by the late-Goryeo official Jeong Gong-gwon (?–1382).

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Nonsan, Chungnam

Designation

Provincial Tangible Heritage · 시도유형문화유산