Bokcheonsajosanggyeong Sutra

The Josanggyeong is a one-volume Buddhist ritual manual compiled by the Joseon-period monk Jitak, gathering and systematising the rites and procedures for making images of buddhas and bodhisattvas that are scattered across numerous sutras. It sets out the ritual procedure to be followed by temples when making such images, and elaborates on the significance of each type of rite; a distinctive feature is that the mantras chanted during these rites are given in Sanskrit, Chinese characters and Hangul together, so that anyone could readily learn them. Before the Josanggyeong was compiled, each temple made Buddhist images and performed the accompanying rites according to its own judgement, so that there was no uniformity; its publication meant that the rites came to be performed according to a fixed set of rules. A list of donors is appended at the end of the volume. The main surviving editions of the Josanggyeong include: the Yongcheonsa Temple edition (Chuwolsan Mountain, Damyang, Jeolla-do, 1575); the Neunggasa Temple edition (Paryeongsan Mountain, Heungyang, Jeolla-do, 1697); the copy held at Naewonjeongsa Temple, Seo-gu, Busan (1720, a Busan Metropolitan City-designated Tangible Cultural Heritage); the Geumnyongsa Temple edition (Undalsan Mountain, Sangju, Gyeongsang-do, 1746); and the Yujeomsa Temple edition (Geumgangsan Mountain, Gangwon-do, 1824). The Josanggyeong held at Bokcheonsa Temple, the present Bokcheonsajosanggyeong Sutra, is the oldest surviving edition, the Yongcheonsa Temple edition published in 1575, which is registered as a rare book by Korea University. As it preserves the early content and form of the Josanggyeong, this book is a valuable resource for research into Buddhist history, and, being a text published before the Imjin War, the Japanese invasions of Korea of 1592-98, it is also regarded as an extremely valuable cultural heritage item from a bibliographical point of view.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Yeongdo-gu, Busan

Designation

Provincial Tangible Heritage · 시도유형문화유산