Birojeon Hall Seated Wooden Vairocana Buddha Triad of Beomeosa Temple

The Wooden Seated Vairocana Buddha Triad enshrined in Birojeon Hall at Beomeosa Temple sits in full lotus posture on lotus-flower pedestals atop a square Sumidan, an altar representing Mount Sumeru. The central main Buddha is about 125 cm tall, and the flanking attendant bodhisattvas are each about 100 cm, the main Buddha being noticeably larger than its attendants. The main image, Vairocana, sits with the back upright and the face bowed slightly forward as if looking down, the hands forming the jigwonin mudra, in which the right index finger is grasped by the left hand. As with Buddhist images typical of the late Joseon period, the head is large in proportion to the body. The flanking bodhisattvas are smaller in scale than the main Buddha, and apart from the formal differences appropriate to their status as bodhisattvas, their posture, bodily proportions, and overall facial expression and technique are almost identical to those of the main image. The Wooden Vairocana Buddha Triad of Birojeon Hall is a comparatively large set of images; although its bodily proportions differ from those of the Wooden Seated Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva of Gwaneumjeon Hall, the treatment of the face and head is very similar to that image. According to the "Record of Repair and Re-gilding" (Jungsu Dogeumgi) handed down at Beomeosa Temple concerning the Vairocana triad, the three images of Birojeon Hall were made in 1638, when the monk Haemin rebuilt Birojeon Hall, and the repair and re-gilding carried out in 1722 involved the sculptor-monks Jinyeol, Cheongu, Cheonghwi, Gwanseong and Okhol, who had also made the Wooden Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva of Gwaneumjeon Hall. Since the accounts of the repair of the Wooden Vairocana Buddha Triad and of the sculptor-monks involved, as found in the Beomeosaji (Record of Beomeosa Temple), the ink inscription on the pedestal of the Gwaneumjeon Bodhisattva, and the "Record of Repair and Re-gilding," all agree with one another, the content of the latter is considered reliable. Together with the Wooden Seated Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva of Gwaneumjeon Hall, the Wooden Vairocana Buddha Triad of Birojeon Hall at Beomeosa Temple is of great value for the study of the sculptor-monk Jinyeol's work, and is an outstanding piece of cultural heritage, both well preserved and of high artistic quality.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Geumjeong-gu, Busan

Designation

Provincial Tangible Heritage · 시도유형문화유산