Unsuam Hermitage Avalokitesvara Byeonsang Buddhist Painting

This is a gwaneum byeonsang-do, a painting depicting a manifestation of the bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, showing one scene from the Thirty-three Manifestations of Avalokitesvara. Although the iconography is simple, depicting Avalokitesvara receiving a visit from Seonjae-dongja and giving him a prophecy of future buddhahood, it is important material because scenes in which Avalokitesvara transforms his own body to receive a visitor of this kind are extremely rare among late Joseon Buddhist paintings. Painted in gold pigment on black silk, its brushwork is fluid and of outstanding artistic quality, and because an inscription records the exact date of production, 1790, and the name of the painter, it is of great value for preservation. The painting is executed in gold pigment on black silk. According to the inscription in the lower left corner, it was painted in 1790, the fourteenth year of King Jeongjo, by the painter-monk Sin Gyeom, and enshrined at Unsuam Hermitage, although the detailed history of Unsuam Hermitage itself is not known. Judging from the area in which the painter-monk Sin Gyeom was active, the hermitage is thought to have stood in the southern part of Gangwon-do, including the Samcheok area, or in the northern part of Gyeongsangbuk-do. The painting is said to have been handed down at Woljeongsa Temple over a long period, though the circumstances of its preservation there are not recorded, and it is currently on display at the Woljeongsa Temple Museum of Buddhist Art. The painting depicts a simple scene of Avalokitesvara receiving a visit from Seonjae-dongja and giving him a prophecy of future buddhahood. Avalokitesvara is venerated by ordinary people as the most familiar of bodhisattvas, ever ready, in any place and at any time, to save sentient beings from suffering and bring them peace and joy. Avalokitesvara is also held to possess the supernatural power to transform freely into whatever form is needed to save those seeking salvation. This nature of Avalokitesvara is explained in detail in the Universal Gate chapter of the Lotus Sutra. The Entering the Dharma Realm chapter of the Avatamsaka Sutra likewise relates that Avalokitesvara, dwelling on Mount Botarak facing the southern sea while saving sentient beings, receives a visit from Seonjae-dongja, a pilgrim travelling in search of the Dharma, and preaches to him. This painting depicts precisely that scene. Avalokitesvara has a circular halo behind the head and a kite-shaped aureole around the body, and wears on the head a crown of a distinctive shape resembling a vajra. The bodhisattva's left hand is raised to shoulder height with the thumb and middle finger touching, while the right hand is lowered to stroke the head of Seonjae-dongja. To the left and right of the circular halo are two circles inscribed respectively with the words for the manifestation of the bodhisattva Avalokitesvara and for the boy of the southern journey whose head is stroked, and beside each inscription a single Sanskrit character is written on either side. Avalokitesvara's robes are similar to those of Seonjae-dongja, and, but for the crown, the bodhisattva's face is also that of a child, showing clearly how Avalokitesvara has transformed into the form of a boy in order to save him. This scene appears to represent the manifestation as a young boy, one of the Thirty-three Manifestations of Avalokitesvara, and can be said to express together the nature of Avalokitesvara as taught in both the Lotus Sutra and the Avatamsaka Sutra.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Pyeongchang, Gangwon

Designation

Provincial Tangible Heritage · 시도유형문화유산