Lotus Sutra vol. 2

The Lotus Sutra, often abbreviated as "Beophwagyeong," is the fundamental scripture of the Cheontae school. Its central idea is that the path to Buddhahood is open to everyone, and together with the Avatamsaka Sutra it had the greatest influence on the formation of Korean Buddhist thought; it has been the most widely circulated Buddhist scripture in Korea since the Three Kingdoms period. The page format of this book has a single-line upper and lower border and no vertical rule lines; each printed sheet has thirty-six lines of seventeen characters, folded accordion-style in units of six lines. It is a woodblock print of the Chinese translation made by Kumarajiva in 406, the eighth year of the Hongshi era of the Later Qin dynasty. This is the second of the sutra's seven volumes in total, containing the "Parable Chapter" and the "Chapter of Faith and Understanding." The green patterned cover has been rebound, with a white paper label bearing the title "Lotus Sutra" written in ink; at the end of the volume, the readings of difficult characters in volumes one and two are noted. This book uses the accordion-fold format that was popular at the end of the Goryeo dynasty and the beginning of Joseon. Beneath the chapter title is carved the character "鳴," a case number from the Thousand Character Classic used to mark the volume's place in the canon, indicating that this print was carved using the Tripitaka Koreana as its base text and printed between the fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Seocho-gu, Seoul

Designation

Provincial Tangible Heritage · 시도유형문화유산