Mongsanhwasang yukdoboseol

Mongsanhwasang yukdoboseol is a compilation of the Yukdoboseol (Discourse on the Six Realms of Existence) by Mongsan Hwasang, an eminent monk of the late Yuan dynasty of China. Mongsan Hwasang (Mongsan Deogi, 1231–1308) was a Yuan-dynasty monk who had extensive contact with eminent monks of Goryeo, and some of his writings were translated into Korean script and circulated during the Joseon dynasty. In particular, the Deogi edition of the Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch that he edited was used as a Buddhist textbook for so long that his influence on Korean Seon (meditative Buddhist) thought has been immense. From the standpoint that all things are created by mind alone, the book expounds ten realms formed by combining the six realms of existence — hell, hungry ghosts, birth, asura, humans and heaven — with the four sagely states of the hearer, the solitary realiser, the bodhisattva and the buddha. Its central message urges the reader to leave behind the state of the ordinary, unenlightened person and enter the rank of the sage. This copy was newly carved onto printing blocks in 1539, the thirty-fourth year of King Jungjong, at Hwangheungsa Temple in Andong, Gyeongsang-do. Its border is a single-line frame on all four sides, and each page has six columns of thirteen characters. Beyond the copy of Mongsanhwasang yukdoboseol held at Guinsa Temple, more than sixteen old printed editions of the work produced in Korea survive, including two editions believed to date from around the fifteenth century, one printed in 1490 at Jabiryeongsa Temple in Seoheung, Hwanghae-do, and others besides. A vernacular Korean translation (eonhae) edition was printed in 1584 at Gaesimsa Temple in Seosan, Chungcheong-do. Among items recovered from inside the Four Heavenly Kings statues at Borimsa Temple was the Jabiryeongsa edition of 1490, apparently the oldest temple-printed edition of the Joseon dynasty. Also recovered were an edition printed at Suncheon Daegwangsa Temple in 1509, one printed at Muryangsa Temple in Hongseong, Chungcheong-do in 1522, and one printed at Geumgangsa Temple in Haenam, Jeolla-do in 1575. All four predate the Japanese invasions of the 1590s and are regarded as valuable rare books. The Jabiryeongsa edition in particular is considered the oldest surviving edition of the text, giving it very high bibliographic value. The calligraphy seen on the printed pages was hand-copied by the monk Suam, and conveys a strikingly bold and free character, quite different from that of other editions printed afterwards.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Danyang, Chungbuk

Designation

Provincial Tangible Heritage · 시도유형문화유산