Lotus Sutra vol. 5

The Lotus Sutra, sometimes abbreviated as "Beophwagyeong," is the fundamental scripture of the Cheontae (Tiantai) school. Its central idea is that the path to becoming a Buddha 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 since the Three Kingdoms period. The layout of this volume has single upper and lower borders with no ruled lines, 23 lines of 14 characters each; the cover is acorn-dyed sangji paper, and the text is folded in an accordion (jeopcheop) format of six lines per fold (five lines on the first leaf). It is a woodblock print of the Chinese translation made by Kumārajīva in the 8th year of the Hongshi era of Later Qin (406 CE), and forms the fifth of the seven volumes of the complete sutra. Parts of the cover and the beginning of the text have been damaged by fire. The colophon at the end, reading "carved by royal command of the Goryeo Daejangdogam in the gyemyo year," identifies this as a print from the Goryeo Tripitaka woodblocks, carved by the Daejangdogam (Directorate for the Buddhist Canon) in 1243, the 30th year of King Gojong of Goryeo, in the hope that the power of the Buddha would repel the Mongol invasions. Judging from its printing and binding condition, it was printed sometime between the end of Goryeo and the early Joseon period, and such surviving copies are rare in Korea.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Seocho-gu, Seoul

Designation

Provincial Tangible Heritage · 시도유형문화유산