Lotus Sutra

The Lotus Sutra (妙法蓮華經) is also known by the abbreviated name Beopwa-gyeong (法華經), and is the fundamental scripture of Korea's Cheontae (Tiantai) school of Buddhism, resting on the core idea that the path to Buddhahood is open to all. Together with the Avatamsaka Sutra (華嚴經), it has had the greatest influence on the establishment of Buddhist thought in Korea, and it has been the most widely circulated Buddhist scripture since the Three Kingdoms period. This edition is the seven-volume Lotus Sutra translated by Kumārajīva of the Later Qin dynasty, with commentary added by Jiehuan of the Song dynasty. It was first newly carved by the monk Sungin in the 21st year of the Wanli era (gyemi, 1583), but about half of the woodblocks were destroyed by fire during the Jeongyu War of 1597, part of the Japanese invasions of Korea. The monk Damhyeon then re-carved and reprinted it in the autumn of 1608 (musin), but within five or six years the opening volume had become badly worn and its text corrupted, so it was revised and reprinted at Songgwangsa Temple in the autumn of the 43rd year of the Wanli era (eulmyo, 1615), and it is this edition that continued to circulate. Five volumes survive today: volume 1, volumes 2-3, volumes 4-5, and volumes 6-7 form one set of four volumes, and a separate single volume also survives, making five in all. It is a woodblock print. The layout has a single-line frame on all four sides (a double-line frame for the Hongjeonseo, the Preface to the Widespread Transmission), no ruled lines, and the printed area including the centre fold measures 25.2 by 18.7 cm, with ten lines of seventeen characters each. The fish-tail motifs at the centre fold usually face downward with a flower design, though plain black fish-tails and ones facing inward above and below also occur. The volumes themselves measure 33.7 by 21.6 cm. The titles given at the centre fold include Beopwa-gyeongseo, Myobeopseo, Myobeop and Beopyuk. This edition of the Lotus Sutra is a valuable resource for the study of Buddhist scripture and for bibliography. Although its illustrated frontispiece has been lost, its colophon is clear, and because it preserves printings from both before and after the Japanese invasions of the 1590s, it carries outstanding value as a historical source.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Chungju, Chungbuk

Designation

Provincial Tangible Heritage · 시도유형문화유산