Samcheonpomaehyangamgak Pavilion

This is a record of a maehyang rite, carved into a rock after the ceremony was performed. Maehyang was a folk Buddhist rite in which fragrant agarwood was buried in the ground, a form of Maitreya worship in which those who prayed for their wishes hoped to be connected to the future Buddha Maitreya through the buried wood. Maehyang steles were usually erected where sea water met a valley stream, considered the ideal site, and most date from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. This was a period of frequent raids by Japanese pirates, and it appears such rites were performed to calm the unsettled feelings of people in coastal areas. Ordinarily a stele was erected after the rite was performed, but here the record was instead carved into rock. This inscription, carved into the rock known as Cheonyeobawi (Maiden Rock) on the slope of Hyangtosan Mountain, was written in 1418, the 18th year of King Taejong in the early Joseon period, by monks and believers, and its setting - with the Hahyangcheon Stream flowing below and sea water reaching the spot - fits the geographical requirements well. The text records that in 1417 and 1418 a suryungmuchadaehoe, a rite offered for souls wandering over sea and land, was held on two occasions, at which agarwood was buried, and it lists the names of the monks and various donors involved. As around thirty names are recorded, it appears that, although a Buddhist rite, this was a communal event carried out jointly by monks and the laity.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Sacheon, Gyeongnam

Designation

Provincial Tangible Heritage · 시도유형문화유산