Stone Standing Bodhisattva in Jingwan-dong

This stone standing bodhisattva, with body proportions of about four heads' height, dates from the early Goryeo period and is currently enshrined in a hall called Jasigak, at San 100-35 Jingwan-dong. The face is rectangular, with fleshy cheeks, giving a feminine and gentle impression; the forehead is narrow and the features are gathered towards the centre, an expression commonly seen in Buddha and bodhisattva images from the transition between the end of Unified Silla and the start of Goryeo. The topknot rises high, and between the topknot and the head the figure wears a jewelled crown decorated at the front and on both sides. Bodhisattva images with a topknot as high as a Buddha's cranial protuberance — such as the Stone Standing Bodhisattva at Maeji-ri, Wonju, in Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province — appear mainly in this same transitional period. The urna, made of a yellow bead, is a later repair. The short-bodied form, at about four heads in height, is dignified yet full of mass and volume; the curve running from the upper to the lower body is pronounced, and the chest and hips are full. However, the taut tension and resilience seen in Unified Silla bodhisattva images have disappeared here, allowing the change in period style to be observed: plump mass and volume combined with reduced tautness, proportions of about four heads, and drapery folds formalised at regular intervals together clearly display the characteristics of early Goryeo bodhisattva images. The large-robe-style celestial scarf, which begins to appear from the Goryeo period, covers both shoulders, and its drapery lines are carved schematically and evenly. Below the deeply cut neckline, repeated U-shaped folds continue and then split into a Y shape at the legs, emphasising the thighs before forming a U shape again — the so-called Udayana-style drapery pattern. The sleeve folds extend outward like fins, carved as continuous vertical lines. In the hand gestures, the right hand is raised to chest level with thumb and index finger touching, while the left hand bends at the wrist to grasp a fold of the robe. Such features — a high-rising topknot together with a large-robe-style celestial scarf — have so far been found mainly in bodhisattva images of the Chungcheong and Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province regions. The presence of the similarly featured Stone Standing Bodhisattva in Jingwan-dong in the Seoul area is therefore highly significant for research into period style, into bodhisattva images of the central region, and into Goryeo Buddhist sculpture history more broadly. It is further significant in that the statue stands in the Samgaksan Mountain area, known to have been a region where Buddhism flourished greatly, and roof tiles inscribed ‘Cheongdamsa Temple’ were recently discovered during excavation of the immediately adjacent area, raising the possibility that this was the ‘Samgaksan Cheongdamsa’ mentioned by Choe Chi-won among the Ten Hwaeom Monasteries — making it an important resource for understanding an aspect of Buddhism at the time.

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Where it is

Region

Eunpyeong-gu, Seoul

Designation

Provincial Tangible Heritage · 시도유형문화유산