Tongdosa Temple Anyangam Hermitage Hampyeong inscribed "11nyeon" Guardian Deities Painting, Yangsan

A sinjungdo (Guardian Deities Painting) is a devotional Buddhist painting that depicts, in accessible pictorial form, the assembly of sinjung - benevolent spirits worshipped in Mahayana Buddhism as protectors of the Dharma. This example is the guardian-deity painting enshrined in the main hall (geumdang) of Anyangam Hermitage at Tongdosa Temple. It is painted in colour on silk and measures 121 by 128 cm overall. The composition is arranged in upper and lower registers. In the upper register, Sakyamuni Buddha is enshrined at the centre, wearing a crown and holding a lotus branch in his right hand, surrounded by the assembly of heavenly beings. At the centre of the lower register, Dongjin Bosal, the guardian bodhisattva, is enshrined wearing a winged helmet, surrounded by the guardian deities. An inscription on the painting records that it was made in the 11th year of King Cheoljong of Joseon (1861), with the master Buddhist painters (geumeo) Uihaeng, Deokhwa and others taking part. The inscription also names the place where the painting was enshrined as Daeam ("the great temple"), reflecting both the high quality of this sinjungdo and the standing that Anyangam Hermitage held among the hermitages of Tongdosa Temple. Centred on Sakyamuni Buddha and Dongjin Bosal, this is an uncommon composition for a sinjungdo and an important resource for research into the history of Buddhist painting and thought in the late Joseon period.

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Where it is

Region

Yangsan, Gyeongnam

Designation

Provincial Tangible Heritage · 시도유형문화유산