Pogyodang Hall Seated Stone Avalokitesvara, Yangsan

This seated stone image of Avalokitesvara is enshrined on the altar to the right of the Geungnakbojeon Hall (Hall of Supreme Bliss), the three-storey hall of Tongdosa Temple's Yangsan Pogyodang. The bodhisattva, shown seated in the full lotus position, was carved from a stone also known as biseok (a type of zeolite) and is now gilded. Overall the jewelled crown is comparatively tall in relation to the face, while the lower body in the lotus posture is somewhat slight compared with the torso. The hair is painted with black pigment, the eyebrows and lips with green and red, and the eyes have been dotted in, a ritual finishing touch. Where the gilding has worn away at the base, traces of red lacquer are visible, but overall the statue is well preserved. The pedestal is a later addition, made separately of bronze in the form of a lotus seat with both upward- and downward-facing petals. On 28 November 2007, while the temple was carrying out re-gilding work, a sacred deposit cavity inside the statue was opened, revealing dedicatory texts — including a prayer for the gilding of the sacred image of Avalokitesvara — a huryeongtong (a ritual container of sacred items placed inside Buddhist images), and an incomplete set of the Lotus Sutra, all of which are now kept separately.

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Where it is

Region

Yangsan, Gyeongnam

Designation

Provincial Tangible Heritage · 시도유형문화유산