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Buddha triad at Munsu Temple to become a national treasure

Buddha triad at Munsu Temple to become a national treasure

Posted August. 31, 2016 07:13,   

Updated August. 31, 2016 07:39

한국어
The Cultural Heritage Administration has announced its plan to designate nine cultural heritages as national treasure, including the Seated Wooden Sakyamuni Buddha Triad at Munsu Temple in Gochang (pictured), considered the standard form of the 17th century Buddhist sculpture.

The Munsu Buddha Triad is a statue with Sakyamuni at the center and Bhaisajyaguru Buddha and Amitabha Buddha on each side of it. Monk Byeokam Gakseong (1575-1660) and his disciples are known to overseeing the construction built by 15 monk sculptors in 1654. The Cultural Heritage Administration described the sculpture as having “a human face with chubby cheeks and a high sense of volume with simple, vigorous wrinkles, representing the plain sense of aesthetics pursued by the Buddhist statues of the Joseon Dynasty.”

The Seated Geonchil Bhaisajyaguru Buddha and the Reminders are also to be designated as a national treasure. The statue was created between the second half of the 8th century and early 10th century, made with earth and covered by hemp cloth, and coated and dried many times.

The Seated Wooden Jijang Buddha and 10 Underworld Kings statue in Gochang Munsu Temple, the artifacts found in the Yangsan Geumjo Tomb, the Gilt Bronze Crown found in Bokcheondong, Busan, King Jeongjo’s Letters, Joseon Gyeonggukjeon, and the Saddharma Pundarika Sutra 5-7 are also subject to become national treasures. The process will include collecting opinions from different field of studies for 30 days and a review by the Cultural Heritage Committee.



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