PLATE XXXVII
Great painting displayed at Buddha’s Birthday Ceremony: Tongdo-sa [Page 96]
We have already stated that there is considerable variation in the picture of the god of the mountain, though he is always recognizable by certain features. Pictures of individual Rakan are common in temples and these pictures are always precise and definite, giving in every instance the characteristic features or attributes. ([Plate XXXV].)
Occasionally—perhaps more commonly than we know—the monasteries possess an enormous rolled painting of a single Buddha. We have seen one at Pawpchu-sa and another at Tongdo-sa. At Pawpchu-sa they brought it out from the great temple and unrolled it for us, in the open, that we might see its size. At Tongdo-sa it was already elevated for the occasion of the celebration of Buddha’s birthday. It towered above the highest building, and was worshipped by the crowding thousands. (Plates [XXXVI], [XXXVII].)
In this brief study of Korean Buddhism we have but sketched a subject which presents a vast material, which as yet is almost unknown and practically untouched by students.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Gale. The Pagoda of Seoul. Transactions of the Korea Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. Vol. VI, Pt. II, pp. 1-22. Seoul: 1915.
Gordon. Some Recent Discoveries in Korean Temples and their Relationship to Early Eastern Christianity. Trans. K. B. R. A. S. Vol. V, Pt. II, PP. 1-39. Seoul: 1914.
Gordon. Symbols of “the Way”—Far East and West. Tokyo: 1916. Maruzen & Co.
Hulbert. History of Korea. Seoul: 1905. 2 vols. Methodist Publishing House.
Jones. Colossal Buddha at Eunjin. Trans. K. B. R. A. S. Vol. I, pp. 51-70. Seoul: 1901.
Richard. A Mission to Heaven . . . by Ch’iu Ch’ang Ch’un. Shanghai: 1913. The Christian Literature Society’s Depot.
Trollope. Introduction to the Study of Buddhism in Corea. Trans. K. B. R. A. S. Vol. VIII, pp. 1-41. Seoul: 1917.
NOTES
[1]Aryavarman, a man of Sinlo (Corea), left Chang’an A.D. 638. He set out with a view to recover the true teaching and to adore the sacred relics. He dwelt in the Nalanda Temple, copying out many Sutras. He had left the eastern borders of Corea and now bathed in the Dragon pool of Nalanda. Here he died, aged seventy odd years.
Hwui-nieh, a Corean, set out for India 638 A.D., arrived at the Nalanda Temple and there studied the sacred books and reverenced the holy traces. I-tsing found some writing he had left in the temple, where also he had left his Sanskrit MSS. The priests said he died the same year, about sixty years of age.
Hiuen Ta’i, a doctor of the law, a Corean, called by the Sanskrit name of Sarvajñanadeva. In the year Yung-hwei (650 A.D.) he went by the Tibetan road through Nepal to Mid-India; he there worshipped the relics at the Bodhi Tree. Afterwards going to the Tukhara country, he met Taou-hi, with whom he returned to the Tahsio Temple (Mahabodhi). Afterwards he returned to China, and was not heard of again.