Abhidharma vijnana kaya pada Sastra (Discourse on Consciousness Body), the First Tripitaka Koreana Edition, Volume 12

Basic information

Designation

National Treasure No.267

Category

Books & Records

Era

고려시대(12세기)

Designated year

1991

Location

관악구, 서울특별시— 서울 관악구 남부순환로152길 53, 호림박물관 (신림동,호림박물관)

Coordinates

37.481072, 126.918352

In general, the Buddhist scriptures can be divided into three groups: bible, commandments and theories. The Abidharma is the theoretical part of the scriptures that provides a systematic explanation of the wisdom of Buddha. The Theory of Abidharma provides a systematic guide to Buddha's wisdom needed for the living things to practice to enter Nirvana. This is Books No. 12 among the 16 books of Abidharma Sutra translated by Xuan Zang of the Tang Dynasty of China. It is a part of the Tripitaka Original, which was made during the reign of King Hyeonjong (1011~1031) of the Goryeo Period in an attempt to counter an aggression by Kitan on the strength of Buddha. The book is produced by woodblock printing on mulberry papers and designed to be stored in the form of a scroll. It is made by joining in a row 26 pieces of papers, each of which is 46.5cm long and 29.5cm wide. There are several differences between the Tripitaka Original and the Tripitaka at Haeinsa Temple (also known as the Tripitaka Second or the Tripitaka Koreana), which were produced later. The former has more sophisticatedly carved wood blocks than the latter. It has a different number of characters, while not showing the year of production. Respect is expressed by omitting a stroke from the letter or replacing it with a synonymous word when a letter in the name of the preceding king appears, and abbreviated characters are found in several places. In addition, the Tripitaka Original often uses the words 'jang (丈)' and 'pok (幅)' to indicate the chapters in the books, whereas the Haeinsa Temple version uses a uniform expression of 'jang (張)' (using a different Chinese character). Although an omission of a stroke is not observed in this book, the year of production is not found. The book has is 23 lines of 14 characters, where as Haeinsa Temple version contains 24 lines. The chapters are expressed in terms of 'jang (丈)'. All these confirm the characteristics of the Tripitaka Original. The condition of the printing as well as the quality of the papers tells that it made around the 12th century.

Location