Myobeobyeonhwagyeong(eonhae) Gwon1, 4

Basic information

Designation

Treasure No.1010-2

Category

Books & Records

Era

1463년(세조 9)

Designated year

2010

Location

고양시, 경기도— 경기도 고양시 일산동구 동국로 137-48 원각사

Coordinates

37.697662, 126.768272

This book of the Lotus Sutra, one of the most widely circulated sutras of Mahayana Buddhism, was printed with woodblocks in 1463 under the supervision of a government agency, Directorate of Sutra Publication (Gangyeongdogam). The text was translated into Korean by a group of scholar-statesmen led by Yun Sa-ro (1423-1463) in the Directorate from the Chinese text translated by a renowned Tripitaka Master Kumarajiva (334–413) and annotated by a Song scholar Jiehuan (fl. 12th c.). King Sejo (r. 1455-1468), the seventh ruler of the Joseon Dynasty, also actively participated in the publication of this edition by putting to the text phonetic signs (Gugyeol) designed to help read the Chinese text in native Korean language. The book is highly regarded for the text that played a very important role in the development of the newly devised Korean alphabets and the preservation of distinctive features of a book published by the Directorate under the patronage of the royal court of early Joseon. It is, therefore, widely regarded as a great source of knowledge about the medieval Korean language, woodblock-printed books, including Buddhist publications, of early Joseon. Most of the books of the same edition remaining today are designated as Treasures by the Korean government.

Location