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Tripitaka Koreana
The Tripiṭaka Koreana is a Korean collection of the Tripiṭaka (Buddhist scriptures), carved onto 81,352 wooden printing blocks in the 13th century. They are currently located at the Buddhist temple Haeinsa, in South Gyeongsang Province, South Korea. It is the oldest intact version of the Chinese Buddhist canon, the shared canonical collection of East Asian Buddhism written in Buddhist Chinese. It contains 1,496 titles, divided into 6,568 books, spanning 81,258 pages, for a total 52,330,152 Hanja characters. It is often called the Palman Daejanggyeong ("Eighty-thousand Tripitaka") due to the number of the printing plates that comprise it. It is also known as the Goryeo Daejanggyeong (Goryeo dynasty Tripitaka).
Each wood block (page) measures 24 centimetres in height and 70 centimetres (9.4 in × 27.6 in) in length. The thickness of the blocks ranges from 2.6 to 4 centimetres (1.0–1.6 in) and each weighs about three to four kilograms (6.61 - 8.81 lbs). The woodblocks would be almost as tall as Paektu Mountain at 2.74 km (1.70 mi) if stacked and would measure 60 km (37 mi) long if lined up, and weigh 280 tons in total. The woodblocks are in pristine condition without warping or deformation despite being created more than 750 years ago.
The Tripiṭaka was designated a National Treasure of South Korea in 1962, and inscribed in the UNESCO Memory of the World international register in 2007. Historically the Tripiṭaka was closed except for Buddhist events and scholars but 2021 it was opened to members of the public who preregister.
There is a movement by scholars to change the English name of the Tripiṭaka Koreana. Robert Buswell Jr., a scholar of Korean Buddhism, called for the renaming of the Tripiṭaka Koreana to the Korean Buddhist Canon, indicating that the current nomenclature is misleading because the Tripiṭaka Koreana is much greater in scale than the actual Tripiṭaka, and includes much additional content such as travelogues, Sanskrit and Chinese dictionaries, and biographies of monks and nuns.
The name Goryeo Tripiṭaka comes from "Goryeo", the name of Korea from the 10th to the 14th centuries.
Work on the first Tripiṭaka Koreana began in 1011 during the Goryeo–Khitan War and was completed in 1087. Choi's Goryeo Military Regime, which moved the capital to Ganghwa Island due to Mongol invasions, set up a temporary organization called "Daejang Dogam".
The act of carving the woodblocks was considered to be a way of bringing about a change in fortune by invoking the Buddha's help. The first Tripiṭaka Koreana was based primarily on the Kaibao Canon completed in the 10th century, but other scriptures published until then, such as the Khitan Tripiṭaka, were also consulted in order to identify items in need of revision and adjustment. The first Tripiṭaka Koreana contained around 6,000 volumes.
The original set of woodblocks was destroyed by fire during the Mongol invasions of Korea in 1232, when Goryeo's capital was moved to Ganghwa Island during nearly three decades of Mongol incursions, although scattered parts of its prints still remain. To once again implore divine assistance with combating the Mongol threat, King Gojong thereafter ordered the revision and re-creation of the Tripiṭaka; the carving began in 1237 and was completed in 12 years, with support from Ch'oe U and his son Ch'oe Hang, and involving monks from both the Seon and Gyo schools. This second version is usually what is meant by the Tripiṭaka Koreana. In 1398, it was moved to Haeinsa, where it has remained housed in four buildings.
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Tripitaka Koreana
The Tripiṭaka Koreana is a Korean collection of the Tripiṭaka (Buddhist scriptures), carved onto 81,352 wooden printing blocks in the 13th century. They are currently located at the Buddhist temple Haeinsa, in South Gyeongsang Province, South Korea. It is the oldest intact version of the Chinese Buddhist canon, the shared canonical collection of East Asian Buddhism written in Buddhist Chinese. It contains 1,496 titles, divided into 6,568 books, spanning 81,258 pages, for a total 52,330,152 Hanja characters. It is often called the Palman Daejanggyeong ("Eighty-thousand Tripitaka") due to the number of the printing plates that comprise it. It is also known as the Goryeo Daejanggyeong (Goryeo dynasty Tripitaka).
Each wood block (page) measures 24 centimetres in height and 70 centimetres (9.4 in × 27.6 in) in length. The thickness of the blocks ranges from 2.6 to 4 centimetres (1.0–1.6 in) and each weighs about three to four kilograms (6.61 - 8.81 lbs). The woodblocks would be almost as tall as Paektu Mountain at 2.74 km (1.70 mi) if stacked and would measure 60 km (37 mi) long if lined up, and weigh 280 tons in total. The woodblocks are in pristine condition without warping or deformation despite being created more than 750 years ago.
The Tripiṭaka was designated a National Treasure of South Korea in 1962, and inscribed in the UNESCO Memory of the World international register in 2007. Historically the Tripiṭaka was closed except for Buddhist events and scholars but 2021 it was opened to members of the public who preregister.
There is a movement by scholars to change the English name of the Tripiṭaka Koreana. Robert Buswell Jr., a scholar of Korean Buddhism, called for the renaming of the Tripiṭaka Koreana to the Korean Buddhist Canon, indicating that the current nomenclature is misleading because the Tripiṭaka Koreana is much greater in scale than the actual Tripiṭaka, and includes much additional content such as travelogues, Sanskrit and Chinese dictionaries, and biographies of monks and nuns.
The name Goryeo Tripiṭaka comes from "Goryeo", the name of Korea from the 10th to the 14th centuries.
Work on the first Tripiṭaka Koreana began in 1011 during the Goryeo–Khitan War and was completed in 1087. Choi's Goryeo Military Regime, which moved the capital to Ganghwa Island due to Mongol invasions, set up a temporary organization called "Daejang Dogam".
The act of carving the woodblocks was considered to be a way of bringing about a change in fortune by invoking the Buddha's help. The first Tripiṭaka Koreana was based primarily on the Kaibao Canon completed in the 10th century, but other scriptures published until then, such as the Khitan Tripiṭaka, were also consulted in order to identify items in need of revision and adjustment. The first Tripiṭaka Koreana contained around 6,000 volumes.
The original set of woodblocks was destroyed by fire during the Mongol invasions of Korea in 1232, when Goryeo's capital was moved to Ganghwa Island during nearly three decades of Mongol incursions, although scattered parts of its prints still remain. To once again implore divine assistance with combating the Mongol threat, King Gojong thereafter ordered the revision and re-creation of the Tripiṭaka; the carving began in 1237 and was completed in 12 years, with support from Ch'oe U and his son Ch'oe Hang, and involving monks from both the Seon and Gyo schools. This second version is usually what is meant by the Tripiṭaka Koreana. In 1398, it was moved to Haeinsa, where it has remained housed in four buildings.
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