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Preface |
Its
religious significance aside, the Tripitaka Koreana
preserved in impeccable condition testifies to the
outstanding achievements of medieval Koreans in
science and technology, especially printing and
publishing.
Every day at the wee hour of three o'clock in the
morning, the monks wake up to the deep, reverberation
sound of ancient instruments coming from a music
pavilion in the main courtyard of the temple. The
clergy assemble within half an hour for a predawn
service in accordance with the time-hon-ored regulations
of monastic life. With their hearts cleansed of
all worldly concerns, the monks from all ranks of
the community worship the Buddha and chant holy
sutras to the beating of wooden gongs as the pious
sound echoes along the still pitch-dark mountain
valley. For the past twelve centuries, Mt.Gayasan
in Hapcheon, South Gyeongsang Province, has been
home to one of Korea's most treasured Buddhist monasteries,
Haeinsa, or the "Temple of Reflections on a
Calm Sea," and its many hermitages. |
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Famous
for the stunning beauty of its craggy peaks and
peaceful valleys with burbling streams lined with
lush foliage, Mt.Gayasan is believed to have been
named after a mountain in Buddha Gaya, India, where
Seokgamoni, the Historic Buddha, attained enlightenment.
Or, some contend that the name was derived from
the Gaya league of tribal states which thrived in
the southeastern province from around the first
century B.C. to the sixth century A.D. ,bef-
ore the neighboring Silla expanded its territory
to unify the peninsula.Korea's ancient center of
the Avatamsaka (Hua- yen in Chinese and Hwa-eom
in Korean) school of Budd- hism, Haeinsa was established
by two enlightened monks, |
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Suneung
and ljeong, in 802 during the Unified Silla period. Its
name was taken from a phrase in the Avatamsaka (The Great
and Vast buddha Garland) sutra, which compares the wisdom
of Buddha to a calm sea. When the sea, that is the human
mind, is freed from the wild waves of worldly desires
and follies, it will finally attain a mirror-like peacefulness
where the true image of all existence is clearly reflected.
Most Koreans instantly associate Haeinsa with the Tripitaka
Koreana, a 13th century edition of scriptures known to
be the world's most comprehensive and oldest intact version
of Buddhist canon in Chinese script. This is one reason
why the temple, tucked away in a secluded valley in the
deep mountains, has maintained its reputation as a religious
heaven among Korean Buddists over the centuries. Haeinsa
is one of Korea's three major temple which represent the
"three jewels of Buddhism," that is, the Buddha,
the sutra and the monks. No doubt that, aside from their
normal clerical duties, the temple's some 500-strong legion
of bhikkhus is responsible for protecting their "jewel,"
the 81,258 wooden blocks for printing the scriptures,
which have been housed in the temple since 1398.
Thus have I heard... These are the words with which the
disciples of the Historic Buddha began their recitations
of the Enlightened One's sermons. This indicates that
his teaching had been transmitted orally before it was
written down. The compilation of the Tripitaka, as the
Buddhist canon is known, took place during a council convened
by the Indian Emperor Asoka around 250 B.C., some two
centuries after the Buddha's death. The sacred texts were
copied by hand and translated into various languages over
the following centuries as the Buddha's teaching spread
all over Asia.
The Sanskrit "Tripitaka"(Pali:Tipitaka) means
"three collections" or "three baskets,"
referring to the Buddhist canon in its entirety up to
the time of compilation. It consists of regulations of
monastic life(Vinaya-pitaka), discourses with the Buddha(Sutta-pitaka)
and commentaries on the sutras by renowned monks and scholars(Abhidhamma-pitaka).
The composition of the Chines Daejanggyeong(Great Collection
of Scriptures) was completed around the end of the Dang
dynasty(618-907). Then the first woodblock version in
china was published in 983 during the Song dynasty. However,
the world's oldest and finest edition in chinese script
today is attributed to the 13th century Koreans of the
Goryeo dynasty.
Known in Korean as Goryeo Daejanggyeong(Great Collection
of Scriptures of Goryeo) and Palman Daejanggyeong(Great
Collection of Scriptures in Eighty Thousand Blocks), the
Tripitaka Koreana is recognized as the fines of some 30
East Asian versions of the Buddhist canon in Chinese script
in terms of comprehensiveness, accuracy, beauty of calligraphic
style and carving. Based on an earlier Goryeo edition
as well as Chinese and khitan versions, the Tripitaka
Koreana comprises 6,802 volumes under 1,511 titles, including
the latest writings by eminent Korean monks as well. The
accuracy of its content is due largely to the great effort
of National Preceptor Sugi, who thoroughly studied various
texts extant at the time to correct errors and add missing
characters.
The woodblocks of the Tripitaka Koreana have defied time
and the elements, surviving the ravages of war and internal
turmoil over the last seven centuries. Today, the Tripitaka
is one of Korea's most prized cultural treasures, transcending
religious barriers. Its religious significance aside,
the massive canon preserved in impeccable condition testifies
to the outstanding achievements of medieval Koreans in
science and technology, especially printing and publishing.
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The Tripitaka for the Computer Age |
In
spite of its tremendous historic and religious value,
the contents of the Tripitaka Koreana remain largely
inaccessible to most people. It is simply too vast.
Moreover, few Koreans today can read it because
the entire text is written in classical Chinese.
Translation of the canon into modern Korean has
been slow and is still unfinished.
In this regard, it is interesting to note that the
historic mission of the Haeinsa clerics to preserve
the ancient printing blocks has recently come in
tune with the computer age. In 1992 a group of monks
began computerizing the vast content of the Tripitaka.
the seemingly incompatible job of combining one
of humanity's oldest spiritual assets with the latest
technology fascinated not few people as an intellectually
stimulating task. It also drew considerable attention
from the international community of Buddhist studies.
It was no easy task for monks in a mountain monastery
to garner all the necessary financial and technical
resources, however. As the project faced a stadnstill
despite its widely acknowledged significance in
and outside the Buddhist world, the samseong Group
came to the rescue of the frustrated monks in 1994
and helped complete inputting the canon within a
year.
It is simply amazing that the entire content of
the scriptures is now contained in a single CD-ROM.
But Cheongnim and his colleagues at the Daejanggyeong
Institute of Haeinsa, who masterminded the project,
it is just the beginning of an even greater challenge.
With all the data input, they set out to create
the tools needed for classification, cross-referencing,
indexing, exegesis and lexicon compilation. At the
same time, the printing blocks are scanned to store
the images that are needed for their regular "checkup"
for preservation.
Electronic publication of a parallel translation
of the canon in modern Korean is another program
of herculean scale on the agenda of the monks, who
expect the computerized canon to bring Buddhism
closer to modern-day Koreans. Also looming large
is the task of putting the Tripitaka in both Korean
and Chinese versions on the Internet for global
access. The monks hope it will bring them a step
coser to building the "cyber sangha."
which they believe will trigger a "revolution"
in Buddhist studies. |
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Preservation of Woodblocks: A Challenge to Modern
Science |
The
excellent condition of the printing blocks of the
Tripitaka Koreana, which have defied time and the
elements over the last seven centuries, has emerged
as a challenge to modern preservation science. The
wood was meticulously processed for years to weatherproof
the grain and prevent decay, before and after the
carving of the scriptures. But the manufacturing
technology alone would not have been sufficient
to preserve the numerous wooden blocks in such a
perfect state over the centuries.
To a significant extent, the wonder is attributed
to the wisdom of those who built the wooden depositories.
Constructed in the late 15th century, about a century
after the printing blocks were moved to Haeinsa,
the two simple and sturdy structures, each of similar
size and design, have perfectly played their intended
role of preserving the priceless artifacts. The
true challenge for modern architecture lies in the
fact that the ancient builders took advantage of
nature with prominent wisdom and technical knowhow
in selecting the site and designing the buildings.
The two storage halls, called Changgyeonggak, stand
at the highest level of the temple compound, which
is located on the southwestern midslope of Mt. Gayasan(1,430
meters). Overlooking the beautiful roof lines of
some thirty buildings including worship hall, dormitories
and auditoriums, the storage halls stand behind
the main worship hall on top of steep stone terraces.
The two elongated structures with a rectangular
courtyard in between stand at 655 meters above sea
level, facing southwest. At this altitude and direction
and being protected by high peaks at the back, the
buildings can avoid both the damp southeasterly
wind blowing up from the valleys and the cold northen
wind, with no part of the structures affected by
permanent shade. Two small buildings standing on
either end of the courtyard are storages of the
printing blocks for scriptures and other books published
by the temple.
Built upon low granite foundations, these typical
early Joseon-style wooden structures with hipped
roofs, each measuring 60.44 meters long, 8.73 meters
wide and 7.8 meters high, facilitate maximum ventilation
as well as temperature and humidity control with
no obvious devices other than open grill windows.
The ingenuity of the ancient architects shows in
the layout of the windows. Both halls have two rows
of wooden grill windows. Both halls have two rows
of wooden grill windows divided by a central molding
on the front and back walls. In the case of the
front hall, named Sudarajang, or the Hall of Sutras,
the windows of the lower row in the front wall are
about four times as large as those of the upper
row, while the upper windows in the back wall are
about one and a half times the size of the lower
windows. In the case of the back hall, named Beopbojeon,
or the Hall of Dharma, the lower windows on the
front wall are approximately 4.6 times the size
of the upper windows, and the upper windows on the
back wall are about 1.5 times the size of the lower
windows.
This is apparently a plan based on the theory of
hydrodynamics and air flow. The windows allow for
maximum natural ventilation. Fresh air is brought
in through the larger upper windows and moisture
is prevented from seeping in from the ground from
the back of the buildings as the lower windows are
small. The fresh air is intended to circulated around
the hall before escaping through the windows on
the opposite side. Each hall has two lengthy rows
of five-story shelves. Each story contains two rows
of woodblocks, vertically arranged one row upon
the other. The printing blocks have thicker margins
on the sides, so the carved sections are always
exposed to the air flow.
The storage halls have clay floors, which is another
distinctive feature of the buildings intended to
help control temperature and humidity. The floors
have layers of salt, charcoal and lime underneath,
which absorb excess humidity during the rainy season
in the summer and maintain an optimum humidity level
during the dry winter months. The roofs are built
of clay and tiles over wooden rafters and simple
brackets, which prevent abrupt changes in temperature
caused by direct sunlight. All the natural and technical
factors considered, it still remains a mystery how
insects and wild animals are kept away from the
buildings. The monks contend that not a single spider's
web has been found within the halls and no mildew
or moss either. Not a single bird has ever been
seen resting on the roofs. The buildings survived
fires that ravaged the temple no less than seven
times, destroying all of its original structures.
A miracle of Vairocana or not, the Tripitaka narrowly
escaped annihilation during the Korean War. An Air
Force pilot was ordered to drop bombs on the mountain
to subdue North Korean troops hiding there but he
disobeyed and passed by, recalling that down below
there was a temple preserving the Tripitaka Koreana,
a national treasure.
In the 1970s, the late president Park Jeung-hui
ordered the construction of a new storage hall equipped
with modern preservation devices. Ignoring opposition
from the Buddhist community and scholars at home
and abroad, a huge cement structure was built in
an adjacent valley east of the main temple compound.
The building had up-to-date facilities for ventilation
and temperature and humidity control. But mildew
was found growing on the test blocks moved there
soon after, so the ambitious plan for "scientific"
preservation of the invaluable national treasures
had to be scrapped. The building is now used as
a zen training center for monks. |
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Temple of Reflections from the Calm Sea |
A
great majority of Korean Buddhist temples are located
in the mountains. They are normally reached after
trekking along scenic valleys with many old trees
and clean streams. The trees change color from season
to season and birds sing different songs according
to the hour of the day. Therefore, walking up to
the temple often serves as a ritual for purifying
one's soul, escaping the mundane world and thinking
about life and the laws of nature.
The Hongnyudong valley leading up to Haeinsa in
Mt. Gayasan offers greater pleasure and opportunities
for deeper thought than the entryways to most other
Buddhist temples in th country. Sublime is the beauty
of the 4-km-long valley, a verdant tunnel of old
pines and numerous deciduous trees, rugged cliffs
and wild streams.
Legend has it that two monks, Suneung and Ijeong,
who had just returned from China where they attained
enlightenment, were meditating somewhere in the
valley when the queen of a Silla king, Aejangwang,
fell very ill with and abscess on her back. As all
medicines had proved useless, the king sent his
officials throughout the country to seek the wisdom
of revered monks. When one of the officials reached
this valley, he saw mysterious radiance emanating
from the two meditating monks. He asked them to
accompany him to the palace but they refused and
instead gave him a spool of thread in five colors.
The monks told him to tie one end of the thread
to the queen and the other to a pear tree in front
of the palace. The man followed their advice and
the queen was curd whereas the pear tree dried up
and died. The grateful king had a temple erected
in the valley for the two monks and donated farm
land. It was 802, the third year of the reign of
Aejangwang.
For those who find the legend hard to believe, Choe
Chi-won, a prominent writer and calligrapher of
Silla, who spent his last days in self-imposed exile
in Mt. Gayasan, provides a more credible story regarding
the foundation of the temple. In his essay about
Haeinsa dating from 900, Choe wrote that the temple
was erected in 802 by Suneung who attained enlightenment
in China. The queen dowager, who supported Buddhist
monks with as much affection as if they were her
own sons, was so pleased to hear the news that she
converted to Buddhism herself and presented good
food and various other gifts. Numerous students
gathered like clouds at the temple, but Suneung
died suddenly. Then his disciple, Ijeong, who was
also an eminent monk, Inherited his work and completed
the construction.
The temple history confirms that Suneung was a disciple
of Sillim who in turn was a disciple of Uisang,
the first to propagate the Avatamsaka school of
Buddhism in Korea in the early seventh century,
Unlike the main worship halls of most other Korean
temples enshrining the Seokgamoni images, Haeinsa's
main shrine, Daejeokkwangjeon, or the Hall of Great
Silence and Light, is dedicated to Vairocana, the
Resplendent Buddha, who first preached the Avatamsaka
Sutra, The hall has an image of Vairocana attended
by two bodhisattvas featured in the sutra, Manjusri
and Samantabhadra.
Vairocana, one of the five celestial Buddhas, represents
the center of the universe and is indicated by his
gesture of preaching and the symbol of the wheel
of law. The five celestial Buddhas are the concrete
manifestations of Seokgamoni, each representing,
the center or the four compass points of the universe.
The main theme of the Avatamsaka Sutra is the meaning
of true enlightenment. It relates the travels of
the young boy, Sudhana, in search of enlightenment.
He is assisted by numerous spiritual friends along
the way, all belonging to different walks of life,
and eventually attains truth with the guidance of
Manjusri, the Glorious Gentle One. In the end, the
devotee makes a pious vow to follow the exemplary
conduct of samantabhadra. The basic work of the
Avatamsaka school, which has had a broad following
in all of three Far Eastern countries of China,
Korea and Japan, the Avatamsaka Sutra is said to
have been first preached by Vairocana, the Resplendent
Buddha, expressing the perfect truth revealed in
his enlightenment. Its main doctrine is the theory
of causation-- that there is a universal, immutable
mind that is the basis of all phenomena. It teaches
the harmonious to totality of things encountered
in the perfectly enlightened Buddha. The Buddha-nature
is present potentially in all things.
The Tripitaka Koreana earned Haeinsa its reputation
as one of Korea's three major temples representing
the "three jewels of Buddhism." Haeinsa
stands for dharma, or the Buddha's teaching. Tongdosa
in Yangsan, South Gyeongsang Province, symbolizes
the Buddha as it enshrines the sarira, or the holy
relics, of Seokgamoni. Songgwangsa in Seongju, South
Jeolla Province, represents sangha, or the assembly
of monk devoted to studying, teaching and preserving
the teachings of the Buddha. Haeinsa is also the
head temple of the 12th Diocese of the Korean Buddhist
Jogye Order, the largest Buddhist sect in the country.
Haeinsa underwent its first major renovation in
the early 10th century while the famous monk, Hirang,
was serving as the chief abbot. The renovation was
financed with a generous donation by Wang Geon,
the founding monarch of the Goryeo dynasty, in reward
for the monk's assistance in subduing his enemy.
Wang Geon patronized Haeinsa, Keeping important
government documents in the temple and sponsoring
seasonal rites and special masses. Hirang, not only
a revered monk but an accomplished artist as well,
is known to have carved a wooden image of himself
at the temple. A realistic image of the monk, seated
with his two hands clasped on crossed legs, is now
preserved at one of the temple's 16 hermitages.
Haeinsa underwent its first major renovation in
the early 10th century while the famous monk, Hirang,
was serving as the chief abbot. The renovation was
financed with a generous donation by Wang Geon,
the founding monarch of the Goryeo dynasty, in reward
for the monk's assistance in subduing his enemy.
Wang Geon patronized Haeinsa, Keeping important
government documents in the temple and sponsoring
seasonal rites and special masses. Hirang, not only
a revered monk but an accomplished artist as well,
is known to have carved a wooden image of himself
at the temple. A realistic image of the monk, seated
with his two hands clasped on crossed legs, is now
preserved at one of the temple's 16 hermitages.
The second major renovation, probably much bigger
than the first, was carried out in the late 15th
century under the patronage of two Joseon queens,
Insu and Inhye, both daughters-in-law of King Sejo.
Originally, Sejo wanted to renovate the temple after
printing 50 copies of the Tripitaka but he died
without fulfilling his wish. His wife, Queen Jeonghi,
hoped to fulfill his wish but she died too in 1483,
without putting her plan into practice. Their two
daughters-in-law finally accomplished the project
under the supervision of the senior monk, Hakcho.
The main shrine as well as the depositories for
the Tripitaka and various other buildings were newly
constructed at the time, so the temple obtained
its present scale and ambience. The renovation was
completed in 1490.
Owing to its sequestered location guarded by rough
terrain, Haeinsa fortunately escaped the rampant
arson by Japanese troops during the Hideyoshi invasions
in 1592-1598, which devastated much of the country,
destroying almost all wooden palace and temple buildings.
But fire erupted at Haeinsa seven times over two
centuries from 1695 to 1871, burning down most of
the building that had existed since the 15th century
renovation. The buildings have all been reconstructed
over the years, and the temple maintains much of
its ancient magnificence.
Haeinsa has been the center of activities for a
number of prominent monks. Uicheon, or National
Preceptor Daegak, a Goryeo prince who compiled the
Supplement to the Tripitaka, once resided at the
temple. Royal Preceptor Wongyeong, who traveled
to China with Uicheon to study Buddhism, assisted
him in compiling the scriptures by proofreading
the texts. A stone stele for Wongyeong stands near
the entrance to the temple. Samyong, who led a monk
militia during the 16th century Japanese invasion,
died at Hongje-am hermitage, where a bell-shaped
stupa containing his remains now stands. In the
20th century, Seongcheol who headed the Jogye order,
resided at Paengnyonam hermitage and died there.
Wondangam hermitage, with its exquisite stone relics
dating from the Unified Silla period, adds romantic
color to the temple famed for its serious academic
tradition and the stern regulations of its bhikkhus
community. Queen Jinseong(r. 887-897) of Silla designated
Haeinsa as the tutelary temple for he lover and
high courtier, Wihong, when he died In 888. she
even abdicated the throne in the 11the year of her
reign and moved to the temple, where she died later
that year. The two lovers are credited for compiling
an anthology of Silla native songs, called hyangga. |
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The Tripitaka for the Computer Age |
In
spite of its tremendous historic and religious value,
the contents of the Tripitaka Koreana remain largely
inaccessible to most people. It is simply too vast.
Moreover, few Koreans today can read it because
the entire text is written in classical Chinese.
Translation of the canon into modern Korean has
been slow and is still unfinished.
In this regard, it is interesting to note that the
historic mission of the Haeinsa clerics to preserve
the ancient printing blocks has recently come in
tune with the computer age. In 1992 a group of monks
began computerizing the vast content of the Tripitaka.
the seemingly incompatible job of combining one
of humanity's oldest spiritual assets with the latest
technology fascinated not few people as an intellectually
stimulating task. It also drew considerable attention
from the international community of Buddhist studies.
It was no easy task for monks in a mountain monastery
to garner all the necessary financial and technical
resources, however. As the project faced a stadnstill
despite its widely acknowledged significance in
and outside the Buddhist world, the samseong Group
came to the rescue of the frustrated monks in 1994
and helped complete inputting the canon within a
year.
It is simply amazing that the entire content of
the scriptures is now contained in a single CD-ROM.
But Cheongnim and his colleagues at the Daejanggyeong
Institute of Haeinsa, who masterminded the project,
it is just the beginning of an even greater challenge.
With all the data input, they set out to create
the tools needed for classification, cross-referencing,
indexing, exegesis and lexicon compilation. At the
same time, the printing blocks are scanned to store
the images that are needed for their regular "checkup"
for preservation.
Electronic publication of a parallel translation
of the canon in modern Korean is another program
of herculean scale on the agenda of the monks, who
expect the computerized canon to bring Buddhism
closer to modern-day Koreans. Also looming large
is the task of putting the Tripitaka in both Korean
and Chinese versions on the Internet for global
access. The monks hope it will bring them a step
coser to building the "cyber sangha."
which they believe will trigger a "revolution"
in Buddhist studies. |
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at Haeinsa
Temple
