Beopjusa Temple: Seated Buddha

SOUTH KOREA, North Chungcheong, Boeun; Goryeo dynasty

This bas-relief of a seated Buddha is carved on a high rock to the west of Beopjusa Temple’s Hall of Eight Pictures. It dates from the 11th century and is a representative work of the early Goryeo dynasty (918–1392). The statue was listed as Treasure No. 216 in 1963.
The carving shows marked similarities to the central figure of the Illustration of the Sutra on the Descent of Maitreya by the painter Hoejeon from this period and is therefore presumed to be of Maitreya Buddha. Images of Maitreya seated with legs pendent, though common in China, are rare in Korea. The earliest known image of this kind is the Maitreya Buddha Triad at Samhwaryong from the Silla dynasty (57 BCE–935 CE).
The Buddha is seated on a floating lotus throne with the feet supported on two lotus pedestals. The broad shoulders dwindles to a narrow waist. The right shoulder is bare and the right hand is raised in the vitarka (teaching) mudra.