Ssanggyesa Temple Hall of Eight Pictures: Life of the Buddha - Eight Great Events

SOUTH KOREA, South Gyeongsang, Hadong; Joseon dynasty

This set of paintings illustrates the Eight Great Events in the Life of the Buddha. In 2003, it was listed as Treasure No. 1365. Each event is depicted in a series of detailed scenes, separated by vividly colored clouds, mountains, and trees. Hundreds of small figures are painted within natural landscapes, on clouds, or in vast palaces, giving the paintings a grand scale. Inscriptions within red cartouches describe each scene. In the first painting, Birth of Prince Siddhartha, Queen Maya is shown in the lower right corner, holding on to the asoka tree as the prince emerges from her right side. Above, heavenly beings pay respect to the infant prince. The Four Encounters illustrates the Prince Siddhartha riding in a carriage outside the palace and encountering an old man, a sick man, a corpse, and an ascetic. He realizes the inevitability of suffering and becomes determined to seek the truth. In the Great Departure, heavenly beings stand on clouds and watch as the prince leaves the palace in the middle of the night.
The next scene, Ascetic Life, depicts Siddhartha’s six years of ascetic practice in the snowy mountains with Kaundinya and four other companions. In Defeat of Mara and Enlightenment, the prince meditates beneath the Bodhi tree, attains enlightenment, and becomes the Buddha. Mara’s army attempts to stop him, but his concentration is unbreakable; the army is shown in disarray in the middle register. First Turning of the Dharma Wheel symbolically illustrates the Buddha’s first teaching of the Four Noble Truths, given to Kaundinya and his other former companions at Sarnath. The Buddha wears a headdress and sits on a lotus throne upon a tall platform in the center of the picture, flanked by Bodhisattvas and disciples. Descent from Tusita Heaven portrays the Buddha sitting on the back of an elephant, descending upon a carpet of clouds. The last painting depicts the Buddha passing into parinirvana. In the lower right corner, the Buddha is shown lying on his right side on a platform between twin sala trees in Kushinagar. Before he enters parinirvana, the Buddha instructs his disciples to strive for their own liberation with diligence. In the upper register, the golden casket of the Buddha is shown burning on a funeral pyre, surrounded by rainbow lines of light.