User:Waygugin/Hwaeomsa Gwebul

The Hwaeomsa gwaebul is a Joseon Dynasty-era Buddhist hanging scroll painting at the Buddhist temple of Hwaeomsa, in Gurye, Jeollanam-do, South Korea. Its large canvas depicts the Vulture Peak Assembly motif, a scene from the Lotus Sutra in which the Buddha Sakyamuni is preaching the dharma to an assembly of Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and disciples on Vulture Peak, in Rajagrha. Used in outdoor worship ceremonies, it was commissioned by Byeogam Gakseong, the leader and preeminent monk of mid 17th-century Korean Buddhism, and executed at Hwaeomsa in 1653 by the monks Jiyeong, Tangye, Dowu, Sasun, Haengchul, and Naheup. The Hwaeomsa gwaebul is widely acknowledged as a masterpiece of this form of Buddhist art and was designated National Treasure 301 in 1977.

Description
The Buddha Sakyamuni is portrayed gazing downwards following his awakening from jhāna, a meditative state of profound stillness and concentration. He is seated in the lotus position on a high pedestal at the center of the image, his hands in the bhumisparsha mudra. There is a jeweled canopy above him and a nimbus around the length of his body. Five beams of light are being emitted across the assembly from the urna on his forehead, the spaces between the beams representing the six realms of samsara. A half-moon shaped jewel rests in his hair, which is cropped in small spiral curls and forms a topknot representing the ushnisha. The slender body of the Buddha is well balanced, while his plump face is portrayed with lofty eyes, a long mouth and large nose. The thickness of the exposed right arm and fingers appear life-like. The crimson colored robe of the Buddha is draped in the covering mode over both shoulders, the folds highlighted using both straight and soft brush strokes. Vertical and horizontal stripes crisscross the fabric blended with a pattern of 보상화문, while the hemlines are decorated with an elaborate floral pattern. The Buddha is also wearing a gold colored waist cloth, while the lacing around the ankles are cut like leaves of grass.

Seated facing the Buddha are the Bodhisattvas Manjusri and Samantabhadra wearing crowns and jeweled garments. Flowers can be seen falling away from their bodies, which are surrounded by white nimbi. Manjusri, who represents the wisdom of the Buddha, is seated to the left on an enormous white lotus, while holding the stem of a lotus flower in his hands. Representing practice and meditation, Samantabhadra is seated on a blue lotus to the right, with a book of scriptures perched on the lotus flower he is holding. Standing before the Buddha is a silk covered altar, on which are two plates of offerings symbolizing gold, silver, coral, pearl, and the horns of a dragon. The offerings, and the sticks of incense between them, emit a brilliant light in the five cardinal colors of blue/green, yellow, red, white and black.

Several members of the ten principle disciples and the Arhats can be seen gathered around the Buddha. Though not very clearly distinguished from each other, the solemn-faced disciples can be contrasted to the more vivacious looking Arhats. At the very front are Mahākāśyapa, on the right, and Ananda, on the left, the two disciples who best symbolize the principles of meditation and study in Buddhism. Mahākāśyapa, the foremost ascetic of the disciples, appears as an aged monk with a bulging forehead from the intensity of his meditative practice. Depicted as a young monk with closely cropped hair, Ananda is remembered as the Guardian of the Dharma for his role in preserving the teachings of the Buddha after his death. Behind each group of disciples stands a pratyekabuddha, beings who have achieved enlightenment independently without the benefit of a master.

The Four Heavenly Kings stand guard near each corner of the painting to protect the assembly from evil spirits. The armor-clad Dhṛtarāṣṭra, wielding a sword in his right hand, and Virūḍhaka, armed with a dragon and a cintamani, can be seen adopting gallant postures at the bottom of the canvas. Meanwhile, the heads of Vaisravana and Virūpākṣa, respectively holding a bipa and a pagoda, can be seen just beyond the disciples. Despite the strong association between size and rank in Buddhist painting, Dhṛtarāṣṭra and Virūḍhaka feature more prominently than either of the Bodhisattvas, almost as if they were Buddhas themselves.

Provenance
In the mid–17th century, the Joseon Dynasty was still recovering from the devastation left by the Imjin War (1592–1598) with the Japanese and the Manchu invasions of 1627 and 1636. It was also a period marked by a reemergence of Buddhism after centuries of state repression and saw the reconstruction of several large monasteries and a flowering of Buddhist art. There was tacit support for this movement from the Joseon throne, which saw it as a means of recognizing the part of the Righteous Monk Army in defending the kingdom while simultaneously assuaging public anguish. It was then commonly believed that the aggrieved souls of the war dead could still cause famine and pestilence among the living, but that their anger could be abated by sacrificial rites performed at Buddhist temples to ceremonial hanging paintings called gwaebuls, akin to the Tibetan thangka. Although the difficulty and expense of producing a gwaebul was prohibitive even for some of the largest monasteries, the 17th century was an especially active period in their production and saw the execution of important pieces at the temples of Muryangsa (1627), Chiljangsa (1628), Bosalsa (1649), Gapsa (1650), Ansimsa (1652), and Yeongsusa (1653).

The temple of Hwaeomsa, which dates to at least the mid-8th century, was completely rebuilt in the early 1630s under the direction of Byeogam Gakseong (1575–1660), after being destroyed in the Imjin War. In 1650 an edict promoting the temple to "Great Monastery of the Seon Order" was issued by King Hyojong (r. 1649–59), indicating that Hwaeomsa had by that time largely regained its place among the great monasteries of Korea, and provided the impetus to create a new gwaebul. A patch of black text on a rectangular red background at the bottom center of the canvas, the painting record, is the only known contemporary documentation about its production. By the inclusion of his name and illustrious title, it is almost certain that it was Gakseong—by then, the preeminent monk of Korean Buddhism—who spearheaded the painting of the gwaebul following his retirement to Hwaeomsa. The monks Seonghye, Gyewon, and Gyeongheon, leading officers of the Righteous Monk Army who are listed alongside Gakseong, are also thought to have played a key role. Seonghye and Gyeongheon were the respective commanders of monk-soliders in the Jeolla and Hongcheong regions, while Gyewon was also a senior general.

A total of 34 names are listed as patrons in the painting record, appearing  in order of the size of the contributions that are written next to their names. As currency was not in use following the wars, most donations came in the form of grains or other foodstuffs such as bean paste and flour. Other contributions were for use in the painting's production, such as hemp cloth for the canvas, bright green, gold, scarlet, and yellow paint as well as and alum, which was used to adhere the paint to the canvas and give it luster. Incense, candles, and iron were also provided for use during sacrificial rites. The most notable patron was the aristocrat Hong Deukgi (1635–73), a son-in-law of King Hyojong; the reason for his donation of incense is unclear, though it seems likely he was associated with some of Gakseong's far-flung disciples. The patrons named Kim Cheonbok and Yeongchuk met Gakseong during his post-war reconstruction of Songgwansa, a temple near Wonju, when he commisioned new altar statues for the main hall. Kim was one of the patrons for the statue of Bhaisajyaguru, and Yeongchuk one of its sculptors. For the most part, though, with financial assistance from the state unavailable monasteries were mostly dependent on the contributions of local worshipers. Most patrons of the Hwaeomsa gwaebul had no surnames, an indication of low social status, possibly even that they were indentured servants. Such people were not entirely without means, though, since many went into commerce or the manufacturing of handicrafts, allowing them to accumulate their own capital. However it might also be the case that some of these contributions were made by their masters, using the servants' names to mask aristocratic support for Buddhist institutions.

The Hwaeomsa gwaebul was completed in May of 1653. It was executed by the monk-artist Jiyeong, who was assisted by the monks Tangye, Dowu, Sasun, Haengchul, and Naheup. No further record of their work exists and very little is known of their lives or careers. The Hwaeomsa Chronicle says that Jiyeong was involved in the construction of Daeungjeon Hall in the early 1630s, as was Sasun, who was placed in charge of painting the dancheong, an indication he may have been a monk of Hwaeomsa himself. Dowu was better known as a member of the guild of sculptors lead by Muyeom, which had been active in the Jeolla-do region throughout the 17th century. Their work included the statue of Vairocana at Seonunsa (1633), the Three Buddhas of Bulgapsa (1635), the trikaya statues in Daeungjeon Hall at Hwaeomsa (1636), and the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara at Sinheungsa (1651). It was at Sinheungsa, two years before work on the Hwaeomsa gwaebul was completed, that Dowu first encountered Byeogam Gakseong. Years later, Dowu would lead his own guild, which produced the Amitābha triad at Songnimsa (1657) and the Buddha statues in Yeongsanjeon Hall at Jungnimsa (1664).

Style and Preservation
The Vulture Peak Assembly was a common motif in early Joseon gwaebuls, making up more than half of extant pieces from the 17th century. The painting depicts a scene in the Lotus Sutra where the Buddha Sakyamuni preaches the Dharma to an assembly of Buddhas, bodhisattvas and other disciples on Vulture Peak, in Rajagrha. Pieces from this period still depict the Buddha seated in the lotus position, a characteristic that dates to the 15th century, while from the 18th century onward, he can be seen standing.

A notable characteristic of the gwaebul's canvas is its liberal use of color, particularly the vibrant contrast between scarlet and green. However, as Joseon was still recovering from the wars, acquiring the necessary pigments in the 17th century was prohibitive, even for Korean kings trying to rebuild grand palaces. Thus, the kingdom was forced to import a large proportion of these paints from China at great expense, frequently dispatching state artists to Liaodong to acquire them. Consequently, in addition to the names of the contributors of such paints, the gwaebul hwagi of Hwaeomsa also lists which colors they donated, an indication of just how valuable they were. Though, as demand for paints decreased and domestic supplies became more widely available in the 18th century, such contributions ceased to be recorded.


 * Gwaebuls such as this are generally well preserved compared to the paintings hung in temple halls, since they are kept in their cases when not in use at outdoor ceremonies, while their sheer size makes theft difficult.