Carving of the second Tripitaka Koreana
Under a directorate set up on Ganghwa Island, where the Goryeo court had taken refuge from the Mongols, and its branch offices in the south, the whole Buddhist canon was carved anew on more than 81,000 woodblocks to replace the first set, destroyed in 1232, and to win the protection of the Buddha. The blocks have been kept at the Haeinsa monastery since 1398.
- Date
- 1236–1251year known · duration: ≈ 15 years
- Place
- Ganghwa Islandapproximate locationtoday: Ganghwa County, Incheon, South Korea · East Asia
- Participants
- Goryeo
- Threads
- Asia, Africa and the Americas in the 13th century
- Also known as
- Tripitaka Koreana; Palman Daejanggyeong; Трипитака Кореана; Пхальман тэджангён; Тэчжангён
Goryeo had carved its first canon in 1011–1087, during and after the wars with the Khitans, hoping for the Buddha’s help. Those blocks were destroyed in 1232, during the Mongol invasions, the year the court moved to Ganghwa Island off the west coast. On the order of King Gojong — in practice at the initiative of the military ruler Choe U — a special directorate, the Daejang Dogam, was set up on Ganghwa in 1236, and from 1243 its branch offices in the south carved blocks as well. The carving, begun in 1237, took about twelve years, with the support of Choe U and his son Choe Hang and with monks of both the Seon and Gyo schools, and the compilation was completed in 1251. The monk Sugi, who oversaw the editing, recorded the errors, duplications and omissions he found in 30 volumes of notes, though the finished text is not entirely free of mistakes.
The more than 81,000 blocks carry about 52 million characters. In 1398, under the new Joseon dynasty, they were moved to Haeinsa in the south-east of the peninsula, where they are still kept in the Janggyeong Panjeon halls, whose ventilation has preserved the wood for centuries. The halls were inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995, and the blocks entered the Memory of the World Register in 2007.
Connections
Related events
- Battle of Gwiju: Goryeo routs the Khitan army10 March 1019 · East AsiaThe first Korean canon was begun in 1011, during the wars with the Khitans, as a plea for the Buddha’s protection
- Military coup in Goryeo: the generals seize power11 October 1170 · East AsiaThe carving was backed by Choe U and Choe Hang, hereditary heads of the military regime that began with the coup of 1170
Same participants
- First Mongol invasion of JapanNovember 1274 · East Asiavia Goryeo
Same place
- Gwangjong introduces civil service examinations in Goryeobetween 21 May and 5 June 958 · East Asia
- Kim Busik presents the Samguk sagi, the oldest surviving history of Korea4 February 1146 · East Asia
Adjacent events in the thread
- Ibn al-Nafis describes the pulmonary circulationbetween 1239 and 1242 · Middle East and Egypt
- Konark Sun Templec. 1250 · South Asia
Meanwhile in the world
Other regions, within a year of this event
Western and Central Europe
- Battle of Mohi11 April 1241
- Battle of Legnica9 April 1241
- Rebuilding of Chartres Cathedral and the High Gothic10 June 1194 – 24 October 1260
- Rise of the Hanseatic League1241–1356
Eastern Europe
- Yaroslav II receives a yarlyk from Batu1243
- Battle on the Ice5 April 1242
- Siege of Kyiv5 September – between 19 November and 6 December 1240
- Battle of the Neva15 July 1240
- Mongol invasion of Europe1236–1242
+ 6 events
Balkans and Anatolia
- Battle of Köse Dağbetween 26 June and 3 July 1243
- John III Vatatzes and the revival of the Empire of Nicaeabetween December 1221 and December 1222 – 3 November 1254
Middle East and Egypt
- Ibn al-Nafis describes the pulmonary circulationbetween 1239 and 1242
- Battle of al-Mansurah8–11 February 1250
- Mamluks seize power in Egypt2 May 1250
- Seventh Crusade1248–1254
Africa
- Battle of Kirinac. 1235
- Mapungubwe Hill, capital of the kingdom of Mapungubwec. 1220 – c. 1300
- Great Zimbabwe, the stone capital of a Shona kingdom1200–1299 – c. 1450
Central and Northern Asia
- Mission of Giovanni da Pian del Carpine to the Mongols16 April 1245 – 1247
- Completion of the Secret History of the Mongolsbetween 1228 and 1264
- Death of Yaroslav II in Karakorum30 September 1246
- Karakorum becomes the Mongol capital1235
- Pax Mongolicac. 1250 – c. 1350
South Asia
- Reign of Razia Sultan in DelhiNovember 1236 – April 1240
- Konark Sun Templec. 1250
North America
- The Thule migrate east across the Arctic to Greenlandc. 1200 – c. 1300
- Ancestral Puebloans build Cliff Palace at Mesa Verdec. 1190 – c. 1280
- Mississippian centres after Cahokia: Moundville, Etowah and the Southeastern Ceremonial Complexc. 1200 – c. 1450
Latin America
- The Mexica enter the Valley of Mexico and settle at Chapultepecbetween 1245 and 1280 – 1299
- Chimor: the Chimú kingdom and its capital Chan Chanc. 900 – c. 1470
- The Kingdom of Cusco: the Inca state before the empirec. 1200 – c. 1438
- Mayapan, capital of Postclassic Yucatán1220s – between 1441 and 1461
The same period
Sources
- Wikipedia (English): Tripitaka Koreana
- Wikipedia (English): Haeinsa
- Wikipedia (Russian): Трипитака Кореана
- Haeinsa Temple Janggyeong Panjeon // Korea Heritage Service
- Lancaster L. R., Park S. B. The Korean Buddhist Canon: A Descriptive Catalogue. — Berkeley: University of California Press, 1979.