Avatamsaka Sutra No. 78
1300s
- Medium
- Folded book with illustrated frontispiece; gold and silver on mulberry paper
- Classification
- Bound Volume
- Dimensions
- Book: 20.6 x 43.7 cm (8 1/8 x 17 3/16 in.); Each page: 20.7 x 11 cm (8 1/8 x 4 5/16 in.)
- Culture
- Korea, Goryeo dynasty (918–1392)
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art, Korean Art
- Credit line
- The Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Teens profiles and older: its museum says too little about what it shows to place it for younger viewers. How works are placed
View at the Cleveland Museum of Art
About this work
This illuminated manuscript presents one part of the multivolume sacred text titled Avatamsaka (Flower Garland) sutra. Both the script and the image are rendered in gold ink on the smooth surface of the dark blue, indigo-dyed mulberry paper. This portion of the text, which reads from right to left, describes the encounter of the Buddha of the Future (Maitreya) and the young pilgrim Sudhana. The Buddha gives his words of wisdom to Sudhana, who asks questions about the path toward spiritual awakening.
Mixed with ink and glue, the gold has a brilliance that strikingly reflects Sudhana’s ardent quest for understanding the way to reach enlightenment.
