A Buddha with a Lotus Flower: Tongdosa Gwaebul

A New Painting Replacing the Old

In 1767, a large Buddhist painting used for the outdoor rituals at Tongdosa monastery was newly made. This was a replacement of a more than 100-year old painting that had been used in the monastery since 1649. It was unfortunately damaged during the outdoor ceremony in December 1766. The new painting was completed in September 1767, only 10 months after the accident. This was a surprisingly short period of time considering the efforts, the cost and the number of the people involved. The monk who led the project was a 27-year-old monk named Taehwal. Young as he was, he was capable of the successful execution of the project in the short period. He requested Huiyu, a learned old monk of Tongdosa monastery to write the Gaeseong gwaebul hyeonpangi(A Commemorative Writing on the Occasion of Making the New Large Buddhist Painting). The record is handed down in Tongdosa Monastery and offers us the monastic account on the process of making the painting.

People Involved in the Creation of the Painting

The large Buddhist painting of Tongdosa monastery was the result of collaboration of 14 monk painters. Duhun, the project director, was a monk invited from the outside. In 1776, the previous year, he participated in the creation of a largeBuddhist painting of Beopjusa monastery. The Tongdosa painting was based on the Beopjusa piece, and was painted in less than a year from the completion of the latter. However, Duhun made seve