what to visit #7

You may recall the first bucket list-related post I made (so many moons ago!) about Cheonggyecheon, the beautiful and renovated stream that runs through Seoul and the item that is #1 on my list. If I were posting in order of which sight I most want to see after that, it's the Koreana Tripitaka (also called the Tripitaka Koreana, and Palman Daejanggyeong). Before I knew about Cheonggyecheon, the Koreana Tripitaka was first on my list and it was probably a few lightyears ahead of whatever else it was that I was most excited to see. I learned about it in my first Korean culture class last fall, and (I hope my professor doesn't see this) honestly it's the only thing I remember about the Religion section of that class. Well, no, that's a lie, I remember a little bit about Christianity. But other than that. This is it.

So you must be dying to know, what is the Koreana Tripitaka!? It's an amazing collection of Buddhist scriptures that was hand-carved by a group of about 30 monks onto 81,258 wooden blocks in the 1200s.

WOW. Do you see that number? Gooooooood golly!

And before that unbelievable collection, there was an original that was created in 1087 during a war with the Mongols, in the hopes that such a display of dedication and reverence to Buddha would inspire him to protect Korea from the barbarians' invasions. Unfortunately their attempts were unsuccessful, and the original set was destroyed during one such invasion in 1232. How mad would you be? After spending years and years of your statistically short life on those things and poof, they're gone. I think I would probably be pretty mad.

I guess they really made sure they did it correctly the second time, though, because the blocks have been around for about 750 years now. I mean, wow. Can you even imagine? These hand-carved wooden blocks? Seven hundred and fifty years???? That is so cool. The monks went through so much trouble to produce them:

Each block is made of birch wood from the southern islands of Korea and was treated to prevent the decay of the wood. They were soaked in sea water for three years, then cut, then boiled in salt water. Then, the blocks were placed in the shade and exposed to the wind for three years at which point they were finally be ready to be carved. After each block was carved, it was covered in a poisonous lacquer to keep insects away and was framed with metal to prevent warping.

 (From the Wikipedia article about the Koreana Tripitaka.)

I wish I could reach back through time and give those guys a pat on the back! But for now I'll just have to settle for visiting their work and studying it with the greatest admiration.