The Treasure in Yeungnam University Library

  The Avatamsaka Sutra (The Flower Garland Sutra), The First Tripikata Koreana Edition, Zhou Version, Volume 41 is Buddhist scripture published in woodblock with volume 41 of the 80 volumes of the Avatamska Sutra. It has been kept at Yeungnam University Central Library through donation. This document is Shipjeongpum, preaching on the ten Great Samādhi of the Bodhisattva. According to the Cultural Heritage Administration, each page of these scriptures comprises 23 lines of 14 characters. Unlike the Second Tripitaka Koreana Edition (a Korean collection of the Tripitaka carved onto roughly 80,000 wooden printing blocks), each page is composed of 24 lines of 17 characters. As such, this sutra is a rare part of the surviving scriptures because the sutra shows the difference between the First Tripitaka Koreana Edition and the Second. The shape is a single axis of a scroll woodblock print, and it has a width of 826cm and a length of 28.8cm. This document was designated as a Korean treasure on May 8, 2017.
  Why was this sutra made? During the reign of king Hyeonjong of the Goryeo Dynasty, when the Kitan invaded, it was created to overcome the national crisis with the power of the Buddha. In other words, it is one of the Old Tripitaka Koreana made during the early Goryeo Dynasty. The author of this sutra is ‘Śikṣānanda (Sik Ananda), a Buddhist priest from the Tang Dynasty of China. Śikṣsānanda newly translated the Avatamsaka Sutra while traveling in India with parliamentary politics.
  There is no label, and a part of the text has been lost. Nevertheless, it is the only extant manuscript in Korea, and it can be widely used for research in various academic fields such as the Bibliography and the Tripitaka Koreana.