• Bangmulgwan gwa yeongu (The National Museum of Korea Journal)
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• v.1
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• pp.234-257
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• 2024

Great Dharani Sutra of Undefiled Pure Light (Gwi) (LKH 10703) donated by the family of the late Lee Kun-Hee to the National Museum of Korea in 2021 is a calligraphy album consisting of sixty-two leaves compiled using butterfly binding. It contains Great Dharani Sutra of Undefiled Pure Light, "Record of the Production of Mugujeong Pagoda by the Order of King Munseong," a postscript by Kim Jeonghui, and an appreciation record by Oh Sechang. This paper has revealed that this album is identical to the material that Suematsu Yasukazu introduced in Volume 15 of the journal Cheonggu hakchong in 1934 and that it includes elaborate copies of Great Dharani Sutra of Undefiled Pure Light and "Record of the Production of Mugujeong Pagoda by the Order of King Munseong" on yellow Chinese paper, both of which were excavated from inside the Mugujeong Pagoda at Changnimsa Temple in Gyeongju in 1824. It has also reconfirmed that it is highly probable that the Great Dharani Sutra of Undefiled Pure Light that Jo Byeongsun, the former director of the Seongam Old Books Museum, unveiled in 1998, is a transcription of the original sutra excavated from Mugujeong Pagoda at Changnimsa Temple in Gyeongju. Moreover, it has concluded that the Great Dharani Sutra of Undefiled Pure Light owned by Park Cheolsang is likely to be another example of copying the transcription of the original sutra excavated from the Mugujeong Pagoda at Changnimsa Temple in Gyeongju. In the album of copies donated by the estate of Lee KunHee, six of the Chinese characters promulgated by Empress Wu were used fifteen times in total. Four of the characters of Empress Wu were utilized ten times in the Great Dharani Sutra of Undefiled Pure Light (national treasure, Bulguksa Temple collection) found among the reliquaries from the Three-story Stone Pagoda at Bulguksa Temple in Gyeongju and were also seen in the album of copies donated by the estate of Lee Kun-Hee. The use of the same characters of Empress Wu and other variant characters suggests that both the album of copies donated by the estate of Lee Kun-Hee and the Bulguksa sutra were based on an edition distributed in the Unified Silla Period during the eighth century. Kim Jeonghui confirmed the exchange of calligraphy between Korea and China through studies on bronze and stone epigraphs. He believed that the Great Dharani Sutra of Undefiled Pure Light and "Record of the Production of Mugujeong Pagoda by the Order of King Munseong" excavated from Mugujeong Pagoda at Changnimsa Temple were authentic materials showing the elegant calligraphic styles that prevailed before the Ouyang Xun style. Thus, the album of copies donated by the estate of Lee Kun-Hee holds great historical and artistic significance in that it is a rare example of Kim Jeonghui's evidential study of a transcribed sutra and an original record of the production of a pagoda from the Unified Silla period.