Stone Standing Maitreya Bodhisattva of Gwanchoksa Temple, Nonsan

This is the largest stone Buddha statue in Korea, measuring 18m in height. It depicts Maitreya, the Future Buddha, who is currently residing in the heavenly realm as a bodhisattva, awaiting his own rebirth to become a Buddha. It is said that Maitreya will descend to the human realm to give teachings of the Dharma 5.67 billion years after the death of Sakyamuni Buddha.

According to the inscription of a monument erected in 1747 that records the history of Gwanchoksa Temple, the construction of this statue took 37 years from 970 to 1006. The story goes as follows: One day, a woman from a neighboring village was picking bracken in Banyasan Mountain. Suddenly, she heard a child crying and went to the place where the sound came from and found a huge rock rising from the ground. At this news, King Gwangjong (r. 949-975) of the Goryeo dynasty (918-1392) ordered a monk sculptor named Hyemyeong to make a statue of a Buddha.

Hyemyeong, with the aid of 100 stonemasons, made the statue in three parts - the lower body, upper body and head with the cylindrical headdress, and the square canopy-like decoration of the headdress. However, the statue was so huge that he could not figure out how to lift up the upper part of the statue. One day, he saw two boys playing with dirt near the river which gave him an idea. The lower body of the statue was erected on the ground first, and an artificial earthen slope was made to the height of the lower body. Then, the upper body was dragged up the slope and placed on the upper body. The process was repeated to mount the top decoration of the headdress.

The overwhelming size and unconventional and bold style of this statue make it an original and creative masterpiece of Korean Buddhist statues.

Source: Korea Heritage Service signboard ↗ · collected 2026-10-08