Clay Seated Vairocana Buddha Triad of Beopjusa Temple, Boeun

Daeungjeon Hall of Beobjusa Temple enshrines a Buddha triad which consists of Vairocana Buddha in the middle, flanked by Amitabha Buddha and Sakyamuni Buddha to his left and right, respectively.

Vairocana, the Cosmic Buddha, is the personification of the absolute universal truth. Sakyamuni represents the "emanation body (Nirmanakaya)," i.e., the human-like body of the Buddha manifested on Earth in order to teach humankind. Amitabha, the Buddha of the Western Paradise, is said to provide all living beings with salvation from the suffering of death.

As a result of the Japanese invasions of 1592-1598, many of Korea's Buddhist temples were left in ruins and were rebuilt in the first half of the 17th century. This Buddha triad was made in 1626 during this period of post-war reconstruction.

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