Stone Seated Vairocana Buddha and Wooden Mandorla of Chukseosa Temple, Bonghwa

This statue of Buddha (1.08 meters) has narrow eyes, tightly closed lips and decent appearance to feel the sense of calm and stability, It is shown that it is formalized with a cloth on both shoulders representing as a cascading pattern.

It has a specific wave-like pattern between its knees compared with the U-shaped pattern in other statues, It shows the characteristics of the late 9th century with a parallel cascading folded pleat on the cloth. The pedestal is octagonal in shape with upper, middle and lower part which represents the late Unified Silla. The lower part is a carved lion on each side, on the middle is the sculpture gathering its hands and on the upper part is a carved floral pattern.

There is a wooden halo engraved with floral and fire pattern behind the statue, The halo was originally made of stone but only the upper part remains now. This statue is one of the basis to create a lot of Biro Janabul statues during the late Unified Silla and it shows the same characteristics as Seokjo Biro Janabul statue in Dong-Wha Sa in Daegu. It also shows the carving techniques and forms of beliefs at that time.

According to the hislorical evidence record of Pagoda, this statue was made in the late 9th century, It is considered a very valuable research of the Buddha's statue in late Unified Silla.

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