Wooden Seated Sakyamuni Buddha Triad of Eungseoksa Temple, Jinju

Seated Buddha triad in Daeungjeon Hall of Eungseoksa Temple is an ensemble of three Buddhist statues that represent past, present, and future, At the left is Amitabha Shakyamuni the one on the right is Medicine Buddha, It is believed that these three Buddhist statues were popular in the 17th century and originated from the doctrine of samsara, Samsara literally means “wandering-on” and refers to the buddhist belief of the ongoing cycle of birth, death and rebirth.

They are representative of Buddhist sculpture from the late 17th century. All three statues have splendid physiques and are slightly bent over. Usnisa(knot of hair), snail pattern curls, the form of the faces, the folds and creases of the clothes, and especially the mudra gesture if the thumb and middled finger are all common features of Buddhist seulpture from the 17th century.

These three Buddhist statues are very large: the main statue is 144.5cm high: the left one is 130.7com : and the right one is 124.8cm. Relics in the stomach of Buddha discovered when the pieces were moved to a temporary shrine while Daeungjeon Hall was being repaired clearly show that this triad was made in 1643. These statues are important in the study of triad Buddha images which were made after the Japanese invasion of 1592.

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