Religion1236–1251

Carving the Tripitaka Koreana

Hoping the Buddha’s power would drive out the Mongols, Goryeo set up a Tripitaka directorate on Ganghwa and spent 16 years carving more than 80,000 woodblocks, now kept at Haeinsa in Hapcheon.

Woodblocks of the Tripitaka Koreana in the Janggyeong Panjeon, Haeinsa, Hapcheon
Bernard Gagnon · CC0 · Source

After the first Tripitaka burned in the second Mongol invasion, Choe U set up a directorate on Ganghwa in 1236, with a branch at Namhae, to carve it anew. Finished in 1251, the 81,258 blocks are known as the Palman Daejanggyeong ("Eighty-Thousand Tripitaka"). In a prayer composed for the occasion, Yi Gyu-bo recalled that when the canon was carved during the Khitan invasions the enemy withdrew.

The blocks were kept on Ganghwa and, by the usual account, moved to Haeinsa around 1398. Renowned for their accuracy and even calligraphy, they became Memory of the World in 2007, and the Janggyeong Panjeon halls that house them World Heritage in 1995.

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The map in 1236

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States and rulers at the time: Goryeo — Gojong
Places: Ganghwa, Janggyeong Panjeon, Haeinsa

People

Choe U1249
leader · Son of Choe Chung-heon who set up the Jeongbang personnel office and moved the court to Ganghwa in 1232
King Gojong of Goryeo1192 – 1259
monarch · Twenty-third king of Goryeo, who reigned through the Mongol invasions from Ganghwa Island
Yi Gyu-bo1168 – 1241
related figure · Writer of the Lay of King Dongmyeong whose collected works record the metal-type printing of the Sangjeong gogeum yemun

Before and after

Earlier: 1234 Metal-type Printing of the Sangjeong gogeum yemun
Later: 1236 Publication of the Hyangyak gugeupbang

Themes that include this event

Printing and Documentary HeritageAD 751 – 2011
From the Dharani Sutra to the May 18 archives — woodblock and metal-type printing, and the records inscribed on the Memory of the World
Ganghwa Island1000 BC – 2011
From dolmens to the Treaty of Ganghwa — Goryeo’s refuge capital and the stage of Korea’s opening, the island the kingdom fell back on in every crisis