The Culture of Sutra Copying in Korea and Japan

The Chinese character that is read "sa," as in the Korean word sagyeong (寫經), means ‘copying’, thus sagyeong in Korean and shakyō in Japanese mean copying the Buddhist sutras or other scriptures. When Buddhism was first transmitted, Buddha's words could be conveyed only orally through recitation. The sutra-copying culture began when the Buddha's words were translated into written form and the scriptures were copied to spread them widely.

The two epigrams below are the Copied Sutras of Goryeo era (918-1392), and Kamakura era (1185-1333). The practice of copying sutras is found in both Korea and Japan, as they both belong to the Buddhist cultural sphere. Sutra copying was a shared cultural practice that both countries appreciated. However, we still can see that there are small differences in terms of style. The two manuscripts below are sutras copied during the Goryeo era (918–1392) and in Kamakura era (1185–1333).

Transformation Scenes (變相圖)

Transformation scenes (變相圖) are religious images placed at the front of scrolls to summarize the content or symbolically convey the essence of the sutra that follows. Transcribing scripture was not merely to convey Buddhist teachings; the act of transcribing a sutra was recognized as a way to accumulate merit (功德). In order to accumulate merit in this way, sutras were decorated with gold and silver ink and transformation scenes were painted.

Why are the copied sutras from Goryeo and Kamakura so famous?