Seokguram Grotto

The principal Buddha

The seated Shakyamuni at the centre of the rotunda, about 3.4 m high and cut from granite. The right hand hangs over the knee with the index finger touching the earth, the left rests in meditation — the moment of enlightenment itself.

The eleven-headed Avalokitesvara

Directly behind the principal Buddha, at the centre of the curved wall. Nine small faces above the head and one more above them make eleven with the figure's own — and it is the most finely cut carving in the grotto.

The ten disciples

Five standing arhats to each side of the eleven-headed Avalokitesvara. Each has a different bone structure in a long face, a different stance, different robes, and something different in the hands — a scroll, a censer, a water bottle.

The heavenly kings and bodhisattvas

Inside the rotunda, Indra and Brahma stand first to either side, then the bodhisattvas — Manjushri on the left, Samantabhadra on the right. Samantabhadra stands on a lotus pedestal holding out a cup; Manjushri holds a scroll in the left hand.

The four heavenly kings

On the walls of the passage joining the antechamber to the rotunda, each standing on a demon underfoot. Dhrtarastra of the east and Virudhaka of the south hold swords; Vaisravana of the north raises a pagoda in his right hand.

The eight guardians

Four to each wall of the antechamber. From the right of the entrance: Garuda, Gandharva, Deva, Mahoraga; on the left, Asura, Kinnara, Yaksha, Naga. They are thought to be later than the carvings of the rotunda.

The vajra guardians

Flanking the way in from the entrance to the rotunda. They are carved in markedly higher relief than anything else here, and the split between upper and lower garment throws the musculature forward.

The niches

Ten hemispherical niches set above the wall carvings, five to the north and south and to the east. They skip only the space directly in front of the principal Buddha and above the eleven-headed Avalokitesvara behind it; most hold a seated bodhisattva.