The First Tripitaka Koreana: The Edition That Burned, and the Character That Identifies It

If you have heard of the Tripitaka Koreana, you have almost certainly heard of the one at Haeinsa — the eighty-thousand-odd woodblocks stacked in a mountain temple.

This is not that one.

The Korea Heritage Service registry holds them as two separate records: the Printing Woodblocks of the Tripitaka Koreana at Haeinsa Temple, administered by Haeinsa in Hapcheon, and this first-edition volume, administered by the National Museum of Korea in Seoul.

Korea carved its Buddhist canon twice, and the first attempt is the one almost nobody meets.

At a glance

One volume, one scroll
A woodblock-printed scroll book — twenty-three sheets of paper 30 cm by 47 cm joined into one roll.
Carved under King Hyeonjong
Early Goryeo. From the paper, carving and printing it is estimated to be eleventh-century, from the early period of the first edition.
丈 where Haeinsa has 張
The sheet marking is the character that separates the first edition from the Haeinsa edition.
In Seoul
The National Museum of Korea holds it. The Haeinsa woodblocks are a different record entirely.

What the object actually is

Start with the physical thing, because "Buddhist canon" is an abstraction and this is a roll of paper.

It is one volume in one scroll, a woodblock-printed scroll book, made of twenty-three sheets of paper measuring 30 cm by 47 cm joined together. The cover has been lost.

Its text is one volume out of a very large compilation. The Maharatnakuta Sutra is Bodhiruci of Tang's compilation of forty-nine scriptures into one hundred and twenty volumes, mixing Pure Land, Prajna and esoteric Mahayana scriptures; where a translation already existed, Bodhiruci used it as it stood. This particular volume is Siksananda of Tang's translation, and it carries the Manjusri Prophecy Assembly.

So: a Goryeo woodblock printing, of a Tang compilation, of translations made by several hands over centuries. The canon was already a stack of other people's work before Korea cut a single block.

How to tell the two editions apart

This is the detail that makes the object worth standing in front of.

The scripture name and the volume, sheet and case markings are carved before each sheet of the main text — and the sheet marking is 丈 in the first edition, where the Haeinsa edition has 張.

Two characters that a non-reader would take for the same mark. One of them says first edition.

There is a second tell, and it dates the block rather than the edition. The character 敬, which was the name of the grandfather of Emperor Taizu of Song, is written with a stroke omitted. That is a naming taboo — a carver deliberately damaging a character to avoid writing a sovereign's ancestor's name in full. It is evidence about when and under whose cultural orbit the block was cut, printed into every sheet.

🔵 Neither of these is a museum-label fact. They are the working marks of the people who made it, and they are why a scholar can look at a loose sheet and place it.

Why the first edition matters and why it is scarce

The estimate is careful and worth quoting as an estimate: from the paper, the carving and the state of the printing, it is judged to be an eleventh-century piece from the early period of the printing of the first Tripitaka Koreana.

Note what that sentence does not say. It gives no carved date, no colophon, no year. The dating is a reading of materials.

The first edition was begun under King Hyeonjong and the blocks did not survive; the set at Haeinsa is the later one. What is left of the first edition is individual scrolls like this. That is why a single volume of a sutra is a National Treasure while a complete sutra of the later edition would not be — scarcity here is the historical fact, not a curatorial judgement about beauty.

The Goryeo overview covers the dynasty; the celadon censer in the same museum is the same century's court taste rather than its state religion.

Where to see which

Two objects, two provinces, and a real trade-off for a visitor.

This scroll is administered by the National Museum of Korea in Yongsan-gu, Seoul. Hours and directions are on the museum's place page.

The Haeinsa woodblocks are administered by Haeinsa in Hapcheon-gun, in the mountains of South Gyeongsang Province. This site does not yet carry a place record for Haeinsa, so this article links to no page for it — a gap named rather than papered over.

🔴 A scroll is a light-sensitive paper object. Whether it is out of storage on the day you visit is a question for the museum, not for this article, and manuscripts are among the most frequently rotated things in any collection.

What to look for

Look at the head of a sheet, before the sutra text starts, where the scripture name and the volume, sheet and case markings are carved. That block of small characters is the printer's apparatus, and 丈 is in it. If you can find that character you have identified the edition yourself, from the object rather than from the label.

Where to follow this up

Frequently asked questions

Is this the Tripitaka Koreana at Haeinsa?

No. The heritage registry holds them as two separate records: the woodblocks at Haeinsa in Hapcheon, and this first-edition volume at the National Museum of Korea in Seoul. Korea carved its canon twice, and this is from the first attempt.

How can you tell a first-edition sheet?

By the sheet marking carved before each sheet of the main text. The first edition uses the character 丈 where the Haeinsa edition uses 張.

Why is the character 敬 missing a stroke?

It was the name of the grandfather of Emperor Taizu of Song, so it is written with a stroke omitted — a naming taboo observed by the carver.

How is it dated to the eleventh century?

From the paper, the carving and the state of the printing. There is no carved date; the encyclopedia gives it as an estimate for the early period of the first edition's printing.

Where can I see it?

It is in the National Museum of Korea in Seoul. As a paper scroll it is the kind of object museums rotate out of the light, so check with the museum before travelling to see it specifically.