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Maae Seokbul Buddha - 금오산 마애보살입상(金烏山 磨崖菩薩立像) (14th century or earlier)

The Maae Seokbul stone Buddha was carved sometime in the late Goryeo (Koryö) dynasty (10th-14th centuries). It takes about an hour of steep climbing to reach from the base of the mountain.

The figure is 5.5 meters tall and was carved on the corner of a cliff face, unlike most bas-reliefs or statues which are carved on flat surfaces. The face is relatively plump but the narrow eyes and small mouth are different from other Bodhisattva statues of the Silla period. The gentle curves of the shoulders and arms match the face, which indicates that a very skilled carver made the statue. However, the right hand holding the hem of the clothing, the oversized left hand, the dull feet, and the stiff"U" shaped folds in the clothing are duller than other Silla pieces, suggesting to art historians that it was carved during the Goryeo era, when statues became more formal. These characteristics are also apparent in the lotus flower pedestal shaped in a half circle that "supports" the statue, and the 'Buddhist halo of light' markings which seem to emanate from the body.

Nearby is the small hermitage Yaksa-am, which figures in an old legend: Long ago, a hermit lived in a remote cave on Gumosan mountain. Though he could find nothing to eat, he stayed alive by eating rice that mysteriously came from a hole in the cave, falling at the rate of one grain a second: enough to live by, but no better. Becoming greedy, the man tried to enlarge the hole. Instead, his greed provoked the wrath of whatever power provided the rice, and the flow stopped. Nowadays only water flows from the hole!

Address: 경북 구미시 남통동 산24-1.

(Designated Treasure #490).