Mountaintop Stone Giants: The Rock-carved Buddhas of the Silla Royal Capital

The royal capital of Silla, presently known as Kyŏngju, is bordered in all directions by mountains that are the sites of giant rock-carved Buddhas. Occupying the summits of the surrounding mountains known as the “Five Sacred Mountains of the Silla Royal Capital” (wanggyŏng oak 王京 五岳), the rock-carved Buddhas provided the Silla people with an accessible and convenient means of worship outside of the Buddhist temple. More importantly, the construction of Sŏkkuram Grotto (石窟庵) on Mt. T’oham during the mid-eighth century was a reflection of the Silla belief that the mountain was Mt. Sumeru. The Sŏkkuram Buddha sculpture represented the Buddha’s residence at the summit of Mt. Sumeru, and was simultaneously the antecedent to the consecration of the Silla royal capital. Soon after, large-scale Buddha images were carved on the rock faces of neighboring mountaintops as a continuation and replication of this process, eventually resulting in a new macrocosm of Buddhism centered around the Silla royal capital.