Today’s The World Around Us will be presented in Korean, with subtitles in Arabic, Aulacese (Vietnamese), Chinese, English, French, German, Hungarian, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, Thai and Spanish.

Halo. On today’s edition of The World around Us, we invite you to a Tripitaka Koreana Dharma gathering held at Haeinsa Temple in South Korea. This is Haeinsa Temple situated in Mount Gaya, Hapcheon-gun, Gyeongnam province. An aged temple, Haeinsa Temple was established in 802.

The shrine is also noted for its Tripitaka Koreana, a World Heritage designated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and the building that houses it. Located in the highest place in Haeinsa Temple, Tripitaka Koreana has been passed on through ages.

Not having even one single missing letter or a misspelled word, about 52 million letters were engraved on over 80,000 printing blocks. Having been passed on for 1,000 years since it was made in the Goryeo Dynasty, Tripitaka Koreana is the great record of the cultural heritage of humankind.

Shall we now explore the spiritual legacy of Haeinsa Temple and its Tripitaka Koreana? This is Ilju-mun, or One-pillar gate, that separates the illusionary world from the world of Truth. Passing through this gate leads us into the spiritual realm beyond the mundane world.

Now we’re here at Sacheonwang-gate where the four statues of the heavenly kings keep out the evil forces and protect the Truth. The road leading through diverse gates to the heart of the shrine symbolizes different stages a Truth seeker encounters on his/her spiritual journey. A Dharma gathering is now going on inside the precincts.

Today’s occasion is a Tripitaka Koreana Dharma gathering for the protection of the country. Thousands of believers are circling around the precincts of the shrine carrying something on top of their heads. What they carry on the head is the woodblock that prints the Goryeo daejanggyeong, or Tripitaka Koreana.

Tripitaka means the collection of all the scriptures preached by the Buddha, and because this Tripitaka was made during the Goryeo Dynasty, it’s called Goryeo daejanggyeong. The number of printing blocks is over 80,000, so it’s also called Eighty-thousand Grand Tripitaka. This event is held annually in commemoration of Tripitaka Koreana’s being made and placed here 750 years ago.

The purpose of this occasion is to pray that the country will thrive and the two Koreas will unite peacefully, and that the so called Buddha’s land is realized on Earth.

A prince was born in Nepal 2,554 years ago. At the age of 29, he set off on his spiritual journey, relinquishing his prince status. After six years of spiritual practice he reached enlightenment and spent the rest of his life in preaching the Truth. Sakyamuni Buddha traveled all over India for 45 years and preached the Truth until he entered Nirvana, or the highest spiritual state at the age of 80.

Six months after his attainment of Nirvana, the efforts of spreading his teachings began. About 500 disciples of Sakyamuni Buddha gathered together at Saptaparni Cave located in Rajgir of Northern India in order to recite and memorize his teachings. Hundreds of years later, his teachings began to be recorded instead of being memorized or recited; that is when the scriptures began to be made.

Then, people started to transcribe instead of reciting them, and soon after, carved it on a wooden block before printing. Finally, the grand collection of the scriptures was born, namely Tripitaka Koreana. Tripitaka Koreana is the oldest wooden Tripitaka in the world.

Dating back to about 1000 AD, the Goryeo people analyzed and compared all the existing scriptures. The Goryeo people exerted themselves to the utmost to make Tripitaka Koreana to such an extent that they carved one letter and prostrated before carving another letter. As a result, without one single misspelled word or any misprints, the precise and accurate Tripitaka Koreana consisting of about 52 million letters was born.

It is regarded as the best artistry of the printing block that ever existed in human history. When we return, we’ll learn about the origin of Tripitaka Koreana and look around the edifices in which Tripitaka Koreana is kept. Please stay tuned to Supreme Master Television.

Welcome back to The World Around Us. Today, we are touring around Haeinsa Temple of South Korea. In the highest place and the farthest within the precincts of the shrine is Tripitaka Koreana, a national treasure. Tripitaka Koreana is placed in a higher place than the sermon hall where Buddha’s statue is positioned, which symbolizes the importance of Tripitaka Koreana.

This is the Janggyeong Panjeon, the depositories for the Tripitaka Koreana woodblocks, Consisting of four structures, this building, too, is a UNESCO world heritage. Although the structure looks plain, it was designed wisely to keep the printing blocks.

The outer walls of the building have lower windows that are four times larger than the upper ones, while the walls on the other side have bigger upper windows and smaller lower ones, which functions to ventilate air evenly and properly. On the floor are charcoals, lime powder and salt in order to control the temperature as well as humidity.

The natural ventilation system, thanks to the scientific building structure and the secret method of eliminating dampness, all these are what have kept Tripitaka Koreana intact for ages. The types of Buddhist scriptures engraved in Tripitaka Koreana are altogether 1,538. The number of books is 6,844 and the number of wooden blocks amount to 81,258.

Eighty thousand wood blocks are kept well stacked in piles of 10 in about 100 archive shelves. The size of each wooden block is 70 cm wide and 24 cm long, weighing 4 kg.

In order to stop the wooden block from being twisted, the white birch tree is soaked in the sea water for three years. Next, it’s flattened and boiled again in salty water before drying it in the shade. Then, the letters are written by a brush before they are engraved on wood blocks.

After completed, they are coated with lacquer in order to keep insects away and prevent decomposition. The reason that the Tripitaka Koreana wooden blocks have been passed on intact for generations after generations is this sincere and careful process of production.

Then, how did Tripitaka Koreana come to exist? Tripitaka Koreana was the result of the sincerity of the Goryeo people who wished to integrate the complete Buddhist scriptures into a great whole, as well as their practical desire to end the cruel war and realize Buddha’s Land on Earth. Tripitaka Koreana had been compiled three times throughout the Goryeo Dynasty.

It took Goryeo 77 years to complete the first Grand Tripitaka in 1011, and soon after, spending 25 years, the dynasty printed the second Tripitaka. But this cultural heritage was destroyed in the fires of conflict. The remaining Tripitaka Koreana today is the third one that took 16 years to be compiled from 1236 to 1251, the oldest Tripitaka wood printing block in the world.

It took Goryeo 240 years to complete Tripitaka Koreana while the kingdom lasted only 500 years. The first Tripitaka Koreana was published when the kingdom was in peril due to a war, and the making of the 2nd Tripitaka Koreana was also set about amid a war. It was a period of chaos when conflicts happened frequently, and Tripitaka Koreana, the great cultural heritage of humankind, was made in such flames.

Rather than hold a sword and defend the nation, Goryeo devoted all her energies in carving the Buddhist scriptures to bring peace on Earth. The sincere wish for peace without conflict, and the heartfelt aspiration to spread the Truth all over the world to cease all sufferings, these are the real spirit of Tripitaka Koreana.

We’re holding a Dharma gathering of nationwide participants in Haeinsa Temple where Tripitaka Koreana has housed for about 750 years. Since the purpose of compiling Tripitaka Koreana was to secure the country and Dharma through the Buddha’s teachings, we descendants have deeply honored the meaning even now.

Till the present, Korean people continue the peace march, carrying Tripitaka Koreana over the head and wishing for peace in the country as well as the world.

We thank you, kind viewers for joining us on today’s The World Around Us. Coming up next is Words of Wisdom, right after Noteworthy News. Please stay tuned to Supreme Master Television. We wish you a happy week, full of peace and love.