The Spinning Buddhist Bible and The Patterns

20171005

In front of the main building, there was a turning Buddhist scriptures.

There are Buddhist scriptures in the instrument.
It is believed that if you spun that instrument once, it would have same effect as reading once.
And you could wish for your fortune, when you spin this instrument.
To have a fortune, you need to write your wishes on the paper and put it into the hole of the instrument.

You can see this kinds of instruments in Tibet.
I heard that Buddhism between Korea and Tibet is different in many aspects.
In my guess, Buddhism in Tibet is closer to the original form of Buddhism.
Buddhism in Korea have developed it's own characteristics accepting korean traditional religion.

This kind of spinning instrument is not popular in Korea.
So the instrument is very unique with it's existence here.
I come closer to the instrument. It was well decorated with various patterns and ornaments.

The instrument has 8 sides
The eaves were painted with golden color

The main body was decorated with various patterns as below

close shot

The hole is the place where you put the wish paper

Each side has it's theme

What do these patterns mean?
In my opinion, they tried to express a paradise of Buddhism.

These 4 patterns are duplicated in 8 sides

Beneath the body, Dragon was engraved on the upper part of the body of the instrument
Dragon is common subject in Buddhist Art.

In the lower part, there were 2 kinds of colored face in blue and yellow.

I am curious what these faces mean.
In my guess, it seems to be dragons of blue and yellow.

At first glance, it looked like the evil things in my eyes.
But the shape of the horn was similar to that of dragons'

Maybe the dragons are keeping this instrument from the evil things.
It seems that They are protecting the Buddhist Bible.

It is interesting to read and interpretate hidden meaning of the patterns and ornaments.
We can estimate the thoughts and minds of people who had lived before us.

Thank you for reading