Cheongdo Hapcheon-ri Stone Standing Amitabha Buddha

About this place

Amitabha is the Buddha who dwells in the Western Pure Land and saves sentient beings. In Hapcheon-ri, Cheongdo-gun, there is said to have been a great temple called Cheonno-sa or Daero-sa during the Unified Silla period. Today only the stone standing Amitabha Buddha figure that presumably belonged to that temple remains. The statue is approximately 1.6 m tall, with the halo and Buddha carved from a single stone. The right hand is raised to chest level with the thumb and index finger touching, while the left hand hangs down holding the hem of the robe. Although the face is worn, features such as the round face, plump ushnisha, large urna bump, large ears reaching the shoulders, and a lower body longer than the upper body are characteristic of Unified Silla Buddhist sculptures from the late 8th to 9th century.