National Museum of Korea

When I was in Seoul, I made a point to visit the National Museum of Korea because among its collection is a statue of the Pensive Maitreya Bodhisattva which is a national treasure.

The museum is quite impressive. It is quite well curated -- there is plenty of information about the collection in English. I spent some time on the exhibits related to Korean history. After a while, I decided there was too much to take in and I went looking for the what I came here to see.

It took me a while to find it as it was in a special enclosure. The statue was much bigger than I had expected.

This is the statue of the Pensive Maitreya Bodhisattva. National Treasure No 78 

While the artwork of this statue is quite impressive, I didn't find it particularly beautiful. There is suppose to be another statue which I thought was more beautiful (National Treasure 83), but I didn't see it. I am not sure if it was on exhibit at all, or I might have missed it.

However I did find a very impressive statue of the Sakyamuni Buddha. I spent quite some time admiring it as I thought it was very beautiful.

A very impressive and beautiful statue of Sakyamuni Buddha

Besides Korea's own artifacts, the museum also has some acquired from the rest of the world. The Indian section has some interesting exhibits as well.

I thought this is a dancing girl. But this is actually a depicting of the birth of a being in Pure Land. According to some scriptures, beings are born from lotus flowers in the Pure Land.

A Gandhara statue of Maitreya with clear Greek influences.