A Korean cultural property with a strange legend.

It is Korea’s National Treasure No. 279 and is housed at Seonunsa Temple in Gochang.

Seated gilt bronze Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva statue

There is a strange legend behind the gilt bronze seated Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva statue.

During the Japanese colonial era, numerous Korean treasures and relics were stolen and taken out.

Among the treasures stolen at this time was a gilt-bronze seated Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva statue.

Then one day, he suddenly returned the gilt-bronze Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva with the promise to return the item to Seonunsa Temple.

The person who returned it was Japanese, and he said he bought a nice-looking Buddha statue and took it home.

One day, when you sleep, a person who appears to be the owner of the Buddha statue appears.

He is said to have said, “I was originally at Dosol Mountain in Gochang. Please send me back there quickly.”

At first, I didn’t think it was a big deal and just ignored it.

However, no matter how much time passed, I thought it was just a dream, but every day when I slept, the owner of the Buddha statue would talk to me.

In addition, he became ill and the family began to fall apart.

The Japanese took it seriously and found out that the same thing happened to the previous owner who brought this Buddha statue.

Because of this, they were afraid of this, so they made a gilt bronze seated Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva statue.

A Japanese man, who realized that the matter had escalated, found out after questioning that it had been stolen from Seonunsa Temple in Gochang.

He immediately returned the gilt bronze seated Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva statue through the Gochang Police Station and explained the situation to the monks of Seonunsa Temple.

Surprisingly, it did not return with the return of cultural assets after the end of Japanese colonial rule.

It is said that he returned during the Japanese colonial period in November 1938.