About this objectBuddhist dhāraṇī—usually Sanskrit or Pali phrases which were held to be protective and to generate merit—were made into amulets by writing or printing them on paper or silk or carving onto stone monuments. The paper/silk amulets were often carried around, for example, within a metal armband or small containers. They were also buried with the dead to give them merit. Many have been found in China in both Literary Sinitic and Indic script.
The practice spread to Korea and Japan as shown by this recently rediscovered dhāraṇī of the Incantation of Wish-Fulfillment in Indic script. It was probably placed in a stupa on Namsan (남산)—South Mountain—in Seoul, Korea, during the Silla period.
Date Made8th–9th c
PeriodUnified Silla
Place MadeKorea
Subject and Association KeywordsPilgrimage
Subject and Association KeywordsBooks
Subject and Association DescriptionLearn More: Han and Kim 2023
