The Patronage of Yŏm Sŭngik: Buddhist Art and Ritual Efficacy in Late Koryŏ

This article examines the Buddhist artworks commissioned by Yŏm Sŭngik (廉承益, ?–1302), a powerful court official and ritual specialist active during the reign of King Ch’ungnyŏl in late Koryŏ. Focusing on three surviving works—a copied Lotus Sutra manuscript (1283), an Amitābha Tathāgata painting (1286), and a woodblock-printed Baoqieyin jing dhāraṇī (1292)—the study explores how Buddhist art functioned as a material expression of repentance, ritual healing, karmic eradication, and aspirations for Pure Land rebirth. Through analysis of votive inscriptions, painting inscriptions, and dhāraṇī texts, the article argues that the repeated four-line gāthā appearing in both the sutra manuscript and Amitābha painting is most plausibly understood within the devotional and ritual framework of the Yenyŏm mit’a toryang ch’ambŏp, rather than primarily through Huayan doctrinal interpretation, as previous scholarship has suggested. The article further situates Yŏm Sŭngik’s patronage within broader political and familial networks linking elite officials, Buddhist monks, and the religious culture of the Koryŏ and Yuan courts. Ultimately, it argues that Buddhist art in late Koryŏ operated not merely as devotional imagery, but as an active medium of ritual practice through which repentance, healing, and hopes for Pure Land rebirth were materially enacted.